Women’s survival and happiness should not be linked to how desirable they are to men, President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca said today.

Addressing a forum entitled ‘Sexual violence in conflict and beyond,’ Ms Coleiro Preca said that if women fell into this trap, they were already victims of “systemic oppression”.

“We must shift out perceptions away from a world in which only one kind of human being is celebrated. We must understand that in reality, our lives are far more complex and diverse, and full of meaning.

“We must stand together to end cycles of gender violence and abuses of power. These do not only take place many miles away, in war zones. Unfortunately, gender violence is also present within some of our families and communities too,” Ms Coleiro Preca said.

She said that soldiers in conflict zones often saw the rape of women as their entitlement. In some instances, women were purposely infected with sexually transmitted diseases, the President said.

Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga, who is in Malta on a working visit, described sexual violence against women as one of the most silent weapons of war.

She urged people to speak out against sexual violence, saying that it could not be accepted as an unavoidable part of war or dismissed acts perpetrated by individual soldiers.

She thanked President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca for helping give women who suffered sexual violence in conflict zones a voice.