My second point is that women are not a footnote; and Somalia is a case study...

My second point is that women are not a footnote; and Somalia is a case study in that regard. The Secretary-General's report sets out the scale of sexual violence in Somalia: the crimes of Al-Shabaab; the groups of men in military uniform who prey on women and girls in internally displaced camps in Mogadishu; the rapes and gang-rapes in camps in Kenya; and the chronic and largely unaddressed sexual violence in Puntland.

The Conference on Somalia is meeting in London today, and we look forward to a substantive outcome. It is worthwhile, however, to mention an initiative of women ambassadors accredited to the African Union. The cross-regional group of women ambassadors — I might mention that the Ambassadors of Togo and Ireland were part of that group — were concerned that initial preparatory papers for the London Conference lacked any focus on the situation of women in Somalia, despite the gravity of their situation and the shared principles of resolution 1325 (2000).

With African Union (AU) and United Nations support, the group undertook meetings with Somali women both in Nairobi and in camps of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the Ethiopian border region. The statement from the women ambassadors, produced yesterday, is intended as an input to the London Conference. It outlines issues of concern and concludes with the urging of Somali women that the international community raise issues of gender, including with Somali leaders.

Amid the range and gravity of the problems facing Somalia, and the imperative to advance on the political and security fronts, it is easy to see how specific issues predominantly affecting women may not be prioritized, or may be seen as symptomatic of deeper problems that, if addressed, will help to alleviate the situation of women. But the phenomenon of women as a footnote has been with us far too long. When the international community comes together in a high-profile conference, one would hope to see from the outset a strong consciousness of the gender dimension of the conflict. The time has well passed when sexual violence could be viewed as in some sense collateral damage — a regrettable but inevitable byproduct of larger forces at work.