蘑菇视频

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

It is a pleasure to join you today for this critical and timely conversation. Allow me to extend my gratitude to the United States Institute for Peace for organizing this event, especially to USIP President, Lise Grande, and to Kathleen Kuehnast, Director of Gender Policy and Strategy, for providing this opportunity to shed light on a particularly dark chapter of history unfolding right now in Ukraine, including mounting allegations, and harrowing personal testimonies, of conflict-related sexual violence.

Today鈥檚 event directly follows the grim milestone of 100 days of war in Ukraine. In 100 days, the conflict has claimed thousands of lives; displaced close to 14 million civilians; and inflamed a global food, energy, and financial crisis, with ripple effects that reach far beyond the battlefield to compound the suffering of some of the most vulnerable populations, in some of the most fragile countries on earth. As one Ukrainian woman reflected: 鈥�In 100 days, it feels as if we have aged 100 years鈥�. At the same time, it also feels as if we have been plunged into the distant past, and compelled to relive medieval horrors of looting, pillage, and rape 鈥� the ancient trilogy of wartime terror. What should long ago have been consigned to the history books is again in our daily headlines. Indeed, every new wave of conflict brings with it a rising tide of human tragedy, including new waves of war鈥檚 oldest, most silenced, and least-condemned crime.

Since I took Office in 2017, I have consistently stated that conflict-related sexual violence does not occur in a vacuum, but is tied to broader security dynamics, such as the resurgence of hostilities, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, mass population displacement, and the proximity of combatants to civilian population centers. In the midst of active conflict, sexual violence is often invisible, but is rarely non-existent. 聽

History has taught us the danger of dismissing wartime sexual violence as the 鈥�random acts of a few renegade soldiers鈥� or 鈥�a few rogue units鈥�, or of assuming that it is merely an 鈥�inevitable byproduct of war鈥�. Conflict-related sexual violence has been rightly recognized as a self-standing threat to collective security, and an impediment to the restoration of peace. It can constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity, and/or a constituent act of genocide. This means that it can no longer be written off as mere 鈥�collateral damage鈥�, but must be reflected on the historical record, addressed in transitional justice processes, and excluded from the scope of amnesty provisions. The normative framework developed by the United Nations Security Council since 2008, through a series of robust resolutions, provides a set of diplomatic and political tools to prevent and punish these grave crimes. These resolutions, from 1820 in 2008 to 2467 in 2019, signaled a sea change in terms of treating wartime sexual violence as a security issue that carries real consequences, and demands an immediate security, justice, and service-delivery response, rather than being a second-class crime against second-class citizens. Yet this new paradigm and policy consensus is being put to the test by the conflict in Ukraine, and by the epidemic of coups and military takeovers escalating behind the scenes, from Afghanistan to Myanmar, Sudan, Mali, and elsewhere.

The question must therefore be asked: Are we making full and effective use of the tools at our disposal? Are we turning commitments on paper into compliance in practice?

Globally, wartime sexual violence remains a chronically underreported crime, owing to the fear of reprisals, revictimization, stigmatization, and ostracism faced by survivors, compounded by insecurity, the paucity of service-provision, and lack of humanitarian access in conflict-affected settings. Humanitarian experts in the field estimate that for every rape reported to a clinic or service-provider, 10 to 20 cases go unreported and unaddressed.

