Argentina would like to emhasize the need for a gender perspective and for crimes against women to be incorporated into the agenda of peace negotiations. To that end, we need women in decision-making positions and at all stages of the peace process. We know that women are victims of widespread violence at the hands of all parties involved in a conflict.
"We cannot lock ourselves inside a laboratory to restore and recognize women's human rights or to build a genuine rule of law. In that connection, I would like to end with the testimony of women from various parts of the world. In this century, in one country in Africa, 1,152 women were raped every day — that is 48 every hour or four every five minutes.
In accordance with that progressive increase in awareness, the Security Council's trajectory shows an awareness and increasing commitment to preventing and eradicating sexual and gender-based discrimination in situations of conflict and post-conflict situations, as well as a commitment to ensuring that when sexist crimes are committed, the perpetrators will not enjoy impunity, that there is justice and redress for the victims and that societie
"However, we still have much to do to achieve women's effective equality as people with rights and to achieve equal representation in decision-making arenas, and for those reasons, we welcome the resolution adopted today (resolution 2122 (2013))."
Although we still hear that violence is as old as war itself and that women's bodies have been a battlefield for centuries throughout the world, the experience in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda served to scuttle the cynical acceptance of sexual violence as a natural phenomenon in armed conflicts, and of rape as a weapon of war of devastating power.
The proposed policy framework is intended to serve as a guide that is adaptable and applicable to individual countries or subregions emerging from conflicts and/or repressive rule to assist in the pursuit of accountability, sustainable peace, justice and reconciliation.
The African Union takes cognizance of its member States' international commitments in respect of women's rights, most notably Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security, and thus acknowledges and supports the efforts of those African States and regional bodies that have taken concrete steps towards implementing those resolutions.
The African Union reaffirms its support for the advancement of holistic justice for women in situations of conflict, post-conflict, political violence and gross human rights violations. African Union documents, such as the Constitutive Act, enshrine a commitment to the advancement of gender equality and the protection of women from gender-based and other forms of violence.
The African Union looks forward to the adoption of the policy framework and remains convinced that this document will be make a significant contribution to “comprehensively promote justice and accountability in ways that further the equal rights of women and the right to equal participation in decision-making” (S/2013/587, annex, p. 2).
