Question: You have spent several years trying to persuade parties engaged in conflict to refrain from using sexual violence as a tactic of war and terror. I can imagine what challenging, and at times frustrating, work this must be. What patterns and trends are you seeing with respect to conflict-related sexual violence globally? What are some of the key challenges and lessons learnt to date? And what recommendations would you make to the international community for an effective response moving forward?
Answer: Thank you for the questions, and allow me to start by expressing my gratitude to Her Highness Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, and to the co-organizers of this event, UN Women, the General Women’s Union, the Ministry of Defense, and the League of Arab States. I also wish to commend the United Arab Emirates for its leadership in advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda on the Security Council, and in supporting women’s economic empowerment in conflict-affected settings.
In terms of patterns and trends, the oldest crime of war, conflict-related sexual violence, continues to be used on 21st Century battlefields as a tactic of war, torture, terrorism, and political repression. The 2021 Report of the Secretary-General on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, compiled by my Office, records 3,293 cases of conflict-related sexual violence, verified by the UN, across 18 country situations. This represents an increase of some 800 cases compared with 2020. Of these confirmed cases, 97 percent targeted women and girls. Owing to sociocultural stigma, shame, and fear of reprisals, these crimes remain chronically underreported, with humanitarians in the field estimating that for every woman who comes forward to report sexual violence in the midst of a conflict, a further 10 to 20 cases go undocumented and unaddressed. A recurrent pattern we have observed over the years is that women and girls are frequently attacked in the course of essential livelihood and sustenance activities, such as gathering fuel or firewood; accessing fields, farms, or marketplaces; or when returning home to retrieve essential items after displacement. These crimes do not occur in a vacuum, but are fueled by rising inequality, increased militarization, reduced civic space, the illicit flow of small arms and light weapons, and an epidemic of coups and military takeovers, which have turned back the clock on women’s rights. Against this backdrop, we are also witnessing a rising trend of women’s rights defenders and peacebuilders being subjected to reprisals and intimidation, including sexual violence and harassment, which has a chilling effect on their activism and role in public life.
Since its inception in 2009, my Office has analyzed and reported annually on the political, security, and socioeconomic dimensions of this scourge. Today, we know more than ever before about the drivers and dynamics of wartime sexual violence, yet it remains the stark reality that nowhere is the level of political resolve and resources equal to the scale of the challenge. When I took office in 2017, I set out three strategic priorities to guide my tenure: firstly, converting cultures of impunity into cultures of deterrence through justice and accountability as a form of prevention; secondly, implementing a survivor-centered approach; and thirdly, addressing the root causes and invisible drivers of conflict-related sexual violence, notably structural gender-based inequality. For too long, we have been locked in reactive mode. The key is to convert the vicious cycle of violence, impunity, and revenge, into a virtuous cycle of reporting, resourcing, and response. To this end, I have led a system-wide effort to develop a comprehensive Prevention Framework, which will serve as a “road map” for more tailored, timely, and effective interventions. This framework will be launched during the upcoming UN General Assembly, and rolled out in countries of concern to my mandate.
A key lesson learnt is that strengthening and sustaining prevention and response efforts requires national ownership, leadership, and responsibility. Accordingly, I have signed political agreements with a range of Governments, including the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Sudan, and most recently, on 3rd May, Ukraine. In the context of Ukraine, my Office is currently working with the Government, civil society partners, and the UN system on the ground to develop an implementation plan, which will translate these commitments into operational terms, ensuring technical assistance, expertise, and resources where they are needed most. Implementation is driven through the operational arms of my mandate, namely, my Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict, which works to strengthen institutional safeguards against impunity, and the interagency network I Chair, known as UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, which fosters coordinated, holistic service-delivery for survivors. Today, as a result of these efforts, the United Nations is reaching and supporting thousands of survivors who had once been invisible and inaccessible.
Moving forward, I would highlight three concrete recommendations to accelerate action:
Firstly, we must ensure that early-warning signs and “red flags” trigger a timely and effective response. Prevention is the central promise of the Security Council agenda, and we must bring all political, diplomatic, and enforcement tools to bear to compel parties to respect international law in the first instance, and to close the gap between commitments made on the world stage, and compliance in active theatres of war. This includes leveraging the credible threat of sanctions, which can curtail the flow of arms and resources to spoilers to the peace, as well as consistent and visible accountability measures, which signal to perpetrators that sexual violence will not go unpunished.
Secondly, governments must empower women’s organizations, and politically active women, including those working on the frontlines to address conflict-related sexual violence, and protect them from any form of reprisal. Women civil society activists are the irrepressible engine of this agenda, but they cannot drive peace processes when their own physical integrity, security, and rights are under threat.
Thirdly, creating a conducive environment for safe reporting and response requires political resolve and predictable funding, including to the Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Multi-Partner Trust Fund, which supports our operational efforts to fill service-provision and accountability gaps. We owe survivors more than expressions of solidarity; we owe them tangible assistance, including reparations and socioeconomic reintegration support at the national level. To date, over 70 National Action Plans on Women, Peace and Security include specific provisions on conflict-related sexual violence, which is an encouraging trend. This needs to be expanded, so that all such plans include meaningful, adequately budgeted measures to address this scourge, support the survivors, and prevent its recurrence.
Indeed, while military and political leaders historically dismissed rape as “an inevitable byproduct of war”, many survivors affirm that what happened to them could have been prevented. Survivors have made concrete recommendations, which must be heard and heeded by the donor and diplomatic community. These include ensuring that commanders issue clear orders to prohibit sexual violence by their subordinates; avoiding troop deployments close to civilian population centers; and deploying patrols of trained police and peacekeepers to accompany women in the course of precarious livelihood activities.
The ultimate goal of my mandate, and the wider WPS agenda, is not ‘a war without rape’, but a world without war. Everywhere I travel around the globe, I see women working for peace. It is our collective responsibility, as the international community, to make peace work for women, including by ensuring their full participation in peace negotiations and conflict resolution processes, so there is no amnesty or immunity for sexual violence, and the dividends of peace, security, and development flow equally to all.
Thank you.