蘑菇视频

Thank you, Your Excellency, Mr. Ricardo Ernesto Lagorio, Permanent Representative of Argentina to the United Nations,

Under-Secretary General, Ms. Virginia Gamba,

Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of 蘑菇视频FPA, Ms. Natalia Kanem,

Distinguished participants,

Ladies and gentlemen,

A warm welcome to the聽tenth commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.

Every year since 2015, we have marked this occasion through expressions of solidarity with survivors and those working to support them on the frontlines, often at great personal risk. Yet despite increased international awareness, the global trendlines continue to worsen. Sexual violence continues to be used as a tactic of war, torture, terrorism and political repression, amid deepening security crises with civilians, particularly displaced, refugee and migrant women and girls, targeted with rape, gang rape and abductions by State and non-State armed groups. The annual Report of the Secretary-General covering the year 2023 recorded 3,688 蘑菇视频-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence, reflecting a dramatic increase of 50 per cent as compared with 2022.

Every year, we note that conflict-related sexual violence is chronically underreported, and that most cases never reach a clinic, let alone a courtroom. This is directly linked with the targeting of healthcare providers who document cases at point of service-delivery, often to silence and intimidate them, to destroy their information before it can become evidence, and to create a hostile environment that deters future reporting and response. In war-torn countries and regions, the dearth of data is directly linked to the paucity of service-provision.

Sexual violence has profound adverse effects on women鈥檚 physical, sexual, reproductive, and mental health. War means that services are least available, just when survivors of sexual and other violence need them most. We are witnessing so-called 鈥渟urgical strikes鈥� on surgical wards; the bombing of maternity clinics and hospitals; essential medical supplies being looted; and healthcare facilities being forced to close their doors and relocate to areas remote from the populations in desperate need. Unprecedented numbers of frontline service-providers are risking 鈥� and tragically losing 鈥� their lives in an attempt to carry-out their essential humanitarian work.

Recent annual reports to the Security Council, compiled by my Office, have highlighted attacks on health centers and constraints on humanitarian access in Ethiopia, Haiti, Mali, Myanmar, the State of Palestine, the Sudan, and Ukraine, as well as rising reprisals, in the form of harassment, threats and targeted violence, against healthcare workers. In the Sudan, shelling and aerial bombardments have decimated civilian infrastructure, including healthcare facilities. In Ukraine, over a thousand attacks on healthcare have been registered by the United Nations since Russia鈥檚 full-scale military invasion. According to WHO, there were 1,510 attacks on healthcare facilities in areas affected by armed conflict in 2023 – attacks that deprive civilians of urgently needed care, endanger health care providers, and undermine health systems.

The far-reaching impacts of attacks on healthcare are as disturbing as their frequency. In Sudan,聽while reports of sexual violence continue to emerge from both the capital and Darfur, 聽in areas affected by the fighting that erupted in April 2023 have closed. In Haiti, an alarming six out of ten hospitals are barely operational due to recent escalating violence in Port-Au-Prince.

Survivors of sexual violence need unimpeded and timely access to comprehensive services. In addition to physical injury, women and girls who are raped may be at risk of unwanted pregnancy or sexually transmitted infection, including HIV. If provided in time, emergency contraception can prevent an unwanted pregnancy, and post-exposure prophylaxis can prevent the transmission of HIV and other STIs. Victims of rape who have become HIV positive may need antiretroviral treatment and/or prophylaxis for prevention of mother-to-child transmission. The consequences are also dire for survivors who become pregnant as a result of rape. Women who are raped and impregnated in situations of armed conflict risk resorting to unsafe methods of abortion, and face increased rates of maternal and infant mortality.

In Kyiv, I heard the testimony of a woman who was raped by Russian forces and had to wait two months for their departure to find a gynaecologist who could treat her. In the meantime, she had developed severe medical complications. Her story is one of many which show that safe and timely access to healthcare is of paramount importance for survivors.

The military use of medical facilities and attacks on hospitals can pose grave, life-threatening dangers to persons who are pregnant or nursing, expectant mothers, and newborn babies, as we have witnessed in Gaza and Sudan over the past year.

Such attacks are unacceptable violations of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law. The right to seek medical assistance, especially in times of crisis, should never be denied. States have a positive obligation under IHL to ensure the special protection of medical establishments, personnel and supplies, and to permit unhindered relief actions. These provisions accord preferential treatment to pregnant women and nursing mothers, on account of their specific needs. Gynecological and obstetric assistance should always be considered an essential, lifesaving service in the context of humanitarian relief, especially as traditional information and referral networks often break down in times of war.

The world cannot stand silent while hospitals, which should be safe havens, are transformed into scenes of death, devastation, and despair. We must ensure their effective protection, and failing that, effective prosecution for parties in breach of humanitarian norms.

Ensuring the inviolability of healthcare facilities, even in the midst of war, is paramount for the protection of the basic human rights of survivors of sexual violence.

Horrific attacks are forcing thousands of survivors to forgo accessing health services, forcing women to give birth in bomb shelters, with power outages leaving premature and unwell infants without the incubators needed to sustain life.

The psychological effects on those too terrified and traumatized to seek assistance, and on health workers unable to provide care in safe environments, are significant, and will last long after the guns fall silent.

Today, on the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, we welcome the adoption of Security Council resolution 2736 last week, which demands that all parties to the conflict in Sudan, comply with their obligations under international law, and recalls that civilian facilities, including hospitals and clinics, must be respected and protected.

I call on all Member States and partners to continually advocate for safe access for the delivery of survivor-centered health-care services, in line with the promise of resolution 2467 (2019). This is critical to putting survivors at the heart of the collective humanitarian response.

It is imperative that survivors of sexual violence have unhindered, immediate and safe access to medical assistance and that humanitarian actors have the resources, access and conditions necessary to provide them with care.

It is our collective responsibility to ensure that healthcare facilities are never targeted by any party to armed conflict and that they can provide a space of safety and healing, where survivors can find solace to rebuild their lives with dignity and respect.

Let us stand in solidarity with the survivors and service-providers on the frontlines who are so often under-funded, under fire, and overwhelmed. Healthcare continues to be among the first and worst casualties of war. We must strive for full compliance with international norms, which afford healthcare structures and personnel special protection, while always remembering that no amount of assistance or protection is a substitute for peace. Let us continue working, on this day and every day, to silence the guns, amplify the voices of survivors, and champion their right not merely to survive, but to thrive, in conditions of healing and hope.

Thank you.