Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
Conflict-related sexual violence is used as a tactic of war and terror to destroy lives and disrupt the fabric of families, communities, and entire populations. It is this destruction of the individual and community that makes sexual violence so cheap and effective and why reparations are an essential part of reconciliation and peacebuilding. We meet today with the knowledge that reparations are what survivors of conflict-related sexual violence request most, and yet still receive least. During my visits to diverse, war-torn countries, survivors consistently demand “above all else” that perpetrators be brought to justice; and that they be provided with material assistance to rebuild their lives and livelihoods. They also demand not to be solely identified as victims in need of help or charity. Their words contrast with the image often presented of victims, who passively suffer abuse while remaining on the fringes of political life and political change. In spite of the firmly entrenched right of victims to reparations, judicial arenas for securing reparations, are still fraught with multiple challenges making the journey a long and bumpy one for victims to be meaningfully considered in reparations programs.
In 2019, the Security Council adopted resolution 2467, which called for a survivor-centered approach to inform all prevention and response measures, including holistic survivor-centered transitional justice, which addresses root causes and provides for transformative reparations.
Ladies and gentlemen,
If we are to provide reparations in a survivor-centered manner, survivors must be active co-creators in the process of establishing justice mechanisms including measures of urgent assistance and reparation. Survivors experience significant physical, psychological, social and economic consequences of the violence that they were subjected to during the armed conflict. They know best the challenges they face and what they need to restore their lives. It is therefore critical to ensure the centrality of survivors in the design and implementation of reparations programmes through consultations and participation throughout the process. In addition, involving survivors at the outset as co-creators restores their agency after it has been so brutally taken from them and can reaffirm or rebuild their trust in government institutions.
Today’s meeting demonstrates a shared commitment to closing the reparations gap, as a central pillar of victim assistance, to deliver on these demands, and to put survivors first. Although the crime of sexual violence can never adequately be compensated, transformative reparations can elevate the survivor and their family from victims to rights-holders. Together, we must find ways to accelerate action and support survivors realize their right to effective reparations and redress through a truly survivor-centered, rights-based response which gives them voice and choice, restoring their agency, building their resilience, in short, resuming the quiet miracle of a normal life, which so many of us take for granted. Reparation must also be a central piece of our justice response that restores survivors, furthers post-conflict reconstruction, prevents future conflict, and changes the root causes that leads to sexual violence occurring at all.
As the United Nations, we stand ready to support Member States in implementing reparatory measures through technical assistance, while at the same time continuing to advocate with governments and duty-bearers to meet their responsibilities. My office will continue to provide technical, programmatic, and financial resources to reparation programming in the field and to work side by side and shoulder to shoulder with all those who seek to provide reparations and relief to survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.