19th June- International day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict

Awareness raising session at UN Women Multi-Purpose Women’s Centres. Empowerment, participation and leadership; a Rohingya Refugee Programme in Bangladesh. PHOTO:UN Women/Khaled Arafat Ahmed

Conflict-related sexual violence
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The Baha'i teachings advocate—that achieving gender equality helps in preventing conflict and reducing violence:
… the principle of the oneness of mankind is described in the Baha'i Writings as the pivot round which all the Teachings of Baha'u'llah revolve. It has widespread implications which affect and remold all dimensions of human activity. It calls for a fundamental change in the manner in which people relate to each other, and the eradication of those age-old practices which deny the intrinsic human right of every individual to be treated with consideration and respect. 

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​"O ye lovers of God! In this, the cycle of Almighty God, violence and force, constraint and oppression, are one and all condemned."

Let those who, driven by their passions or by their inability to exercise discipline in the control of their anger, might be tempted to inflict violence on another human being, be mindful of the condemnation of such disgraceful behaviour by the Revelation of Baha'u'llah. - The Universal House of Justice

​Baha’is believe that aggression and the use of force against women must be eliminated, and that men must learn to replace that kind of barbaric physical control and dominance with cooperation and consultation.
… The lack of spiritual values in society leads to a debasement of the attitudes which should govern the relationship between the sexes, with women being treated as no more that objects for sexual gratification and being denied the respect and courtesy to which all human beings are entitled. … There can be no justification for anyone compelling another, through the use of force or through the threat of violence, to do that to which the other person is not inclined. Abdu'l-Baha has written, 

The world in the past has been ruled by force, and man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind. But the balance is already shifting; force is losing its dominance, and mental alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in which woman is strong, are gaining ascendancy. – Abdu’l-Baha

The emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the sexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged prerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an injustice against one half of the world’s population and promotes in men harmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the workplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations. There are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such denial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership in all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate be created in which international peace can emerge.        The Universal House of Justice  ​

  Women and men have been and will always be equal in the sight of God. The Dawning-Place of the Light of God sheddeth its radiance upon all with the same effulgence … The friends of God must be adorned with the ornament of justice, equality, kindness and love. As they do not allow themselves to be the object of cruelty and transgression, in like manner they should not allow such tyranny to visit the handmaidens of God. He, verily, speaketh the truth and commandeth that which benefiteth His servants and handmaidens. He is the Protector of all in this world and the next. – Baha’u’llah

International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, 19 June