Thousands of women suffer the traumas of war – being widowed, displaced, detained, separated from loved ones and becoming victims of violence and injury. The International Committee of the Red Cross has published a study entitled "Women facing War", designed to increase awareness of the plight of women in conflict and of the protection to which they are entitled. Charlotte Lindsey is the head of the ICRC's Women and War project, which produced the report.

"As long as I can I will fight for the truth about where my husband is and where my children are. I live on their memories, I have their voices in my head," said Dzidza, a Bosnian woman whose husband and two teenage sons have been missing since the fall of Srebrenica six years ago.

Facing life without knowing the fate of her loved ones is unthinkable to her. Since their disappearance, Dzidza’s life is a daily struggle to find out what happened to them, as well as learning about her own entitlements and working out how to support herself since the loss of her husband, the former breadwinner.

In so many respects, Dzidza lives with the impact of armed conflict long after the fighting is over. The publication "Women facing War" aims to draw attention to the plight of women such as Dzidza, and show how they have been affected by conflict.

This study, from research carried out over the past three years, is intended to raise awareness of women’s needs during wartime and of international laws to protect them. It provides an overview of ICRC activities to benefit women affected by armed conflict and internal disturbances.

The report outlines the protection accorded to women under international law covering conflict situations, such as the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 Additional Protocols.

Violations against women -- such as rape and other forms of sexual violence, summary executions, forced displacement, injury, arbitrary detention, the disappearance of relatives, lack of food, shelter and medical care -- do not happen because of inadequate legislation, but because existing law is not respected by those who wage war.

Improving the plight of women in wartime is as simple and as complicated as ensuring implementation and respect for international law.

The study provides a clear review of international humanitarian law, human rights law and refugee law designed to protect women.

ACCEPTANCE THERE MUST BE RULES

The fact that so many countries have signed and ratified the conventions show there is acceptance that there must be rules governing the means and methods of waging war.

The challenge is ensuring their respect for young women such as Sarah from Sierra Leone who describes with great dignity how as a child of 15 she was forced to serve as a "wife" to the soldiers who abducted her. She was released only when she became pregnant because, as her abductor explained to her: "How can I have a baby in the forest?"

The challenge is ensuring the respect of these rules for elderly women such as Qualam, forced to flee her home in central Afghanistan because of drought and fighting. Now struggling for survival in unfamiliar and barren surroundings which provide little more than the life she fled, she is dependent on humanitarian assistance.

As the study shows, the ICRC is providing assistance and protection for women affected by armed conflict or internal disturbances throughout the world.

Displaced women, detained women, women heading households made particularly vulnerable by hostilities, women in need of protection from threats or violence, those searching for news of their missing relatives and those in need of medical, food and material assistance are seeking out -- or are being sought out by -- the ICRC.

Through the research and work carried out for this study, the ICRC is working to strengthen still further its assistance, protection and support for women made vulnerable by war.

In saying this, the ICRC also pays tribute to those women who take no active part in hostilities but are coping on a daily basis resiliently and courageously with its effects.

Their strengths must not be forgotten and it should be more widely accepted that women need to be more closely involved in actions intended for their benefit.

LIMITS REGULARLY BREACHED

It is accepted that there are limits to warfare, yet those limits are regularly breached, and civilian women are increasingly at risk.

It is important to note that, in focusing specifically on women’s needs, the study is in no way intended to negate the particular needs and suffering of men in wartime, or to imply that women who are not involved in the action suffer more than their male counterparts.

Indeed, it is not easy to separate the impact of armed conflict on women from the impact of armed conflict on men.

To recall Dzidza's words, she is suffering from the violation of her right to know the fate of her missing relatives, as well as the impact on her daily life caused by the loss of the main income provider. Yet her husband and two sons, all civilians taking no part in the hostilities, also suffered an extreme violation -- their disappearance which, after so much time has passed, is likely to mean their deaths.

Violations such as these have led the ICRC to ask the wider question: how can we secure respect for the distinction between civilians and combatants in tomorrow's wars in order to prevent the progressive widening of the scope of violence?

War, international or internal, causes enormous suffering for those caught up in it. This study aims to demonstrate that women experience war in a multitude of ways, raging from taking an active part as combatants to being targeted as members of the civilian population or because they are women.

The protection to which women are entitled must become a reality. Constant efforts must be made to promote knowledge of, and compliance with, the rules of international humanitarian law by as wide an audience as possible and using all available means.

Everyone should be made responsible for improving the plight of women who take no active part in hostilities and ensuring that women such as Dzidza, Sarah and Qualam are protected from the effects of war.