Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

But the United States and none of the member states can do this work alone. We need the international community.

And we are very fortunate to have with us today the UN Under-Secretary-General Michelle Bachelet, the first head of UN Women. I am delighted by her appointment and very grateful for her commitment and the excellent presentation that she has already delivered.

But Mr President recent events in the DRC serve as a sobering reminder of the scale of the challenges we still face. We welcome the two high profile arrests for the mass rapes in the DRC this summer as the first sign that impunity will not be tolerated.

As the Security Council witnessed on our recent mission to Sudan, devastating sexual violence continues to destroy the lives of women trying to rebuild communities in Darfur. And yet during that visit, we also had the chance to hear how inspiring women leaders are striving to rebuild inclusive and democratic societies in Southern Sudan.

Despite all international efforts, women continue to be the most vulnerable victims of armed conflict and to be targeted with the most brutal forms of sexual violence. In addition to that, women also experience the trauma of losing relatives and friends in armed conflict, as well as having to take responsibility for the care of surviving family members. They also constitute the majority of refugees and displaced persons.

We are also institutionalizing gender-based violence training in key institutions for training of security forces including those involved in peacekeeping missions.

Uganda is already carrying out legislative reforms to address the remaining gender inequalities and violence against women in both public and private sectors. We are also working on integrating the principles of the resolutions 1325 and 1820 in the National Development Plan implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the landmark Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women and peace and security. It was the first Security Council resolution to address women's issues in the international peace and security agenda.

In the next 5 years, Uganda will be developing a comprehensive national policy on gender-based violence to guide prevention and response efforts in all situations, including in the humanitarian and development contexts. We shall also establish sustainable and integrated systems of collecting data on gender-based violence and improve access to justice for victims and survivors.

We have to redouble our efforts in the fight against impunity. Targeted and graduated measures should be imposed against the perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence and rape. We believe that in tackling the issue of women's security, we should move from ad hoc approaches towards a systematic one.