Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

Bosnia and Herzegovina supports the establishment of arrangements for monitoring, analyzing and reporting sexual violence in situations of armed conflict. Such a mechanism is necessary for data collection so that the use of systematic sexual violence in conflict situations on the Council's agenda can be tracked.

Bosnia and Herzegovina attaches the utmost importance to confronting the grave issue of sexual violence and is particularly encouraged by the commitment of the Security Council to keep the matter on its agenda. That commitment was unequivocally demonstrated by the adoption of resolutions 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009) and 1894 (2009), which have paved the way for concrete action aimed at preventing sexual violence.

We welcome the recent arrests and extraditions of persons responsible for sexual violence and would like to encourage all countries concerned to take the necessary steps to bring them to justice.

United Nations peacekeeping missions must also strengthen their prevention and protection capacities. We welcome efforts under way to develop scenariobased training materials, such as curricula based on the publication entitled “Addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: An Analytical Inventory of Peacekeeping Practice”.

The past two years have seen progress in the fight against sexual violence, in particular through the appointment of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict. At the same time, the levels of sexual violence in many conflicts around the world remain alarmingly high. Women and children continue to fall victim to sexual violence used as a deliberate means of warfare on a daily basis.

The extremely negative effect of sexual violence on peace processes, reconciliation and post-conflict reconstruction clearly makes that crime a security threat. Sexual violence is not a mere by-product of war; it is more often than not a deliberate tactic of warfare. The Council, alongside affected States, has a clear responsibility to use all tools at its disposal to put an end to this scourge.

Let me first of all thank you, Madame, and your delegation for your outstanding work, which led to the adoption by consensus of resolution 1960 (2010) before us today. The resolution brings significant added value to the fight against sexual violence in armed conflict. We greatly appreciate the Secretary-General's unwavering commitment to this cause.

We were very pleased to support the joint analytical inventory developed by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the United Nations Development Fund for Women under the auspices of the inter-agency network United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict. This is a key tool for the Organization to use in improving its ability to protect civilians from conflict-related sexual violence as part of peacekeeping operations.

Early warning signs of conflict-related sexual violence are often received. But as the mass rapes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in July and August sadly demonstrated, our coordinated and comprehensive analysis of those signs must be strengthened in order to improve the prospects for preventing attacks on civilians. Sexual violence is not unique in that regard.

The Commission on the Status of Women, too, has contributed to advancing global policy on women, peace and security. At its forty-eighth session in 2004, the Commission considered women's equal participation in conflict prevention, management and resolution and in post-conflict peacebuilding.