Although there is never accurate book-keeping on an active battlefield, it is clear that in the context of Ukraine, all the warning signs for the commission of atrocity crimes, including conflict-related sexual violence, are flashing red. Following the Russian invasion on the 24^th of February, I issued a series of public statements calling on all parties to refrain from committing sexual violence; to avoid attacks on essential healthcare infrastructure; to prioritize life-saving assistance for survivors of sexual violence as part of the humanitarian response; and to ensure swift and rigorous investigations as a basis for accountability. We have all seen the harrowing images of this conflict 鈥� of the bodies of women and girls strewn naked in the streets, and of women and children killed while trying to flee to safety. We have all heard the accounts of horrific acts of sexual violence, reports of gang rape, rape in front of family members, sexual assault at gunpoint, women who have become pregnant as a result of rape, as well as the reports of refugee women and children being exploited by traffickers and predators, who view this turmoil not as a tragedy, but as an opportunity, to abuse the vulnerable. While women and girls are particularly and disproportionately targeted, reports have also surfaced of sexual violence against men and boys, including Prisoners of War. The failure to address 鈥� or to even acknowledge 鈥� these atrocities is the surest sign that they will continue unabated. It is starkly evident that lawlessness is tantamount to 鈥�license to rape鈥�, and that a culture of impunity fuels violations, and emboldens their authors. Unpunished crime is repeated crime. All actors complicit in this criminality 鈥� from the highest levels of government, to the foot soldiers in the field 鈥� must face the full force of the law.

Against this backdrop, at the request and invitation of the Ukrainian authorities, I traveled to Lyiv and Kyiv from 2 to 6 May, and also visited two of the frontline refugee-receiving countries, Poland and Moldova, in light of concerns about the cross-border trafficking of Ukrainian women and children, including for the purposes of sexual exploitation and prostitution. This visit resulted in the signing of a Framework of Cooperation on the prevention and response to conflict-related sexual violence with the Government of Ukraine on the 3^rd of May in Kyiv. This follows the operational methodology of my mandate, which recognizes that the United Nations can support, but can never supplant, the primary responsibility of States to protect their populations. Accordingly, our aim is to foster national leadership and responsibility, and to assist States to bolster their domestic capacity to protect, through structured agreements.

The Framework includes five critical objectives:

• Firstly, ensuring that survivors of sexual violence, as well as their children, have access to comprehensive services.
• Secondly, strengthening the rule of law and accountability as a central pillar of prevention, deterrence, and non-repetition.
• Thirdly, building the capacity of the security and defense sector to prevent sexual violence, including by the more than 100,000 active volunteer forces.
• Fourth, ensuring that sexual violence is specifically reflected in the provisions of any ceasefire or peace agreement, including those related to security arrangements and transitional justice mechanisms.
• And fifth, addressing concerns related to conflict-driven trafficking in persons for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

Massive destruction of urban settlements and civilian infrastructure has made life unbearable for millions of innocent civilians, and has severely disrupted essential public services. More than half of all attacks against healthcare facilities in the world this year have occurred in Ukraine. Supply routes have also been disrupted, thereby jeopardizing access to medicine and medical equipment. Gender-based violence services, and reproductive healthcare, are least available, just when they are needed most. While the United Nations system is still working to corroborate many of the allegations of sexual violence, I would like to reiterate that we do not need hard data for a scaled-up humanitarian response. We do not need hard data for all parties to take precautions and preventive measures, in line with International Humanitarian Law, to spare civilian populations and their property from attack, and to ensure zero tolerance for sexual violence. This is a historically hidden, invisible crime, which is chronically underreported in times of war and peace.

Implementation of the Framework of Cooperation, on the side of the Government of Ukraine, will be led by the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, who has convened an Inter-Governmental Task Force consisting of relevant line Ministries and institutions, including the Ministries of Justice, Defense, Interior, Health and Social Services, as well as the Commissioner for Gender, the Office of the Prosecutor General, and the Office of the Ombudsman, as part of a cross-sectoral, 鈥渨hole-of-government鈥� approach. The role of local civil society organizations will also be essential, particularly in terms of ensuring a tailored, survivor-centered approach, which gives precedence to the rights, needs, and aspirations of survivors, and treats them not as passive beneficiaries, but as the co-creators of solutions.

