Well whaddya know, UN Women managed to issue a statement about women for a change. No mention of trans women at all.

Today, on the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, and every day, UN Women unequivocally condemns all acts of sexual and gender-based violence wherever, whenever, and against whomever they are perpetrated. On this day, UN Women particularly recognizes the resilience of women and girls who continue to find solutions, build networks of support, and raise their voices amidst threats and limited resources.

Before you say “But they said ‘gender-based'” – yes but they said it along with ‘sexual’. I take the point to be that sexual violence is rape and the like, while gender-based violence against women is beating and shooting and throwing out of windows and all the rest of the physical violence men perpetrate on women. I don’t think it’s a nod to men who pretend to be women.

Sexual violence in conflict, as a devastating form of attack and repression, continues to be used as a tactic of war that impacts women and girls distinctively. Its devastating consequences reverberate across generations, tearing apart the social fabric of communities and hindering nations from achieving lasting peace.

At UN Women, we are working every day to eliminate this atrocity. We work with survivors, women human rights defenders, women’s civil society organizations, and governments to address sexual violence in conflict with urgency, to dismantle structural gender inequality and discrimination, and to prevent sexual violence from happening in the first place. We advocate for survivor-centred services and justice.

Our mission is clear: we strive every day for a world where no woman or girl is subjected to any form of violence, anywhere.

The end. The adults got control of the statement machine for today. I hope they can hang on to it from now on.