Security Council Open Debate on Sexual Violence in Conflict, April 2018: France (Extract 3)

Every effort must be made to ensure that the perpetrators of sexual violence are tried by competent national courts and, failing that, by international criminal courts, including the International Criminal Court. When judicial proceedings are impossible in the short term, we must ensure that mechanisms are in place to document crimes and enable proceedings at a later stage. The Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic and the International, Independent and Impartial Mechanism can play that indespensable role. In addition, providing support to national authorities must go hand in hand with protecting civil society actors who work each day to combat sexual violence and assist victims, and who are themselves often threatened