Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

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.

Lastly, our full support is needed by those who are essential to the fight against the scourge of sexual violence, such as human rights defenders, doctors and journalists, who are themselves at special risk.

Why do the sexual and reproductive rights of the victims of sexual violence continue to be contested? Restricting access to sexual and reproductive health care is an infringement of a woman's right to control her own body. Substantial progress was made in the recent session of the Commission on the Status of Women, in forging consensus to affirm those rights at the global level.

We live in a world today where rape is used as a weapon of physical, psychological and social destruction, a world where in some places where women's bodies have become a real battleground. Such sexual violence committed in conflict should in no way be forgotten or go unpunished, and that is what we have come here to say today.

Those four actions consist of, first, strengthening protection on the ground. Women's protection advisers play a key role. France wishes to see their deployment in peacekeeping and political missions extended beyond the missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Mali, and, above all, that they be provided with appropriate resources to carry out their work.

Thirdly, we must take to the fight against impunity with earnest; stigma and shame must switch sides so that the victims are no longer those who suffer the consequences of the crimes. That task falls above all to Governments, which have the responsibility to prosecute and punish. However, as has been said, if the State is unable to so act, the International Criminal Court, which is universal, must and should play its role

There has also been legislative progress, with the recent adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty as the first legally binding treaty to regulate arms transfers. It recognizes the link between the international arms trade and gender-based violence, which France has strongly supported. We very much hope that such analysis will continue to prevail in our future discussions.

There has also been judicial progress. The ad hoc tribunals established by the Council and the International Criminal Court (ICC) have gradually included sexual violence as crimes under their jurisdiction.

Significant progress has been made since then, above all political progress, due in particular to the efforts of the Special Representative of the Secretary- General on Sexual Violence in Conflict. I would like once again to commend her commitment, as it has strengthened international awareness on the subject.

Secondly, there is a need to ensure victims' access to services, particularly sexual and reproductive health services. Young girls, adolescents and women victims of sexual violence can suffer, above and beyond psychological trauma, serious physical harm from violence. Adolescents and women are exposed to early, unwanted pregnancies. We must therefore fully consider all aspects of that reality.