Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

Finally, I would like to remind the Council of something Ms. Bangura said recently: “I am sure there will come a time where the only place we can read about sexual violence in conflict is in the textbooks.” Estonia will be there to support that aim.

Estonia would welcome having all the Security Council Sanctions Committees consider focusing on crimes of sexual violence. In that context, it might be necessary to harmonize designation criteria for listed individuals and entities by including any relevant charges from the international justice mechanisms and, importantly, from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Estonia is proud of having been a sponsor of resolution 1820 (2008), on women and peace and security, wherein for the first time in a Security Council resolution sexual violence was recognized as a tactic of war and where it is noted that rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide.

Estonia is also very satisfied that the Arms Trade Treaty, recently adopted by the General Assembly, includes strong human rights and international humanitarian law criteria. In assessing the export of conventional arms, each country has to take into account the risk of those arms being used to commit or facilitate serious acts of gender-based violence or serious acts of violence against women and children.

Concerning the latest developments in the United Nations, we welcome the adoption of the agreed conclusions of the fifty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women, in which the Commission urged States to strongly condemn violence against women and girls committed in armed conflict and post-conflict situations and called for effective measures of accountability and redress, as well as effective remedies.

Allow me to note that Estonia confirms its commitment to ending impunity and fighting sexual violence through its financial contributions in the field as well. In 2013, Estonia contributed financially to a UNICEF project in the Central African Republic for the prevention and response to gender-based violence.

We all know very well that, after the chaos of armed conflict, the fundamental institutions of a country are left in a general state of weakness and dependency, with limited and low levels of economic and human resources. Such countries usually take a long time to achieve the strengthening of their institutions to a degree that would allow them to be functional at an acceptable level.

The Government of El Salvador is thus strongly committed to combating impunity and to providing access to redress for victims, as can be seen on a daily basis in the Ciudad Mujer programme.

Parallel to those efforts, the Salvadoran Government has strongly promoted a campaign against gender-based violence and sexual violence in general on different fronts. We have strengthened legislation with the approval of the comprehensive special act on violence-free lives for women.

Finally, the President, through the secretariat for social inclusion and the Salvadoran Institute for Women's Development, is currently promoting a large-scale awareness-raising campaign to combat violence against women, which is having a huge social impact.