Backers of the resolution, to be discussed in a session chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on June 19, argue it is needed because sexual violence in conflict zones — a war crime — has not often been made a priority.

They argue that if the Security Council defines the issue as a security matter — as it has done with issues such as climate change and AIDS — the resolution would fill a “doctrinal gap” and give peacekeepers the high-level, principled support needed.

Rape and war have been linked for millennia. What has shocked many is the use of sexual violence in wars in the Balkans, Sudan, Rwanda, Liberia and Democratic Republic of Congo, as a cheap, effective means to terrorise civilians.

And human rights campaigners say rape has been used as weapon of war for ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur.

“It is one of the areas of the international security response which is woefully, woefully weak,” said Anne-Marie Goetz, chief adviser on governance, peace and security at the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

“And it won’t be internalised in military doctrine until the Security Council enshrines it as a security threat.”

While peacekeeping missions are tasked with protecting civilians, military commanders acknowledge sexual violence is a huge problem in many modern conflicts but the mechanisms to confront it on the ground are often ad hoc.

They say sexual violence tends to be treated as a gender or human rights issue rather than being seen as a weapon of war.

The mandate for the U.N. mission in Democratic Republic of Congo does call on peacekeepers to prevent and report on sexual abuse, but it is a rare inclusion.

“The gravity of the problem was perhaps not understood. I think increasingly, Congo is one example and Darfur — these two stand out very glaringly — where sexual violence is actually being used as a strategy,” said Lieutenant General Jasbir Singh Lidder, who was U.N. force commander in Sudan until last month.

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