General Women, Peace and Security

The oppressed people of Palestine have lived under the rule of an occupying regime for 60 years, been deprived of freedom, security and the right to self- determination, while the occupiers are given recognition. On a daily basis, the houses are being destroyed over the heads o f innocent women and children.

Slovakia welcomes the establishment of UN Women – the UN Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women. We believe that this entity will help curb all forms of violence against women. We also extend our good wishes for a successful mandate to UN Secretary General's Special Representative on sexual violence in conflict.

Eradicating poverty and hunger, improving the quality of education, adequate employment, improving health care services and housing, improving maternal health, gender equality and environmental sustainability remain among the central concerns of UN programmes, funds and specialized agencies.

Gender equality must become a reality. Access to education and health for women and girls has been restricted for decades. They have been victims of poverty more than others. They have also been the targets of systematic violence in armed conflicts. It is high time to make gull use of their potential in mediation and reconstruction in countries affected by conflict.

At the regional level, ASEAN has established the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission of Human Rights and the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children. Initiatives like Stop Violence Against Women and workshops on women, security and peace in ASEAN are also important steps undertaken by ASEAN to raise awareness on the issue.

We must also strive to help the Secretariat achieve its goal of 20 per cent female participation among United Nations police. But for that to happen, each of our countries must themselves increase their recruitment of women police into their domestic forces, so that there is a far broader pool on which the United Nations can draw. We must also insist on enforcing the absolute prohibition on sexual abuse by United Nations peacekeepers.

Those offices and officials and the United Nations as a whole assuredly have an indispensable role to play, but the key to further progress in reducing suffering and in protecting the vulnerable is action by the parties to conflict. Every Government has a responsibility to establish standards, develop institutions and pursue policies that protect its people from sexual violence, whether perpetrated by the Government's own forces or by others.

In conclusion, I would like to voice the strong support of my Government and of the American people for a concerted strategy across the globe to address the problem of sexual violence, both in and outside combat situations. For far too long, such abuses have been treated as part of the spoils of victory or the rewards of physical might.

In the past decade, the Security Council has identified the scourge of sexual violence in conflict as a matter of acute and urgent concern. We meet today to assess progress in combating that pernicious form of criminality and to consider next steps. We begin with confidence that the standards we have established are clear and the terrible knowledge that those standards are regularly being ignored.

In far too many countries, the victims of sexual violence still have little, if any, effective legal recourse. Until that changes, predators will not be deterred, victims will hesitate to come forward and justice will remain beyond reach. In places where Governments are weak, we must help to improve their capabilities while also holding accountable those who commit crimes.