It also acknowledges that the number of cases of the recruitment and use of children by the national armed forces has decreased, thanks to prevention measures and strengthened recruitment processes.
Sexual violence affects millions of children in conflicts. Our research and programming indicate that the majority of the survivors of sexual violence in conflict-affected countries are children — mostly girls but also boys. Sexual violence has significant physical, psychological and social impacts on children, but their needs for specific protection and child-sensitive responses are frequently neglected.
Two weeks ago, I visited Bosnia and Herzegovina, where an estimated 50,000 women were targeted with rape and other forms of sexual violence during four years of conflict. But 20 years after peace was re-established, impunity for those crimes still reigns. There have been only a handful of prosecutions.
Twenty years ago, the United Nations provided irrefutable evidence that the widespread and systematic rape of women, girls and men was being perpetrated in the countries of the former Yugoslavia. That led to unprecedented advances in international jurisprudence — the recognition of rape as a war crime and crime against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunals established for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
Today it is still largely cost-free to rape a woman, child or man in conflict. Sexual violence has been used throughout the ages precisely because it is such a cheap and devastating weapon. But for the first time in history, we can reverse that reality.
To the contrary, the resolutions of the Security Council affirm that this crime, when committed systematically and used as a tool of war, is a fundamental threat to the maintenance of international peace and security, and as such requires an operational, security and justice response. That paradigm shift requires a new approach to attack the scourge of war-time rape.
The United Nations Team of Experts plays an important role in that regard, serving as a ready resource for national authorities in their efforts to strengthen the rule-of-law response to sexual violence. That is proving to be an innovative and valuable tool for Governments, and should be further reinforced.
The draft resolution places emphasis on a more consistent and rigorous investigation and prosecution of sexual violence crimes as a central aspect of deterrence and, ultimately, prevention. Essentially, we must raise the cost and consequences for those who commit such crimes.
The draft resolution emphasizes the need for comprehensive and multidimensional strategies for us to meet our obligations to the survivors of sexual violence — the critical health, psychosocial, legal and other interventions that they must have to rebuild their lives.
