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Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished participants, good morning.

Thank you, Chancellor Commanda, for the warm introduction. I sincerely regret not joining you in person. Allow me to commend the Research Network on Women, Peace and Security for convening its third WPS Symposium, which provides space for strategic reflection at a time of great global turbulence.

With conflicts raging, tensions rising, and coups erupting, the threats to women and girls have never been more stark.

As we speak, in Sudan and Haiti, women and girls are being brutalized and terrorized by sexual violence. In Afghanistan, the denial of women’s basic rights is destroying lives and livelihoods. Two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, displaced and refugee women and girls are at increased risk of being preyed on by traffickers. In the Middle East, women and girls are disproportionately affected by the ongoing violence, bloodshed, and displacement: they are among the many victims of the 7 October attacks by Hamas, and comprise more than half of the victims of the relentless bombing of Gaza.

The collective challenges before us are daunting. The figures speak for themselves: the number of people forced to flee war and persecution has surpassed 110 million; global military expenditure has exceeded a record-breaking 2.2 trillion USD; and more than 600 million women and girls now live in conflict-affected countries.

With militarization on the march and democracy in retreat, we are witnessing shrinking civic space, backlash against gender equality, chronic underfunding of women’s organizations, and rising reprisals against human rights defenders and journalists. To protect hard-won gains, and pushback on the pushback, we need an urgent rebalancing of power and resources.

24 years after the adoption of resolution 1325, women remain marginalized from military decision-making, yet continue to be directly and disproportionately targeted by men’s wars. Peace processes are likewise an almost exclusively male domain. The one thing that should be non-negotiable at the peace table is the participation of women, yet, of 18 agreements reached in 2022, only one was signed by a representative of a women’s group. Women represented just 16 percent of negotiators or delegates in peace processes led or co-led by the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ. This is despite ample evidence linking women’s participation with durable peace.

Between 70 and 90 percent of conflict-related sexual violence incidents involve the use of a weapon, in particular firearms. Yet less than one-third of voices heard in arms control forums are those of women.

Impunity for war crimes against women remains the rule, and accountability the rare exception. Left unchecked, conflict-related sexual violence sets back both the cause of gender equality and the cause of peace.

Amidst a world in chaos, the clock is ticking down to the twenty-fifth anniversary of resolution 1325, which not only articulated a problem, but also prescribed a transformative solution. It forever changed the face of peace and security, by affirming that no crisis is gender neutral, and no effective response can be gender-blind.

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The Security Council agenda on conflict-related sexual violence was built on this very platform.

It recognized that sexual violence has historically been a cheap and effective tactic of war, torture, terror, and political repression: cheap, because perpetrators know that the victims will be unlikely to report due to stigma, shame, and reprisals; and effective because it attacks not only the victim, but also their family and community. It is a crime with consequences that echo across societies and generations.

Wartime sexual violence is not a ‘niche’ technical issue that can be addressed in isolation from prevailing geopolitics. Global macrotrends are turning the clock further and further back on women’s rights, and leaving survivors further and further behind. Every new wave of warfare brings with it a rising tide of sexual violence. The challenge before us is to demonstrate to survivors that international law is not an empty promise, and to perpetrators that it is not an empty threat. This is nothing short of a credibility test for the multilateral system.

My mandate as Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict was only established in 2009, though sexual violence has been part of every war from antiquity to the nuclear age. The past 15 years have ushered in a dramatic shift in paradigm and perspective, catalysing normative, institutional, and operational change.

The Security Council has adopted a robust normative framework consisting of 10 resolutions on Women, Peace and Security, including no fewer than 5 specifically addressing conflict-related sexual violence. This recognition showed survivors that their ordeal would be taken seriously, not only as a violation of individual rights, but also as a threat to collective security. It affirmed to peacemakers, peacekeepers, and peacebuilders that there could be no security without women’s security. It directly engaged stakeholders responsible for imposing sanctions; mandating peacekeeping missions; monitoring ceasefires; countering terrorism; establishing Commissions of Inquiry; and referring situations to the International Criminal Court.

The normative framework was reinforced with institutional arrangements for its implementation. These include my Team of Experts on the Rule of Law, which has assisted national authorities to strengthen safeguards against impunity in over a dozen countries, and the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Action coordination network, which has supported more than 50 projects across 18 conflict-affected settings.

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While significant normative and institutional progress has been achieved, words on paper are not yet matched by facts on the ground.

The annual Report of the Secretary-General on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, compiled by my Office, paints a disturbing picture of the gap between commitments and compliance, resolutions and reality. It depicts how attacks on health centres make services least accessible, just when they are needed most. In Ethiopia, Haiti, Mali, Ukraine and elsewhere, access to life-saving services, including sexual and reproductive care, is curtailed by insecurity. Restrictions on employing women in humanitarian aid delivery, in contexts such as Afghanistan and Yemen, have tested the commitment of the international community to its core humanitarian and WPS principles.

The report further demonstrates that even as entrenched cycles of violence remain unbroken, new threats emerge. Gender-based

harassment and hate speech are surging in the relatively ungoverned digital space. An array of new actors, such as mercenaries and private military and security companies, are complicating attribution and accountability on contemporary battlefields. Climate-driven insecurity and displacement is exacerbating competition over scarce resources, increasing intercommunal violence, including sexual violence, notably in Somalia and South Sudan. Moreover, the security umbrella for protection and assistance is closing, as peacekeeping missions drawdown in Mali, Sudan, and the DRC.

