Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

Let me conclude by stressing ASEAN's readiness and commitment to join efforts with the international community to ensure the elimination of sexual violence in armed conflict and to implement effective measures of accountability and redress in the field of women and peace and security.

First, the fundamental causes of sexual violence in armed conflict should be tackled at their root. A preventive mechanism that addresses the root causes of armed conflict should be implemented. ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, which aims to promote perpetual peace, everlasting amity and cooperation among its people, is a regional framework that we have put in place to that end.

At the national and regional levels, ASEAN member States have been establishing legal and policy frameworks and implementing mechanisms to further enhance the status and welfare of women and girls and to eliminate all forms of violence against women, including sexual violence.

ASEAN member States wish to reiterate their strong commitment to working closely with the international community and the United Nations in ending sexual violence, wherever it occurs. Our States have been supportive of efforts to eliminate and prevent all acts of violence against women.

Thank you, Madam President, for organizing this event and for your presence today. Let me also thank you for the expressions of sympathy to the American people. I'd also like to thank Secretary-General Ban, Special Representative Bangura for their briefings, and Madame Keita for helping us better understand how women in Mali are combating sexual violence.

For UN missions, better prevention involves equipping peacekeepers and civilian staff with the guidance and expertise to respond to early information about threats of large-scale abuses.

At the community level, improving prevention of sexual violence requires better understanding of existing protection mechanisms and leveraging grassroots networks that can provide local information to inform prevention efforts. There is progress in this area, for example, the Community Policing Centers run by displaced persons in camps in Darfur and the enlistment of imams as advocates for sexual violence prevention in South Darfur.

We must also build reformed national justice sectors and local institutions that can hold accountable those responsible for sexual violence while international criminal justice mechanisms continue to play their important role in ending impunity for these crimes.

Today, I would like to draw attention to the need for greater emphasis on prevention, including at the communal level and within the UN system for engaging parties to conflict to address sexual violence and for integrating sexual violence prevention and response efforts into security and justice sector reform.

These issues are hardly theoretical. The scourge of sexual violence persists. We are alarmed by horrific abuses occurring in Syria, including against men and boys, and we reaffirm that those responsible for violations of international law and human rights will be held accountable.