Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

The establishment of UN Women, the appointment of its head and the appointment of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict are important recent developments.

In the fight against impunity, Belgium further asks the members of the Security Council to use, and effectively impose, targeted and graduated measures against all parties to conflicts who violate women's rights, including perpetrators of sexual violence and commanders who commission or condone the use of sexual violence.

We are, however, disappointed to note that violence against women and girls are still on as delineated in different reports. As we have mentioned earlier, women and girls suffer most as victims of conflict, while in the peace process they are mostly deprived of the dividends. Women and girls are often viewed as bearers of cultural identities. Thus they become prime targets.

We are well aware that poverty, struggle for dearth of resources, and socio-economic injustices lie at the heart of conflicts and all of them, sadly create breeding ground for such social blight including violence against women and girls. The resulting impact not only relates to the safety and security of the women and girls but also impairs the political and economic situations, as well as security of the nation.

In maintenance of intemational peace and security, we take pride for our modest contribution of troops and police to the UN Peacekeeping missions. Recruitment of women in police and military amply delineates our commitment towards women empowerment nationally as well as in international arena.

I am pleased to inform that our all men troop contingent are fully briefed on the gender issue. We hope sufficient further training will be arranged for them for reinforcing their understanding.

Finally, we are greatly encouraged by the appointments of Margot Wallström as the Secretary-General's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict and Michelle Bachelet as the Executive Director of UN Women.

However, despite this progress, we continue to receive shocking reports of atrocious abuses and sexual violence against women in conflict zones, as recently occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Warring parties must first and foremost halt all systematic and individual abuses against women.

Through the Austrian Development Agency, Austria supports and implements projects tailored towards, the implementation of 1325, in particular in relation to violence against Women,DDR, cooperation with civil society, for conflict prevention and peacekeeping. We will continue with these efforts. The Austrian multilateral development cooperation will keep a strong focus on women and children in crisis and post conflict situations.

Austria is committed to a continuous enhancement of its rule of law standards. The Rome Statute is the first international treaty to classify crimes against women, like rape or other forms of sexual violence, as crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide. Austria is currently in the process of incorporating the crimes of the ICC Statute into its criminal code.