By US Secretary of State John Kerry and UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond
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| Women and Children Rescued by Nigerian Soldiers from Boko Haram extremists Arrive at Military Office in Maiduguri, northern Nigeria. |
The abhorrent sexual violence waged by groups such as Isis and Boko Haram must be countered by governments and at local levels.
In Syria and Iraq, Isis terrorists have turned kidnapping and the sale of women and girls into recruitment and fundraising tools. Thousands of women have been enslaved and raped. In Somalia and Nigeria, terrorists have abducted scores of young women to force them into sham “marriages” characterized by degradation and abuse.
These practices are a stain on the conscience of the world. Sexual abuse is not a legitimate tactic of conflict or war. Women and girls are not slaves to be awarded to terrorist fighters. And mislabeling this abuse as “marriage” does not alter the reality that rape is rape and rape is wrong.