Implementation

So what must we do regarding United Nations peacekeeping? We must adopt the convention on criminal accountability as soon as possible; we must make the United Nations a co-examiner of the facts, even when the allegations involve United Nations military personnel. We must be more transparent regarding the severity and nature of the crimes being committed by United Nations peacekeepers. We must do better on matters relating to paternity.

I begin by asking this: do we, as a collective membership, bound together in this Organization and by its Charter, have the credibility to offer strong opinions on this subject matter? Do we have the credibility when together we have all refused to undertake the complete range of actions necessary to ensure that sexual abuse and exploitation by our own peacekeepers, United Nations peacekeepers, be reduced to zero?

Do we have any credibility when we insist that the United Nations has no business in relation to the conduct of investigations into alleged crimes committed by our own United Nations uniformed peacekeepers, knowing that in the past we, the Member States, were not reliable enough in guaranteeing that justice was done in respect of the victims?

Can we not be accused by others of brazen hypocrisy when we condemn in this Chamber all expressions of conflict-related sexual violence committed against women, girls and boys, and speak of them as unjust and intolerable — and we have done this for 13 years now — and then down the hall, only a few metres from here, in the Sixth Committee, we do next to nothing, year in and year out, on the draft convention on criminal accountabilit

Are we credible when in 2012, the last Office of Internal Oversight Services reporting period, we still had 42 cases of sexual exploitation and abuse involving United Nations peacekeepers being investigated by that Office? By now, some seven years after we identified both the challenge and the plan needed to eliminate this odious phenomenon, there should be practically no cases at all.

Thirdly, Japan recently made a contribution of $1 million to the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, which is managed by UN-Women. We are also currently taking part in efforts to raise awareness of the Fund, and to expand its donor base, including private sector donors.

In closing, Japan reiterates its full support for the mandate of Special Representative Bangura and commends her proactive engagements. We would also like to underline the important role played by the Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict in fostering national ownership, leadership and responsibility in addressing sexual violence. Japan strongly supports their efforts and will cooperate closely with them.

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.

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.