Report of the Secretary-General on the Implementation of Security Council Resolutions 1820 (2008) and 1888 (2009)

Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Author: 
UN Secretary General

The present report is submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution 1888 (2009), in which the Council requested a progress report on the implementation of its resolutions 1820 (2008) and 1888 (2009). The report provides an analytical framing of conflict-related sexual violence to inform practice; updates on situations on the agenda of the Council, including, where available, information about parties suspected of engaging in patterns of sexual violence; progress made by the United Nations system in implementing the resolutions, including measures to improve the collection of information; and recommendations aimed at enhanced response. The need to strengthen systems and approaches is underscored by the collective inability of the international community and national authorities to prevent atrocities such as the mass rapes perpetrated in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo late in July and in August, which provoked unprecedented public outrage.

2. Extensive consultations and contributions from stakeholders both at Headquarters and at the country level, including Member States, non-governmental organizations and experts, have informed the present report.

My Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict solicited input through the 13-entity network, United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict (UN Action), at the Headquarters level. At the country level, senior mission focal points provided consolidated input from relevant peacekeeping and political mission components, the United Nations country team and implementing partners.

The definition of “pattern” is informed by the listing criteria developed in the context of the agenda relating to children and armed conflict, as presented in my report on that subject (S/2010/181, paras. 167-180).

Unless otherwise indicated, the information cited is derived from United Nations reports. A/65/592 S/2010/604

While the scope of the present report is confined to situations on the Council's agenda, it bears noting that sexual violence occurs in other situations of conflict and concern. Although the information presented post-dates resolution 1820 (2008), it is
considered in the light of the fact that sexual violence is not specific to any era, culture or continent, but traverses all of history and geography.

Under international law, sexual violence is not synonymous with rape. The statutes and the case law of the International Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and the Elements of Crimes of
the International Criminal Court, define sexual violence to also encompass sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity, which may, depending on the
circumstances, include situations of indecent assault, trafficking, inappropriate medical examinations and strip searches.

The disaggregation of sexual violence offences into the categories listed above permits a more focused approach to
prevention. Sexual slavery or enforced prostitution, for example, may differ in terms of its logic from the execution of a specific policy of forced pregnancy during a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” designed to achieve a military or political end, or rape concurrent with looting to terrorize the population or as a result of overly lax command and control structures. Depending on the circumstances of the offence, sexual violence can constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity, an act of torture or a constituent act of genocide.

In addition to individual criminal responsibility, crimes of this calibre may entail command responsibility. Hence, superiors in the chain of command are legally required to take measures to halt, prevent and punish violations.

Moreover, any amnesty ordinance reached at the end of a conflict must, as a matter of consistent United Nations policy, exclude
international crimes and gross breaches of human rights. This helps to ensure that parties who commit or commission acts of sexual violence cannot escape liability and that there is no impunity for such conduct.

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Report of the Secretary-General on the Implementation of Security Council Resolutions 1820 (2008) and 1888 (2009)