Justice, Rule of Law and Security Sector Reform

In recent years, we have witnessed an alarming increase in the documented use of sexual violence in armed conflict, often as a method of warfare to achieve military goals. Much remains to be done in terms of an effective response. Ending impunity is clearly a central element in this respect. Unfortunately, however, we must acknowledge that, in practice, the fight to end impunity has barely begun.

The United Nations, in our opinion, requires a single vehicle for the delivery of judicial and legal advice. My delegation has been saying this for many years now.

The United Nations needs a service, a full-fledged department that, on request, can advise Member States that seek to upgrade or reform their judiciary or prosecution services or wish to improve their penal codes. United Nations missions of every variety would also require its services. If we are to be serious about ending impunity for sexual crimes in the context of war, that is what we need.

Secondly, we must support all and every effort aimed at the creation of an international repository for evidence — a complicated business, we know, owing to concerns relating to contamination and admissibility. Nevertheless, we must try to set it up.

Furthermore, the effective investigation and documentation of crimes of sexual violence are instrumental in bringing perpetrators to justice. To that end, developing the capacity of national Governments to investigate crimes and raising awareness of and sensitivity to sexual violence are both essential.

First, in order to prevent sexual violence, we need to raise the cost to perpetrators and end the culture of impunity. In this regard, it is essential that we support national Governments in meeting their own challenges in terms of justice and accountability, and that we strengthen international justice mechanisms.

Under the Ugandan Amnesty Act of 2000, complete amnesty was extended to members of the LRA on the condition that they report to a designated area, surrender their weapons and make a declaration renouncing and abandoning involvement in the war or armed rebellion.

The second observation we would like to make is that leadership on accountability for conflict-related crimes, including sexual violence, must be provided at the national level, with priority given to resourcing, adequate legislation prohibiting acts of sexual violence and capacity-building for police, investigators, lawyers and judges regarding the adjudication of these crimes.

The paucity of domestic prosecutions for crimes of sexual violence, the limited volume of international prosecutions for these crimes and the scale worldwide of crimes of sexualized violence, particularly in situations of armed conflict, continue to leave an impunity gap so distinct that in recent years it has become the focus of several Security Council resolutions.

The first is that it is well documented that the commission of rape and other forms of sexual violence intensify and increase during times of civil war and armed conflicts, and yet too often impunity for these crimes continues to be guaranteed through amnesty laws. Let me provide an example from Uganda.