Implementation

We wholeheartedly support the work and mandate of Ms. Bangura, especially her efforts to build coherence and coordination in the United Nations response and her focus on national ownership and responsibility. The report provides an important opportunity to assess progress and to consider what more needs to be done. It is clear that there is a huge amount still to be done.

First, the United Kingdom would like to commend the Secretary-General for recommending that all country resolutions and mandate renewals for United Nations peacekeeping and special political missions systematically address sexual violence and include the specific language of resolution 1960 (2010).

The report of the Secretary-General (S/2013/149) and the statements made today make clear that, over the past three and a half years, effective action has been taken by the United Nations to prevent and address the scourge of sexual violence in conflict.

Impunity cannot be the rule. In that regard, the United Nations must help States to establish appropriate cooperation mechanisms, particularly through bilateral or regional extradition agreements to deal with perpetrators. Effective mechanisms must also be put into place that take into account the needs of women who have been victims of sexual violence, who are often abandoned to their fate.

Finally — and this is not an exhaustive list — the early-warning mechanisms established in peacekeeping operations show that they are limited in their ability to effectively protect women and girls in times of armed conflict.

The report of the Secretary-General (S/2013/149) and the statements made today make clear that, over the past three and a half years, effective action has been taken by the United Nations to prevent and address the scourge of sexual violence in conflict.

The international community, above all the United Nations, must become more involved on a legal level in the search for solutions to the problems raised by the commission of these horrific sexual crimes, particularly rape. That means that they must encourage recourse to national courts or international courts competent in that area to apprehend the perpetrators and thus fight against impunity.

Despite all of those difficulties and obstacles, we can say that courageous action has been carried out by the United Nations, particularly by UN-Women, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and a number of international and non-governmental organizations. Togo commends all of those efforts undertaken to fight against this scourge and welcomes the recommendations contained in the Secretary-General's report (S/2013/149).

It appears to us, then, that one of the reasons has to do with the fact that the parties to the conflict do not respect their obligations under the relevant international legal instruments in the area of humanitarian law and human rights in times of armed conflict, in particular the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their 1977 Protocol.

Thirdly, and finally, Switzerland heeds the Secretary-General's call for the recruitment of women's protection advisers as members of United Nations assessment teams. We draw attention to the Justice Rapid Response initiative. It is an intergovernmental support mechanism that can provide the international community and the Security Council with rapidly deployable expertise.