Security Council resolutions over the years have established that systematic sexual violence, used as an instrument of war, is a grave threat to international peace and security. By now, we have developed a strong normative and institutional framework to fight that scourge. The erroneous thesis that sexual violence in armed conflict is a cultural phenomenon has been rejected.

Resolution 2106 (21303), adopted today, will have an impact on implementation as it translates the Secretary-General's recommendations into concrete decisions. The Security Council, by today's resolution, calls for targeted sanctions against perpetrators. It equips different bodies and entities with tools to oppose impunity, empowers women to seek redress, strengthens international political response and fosters national ownership.

Other forms of violence — sexual slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced pregnancies and enforced sterilization — are rampant. Such violence assaults human dignity, ruins the lives of survivors and their families, and subjects communities and societies to torture and trauma.

As the briefers have substantiated once again today, the vile crime of sexual violence in armed conflict is a growing phenomenon. Women, girls, men and boys are all targeted, but women bear the brunt of sexual atrocities in wars and armed conflicts. They are harassed, molested, raped, maimed and disabled.

We also highlight the important role that non-governmental organizations and civil society groups can play in drawing attention to some of the worst abuses, and their related role as an important part of the accountability landscape — sometimes, as the representative of Germany has pointed out, by putting themselves at considerable special risk.

We also encourage the Council to include this topic in its annual consultations with the African Union's Peace and Security Council. The perspectives and expertise of regional organizations are valuable in developing comprehensive strategies for addressing accountability for sexual violence in conflict.

Next, accountability for sexual violence does not lend itself to a one-size-fits-all approach. The Council must be agile, inclusive and open to considering alternative courses of action. Presidential and public statements from the Council give voice to the international community's abhorrence for sexual violence and send a very strong signal that it will not be tolerated.

New Zealand welcomes the Council's consideration of this specific aspect of the women, peace and security agenda, and we urge that it give consideration to the specific issues we have raised and that it also remain seized of the wider agenda, including women's participation in political processes.

As my delegation said in the April debate on sexual violence in conflict during the Rwandan presidency (see S/PV.6948), it is vitally important that the Council send a clear message on the issue of sexual violence to the entire international community and that it does so through, inter alia, the strong statements made in debates like this.

Through policies such as its human rights and gender strategies, the Netherlands pays particular attention to issues such as gender equality, women's political role and leadership, economic empowerment and ending trafficking of and violence against women in post-conflict countries and unstable areas.