The 45 members of the Group of Friends, which represent all five regional gro...

The 45 members of the Group of Friends, which represent all five regional groups at the United Nations, reaffirm their support, in the strongest terms, for the work of the Security Council aimed at preventing and responding to conflict-related sexual violence. The Group of Friends welcomes the recent report of the Secretary-General (S/2013/149) on this issue and calls on the Security Council and the United Nations system to act systematically and comprehensively to address gaps and challenges to, and accelerate progress in, its work on women, peace and security, and to monitor commitments by parties to conflict to prevent and address conflict-related sexual violence. We further urge the Security Council to ensure that its mandated missions consistently evaluate the level of protection and promotion of women's human rights.