Turning to the Secretary-General's recommendations, I join others in stating that it is pointless discussing accountability for sexual crimes perpetrated against women, girls and boys unless we do two things.
Let us be clear about what it is we are saying by our inaction. We are saying that it is okay by us when a United Nations civilian staff member commits rape in a United Nations peacekeeping mission, where the host country has no functioning judiciary and when the country of nationality cannot exercise its criminal jurisdiction extraterritorially over the accused because it has no law allowing it to do so. Is that our view?
I do not wish to be misunderstood: if we had done everything we should have done over the past nine years to ensure the total elimination of this abominable practice by our own peacekeepers, and they still occurred, then we could accept that there was little more we can do. But we, as Member States, have not done everything, and so we cannot make that claim.
Finally, I ask once again the painful question of whether we as a collective membership, bound together in this Organization by its Charter, actually have the credibility to offer strong opinions on this subject matter?
Security Council resolution 2106 (2013) provided, for the first time, the theme of sexual violence in conflict with a comprehensive prevention framework. We believe that the emphasis on prevention is vital if we are ever to defeat conflict-related sexual violence.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, we are helping the Government expand and consolidate the special police for the protection of women and children. We will also support the activities of the special representative of President Kabila on sexual violence once that post is filled.
Two months ago, Italy released a revision of its national action plan on the women and peace and security agenda with a view to accelerating the implementation of the plan over the next three years. The revised plan not only reports on our progress but also shows the efforts made to adopt a more effective approach.
First, with respect to the lack of information, as the observer of the European Union has stated, we need to enhance data sharing, which can provide critical support for the advancement of the agenda by providing a clearer picture of the reality on the ground and subsequently by exerting political pressure where needed.
We must stand together to prevent those barbaric crimes, and we must stand united with the victims of sexual violence so they will know that they are not alone
