Justice, Rule of Law and Security Sector Reform

Austria is committed to a continuous enhancement of its rule of law standards. The Rome Statute is the first international treaty to classify crimes against women, like rape or other forms of sexual violence, as crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide. Austria is currently in the process of incorporating the crimes of the ICC Statute into its criminal code.

As we discuss the role of women in peacemaking and peacebuilding, we cannot ignore an issue that is inextricably tied to it — violence against women and girls in conflict situations. It is unfortunate that, despite the existence of international legal instruments and normative mechanisms, there has been a disturbing escalation in levels of sexual violence during and after armed conflicts

During the past decade, particular attention has been paid to addressing some of the specific crimes experienced by women and girls during armed conflict, namely, rape, trafficking, enforced prostitution and enslavement. It is critical to ensure accountability for past and present crimes and not to grant impunity to perpetrators. Otherwise, we would provide amnesty for future crimes.

In that connection we wish to highlight the policies carried out by our Government in the defence sector. In recent years the Ministry of Defence — under the leadership of a woman, Dr. Nilda Garré — has undertaken a profound process of mainstreaming a gender perspective.

The African Union Gender Policy, launched two years ago, stresses the need to reinforce good practices of respect, equality and human dignity between men and women in the workplace and in society at large, and to enforce zero tolerance for gender-based violence, sexual harassment, assault, rape, sexual favours, gender stereotyping, sexism and abusive language and actions in the workplace, society and situations of conflict.

Key areas of success for the improvement of the lives of women have been in the spheres of political participation, education, and health. As we finalize results for our second parliamentary election, we recall that last month, millions of Afghans went to the polls to make their voices heard. In these recent elections, 406 out of 2,556 candidates were women.

We reiterate the importance of deploying an increased international civilian capacity in a prompt and coordinated manner in countries emerging from conflict, in particular taking advantage of the capacities of the southern hemisphere and of women, taking into account their important contribution in generating national capacity, in particular in spheres such as the strengthening of the rule of law, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration,

As the Secretary-General has said, the peacebuilding process is an opportunity to better rebuild a country in all its aspects, with one of the most important aspects being the status of women, their legal position, and access to jobs and to justice, among others. This last aspect — access to justice — is of crucial importance, since women are among the main victims of conflicts.

The United Nations should, as a priority, respond to systematic mass violence against women and
children. Equal attention should be given to all categories of such violence in conflicts. Of serious
concern are cases in which women and children are killed or injured, including as a result of the
indiscriminate or excessive use of force. Unfortunately, recent examples of that can be found in

We agree with the statement in the Secretary- General's report that there is no single agreed
approach for dealing with the issue of the gender gap. We must take into account the specificities
and needs of each State. We reaffirm yet again that it is the responsibility of States to adopt
effective national legislation to promote the rights of women, to eliminate the culture of impunity