Statement on behalf of 62 Member States and the European Union, Security Council Open VTC on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence

17 July 2020

Mister President,

I am pleased to submit this statement on behalf of 62 Member States, representing all five regional groups of the UN^Footnote1 as well as the European Union. We thank Germany and the Dominican Republic for co-organizing this important debate on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: Turning Commitments into Compliance. We welcome the most recent report of the Secretary General on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence.

The Group expresses its serious concern with the multi-faceted impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on all victims and survivors of conflict-related sexual violence including by limiting their ability to report incidents and to access assistance and essential services, including sexual and reproductive health-care services. The Group is also concerned that the COVID-19 pandemic has further aggravated risks of sexual and gender-based violence, especially in conflict-affected regions of the world, and is negatively impacting and in some areas rolling back and undermining the progress that has been made on gender equality and women and girls’ enjoyment of human rights and empowerment. The Group underscores the importance of human rights based, people-centered, gender-responsive and comprehensive responses to the pandemic to fully take into account the needs and dignity of victims and survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.

We are outraged by the ongoing, persistent and widespread perpetration of sexual and gender-based violence in armed conflict. Sexual violence is being used as a tactic of war, of terrorism, and a tool of political repression in fragile contexts, during and after conflicts, and is a flagrant and unacceptable violation of international law including international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by sexual and gender-based violence, especially those who experience multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and from marginalized groups such as refugees and migrants, internally displaced persons, indigenous women and persons living with disabilities. Victims and survivors are frequently an actual or perceived member of a persecuted political, ethnic, religious minority or other group. We are notably appalled by the conclusion of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders that finds that sexual and gender-based violence, including in conflict-affected contexts, is often linked to the rise of misogynistic, sexist and various forms of hate speech by political leaders. In this context, investing efforts in addressing the structural root causes of sexual and gender-based violence, including gender inequalities, must be an absolute priority to prevent violence and ensure that the human rights of all women and girls are promoted and protected. To do this, we must not view COVID-19 and the scourge of sexual and gender-based violence as unrelated challenges, but as profoundly interconnected.

Ensuring justice and accountability is one of the most effective means of prevention. A climate of impunity, fear and stigma discourages reporting, undermines survivor-centered relief and assistance, and encourages further violations. This also affects men and boys who often face specific social, legal and cultural barriers to reporting violence. Perpetrators of sexual violence in armed conflict must be held to account, crimes must be effectively investigated and documented in a timely manner, legal assistance and effective protection and adequate legal frameworks and institutions for the effective prosecution of crimes of sexual violence in conflict must be maintained. We also emphasize the need to ensure adequate training in human rights and prevention of violence of security forces who are tasked to protect the civilian population. We acknowledge the inclusion of sexual and gender-related crimes among the most serious crimes of international concern in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Ensuring equal, adequate and holistic access to justice for victims and survivors also requires access to financial support, which survivors in all conflict settings have identified as a priority for rebuilding their lives, and for recovering from their traumas and social stigmatization. Furthermore, we encourage the Security Council to use sanctions and other targeted measures in order to enhance compliance. The Group encourages the Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict (TOE) to pursue its efforts to strengthen the capacity of national rule of law institutions. We also encourage the United Nations Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict network to continue strengthening advocacy, improve coordination and accountability, and supporting country efforts to prevent conflict-related sexual violence and respond to the needs of victims and survivors.

Accountability must be accompanied by effective and multi-sectoral support to survivors and their communities, whose deep traumas and social stigma can persist long after the conflict has ended. We therefore encourage all member states to adopt a survivor-centered and human rights-based approach in preventing and responding to sexual and gender-based violence in conflict and post-conflict situations. Greater efforts are needed at all levels to ensure that survivors have access to the full range of mental health and psychosocial support, livelihood, legal, and non-discriminatory health services. We must stand in solidarity with survivors not just in words but also in actions, by being outspoken in defense of their rights and agency, especially as survivors are facing overlapping crises. A comprehensive and holistic approach to accountability, which places victims and survivors at the center of all interventions, includes principles of participation, transparency, non-discrimination, empowerment and sustainability.

Additionally, we cannot let the impact of COVID-19 erode our prevention and response efforts and by extension endanger the maintenance of international peace and security.  Before the pandemic, less than 1 percent of humanitarian assistance was dedicated to sexual and gender-based violence services and we are concerned there will be increased pressure to further reduce critical resources to this sector. We therefore call for increased funding for gender-responsive programming, including tackling gender-based violence and access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences, as well as better integration of a gender-perspective in all programming in the area of peace, security and humanitarian interventions.

The Group wishes to underscore the importance of the participation of Women and Child Protection Advisers in UN peace operations to better coordinate and improve the quality of information available on trends and patterns of conflict-related sexual violence in order to facilitate early warning prevention.  Recognizing the important role played by UN Field Missions in preventing sexual violence in conflict, the Group welcomes the recent release of the Handbook for United Nations Field Missions on Preventing and Responding to Conflict-Related Sexual Violence.

In closing, as the Secretary-General has stated, the Group underscores that sexual violence in conflict does not happen “in a vacuum” and has broader implications and links to the Women, Peace and Security agenda. By successfully preventing and combating sexual violence in conflict, we are ensuring that women and girls can exercise their right to full, equal and meaningful participation and decision-making in all aspects of peace and security. We are therefore deeply concerned by the increased reports of attacks against women human rights defenders and women peacebuilders and the withdrawal of many women from prominent leadership roles in peace and transitional justice processes and civic space more generally.

In this historic year marking the 20^th anniversary of the adoption of UNSC resolution 1325, 25^th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Plan of Action and the 75^th anniversary of the United Nations, and with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is high time to act to end sexual violence in conflict.

Thank you.