Conference focuses on women and war

A conference at the University of Northern Iowa Monday focuses on the impact of war on women. Allen Hayes is one of the people who put the conference together.He says they’re going to try and address the increasing number of civilians and women who are victims in war. Hayes is also the director of the U-N-I Public Policy Program. He says their goal is to educate students on the problem and the reasons they should take notice. He says it’s almost become a cliché, but he says our countries are so interdependent now, that violence in other countries ultimately impacts all of us. And he says a compassionate person is concerned about any violence, whether it occurs in your town or thousand of miles away. Hayes says the conference takes a worldwide view. He says they’re not protesting any specific war, they’re just trying to call attention to the way the lines between soldiers and civilians in war is becoming blurred. Hayes says they will also discuss the increasing use of sexual violence against women in war. He says a number of militaries throughout the world have singled out, and the leaders have given deliberate orders to their men to sexually violate women during war. He says it happened in Bosnia and many other countries across the world. Hayes says they’ll have two national experts in violence against women in war at the conference.