Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

As we all know, violence against women will not end until those who commit and order it are found, arrested, tried and sentenced. The fight against impunity cannot be a matter of mere words; it must see be a commitment by all political actors and parties in a crisis to work to eradicate the culture of violence against women and girls, especially rape, which has for some time been a weapon of war.

"The events unfolding in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the Central African Republic — as Ms. Balipou mentioned — in Syria and elsewhere around the world, where women continue to be the special target of violence committed by men, show that there is still a long way to go to protect women in situations of armed conflict.

My delegation is pleased to learn from UN Women that transitional justice mechanisms are increasingly responding to war crimes against women by providing specific arrangements to protect women witnesses. We also welcome the adoption of resolution 2106 (2013), in June, which focuses on accountability for perpetrators of sexual violence in conflict and stresses women's political and economic empowerment.

Just last month, Thailand joined other like-minded countries in endorsing the Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, initiated by the United Kingdom. We will continue to cooperate with all partners to eliminate sexual violence in conflict and bring the perpetrators to justice.

We cannot but express our deep concern about the deterioration of the situation in the refugee camps of our Syrian brothers, where Syrian women and girls face insecurity and are being trafficked, raped and subjected to forced marriage, all of which has been documented in international reports.

Thirdly, Switzerland welcomes the fact that the Secretary-General's report (S/2013/525) mentions the importance of access to safe abortion for women and girls who are victims of rape. Switzerland firmly believes that all women and girls have the right to control their own bodies and to be free from coercion and sexual violence.

Secondly, archives are key to the fight against impunity, especially to the full realization of the right to be informed. Switzerland welcomes the work of the experts convoked at the initiative of the British Government on the prevention of gender-based violence, which makes good use of archives in order to expose sexual violence committed in conflict situations and to investigate crimes.

First, Switzerland puts particular stress on a gender-sensitive implementation of the transitional justice mechanisms. As Ms. Balipou pointed out earlier, women's perspectives and needs should be included in all four principles against impunity: the right to be informed, the right to justice, the right to reparations and the guarantee of non-recurrence.

We welcome the fact that the recently concluded Arms Trade Treaty includes a legally-binding provision on gender-based violence and a call for a full implementation of the Treaty's provision on preventing gender-based violence and violence against women and girls when assessing arms transfers.

The approach chosen today for the current debate links two fundamental principles to which Spain is particularly committed: the first is the fight against impunity for crimes against women in armed conflict, and the second is women's participation in rebuilding the rule of law in post-conflict situations in order to put an end to the structures of inequality and discrimination in the context of which those crimes were committed.