It is troubling that, even as we are holding this meeting, many women and gir...

It is troubling that, even as we are holding this meeting, many women and girls in various parts of the world, including in the Arab world, are being subjected to forms of violence that lead to their killing and to the displacement of millions of people, especially women and children, who are more vulnerable and therefore more affected by such situations. They are exposed in particular to sexual violence and to psychological and physical violence. Women and girls are exposed to the worst kinds of violence resulting from conflict in our region, and they bear the brunt of that violence. In the Arab region, women in Palestine suffer from the unjust measures taken by the Israeli occupiers. Women in the Syrian Arab Republic are exposed to discrimination and to psychological and sexual violence, detention and imprisonment. Those acts are crimes against humanity and war crimes. The conflict in Syria has forced women and girls to flee from cities because of a lack of security and a lack of humanitarian access to those women and girls. That was reiterated in the report of the Secretary- General on sexual violence in conflict.