Germany

We welcome the focus of today's debate on addressing accountability and the fight against impunity. Let me be clear — our ultimate goal has to be, first and foremost, the prevention of sexual violence in conflict. In cases where acts of sexual violence have already occurred, it is indispensable that perpetrators be immediately brought to justice and survivors receive adequate support and redress. Only effective criminal prosecution during and after conflict will lead to an equally effective prevention system that can help to create long-term peace.

Secondly, when sexual violence constitutes a crime against humanity, a war crime or even genocide, it has to be subject to punishment and has to be excluded from amnesty provisions. Whenever States are not willing or capable to fulfil their responsibility to prosecute perpetrators accordingly, the international community must react in order to prevent a culture of impunity, as was recently stressed at the Group of Eight meeting in the United Kingdom. Regional justice mechanisms and the International Criminal Court (ICC) can also play an important role. We also welcome the work of the Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict in Special Representative of the Secretary- General Bangura's Office in this regard.

Thirdly, appropriate medical and psychosocial support for survivors of sexual violence, including access to sexual reproductive health services, as well as access to justice and reparations, are fundamental prerequisites for the effective reintegration of women into their respective societies. Germany has, for example, funded several medical counseling centres in Congo, where women can receive medical and psychological support, as well as emergency HIV post- exposure prophylaxis. We also support transitional justice mechanisms, such as truth and reconciliation committees, and dialogue between these and women's rights organizations.

Let me end by stressing that the Security Council has a role to play in monitoring the commitments made by parties to conflicts. In this regard, it can and should do more to hold perpetrators accountable. Without having to create a new mechanism, it could already make use of the tools at hand, for example by reacting to cases of sexual violence in a certain country with Security Council press statements, by writing specific letters to concerned Governments or by referring specific cases more frequently to the Sanctions Committees and, as a last resort, to the ICC.