As relates to the United Nations system, the Framework provides entry points for operational entities to strengthen and coordinate their work on conflict-related sexual violence, including by supporting the national authorities to align Ukraine鈥檚 National Action Plan on Security Council resolution 1325 with the substantive elements of the Framework of Cooperation. While my Office will continue to provide strategic and technical support, the implementation process must be driven from the ground. It is therefore my intention to deploy a team of Women鈥檚 Protection Advisers to Ukraine, who will play an instrumental role in enhancing our monitoring, analysis, reporting, and response; as well as to provide OHCHR鈥檚 Human Rights Monitoring Mission to Ukraine with specialized capacity. Moreover, my Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict has conducted a mapping of ongoing accountability initiatives, following discussions with experts involved in the recently established Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group, in order to ensure complementarity between the various efforts underway to support the investigation and prosecution of sexual violence crimes. To that end, we are considering the deployment of dedicated staff within the Office of the Prosecutor General, building on best practices from the Team鈥檚 previous work to strengthen institutional safeguards against impunity, and build the technical capacity of police, prosecutors, and the judiciary, in countries such as the DRC and the Central African Republic. Coordination will be critical to reduce the risk of retraumatizing victims and witnesses, or tainting their testimony, through repeat interviewing. I also intend to deploy a specialist on trafficking in persons to ensure a coherent regional approach in response to these concerns. In Poland and Moldova, I witnessed first-hand the challenges at border crossing points in reconciling open border policies with the identification of risks facing vulnerable persons. With over 90 per cent of those fleeing Ukraine being women and children, this humanitarian crisis risks becoming a human trafficking crisis. Thus, there is an urgent need for a coordinated regional approach by humanitarian actors, law enforcement agencies, border guards, immigration officials, and political leaders, as Ukrainian refugees are moving rapidly and fluidly across Europe.

Refugee-receiving countries need support to put in place vetting systems to register and screen organizations, companies, and individual volunteers who are offering assistance to refugees, to ensure that reception, transit, and service centres operate in accordance with 鈥淒o No Harm鈥� principles. This includes oversight of the buses and minivans that are transporting refugees free of charge from border points to other European destinations. Additionally, support must be provided to these refugee-receiving countries to scale-up response services for survivors of sexual violence, including information provision and appropriate referral pathways for sexual and reproductive healthcare, as well as psychological support.

My mandate requires engagement with all parties to conflict to encourage the adoption of specific preventive measures, in line with relevant Security Council resolutions. This includes the issuance of clear orders through military chains of command that reinforce zero tolerance for sexual violence, and the designation of high-level civilian and military focal points to engage with the 蘑菇视频 in this regard. While it continues to be challenging to monitor and verify violations, due to the ongoing conflict and access constraints, particularly to occupied areas not under Ukrainian Government control, I would note that the 蘑菇视频 has to date received 118 reported incidents of conflict-related sexual violence, of which 42 have been verified. Some of these reports involve forces of the Russian Federation, hence I have also directly engaged with representatives from Russia to debrief on the findings of my visit to the region, and to ensure these concerns are addressed.

This morning, I briefed the United Nations Security Council on the key findings of my visit, with a focus on the heightened risks of trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, which is becoming a crisis within a crisis. I called for sustained support from the international community in advancing implementation of the Framework of Cooperation, including with respect to accountability, to ensure that international law is not an empty promise, and that today鈥檚 documentation translates into tomorrow鈥檚 prosecutions. I also called for enhanced risk mitigation measures to prevent a human trafficking crisis from intensifying in this context. Although it is too early to quantify the scale of human trafficking associated with the conflict, evidence has already been documented of an increase in trafficking activity, as more people are displaced, and access to services and livelihoods becomes ever-more precarious. Survivors of sexual violence who have crossed into neighboring countries are struggling to access basic sexual and reproductive healthcare on account of the cost, and owing to pre-existing legal and policy barriers. On the 5^th of May, the European Parliament adopted a condemning the use of sexual violence as a tactic of war and calling on 鈥�the EU and host and transit countries to guarantee access to sexual and reproductive health and rights services, particularly emergency contraception, post-exposure prophylaxis, and abortion care, including for survivors of rape鈥�.

