The Council has done an outstanding job over the past few years to comprehens...

The Council has done an outstanding job over the past few years to comprehensively address the challenge of conflict-related sexual violence by adopting landmark resolutions aimed at eradicating it. South Africa welcomes the progress that has been made so far in the preparations of the terms of reference for women protection advisers, and we look forward to their early deployment. We are mindful of the limitations that continue to pose a challenge to the reporting of incidents of sexual violence in conflict stricken areas. It is our hope that the countries mentioned in the report will do everything in their power to address all the challenges identified, including bringing the perpetrators to justice and reparations for the victims. South Africa is concerned that African countries continue to constitute the majority of countries where there is an increasing prevalence of conflict-related sexual violence. We are appalled that the incidents of rape and gang rape increased in the recent conflict that struck Côte d'Ivoire. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, rape, mass rapes and other sexual violence continue unabated in North and South Kivu. That is a matter of great concern to South Africa.

We welcome and fully support the establishment by the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) of prosecution support cells to boost the capacity of the Congolese justice system in the investigation of war crimes, crimes against humanity and sexual violence. We hope that all those initiatives will help to bring all the perpetrators to justice and end the culture of impunity.