In each of the situations I cover, I use my public advocacy platform and direct diplomatic outreach, to galvanize action in response to credible, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ-verified information.

For instance, in Sudan, since the conflict erupted on 15th April between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, sexual violence against displaced and refugee women and girls has spiked. Last September, I visited the border area, where women’s bodies are on the frontlines of conflict. Young women have been abducted from dormitories and hospitals, shackled, and transported in the back of pick-up trucks by fighters, to be sold in slave markets in Northern Darfur. Women and girls have been targeted for rape, gang-rape, and abduction on the basis of their ethnicity. Impunity for war crimes in this region since 2003 has emboldened perpetrators, silenced survivors, and undermined prospects for peace. Multiple ceasefires have been brokered and broken since the fighting reignited, with women excluded from the processes that will shape the future of Sudan.

In June, I visited eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, following alarming reports of a spike in sexual violence due to the resumption of hostilities. Many of the women and girls I met had been recently raped, including while undertaking essential livelihood activities, such as searching for food, or collecting wood and water. They faced an impossible choice between economic subsistence and sexual violence – between their livelihoods and their lives. In this climate of interlinked physical and food insecurity, brothels have proliferated in and around displacement camps, with women and girls driven into prostitution by sheer economic desperation.

According to the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, the conflict in Tigray has left more than 10,000 survivors

of rape, sexual slavery, and forced pregnancy in desperate need of assistance and redress. Yet, due to restricted access and official denial, these survivors are left to suffer in silence.

One of the few bright spots on the horizon is the case of Colombia, where peace negotiations have almost attained gender parity, and historic progress is being made in terms of transitional justice. The Special Jurisdiction for Peace has opened a dedicated case on sexual and gender-based violence, known as ‘Macro Case 11’. In May 2023, during my official visit, I heard from survivors about the transformative power of recognition and reparations.

There are also signs of progress in Guinea, where a former Head of State and 10 senior officials are standing trial before domestic courts for crimes of sexual violence used to quash a pro-democracy rally in 2009. In the Central African Republic, the Special Criminal Court issued its first conviction last year, including for acts of sexual violence amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity. In Nigeria, sexual violence was included in an indictment against Boko Haram, contributing to evolving jurisprudence on sexual violence as a tactic of terrorism.

I have just returned from Israel and the occupied West Bank, where I met with a range of actors to gather facts relating to sexual violence reportedly committed in the context of the brutal attacks of 7 October and their aftermath. The findings are currently being compiled and will be made public later this month.

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In terms of our operational impact, today, the United Nations is reaching and supporting thousands of survivors who had once been invisible and inaccessible. Peacekeepers are trained to prevent, detect, and deter sexual violence as part of their operational readiness standards; these offences have become an integral part of international criminal investigations; and 9 of the 15 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ sanctions regimes include sexual violence as part of their designation criteria.

My methodology entails securing commitments with national authorities in affected countries to prevent and address sexual violence, anchored at the highest level, and translated into concrete implementation plans. To date, my Office has signed such agreements with 12 countries, the most recent being Ukraine.

Since taking office in 2017, my work has been guided by three strategic priorities:

Firstly, converting cultures of impunity into cultures of prevention and deterrence through effective prosecution;

Secondly, addressing structural gender-based inequality and discrimination as the root cause and invisible driver of sexual violence in times of war and peace; and

Thirdly, fostering national ownership, leadership, and responsibility for a sustainable, survivor-centred response.

From day one, I have made the survivor-centred approach my top priority. Indeed, resolution 2467 of 2019, marked a turning point in calling for a holistic approach centred on survivors’ rights, needs, and wishes, that ensures their full and meaningful participation in the decisions that affect their lives. Recovery, after all, is a deeply personal journey that must be rights-based and trauma-informed.

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This year marks the 15th anniversary of my mandate, which provides an opportunity to take stock of progress and chart the way forward. Today, we know more than ever before about the drivers and dynamics, causes and consequences, of wartime sexual violence. To translate this into practical results, my mandate has developed a range of tools to build the skill and will for effective action. These include model legislative provisions and guidance to help harmonize national laws with international standards, and a prevention framework, which sets out a two-track approach to preventing sexual violence in the first instance, and mitigating its secondary harms, such as stigma. My Office has also published a Special Report on women and girls who become pregnant as a result of sexual violence in conflict and children born of such violence, which spans 24 conflicts from 1990 to the present, and sets out a platform of legal, policy, and operational recommendations in response to this global protection gap.

We are continually expanding the circle of allies and forging strategic partnerships with civil society, the private sector, faith-based organizations, and academia. It is my hope that the Framework of Cooperation signed last May with the University of Ottawa will foster collaboration among scholars, policymakers, and practitioners, to

facilitate the exchange of ideas, and generate evidence-based responses to one of the great security challenges of our time.

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Participants, ladies and gentlemen, we have reached an inflection point in this agenda. We must either consolidate the gains made in recent years, or risk their reversal in the face of raging conflicts, runaway military spending, and democratic retreat.

To close the implementation gap, survivors need more than our solidarity. They need tangible support in the form of accountability, reparations, and socioeconomic reintegration. We cannot continue to short-change survivors and those delivering on their behalf.

I will continue, in my advocacy role, to urge the international community to give this agenda the attention and investment it deserves, to replace horror with healing and hope. As we prepare to mark next year the 25th anniversary of resolution 1325 and 30 years of the Beijing Platform for Action, let us seize this momentum for decisive, united action that is – at last – equal to the scale of the challenge.

Thank you.

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