Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

The appointments of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict and the Under-Secretary-General for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Executive Director of the new gender entity, UN Women, to whom we reiterate our full support, are the most recent achievements in this regard.

My delegation is pleased to state in this regard that Tunisia is about to finalize and adopt its national action plan for the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000). This plan will, among other things, encourage women's training in peacekeeping and peacebuilding so as to provide qualified personnel who could be deployed in field-based United Nations operations.

It should be recognized, however, that national ownership of the resolution is the key approach to ensuring its effective implementation.

It should be recognized that today there is greater awareness of sexual violence in conflict, as well as an increased focus on addressing it.

However, despite 10 years of efforts, significant achievements are yet difficult to identify on the ground, to use the Secretary-General's own words. Commitments to the protection of women and girls have fallen short of the pledges made. Women remain deliberate targets of gender-based violence, in particular sexual violence, in many conflict and post-conflict areas, especially in Africa, as was the case recently.

The vulnerability of women and girls in situations of armed conflict and, in our specific circumstances, armed violence, continue to engage our attention. Consequently, we have implemented and continue to implement measures to eliminate and mitigate the effects of armed violence, particularly against women and girls in our society.

We hope that Margot Wallström, who was appointed under resolution 1888 (2009), will play a significant role as an interlocutor for conversations between the United Nations system and the Security Council. We also hope that she will provide the Council with detailed information on instances of sexual violence.

Resolution 1820 (2008) affirmed the Council's intention to consider targeted sanctions against parties to armed conflict who commit rape. In addition, we have international criminal justice instruments at our disposal, in particular the International Criminal Court, to ensure that such crimes do not go unpunished.

Finally, I would also like to emphasize the work being done by SRSG Wallstrom and her office on Sexual Violence in Conflict. The SRSG's work is of outstanding importance and the results in the next few years will be an important indicator of the international community's ability to address the structural violence that is directed towards women.

As for combating the phenomenon of violence against women, the Government of the Sudan has adopted a national strategy that was prepared by all relevant official and public actors. The strategy has been implemented at the central and provincial levels.