Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to be a co-sponsor of this high-level consultation aiming at identifying key actions for the implementation of the Kampala Declaration in the areas of prevention, fight against impunity, and holistic service delivery to victims of sexual and gender-based violence. This is in recognition of the fact that sexual and gender-based violence remains alarmingly high in the Great Lakes Region and that addressing this scourge requires a holistic, coordinated and victim-centered response.

My mandate as the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict was established in 2009 by Security Council Resolution 1888 out of a deep concern that, despite the repeated condemnation of sexual violence against women and children in situations of armed conflict, such acts continue to occur, and in some situations have become systematic or widespread. My role is to:

– provide coherent and strategic leadership,

work effectively to strengthen existing United Nations coordination mechanisms, including United Nations Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, an inter-agency network composed of 14 UN entities, that I chair; and

– engage in advocacy efforts with governments, including military and judicial representatives, as well as with all parties to armed conflict, to address sexual violence.

Subsequent resolutions of the Security Council have authorized specific arrangements at country-level to deepen the evidence-base for action, and to increase the pressure on parties to comply with international norms by listing, or “naming and shaming”, those credibly suspected of abuse. They have emphasized the need for early warning and prevention, and to combat sexual violence employed as a tactic of terrorism, including in the context of human trafficking. Most recently, resolution 2467, adopted in April of this year, calls for a holistic, survivor-centered approach to inform all prevention and response measures.

When taking office in 2017, I  articulated three strategic priorities for the mandate: firstly, converting cultures of impunity into cultures of deterrence through justice and accountability; secondly, fostering national ownership and leadership for a sustainable, survivor-centered response; and thirdly, addressing the root causes of sexual violence, including structural gender-based inequality and discrimination, poverty and marginalization, as its invisible drivers in times of war and peace.

I am particularly glad that this meeting brings together both Ministers of Justice and Gender Equality. Addressing the issue of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings requires long term, comprehensive and coordinated efforts by multiple stakeholders.

Sexual violence is not created by conflict. In war and peace, sexual violence is driven by gender norms that socially sanction dominance of men over women. The latest Security Council Resolution 2467 on sexual violence in conflict, which recognized that women and girls are particularly at risk and are often specifically targeted, also recognized that the  disproportionate impact of sexual violence on women and girls is exacerbated by discrimination against women and girls,  by the under-representation of women in decision-making and leadership roles, the impact of discriminatory laws, the gender-biased enforcement and application of existing laws, harmful social norms and practices, structural inequalities, and discriminatory views on women or gender roles in society. It affirmed the importance of promoting gender equality by addressing these and other root causes of sexual violence against all women and girls as part of conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding.

In addition, the resolution affirms, for the first time, the need for Member States to adopt a survivor-centered approach in preventing and responding to sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict situations, ensuring that prevention and response are non-discriminatory and specific, and respect the rights and prioritize needs of survivors, including groups that are particularly vulnerable or may be specifically targeted, and notably in the context of their health, education, and participation. In adopting a sustainable survivor-centered approach, it is critical for Ministers of Gender Equality to bear in mind that women are not a homogenous group and that their experiences of conflict and specific needs in post-conflict contexts are diverse.

A survivor-centred approach seeks to empower the survivor by prioritizing her rights, needs and wishes. It means ensuring that survivors have access to appropriate, accessible and good quality services including medical, psychosocial, legal and economic support. Beyond immediate survival, the idea is that economic support should bolster self-esteem, facilitate the healing process and increase self-sufficiency, in particular when victims are rejected by their relatives. Economic support is essential in the rehabilitation process.

Similarly, medical care, including sexual and reproductive health care, is a non-negotiable component of programmes to address the needs of survivors of sexual violence. One of the main issues is unimpeded and timely access to services in particular after rape, as some interventions will only be effective in the hours (e.g. treatment of injuries) or few days (e.g. HIV prophylaxis, emergency contraception) after the assault. Emergency contraceptive pills can effectively prevent pregnancy within the first seventy-two hours after unprotected sexual intercourse.

In addition, attention must be paid to the plight of children born of sexual violence in conflict who are also stigmatized and suffer in silence and shame, often stateless, and acutely vulnerable to recruitment and radicalization by armed groups. UNSCR 2467 also calls for their equal rights in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

UNSCR 2467 also spells out the justice sector reform efforts that are required and these include the need to: strengthen legislation to foster accountability; enhance investigation and prosecution; enact victim and witness protection laws; provide legal aid for survivors; establish specialized police units and courts to address such crimes; remove procedural impediments to justice for victims such as restrictive limitation periods for filing claims, corroboration requirements that discriminate against victims as witnesses and complainants, exclusion or discrediting of victims’ testimony by law enforcement officials and lack of facilities for closed hearings.

States are also required to strengthen access to justice including through the prompt investigation, prosecution and punishment of perpetrators as well as reparations for victims.

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Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

I would now like to briefly speak about the methodology used by my Office to support countries falling within my mandate in the implementation of this robust normative framework.

