Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

At the same time, we need a powerful response. Again, the Security Council needs to step up pressure on perpetrators of sexual violence in armed conflicts through the adoption of targeted measures by the relevant Sanctions Committees. When there is no ad hoc committee, the Council should close any protection or impunity gaps.

The second issue concerns the deployment of women's protection advisers. One particular innovation that has made a real difference and has had a catalytic impact on the ground is the deployment of more women's protection advisers to missions.

The steps already taken by the Security Council in relation to targeted sanctions are welcome and significant, but there is more to be done. As the non-profit organization Security Council Report identified in its recent cross-cutting report, political caution in the Council has precluded a more ambitious use of sanctions in the women, peace and security context.

The report needs to be updated almost as soon as it is written. As an example, the latest information reaching us about the Central African Republic suggests a situation out of control, with sexual violence employed on all sides as an instrument of conflict.

The first issue relates to ending impunity, which is absolutely critical to ensuring both accountability and effective deterrence.

Such high-profile action and momentum — and even more of both — are desperately needed. The recent report of the Secretary-General (S/2013/149) sets out the brutal realities facing women in conflict situations today. It does not shirk from going into exhaustive and difficult detail.

One of the core recommendations contained in the Secretary-General's report is that all the Security Council Sanctions Committees include a focus on crimes of sexual violence and that the Council expand its institutional capacity so as to develop ways to apply sanctions where no such committees are in place.

Last week's forthright Group of Eight declaration is clear evidence of how high-profile the issue has become. I would like to commend the United Kingdom on the leadership that it has demonstrated with its Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative. We look forward to that momentum being maintained with a further Security Council debate in June.

Faced with such horrors, how can we translate the concern voiced around this table into meaningful action on the ground? I would like to focus on just three points, following on from the European Union statement and from the statement by the representative of Canada on behalf of the Group of Friends of Women, Peace and Security, both of which Ireland has aligned itself with.

Despite its range and specificity, the Secretary- General's report is far from comprehensive. As the report points out, sexual violence is almost universally underreported. The information it presents is therefore only indicative of the scope and character of sexual violence being committed against women, children and men.