In June 2008, the UN Security Council voted unanimously in favor of a resolution classifying rape as a weapon of war (UN Resolution 1820).The document describes the deliberate use of rape as a tactic in war and a threat to international security. The resolution indicates that sexual violence " can significantly exacerbate situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of international peace and security". Speaking at the launch of the resolution, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that violence against women had reached "unspeakable proportions" in some societies recovering from conflict. He added that the UN was setting up an inquiry to report on how widespread this 38 practice is and how to tackle it. This resolution has been seen by many as a landmark in the fight against sexual violence against women, and an addition to previous international legal instruments such as the Convention on Elimination of Violence Against Women (CEDAW, 1979), and the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 which „calls on all parties to armed conflict to respect international humanitarian law and to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape‟. Although there are international instruments prohibiting sexual violence during conflict, there have not been many successful prosecutions. Sexual violence continues to be systematic and merciless because of the failure to prevent and prosecute routine and widespread discrimination and violence against women during peace times. Women in Rwanda who were caught up in the vicious civil war in 39 that country also experienced horrific acts of sexual violence. In Kenya, up to 3000 women were 40 raped in the ethnic violence that erupted after the 2007 presidential elections. About 12,000-15,000 women per year are raped during the ongoing conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo 41 (2000-present). The examples above are only a few, and there are many more examples that can 42 be cited . There has been anecdotal evidence that Zimbabwean women have been targeted and raped for voicing their political opinion by state agents and party supporters, as well as being targeted in order to coerce their male counterparts to stop their political activities. This is symptomatic of the very little respect for women‟s rights in Zimbabwe evident in the legal discrimination and violence against 43 women, as justified through cultural and religious arguments. These anecdotal reports are now 44 corroborated by more systematic research . Politically motivated rape in Zimbabwe As might be expected from the above review, it would be unlikely that politically motivated rape had not been found to have occurred in the previous conflicts and disturbances of the past decades. However, until recently this has not been well-documented. 38 Namata B, The New Times, Rwanda: Violence Against Women-Rape, Crime of Genocide 2008, http://allafrica.com/stories. (Accessed 25 October 2010) 39 Chinkin, C, ‟Rape and Sexual Abuse of Women in International Law,‟ 1994, p334-336. Available at www.ejil.org. (Accessed 10 October 2010) 40 Alsop, Z, „Kenya‟s Rape Probe Falters after Lawyers Drop Out‟,, 2008 www.womensenews.org/story/rape/081214/kenyasrape-probe-falters-after-lawyers-drop-out. (Accessed 24 October 2010) 41 Moore, J „Confronting Rape as a War Crime‟, 2010 p109. 42 During the August 1990 invasion of Kuwait it is estimated that at least 5,000 Kuwaiti women were raped by Iraqi soldiers.42 After the liberation large numbers of foreign domestic working women in Kuwait were attacked and subjected to sexual violence from subsequently returning Kuwaitis. 43 See Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum , „A woman‟s place is in the home?” Gender based violence and Opposition Politics in Zimbabwe, 2006, p15. 44 See Aids Free World “Electing to rape: sexual violence terror in Mugabe‟s Zimbabwe” 2009; Medical Foundation Justice Denied: The experiences of 100 torture surviving women of seeking justice and rehabilitation 2009; RAU (2010), Preying on the Weaker Sex: Political Violence Against Women in Zimbabwe‟ . Report produced by IDASA (An African Democracy Institute), the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), andthe Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU October 2010. HARARE: RESEARCH & ADVOCACY UNIT; RAU(2010), No Hiding Place.:Politically Motivated Rape of Women in Zimbabwe. Report produced by the Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) and the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR). December 2010. HARARE: RESEARCH & ADVOCACY UNIT.