Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

My delegation is deeply concerned that forced marriage, rape and sexual slavery have been documented in several States in conflict and have occurred under the pretext of Islamic sharia law. Malaysia wishes to emphasize that Islam does not condone forced marriage, rape or sexual slavery in any way. We believe that education is key to reducing the incidence of sexual violence.

In conclusion, Malaysia reaffirms its strong commitment to efforts to address sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict situations, and strongly believes that the issue of women and peace and security deserves the Security Council's sustained attention.

With resolutions 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009) and 1960 (2010), we have given ourselves the means to act in the fight against the scourge of sexual violence in conflict. Today's open debate is an opportunity to take stock of the implementation of those resolutions and the challenges that lie ahead.

We know the extent to which crisis resolution and post-conflict situations are volatile and precarious. That is why it is important once again to ensure the involvement of women in peace processes so that peace and ceasefire agreements fully and systematically take into account the issue of sexual violence.

The fight against sexual violence must also be integrated into all security sector and justice reform processes worthy of the name. In that regard, Luxemburg has supported a number of workshops, including in South Sudan and Liberia, aimed at strengthening the contribution of United Nations peacekeeping operations to the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000).

The evidence is clear: sexual violence in conflict spares no one. It affects adults and children, men as well as women, as evidenced by the increasingly frequent acts of sexual violence against men and boys as a tactic of war or in the context of incarceration or interrogation. The violence documented in Syria, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo is the sad illustration of those facts.

The Council's actions set an example, and its responsibility in this area is essential. That is clear in the explicit references to the agenda on women and peace and security in the agreed conclusions recently adopted by the Commission on the Status of Women, whose main theme, as I recall, was the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women.

The Council must be fully informed before acting, which is why it is so important to establish follow-up, analysis and information-exchange mechanisms within peacekeeping operations and political missions and to provide for the deployment of sufficient numbers of women protection advisers, who have a crucial role to play in the coordination of the implementation of Security Council resolutions on conflict-related sexual violence.

Once the perpetrators of sexual violence have been identified, the Council can and must, through the adoption of targeted measures, step up pressure on those responsible so that they are brought to justice before a competent court and judged.

It is under national jurisdictions that perpetrators should primarily be tried, and we must therefore support national Governments in their fight against impunity. Based on the principle of complementarity, international criminal justice still has an important role to play, and we very much welcome the efforts undertaken in that regard by the International Criminal Court.