We cannot discuss the Women, Peace and Security agenda without stressing the importance of women鈥檚 full, equal, and meaningful participation in all decision-making processes. Yet, while women鈥檚 leadership has increased in community-level humanitarian efforts, including on the frontlines of the response to sexual and gender-based violence, Ukrainian women have, to date, been conspicuously absent and marginalized from formal political negotiations to end the conflict. With every day that the war continues, violations multiply, and risks increase exponentially. As Secretary-General Guterres has stated: 鈥�When we talk about war crimes, we cannot forget that the worst of crimes is war itself鈥�.聽 What I witnessed in Ukraine 鈥� where conflict has turned entire cities into crime scenes 鈥� makes it abundantly clear that no amount of protection or assistance is a substitute for peace. The aim of my mandate, and that of the wider Women, Peace and Security agenda, is not simply a war without rape, but a world without war.

Prevention is the best protection. Our latest annual report on conflict-related sexual violence focused on enhancing structural and operational prevention, and made five key recommendations to chart the way forward:

• Firstly, concerted diplomatic action upstream to ensure that sexual violence is addressed in ceasefire and peace agreements, recognizing that no agreement can be comprehensive if the gunfire ceases, but the weapon of rape continues unchecked.
• Secondly, using early-warning indicators of sexual violence to inform monitoring, risk assessments, and early response.
• Third, leveraging the credible threat of sanctions to curtail the flow of arms and resources to perpetrators and spoilers to the peace, to incentivize corrective action and compliance with international norms. Targeted and graduated measures, including asset freezes and forfeitures, visa denials, and travel bans, raise the perceived 鈥渃ost鈥� of war鈥檚 so-called 鈥渃heapest weapon鈥�.
• Fourth, gender-responsive justice and security sector reform, including the vetting, training, and oversight of security sector institutions, and gender balance among their personnel, to ensure they are equally accessible and responsive to women.
• And fifth, amplifying the voices of survivors and affected communities in decision-making processes, to ensure that local realities guide the global search for solutions. In this respect, we must defend women鈥檚 human rights defenders, and protect the protectors, including first responders on the frontlines. It is critical to safeguard civic space, and the safety of victims and witnesses who bravely come forward to testify, as well as that of journalists who risk their lives to share these stories with the world.

Every year, my Office commemorates the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, which is an important opportunity to signal solidarity with the survivors and those at risk. This year, the commemoration will focus on the launch of a new strategic framework to prevent the occurrence and recurrence of these crimes, through structural and operational prevention measures to mitigate risk and build resilience.

This Prevention Framework is intended to serve as a 鈥渞oad map鈥� for more tailored, timely, and effective interventions, as part of broader efforts to safeguard civilians from the effects of hostilities, and to translate early-warning into early response. It covers a broad array of issues ranging from addressing root causes and risk factors, to operational strategies, and guidance principles. I encourage the various institutions represented here today to join us in mobilizing to mark this occasion. Prevention through compliance with international norms and standards is key to breaking the vicious cycle of violence and impunity.

 

Ladies and gentlemen,

Meeting the challenge of this historical moment will require a level of political focus and financial resources commensurate with the scale and complexity of the problem. The United States Government has shown steadfast and strategic leadership on the Women, Peace and Security agenda, and has been a strong supporter of my mandate, notably in its capacity as penholder on conflict-related sexual violence in the Security Council.

In these uncertain times, I believe that doubt is justified, but despair is not. As a Ukrainian woman civil society activist put it: 鈥�We must do everything possible, and everything impossible, to end abuses and atrocities鈥�. This is an important reminder to not just do what is easy, but what is necessary, and what is right. Norms have no power unless they are known, respected, implemented, and enforced. We must send an unequivocal message to all parties that women鈥檚 rights are not 鈥�Western rights鈥�, they are human rights, and they are universal, in times of war and peace.

We have debunked the insidious myth that sexual violence in conflict is inevitable; now we must demonstrate through proactive protection and empowerment efforts that it is, indeed, preventable.聽 It is time to move from best intentions to best practice, to catch the women and girls who may otherwise fall through our safety nets. Let us not forget that while the eyes of the world are on the Ukrainian women and girls who are caught in the crossfire, who are living in terror in occupied territories, and who have been deported or forced to flee their homes and homeland 鈥� they are looking to us. We must not and cannot fail them.

Thank you.