Thank you for this opportunity to engage with your Committee to present my mandate and to explore avenues of collaboration within the framework of the Cooperation Agreement I signed with the IPU last June.
My mandate is about the prevention and response to conflict-related sexual violence- the world鈥檚 least-reported and least-condemned crime. Sexual violence during and in the wake of war, has been shrouded in a conspiracy of silence that shields the perpetrators and isolates the victims. With a conflict, unprecedented in both scale and speed, unfolding in Ukraine, global partnerships are more important than ever before, to amplify an array of vital voices on a subject that has been rightly called 鈥渉istory鈥檚 greatest silence鈥�.
My mandate was established in 2009 through the unanimous adoption of United Nations Security Council resolution 1888, to provide coherent and strategic leadership to global efforts on the prevention and response to conflict-related sexual violence; to work effectively to strengthen existing United Nations coordination mechanisms; and to engage in advocacy efforts, with governments, including military and judicial representatives, as well as with all parties to armed conflict and civil society. However, it was in 2008, that the issue of sexual violence as a tactic of war was first elevated onto the agenda of the world鈥檚 paramount peace and security body, the United Nations Security Council, through the adoption of resolution 1820. Sexual violence was seen as a threat to collective security, an impediment to the restoration of peace, and a crime of concern to the international community as a whole. For the first time, wars were being looked at through the eyes of women and girls whose bodies had been part of the battlefield.
Resolution 1820 was built on the firm foundation of International Humanitarian Law, which enshrines a categorical prohibition of sexual violence in situations of both international and non-international armed conflict. This prohibition is now over 70 years old, and universally binding on all parties to armed conflict, both State and non-State actors, though, regrettably, it remains far from universally enforced. Since, as part of its Women, Peace, and Security agenda, the Security Council has adopted six specific thematic resolutions on conflict-related sexual violence with the latest one in 2019 -resolution 2467, calling for a holistic, survivor-centered approach in the prevention and response to conflict-related sexual violence.
In terms of operational impact, today the United Nations system is reaching and supporting thousands of survivors who had once been invisible and inaccessible. Peacekeepers are now systematically trained on how to prevent, deter and respond to sexual violence as part of their operational readiness to protect civilians. Sexual violence offences are now an integral part of international criminal investigations. Stand-alone designation criteria on sexual violence have been included in the sanctions regimes for the Central African Republic, the DRC, Libya, Somalia and South Sudan. The two operational arms of my mandate, the 蘑菇视频 Team of Experts on the Rule of Law, and the 蘑菇视频 Action network, are supporting survivors through concrete projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, the DRC, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and elsewhere.
One important tool at the disposal of the Security Council to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law is the listing of parties to armed conflict credibly suspected of committing patterns of rape and other forms of sexual violence. Parties are listed in the annual report of the Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence for the Security Council鈥檚 action. Once listed, these parties must engage in timebound commitments to end sexual violence in conflict within their ranks. However, the level of compliance by parties to conflict remains appallingly low. Non-State armed groups constitute the majority of credibly suspected perpetrators that are listed in the Secretary-General鈥檚 annual report. Leveraging behavioral change on the part of non-State actors, to ensure they comply with international norms, is a critical challenge for my mandate moving forward.
Although several such groups have begun to engage in condemning sexual violence by their members, as in South Sudan, Mali and the Central African Republic, yet of the 49 parties listed in the latest report (including several groups that have been designated as terrorist entities), 36 are non-State actors that have made no commitments to prevent sexual violence, despite most of them having been listed for several years. We must bring added scrutiny and pressure to bear to ensure they cease these violations and prevent their recurrence. If civilians continue to suffer sexual violence in situations of armed conflict, it is not for a lack of international norms and institutions to protect them. It is because existing norms are inadequately implemented and enforced. It is also because existing institutions are not backed with sustained political and financial support.
The annual report of the Secretary-General for the year 2021 which will be debated before the Security Council in an Open Debate on 13 April, paints a very gloomy picture- with militarization, shrinking civic space, and rising inequality severely impacting the work of the United Nations, including my mandate. Military interventions were pursued at the expense of diplomatic solutions, provoking mass displacement, economic and security shocks, all in the midst of an ongoing pandemic. The report underscores that these humanitarian, security and political crises exacerbated the root causes that perpetuate these crimes, including structural gender-based inequality and harmful social norms. The report, which covers 18 countries, documents over 3,300 蘑菇视频-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence committed in the course of 2021, representing a significant increase, of some 800 蘑菇视频-verified cases, compared with 2020. The vast majority of incidents recorded during the reporting period targeted women and girls (96 per cent), although we note that conflict-related sexual violence remains vastly underreported.
Some of the key themes featured in this year鈥檚 report include:
o The epidemic of coup d鈥櫭﹖ats seen in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Myanmar, and the Sudan, which were followed by widespread insecurity, economic shocks, and human rights violations, including the use of sexual violence, notably against peaceful protestors and political prisoners. In certain settings, the actors that seized power had been implicated in patterns of conflict-related sexual violence documented for several years in the annual reports, such as the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Tatmadaw in Myanmar. The report highlights the reality of this historic moment, underscoring concerns about the escalation of conflict in Ukraine for the protection of civilians, particularly displaced women and girls.
o The report also stresses the diminished reach of humanitarian assistance in all contexts, amid overlapping crisis, which has disrupted the functioning of social and judicial services, and dramatically curtailed the space for humanitarian workers and human rights monitors. Service providers were subjected to threats and attacks compelling the closure of essential services, including emergency post-rape care and sexual and reproductive health. Longstanding barriers to reporting, such as stigma, fear of retaliation, and weak rule of law institutions, already exacerbated by the pandemic, deepened owing to conflict and political crisis.
o The report documents the continued targeting of women peacebuilders and human rights defenders through gender-based hate speech and reprisals. The disturbing trend of misogynistic attacks on women鈥檚 rights defenders, including in online platforms; the targeting of women in public life through sexual violence and threats, as observed over the years in Afghanistan, Colombia, Libya, Yemen and elsewhere, are highlighted.
o In terms of accountability, the report notes that impunity remains the norm and the pace of justice is still painfully slow. A few landmark judgments handed down in 2021, in relation to sexual violence crimes committed in Colombia, Guatemala and Syria, are highlighted.
My mandate looks to provide not only data but solutions to these issues. My Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict is at the disposal of Member States with their consent and approval to strengthen national rule of law responses to conflict-related sexual violence. 蘑菇视频 Network Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, which I chair, has grown to 21 entities so that we as the 蘑菇视频 can deliver as one on conflict-related sexual violence.
Ladies and gentlemen, my mandate signed a framework of cooperation with the Inter-Parliamentary Union last June because we recognize that parliamentarians are essential to solutions to the issues I have raised today. You have the power to ensure that all forms of sexual violence as a tactic of war are criminalized and that there are survivor-centered prosecutions for violations with due process of law. You can also ensure that security sector actors in your home countries are required by law to be gender-responsive including through vetting, training, codes of conduct, zero-tolerance policies, and adequate disciplinary measures. Finally, you can ensure that the voices of survivors of sexual violence in conflict and affected communities where violations of international humanitarian law occurred are heard in parliaments and are a meaningful part of your parliamentary deliberations on security, peacebuilding, and justice.
I would very much like to engage with this Committee on concrete actions we can take together to address conflict-related sexual violence. I look forward to our discussion today and to regular interactions with you on these important issues.