Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

Sometimes, the Government forces of countries in conflict have themselves also committed the same violations. Rape has become a war strategy aimed at humiliating the enemy and establishing domination. The figures relating to violence against women and girls are considerable, particularly in the Central African Republic, where the rebels of the Séléka coalition and the Lords Resistance Army operate.

Sexual violence today has reached an intolerable level. In fact, women and girls are victims of all kinds of violence, particularly rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, pregnancy or forced sterilization, forced marriage, kidnappings and many other form of violence.

It appears to us, then, that one of the reasons has to do with the fact that the parties to the conflict do not respect their obligations under the relevant international legal instruments in the area of humanitarian law and human rights in times of armed conflict, in particular the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their 1977 Protocol.

Another question that we ask ourselves pertains to the reasons for the persistence of these serious violations of human rights and the exponential increase in the number of victims. There are sociological reasons, first of all, which are linked to the refusal of women and girls to report the facts to the authorities because of their fear of reprisals, stigmatization or being punished or rejected by their spouses or their communities.

We had sincerely hoped that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General would have publicly presented the violations of the rights of Syrian women and girls in refugee camps in neighbouring countries. For example, there were more than 250 documented cases in which Syrian women in a Turkish refugee camp had been impregnated by Turkish supervisors and their terrorist associates.

The report of the Secretary-General includes seven paragraphs concerning my country. The allegations contained in the report were based on reports by the independent international commission of inquiry in 2012 and 2013. My country would like to stress that the work of that commission since its inception was not professional; rather, it was primarily politically motivated.

The Government of Syria has outlined those serious lapses to the Special Representative of the Secretary- General, as well as to the commission of inquiry in an official and documented manner. But the commission has ignored all that, for unknown reasons.

My country has examined the Secretary-General's report on sexual violence in armed conflict (S/2013/149) and the information it contains, submitted by the Special Representative. We support all efforts aimed at putting an end to all forms of the crime of sexual violence in conflict, ending impunity and punishing perpetrators and those who incite such violence.

In that regard, I would like to raise some questions. Why did the Special Representative choose to ignore the statement she issued on 15 February under the headline “Syria, release kidnapped women and children and protect them from sexual violence”.

In conclusion, my homeland, Syria, would like to seriously deal with those horrendous and egregious violations of human rights. Syria would like to cooperate with the United Nations, especially with Ms. Zainab Bangura, in order to expose the true events unfolding in Syria in a manner free of sensationalism and politicization and divorced from the agenda of influential Powers in this international Organization.