Implementation

Data collection is also vital for non-humanitarian activities to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. The resolution we adopted today will improve the collection and analysis of information required to better understand the patterns of sexual violence in armed conflict.

But obviously, more must still be done. We hope that the United Nations will continue to identify women's protection advisers and put them in more peacekeeping operations, and complete a gaps analysis of United Nations protection strategies.

Thirdly, we will be able to address the arbitrary division that has been created by a monitoring and reporting mechanism for children in armed conflict who are subject to patterns of sexual violence when no such protection is afforded to those older than 18.

The United Kingdom has clearly set out its commitments in its new national action plan. The plan was launched on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Second are increased monitoring, analysis and reporting. That will help us to develop a more comprehensive and integrated approach. More effective monitoring of patterns of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict should allow the Council to identify and mandate the action necessary to prevent it.

If we are going to resolve and prevent conflict effectively, we must help to protect women from violence, particularly sexual violence. That understanding is now fundamental to the way that the Security Council approaches its responsibilities.

I would like to take a moment to highlight the significant steps forward that we have taken today with resolution 1960 (2010). First, it contains a new provision to identify parties to armed conflict that is credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for acts of rape and other forms of sexual violence. That will help our efforts to tackle impunity for crimes of sexual violence and conflict.

I thank the Secretary-General for his comprehensive and ambitious report (S/2010/604). I am pleased that the Council has welcomed the report as a strong signal of our intention to support and assist in the eradication of sexual violence as a tactic of warfare. This terminology and its consideration by the Council are relatively new, but the tragic reality is not.

We thank the Secretary-General's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Margot Wallström, for her work. We encourage her to take advantage of the existing legal and policy frameworks, including those in our region, to strengthen support and partnerships to put an end to the vice of sexual violence.

Uganda also welcomes the idea of establishing monitoring, analysis and reporting arrangements on conflict-related sexual violence, including rape in situations of armed conflict and post-conflict, and other situations relevant to the implementation of resolution 1888 (2009).