Justice

Secondly, we need to end the culture of impunity. We often witness a lack of willingness and capacity of individual countries to hold perpetrators accountable. In this regard, I would like to commend the Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict for its efforts to strengthen institutional safeguards against impunity at the national level. This is especially important as a lack of safeguards within national borders can often snowball into transnational issues in our deeply interconnected world. A case in point is the increased sexual violence and systematic trafficking in persons along migration and arms routes in the Mediterranean. In addition, when a particular country fails to hold perpetrators accountable, the international community should employ all available means to address sexual violence in conflict, including referrals to the International Criminal Court, as recommended in the aforementioned report of the Secretary-General.