Implementation

Thirdly, ASEAN member countries are of the view that States must bear responsibility and do their utmost to prevent and address sexual violence in armed conflict. The United Nations and the international community can play a supporting role by providing assistance, by sharing best practices and by helping States to exercise that responsibility.

Most recently, the fifty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women adopted the agreed conclusions on the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls. That document was widely hailed by Governments, United Nations officials and civil society as a huge step forward and a historic global agreement in the ongoing efforts to protect women and girls from violence.

Thank you, Madam President, for organizing this event and for your presence today. Let me also thank you for the expressions of sympathy to the American people. I'd also like to thank Secretary-General Ban, Special Representative Bangura for their briefings, and Madame Keita for helping us better understand how women in Mali are combating sexual violence.

For UN missions, better prevention involves equipping peacekeepers and civilian staff with the guidance and expertise to respond to early information about threats of large-scale abuses.

At the community level, improving prevention of sexual violence requires better understanding of existing protection mechanisms and leveraging grassroots networks that can provide local information to inform prevention efforts. There is progress in this area, for example, the Community Policing Centers run by displaced persons in camps in Darfur and the enlistment of imams as advocates for sexual violence prevention in South Darfur.

These issues are hardly theoretical. The scourge of sexual violence persists. We are alarmed by horrific abuses occurring in Syria, including against men and boys, and we reaffirm that those responsible for violations of international law and human rights will be held accountable.

In closing, I want to commend the excellent work Special Representative Bangura and her staff are doing, and urge the entire UN system to give due attention to prevention efforts and facilitate the deployment of necessary expertise to conflict areas.

Encouraging parties to conflict to discuss sexual violence within their ranks, though challenging, is another critical avenue of prevention. The agreements that Special Representative Bangura brokered in the Central African Republic are models of this engagement.

Bringing deeper gender expertise to UN field missions is essential for enhanced prevention of sexual violence. UN leadership in New York and in the field should commit to greater presence of gender experts and women protection advisors in UN missions. Furthermore, the deployment of such experts should be routine in UN technical assessment missions.

We must find effective ways to respond to the needs of the survivors of sexual violence. The United Nations Action multi-partner trust fund is pivotal in that regard. We encourage Member States and other partners to contribute to the fund.