Statement of Syria at the May 15 Open Debate on Sexual Violence in Conflict
SGBV
In her secret report submitted to the Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities, the Special Representative gave long, detailed descriptions of the flagrant acts of sexual violence committed by Da’esh, the Al-Nusra Front and their affiliates against Syrian and Iraqi women. In her current report, however, she says that none of those groups have committed flagrant crimes against Syrian women, whether of abduction, rape, violence, torture and the separation of mothers from their children. She confines herself to timid mentions of their restrictions on women’s access to work and education. She has gone far outside her remit — identifying acts of sexual violence in conflict. In fact, in some of the paragraphs of the report she mentions Syrian women’s participation in political life. This leads one to ask why — if the Office of the Special Representative is unable to conduct investigations into sexual violence perpetrated by armed terrorist groups against Syrian women on Syrian territory, which do fall under her mandate — she is going beyond that mandate to discuss other topics, which increase her workload. She is also promoting the non-consensual resolution 71/248, which also goes beyond her remit.
Syrians in areas controlled by terrorist armed groups are targets for the worst kinds of sexual violence and slavery. Women and girls have been abducted and forced into marriage with terrorists, including foreigners. That is why we once again urge the Office of the Special Representative to shine a light on the fate of hundreds of women and girls who have been abducted by elements of the terrorist group Jaysh Al-Islam to Adha in the suburbs of Damascus and exhibited in iron cages in Douma. We also call on the Special Representative to support the Syrian Government in seeing justice done for the women who have been abducted, enslaved or killed in Latakia, in the north, and those who have been killed in cold blood in Zara and Hama. All those crimes have been reported to the Office of the Special Representative and the Security Council, and we therefore call for more support in investigating what happened to these victims of takfiri terrorism.
Implementation
All of this indicates structural gaps. The Government of Syria has already officially submitted and documented all of its structural gaps to the Office of the Special Representative, who has regrettably ignored all its requests. We do not know why, but we hope that she will submit concrete proposals aimed at ending sexual violence against women and using her influence with the countries sponsoring armed terrorists, all of which we are familiar with, to put an end to the terrible crimes committed by these terrorist groups. We do not expect her to submit secret reports to the 1267 Committee that only expand her mandate in a way that interferes with countries’ internal affairs. We are ready to cooperate with the Office of the Special Representative and to be informed of every name and incident that she has received in order to open investigations and punish the perpetrators of any crimes in a framework of cooperation and dialogue, so that she can fulfil her worthy mandate as effectively as possible.