We agree with the Secretary-General's statement that States are primarily res...

We agree with the Secretary-General's statement that States are primarily responsible for holding individuals to account for sexual and gender-based violence. However, when national jurisdictions are unwilling or unable to fulfil their responsibilities in that regard, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in particular has a complementary role to play. Bringing to justice the perpetrators of sexual violence is an important step for victims seeking to move on with their lives. We are therefore pleased that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Ms. Fatou Bensouda, has made the fight against sexual violence a focus of her work. The fact that crimes of sexual violence play a role in nearly every case under investigation and prosecution by the Court speaks both to the startling prevalence of sexual violence in armed conflicts today and to the emphasis placed by the ICC on holding perpetrators of those crimes accountable. The voluntary surrender to the ICC by Bosco Ntanganda, whose name has been associated with sexual and gender-based crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for many years, is an important message for victims — in the end, justice will be done.