Podcast Summary: The Interview – Baroness Arminka Helic on Preventing Sexual Violence in War
BBC World Service, January 14, 2026
Host: Lucy Hawkings

Main Theme

This episode centers on Baroness Arminka Helic’s lifelong work to prevent sexual violence in conflict zones and support survivors. Having fled the Bosnian war as a refugee, Baroness Helic brings deep personal insight to her advocacy. The conversation explores her journey to the UK House of Lords, the roots and progress of the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative, the persistent challenges of accountability and stigma, and the broader political landscape affecting humanitarian action and women’s voices in wartime.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Baroness Helic’s Journey from Refugee to House of Lords Member

• Formative Years and British Identity

  • Fled Bosnia during wartime, arriving in the UK in her twenties (03:25).
  • Initial years focused purely on survival:

    “I actually lived in a now all the time. The important thing was to make it that day and stay focused. …But those were my formative years, and they were not fun years, but they were years when I learned a lot about myself, what I was capable of.” – Baroness Arminka Helic (03:48)

  • Grateful for the kindness shown by strangers, which deeply shaped her worldview and commitment to humanity above all else.

• Becoming a Life Peer

  • Surprised and honored when offered a seat in the House of Lords.

    “I was really proud, because I thought the Britain that I idealized and the country that I love… it really exists.” (05:46)

  • Sees her experience as proof of Britain’s capacity for inclusion and values her unique perspective in debates on asylum and conflict.

2. Understanding Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV)

• Definition and Prevalence

  “It is the use of rape and sexual violence against women and girls, babies, men and boys, in order to destroy families, communities, individuals. It is used as a part of ethnic cleansing and genocide because it is a horrific cheap crime…” (10:39)

  • This violence remains pervasive in modern conflict zones (Ukraine, Middle East, Africa).

• Origin of Baroness Helic’s Advocacy

  • Awareness increased after witnessing atrocities in Bosnia, but real focus came after viewing Angelina Jolie’s film In the Land of Blood and Honey and collaborating with Jolie and former UK Foreign Secretary William Hague on the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (12:00–13:00).

3. Accountability and Stigma: The Ongoing Battle

• Failures in Prosecuting Perpetrators

  “Until and unless people who are responsible… are taken to courts and prosecuted for the crimes that have been committed, we are going to have a problem.” (02:29, reiterated at 13:46)

  • Stigma prevents many survivors from testifying, but prominent figures like Nadia Murad and survivors from Bosnia, Kosovo, Rohingya communities, and Sudan are changing the narrative.

• Progress and Shortcomings

  “We have managed to raise the awareness, but we haven’t managed to defeat it…. For as long as we turn a blind eye to it or consider it to be a lesser crime, we cannot make progress.” (13:46, 16:20)

  • Some progress in Ukraine, Colombia (especially regarding male victims), and through the work of Nobel Laureates Dr. Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad.

4. The Politics of Attention: Humanitarian Crises and Action

• Starvation as a Weapon of War

  • The host notes the growing attention to the use of starvation in war (e.g., Gaza, Sudan), but Helic criticizes the world’s passivity:

    “Attention is there, but attention is not enough. You have to have a concrete action being taken.” (18:56)

  • Discusses the moral jeopardy in conflating humanitarian advocacy with accusations of antisemitism:

    “You can’t label people who have a problem with food not being allowed anti Semitic, because in a way, you devalue the whole concept of antisemitism. It’s horrendous.” (19:25)

• Obstacles to Leveraging Power

  • Leadership is needed to use international levers (diplomacy, trade, sanctions):

    “Deterrent comes not when you have a crisis. You want to act before a crisis…” (22:35)

  • But political and economic interests often supersede human rights (23:12).

5. The Challenge of Social Media and Advocacy Fatigue

• Fragmented Attention

  • Confronts the difficulty of communicating across media “silos”:

    “These are big ideas and messages…How do you breach this world that we’re living in right now, where people’s attention is so focused…?” (20:52)

• Importance of Leadership and Education

  • Calls for leaders unafraid to address uncomfortable truths and for education as a long-term solution to prejudice and apathy (21:18).

6. Women's Voices and Documentation

• Seen Progress for Women in War
  • Mechanisms to record and preserve testimony help survivors assert their stories and can support future justice efforts:

    “Because of what the initiative did to help others speak and that someone is going to record it. That someone is going to potentially have that record preserved so that one day justice can be done.” (23:53)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “I think it has given me a gift of seeing humanity before I see anything else.” – Baroness Arminka Helic (04:46)
• “Behind every one of those faces and numbers, there is an individual. …That human being did not ask to be ethnically cleansed, did not want to leave their home.” (08:03)
• “I always hope…to remind my colleagues and people who are decision makers. Do not forget that these are people just like us. …We cannot live behind walls.” (09:00)
• “We mustn’t consider this issue to be of a lesser importance. Like when I first heard about it, I was like, well, there are other things that need to be done. I was guilty of the same attitude. It is important to hear what women have been through.” (13:46)
• “We are in a new era where human rights have been replaced by trade and economic interests, and they have almost entirely depleted our ability to show humanity to people on the other side.” (23:12)

Important Segment Timestamps

• 03:25 – Baroness Helic on arriving as a refugee and formative experiences
• 05:41 – Recollection of entering the House of Lords
• 08:03 – How the refugee experience shaped her worldview
• 10:39 – Explanation of conflict-related sexual violence
• 12:00–13:00 – The origins and development of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative
• 13:46 – On the current situation and the crucial issue of accountability
• 16:20 – Examples of progress (Ukraine, Colombia, work of Nadia Murad and Dr. Mukwege)
• 18:56 – Critique of insufficient global action in humanitarian crises (Gaza, Sudan)
• 19:25 – On the misuse of the charge of antisemitism in humanitarian debates
• 21:18 – The impact of “siloed” social media and the need for leadership in messaging
• 23:53 – Progress in amplifying women’s voices and preserving testimonies

Tone & Conclusion

The conversation is rich, direct, and personal, marked by empathy and moral clarity. Baroness Helic speaks with urgency about the suffering caused by war and the preventable atrocities committed against civilians, especially women and children. She insists that only real accountability, political will, and international solidarity – not just attention – will create lasting change.

For further episodes and in-depth conversations, listen to The Interview from the BBC World Service.