Justice, Rule of Law and Security Sector Reform

In my statement, I would like to focus on three issues: the need to strengthen the participation of both women and men in efforts to prevent sexual violence; the need to strengthen national ownership and to build capacity at the national level to effectively fight impunity; and the need for accountability, to end the culture of impunity for such crimes.

National programmes on rehabilitation, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration have devoted special priority to the situation of women, in close cooperation with the relevant United Nations agencies, including UN–Women. My country has had a national strategy on combating gender-based violence since 2005, and has established a unit under the Ministry of Justice to combat violence against women and children.

Sexual violence in conflict is a phenomenon that should receive more and urgent attention, and Spain welcomes every effort of the international community to continue working to combat this scourge more effectively. We also welcome the Council's adoption this morning of resolution 2106 (2013), of which Spain was a sponsor.

We concur with the five-point priority agenda of the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, but we believe that priority must be given to fostering national ownership, leadership and responsibility in addressing sexual violence in conflict, thereby ensuring its sustainability.

In closing, every effort must be made to end impunity by perpetrators of sexual violence in conflict. Making parties live up to their commitments in peace agreements, which include the prohibition of sexual violence in such agreements, is certainly one of the tools that must be utilized with fervour.

The Solomon Islands agrees that sexual violence is widespread in conflicts and is often used as a tool to deliberately humiliate opponents. A number of Council resolutions speak to that, particularly resolutions 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009) and 1960 (2010), as well as resolution 1325 (2000). It is also correct to say that the vast majority of victims and survivors of sexual violence do not see justice come their way.

The International Criminal Court is the only international tribunal whose statute explicitly refers to sexual and gender violence as crimes against humanity.

Let us recall that Slovenia, together with Netherlands and Belgium, presented an initiative aimed at improving the international framework for mutual legal assistance and extradition in cases involving the investigation and prosecution of the most serious crimes of international concern, including sexual and gender violence as crimes against humanity.

It is therefore of paramount importance to look beyond prevention. The investigation of cases of sexual violence in conflict and the holding of perpetrators of sexual violence in armed conflict accountable are also of great importance. Ending impunity is pivotal in addressing sexual violence in conflict. Only that can serve as a strong deterrent for such actions.

That leads me to welcome resolution 2106 (2013), which the Council has just adopted and which places victims at the heart of efforts to combat sexual violence and to improve conflict resolution. On that basis, efforts to combat this scourge should be based on adequate prevention as well as on accountability, which helps to dissuade people from committing these crimes once again.