General Women, Peace and Security

Sexual violence continues to be used to humiliate opponents in conflict, as a form of torture, to inflict injury, to extract information, to stigmatize, degrade and intimidate, to destroy communities, to displace communities and groups from their land, and to intentionally spread HIV or reward fighters.

At the regional level, in July 2013 Chile's Joint Peacekeeping Operations Centre, together with the United States Naval Postgraduate School, organized a seminar in Santiago on theme “Women, peace and security: new challenges to implementation of resolution 1325 (2000)”, with the participation of regional professionals. It included training in gender-based sexual violence and resolution 2106 (2013), inter alia.

As the Secretary-General recommends, we urge the consideration of the links between conflict-related sexual violence and the illicit trade in natural resources, as well as such illegal activities as the illicit drugs trade and the traffic in persons covered by the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, its protocols and relevant legal instruments.

Sexual violence continues to be used to humiliate opponents in conflict, as a form of torture, to inflict injury, to extract information, to stigmatize, degrade and intimidate, to destroy communities, to displace communities and groups from their land, and to intentionally spread HIV or reward fighters.

The wake-up calls issued by the adoption of the various resolutions of sexual violence marked significant progress that must be further strengthened by the effective implementation of all of the measures they provide for. Chad recognizes the central role women can play in efforts towards peace and security in situations of conflict.

The repercussions of sexual violence for women and their loved ones are enormous, and the victims are changed for life by what they have suffered. Not only do they often find themselves left alone with no medical or psychosocial assistance, but they are obliged to remain silent in the face of threats against them and any witnesses.

Women are routinely subjected, to different degrees in various societies, to physical, sexual and psychological violence, and are even further victimized in situations of conflict to all sorts of brutal aggression.

States must uphold their obligations to prosecute those who perpetrate such violence and ensure that the victims of sexual violence enjoy equal protection under the law and access to justice. There can be no place for impunity within frameworks seeking to achieve lasting peace, justice, and national truth and reconciliation.

In Myanmar, sexual violence is a crime strongly abhorred by our traditional values and strictly forbidden by law and by our culture. As such, severe legal action is taken against the perpetrators of any reported case, whether by civilians or the members of security forces. The existing penal code strongly prescribes a severe penalty for those who have committed acts of sexual violence.

Where national jurisdictions are unable or unwilling to prosecute perpetrators, the Council should consider referrals to the International Criminal Court. Targeted Council sanctions have a clear role to play — to expose and circumscribe the perpetrators and create a powerful deterrent to others. The current events in South Sudan encapsulate the challenges we face in that regard.