The emphasis has been first and foremost on gaining specific commitments from our priority countries, expressed in the form of Joint Communiqués typically signed by the Head of State and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict on behalf of the United Nations. These Communiqués demonstrate national ownership and responsibility and outline key areas in which the United Nations will support various national institutions, in the form of action plans, elaborated with key institutions such as the military and the police. So far, in the Great Lakes Region, Joint Communiqués have been signed with the Governments of the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. There are also on-going discussions with the Sudanese authorities on the signing of a Framework of Cooperation following my visit to Sudan, including the Darfur region, in 2018.

In addition to the engagement with national authorities, a critical priority for my mandate is the engagement with regional and sub-regional organizations. In 2014 my Office signed Frameworks of Cooperation with ICGLR and the African Union to jointly address a number of priority areas, including undertaking joint advocacy activities to fight impunity for sexual violence and promoting high level political commitments and leadership. This Conference is a reflection of the spirit of the Framework of Cooperation with ICGLR.

My Office has also signed a Framework of Cooperation with the CEDAW Committee, marking a first collaboration between a Security Council mandated body and a human rights mechanism. This Framework affirms the linkages among the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women –which all Member States of the ICGLR are parties to-, the response to conflict-related sexual violence and the broader discourse on women, peace and security and gender equality. The Framework, informed by CEDAW General Recommendation 30 on “Women in Conflict Prevention, Conflict and Post Conflict Contexts”, is grounded on two main premises: i) that conflict exacerbates existing gender inequalities, placing women and girls at a heightened risk of various forms of gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, by both state and non-state actors, and ii) that, protecting women’s human rights at all times, advancing substantive gender equality before, during and after conflict and ensuring that women’s diverse experiences are fully integrated into all peacebuilding, peacemaking and reconstruction processes must be an absolute priority in all our interventions.

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Another tool at the disposal of Member States is the United Nations Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict, a unique a multi-entity team established by the Security Council that consists of staff from my Office, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Development Programme and the Department of Peace Operations.

The Team serves as a resource at the disposal of Member States to support national institutions to strengthen the rule of law response in addressing conflict-related sexual violence. This collaboration spans a number of different technical areas, such as support for legislative reform, training and deployment of rule of law and justice officials on the investigation and prosecution of sexual violence crimes, and the protection of victims and witnesses.

In the Great Lakes region, the Team is supporting national institutions in the DRC, CAR and South Sudan to implement the justice provisions of the Joint Communiqués and the operationalization of action plans. In CAR, for example, the Team has supported the operationalization of a specialized unit with the police and gendarmerie that investigates sexual and gender-based violence crimes. In the DRC, the Team has worked with the Congolese military justice authorities to formulate and implement a case prioritization strategy for the most serious crimes under international law, including conflict-related sexual violence. This work contributed to the conviction of a former provincial deputy for the systematic rape of children in Kavumu, South Kivu, and his sentence to life imprisonment.

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My Office is also pioneering knowledge products that support accountability for conflict-related sexual violence in national jurisdictions.  Just two weeks ago, on the occasion of the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the mandate, my Office launched a draft Legislative Guidance on conflict-related sexual violence, a tool intended to help national jurisdictions to overcome obstacles in ensuring accountability for conflict-related sexual violence. The Model Legislative Provisions are designed to be incorporated into the existing penal and procedural codes of each state, based on its unique needs and circumstances.

To inform the Guidance, relevant national criminal and procedural provisions from 27 states representing a wide range of legal traditions and geographic locations, were studied. The Guidance provides options for common law, civil law and hybrid systems, and is adaptable for use in informal and customary justice contexts.

It is hoped that the Legislative Guidance will be helpful as States codify and implement international norms within local law, providing the possibility of justice for victims close to home, in their national jurisdictions, rather than in a distant international or foreign legal system. It is also hoped that this tool, which adopts a survivor-centred approach, will allow for greater agency and empowerment of the victims who are served through those justice processes.

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Ladies and Gentlemen,

Despite significant advances at the normative level internationally, the reality is that it is still largely cost-free to rape a woman, child or man in many conflict situations around the world. The latest annual report of the UN Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence focuses on 19 countries around the world where United Nations verified information of sexual violence exists. While the majority of listed parties are non-State actors, in some contexts, national security actors – those very institutions who bear the primary responsibility to protect their populations – are among the perpetrators.

I believe that we have the possibility of reversing this reality, based on a greater understanding of what needs to be done, with the survivors at the front and center of all our efforts.  It is essential that we translate promises into practice, and resolutions into solutions. It is time to bring these crimes, and those who commit them, into the spotlight of international scrutiny and to send a clear message that the world will not tolerate the use of sexual violence as a tactic of war and terrorism.

The importance of the personal commitment of all of you at this Conference cannot be underestimated – we cannot succeed in eradicating impunity for conflict-related sexual violence without your political leadership and your determination and that of your colleagues working on the frontlines.

I wish to assure you of my full support to bring visibility to the efforts you are driving, as well as technical expertise of my Office.

Thank you.