Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

Those efforts led to the Security Council's establishment of a Working Group tasked with the protection of civilians and to draw up plans to put an end to all murder and other forms of violence, including sexual violence, affecting civilians. However, the thrust of the recommendations and presidential statements by the Council have unfortunately not yielded the desired results.

Women are too often subjected to sexual violence used as a tactic of war.

The treatment of the protection of civilians in armed conflict is multidimensional and cuts across the 23 work of the various United Nations bodies, in particular in the context of the General Assembly and the work of the Third and Sixth Committees through various resolutions, among which those on the “Status of the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and relating to the protection of victims of armed conflicts”

It is important to emphasize that the common positions on the protection of civilians agenda, which have been developed by the international community over the past decade, need to be upheld and further enhanced.

Sexual violence is no longer a simple by-product of armed conflict. It is being used as a weapon of war, aimed at dehumanizing and instilling fear in civilians in situations of armed conflict. Whether carried out by non-State armed groups or Government security forces in conflict and post-conflict situations, it is to some extent designed to achieve political and military objectives.

However, continual cases, such as those involving the mass rape of women and children by rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are stark reminders that action to stop such violations needs to be taken now.

The ability of the Security Council to enforce accountability for the protection of civilians, especially women and children, must be further strengthened. In that regard, we expect that the monitoring, analysis and reporting arrangements on conflict-related sexual violence requested under resolution 1960 (2010) will be operational as soon as possible.

Significant progress has been made in recent years in the normative and institutional framework with the adoption of important resolutions, most recently resolution 1960 (2010), which established a monitoring, analysis and reporting mechanism on conflict-related sexual violence. However, emphasis must now be placed on progress in enhancing protection on the ground.

Children are sexually abused, killed and/or maimed and sometimes even used as suicide bombers by parties to a conflict.

With respect to the systematic violence carried out against women and girls, we welcome the investigations that are under way in the country, which reflect the determination of MONUSCO and of the Congolese Government to combat impunity.