Secretary Clinton chairs the United Nations Security Council to Urge the Adoption of a UNSC Resolution to Combat Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict, at the United Nations Headquarters.

Washington — Violence against women is not cultural but criminal, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told the United Nations Security Council, and she hailed the decision of the council to unanimously adopt a resolution to protect women in conflict situations.

Clinton chaired the Security Council session September 30 when it adopted Resolution 1888, which outlines actions the United Nations and member states can take to prevent conflict-related sexual violence.

“The challenge of sexual violence in conflict cannot and should not be separated from the broader security issues confronting this council,” Clinton said. “It is time for all of us to assume our responsibility to go beyond condemning this behavior, to taking concrete steps to end it, to make it socially unacceptable, to recognize it is not cultural — it is criminal.”

Among the steps called for by Resolution 1888 are:

• The appointment of a special representative to lead efforts to end conflict-related sexual violence against women and children.
• The creation of a team of experts to help governments in preventing conflict-related sexual violence, strengthening civilian and military justice systems and enhancing aid to victims.
• Reports by U.N. peacekeeping missions to the Security Council about the prevalence of sexual violence.
• Consideration by the U.N. Security Council of patterns of sexual violence during the process of adopting or targeting sanctions.
• The inclusion of women’s protection advisers in peacekeeping operations where it is appropriate, as determined by the U.N. secretary-general.
• The submission of annual reports by the secretary-general on the implementation of this resolution as well as more systematic reporting on conflict-related sexual violence.

Conflict-related sexual violence against women and children has been widespread and continues in many areas around the world. In the Democratic Republic of Congo alone, approximately 1,100 rapes are being reported each month, with an average of 36 women and girls raped every day, and the perpetrators frequently mutilate the women in the course of the attacks. (See “Conflicts in Africa Exacerbate Gender-Based Atrocities.”)

The United Nations Development Fund for Women reported that in Rwanda, up to half a million women were raped during the 1994 genocide. The numbers were approximately 60,000 in the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s; in Sierra Leone, the number of incidents of war-related sexual violence among internally displaced women from 1991 to 2001 was approximately 64,000.

Addressing the council on September 30, U.N. Secretary -General Ban Ki-moon decried the targeting of civilians in conflict and said Resolution 1888 is “an ambitious platform” for intensifying the struggle against violence against women. “Sexual violence in armed conflict or, indeed, at any time, should have no place and find no haven in the world,” he said.

The Obama administration has taken a strong stand to protect women, having appointed special advisers to advocate women’s issues at home and abroad. Clinton, addressing female heads of state September 24, made it clear that women’s issues will be “a centerpiece of my term as secretary of state.” (See “Women’s Issues to Be Major Focus of U.S. Policy.”)

In a statement released shortly after the Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1888, President Obama applauded its language, saying it sends an “unequivocal message” that “violence against women and children will not be tolerated and must be stopped.”

BEYOND U.N. RESOLUTIONS

Clinton urged the U.N. Security Council to take additional steps beyond those recommended in Resolution 1888 and others aimed at protecting women and children.

Protecting women and children should be a critical priority for all U.N. peacekeeping troops, she said. “To reflect this, new and renewed peacekeeping mandates should include language condemning sexual violence and giving further guidance to peacekeeping missions to work with local authority to end it,” she said.

“We must seek to ensure that our respective military and police forces, especially those who will participate in peacekeeping missions, develop the expertise to prevent and respond to violence against women and children. And this will be helped by increasing the number of women who serve in U.N. peacekeeping missions,” the secretary of state said. Clinton said that when she recently visited the U.N. mission in Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo, she was impressed at how well integrated it was, with women representing every country.

“Let us not forget,” she added, “that it is often women who lead the call for peace in communities shattered by violence. We have seen women in this role — from Liberia, to Rwanda, to Northern Ireland, to Guatemala. Even when they suffer terrible losses in conflict they had no part in starting, women have the will to reach across divisions, find common ground and foster understanding. As they speak peace, so must we, by making sure they are part of all efforts.”

Clinton urged U.N. member states to ensure that their foreign assistance programs include measures to prevent and respond to violence against women and children and to ensure that women are included in designing and implementing those programs.

 

Clinton Remarks on the Adoption of a UNSC Resolution to Combat Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
United Nations Headquarters
New York City
September 30, 2009

[...]

I shall now have the privilege of making a statement in my capacity as the Secretary of State for the United States, and I am very grateful to speak before the Security Council on this important issue. I want to thank everyone who has worked very hard to reach this point on this resolution, and of course, to have it adopted unanimously, because we’re here to address an issue that has received too little attention, not only in these chambers over the last six decades, but I would suggest in all of our halls of government across the world. It is an important issue that goes to the core of our commitment to ensure the safety of the United Nations member-states and their citizens.

Under the UN Charter, the 15 members of this Council bear primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. Now, satisfying that responsibility includes us to protect the lives and physical security of all people, including the women who comprise half the planet’s population. This responsibility is particularly acute in circumstances where peace and stability are challenged. Even though women and children are rarely responsible for initiating armed conflict, they are often war’s most vulnerable and violated victims.

The resolution we passed today represents a step forward in our global efforts to end violence perpetrated against women and children in conflict zones, and it builds on two prior Security Council resolutions: Resolution 1325, which called on all parties in conflicts to respect women’s rights and increase their participation in peace negotiations and post-conflict reconstruction efforts; and Resolution 1820, adopted last year, which affirms the ambitions set out in 1325, and establishes a clear link between maintaining international peace and security, and preventing and responding to sexual violence used as a tactic of war to target civilians. Yet despite these actions by the United Nations Security Council, violence against women and girls in conflict-related situations has not diminished; in fact, in some cases, it has escalated.

Now, reading the headlines, one might think that the use of rape as a tactic of war only happens occasionally, or in a few places, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Sudan. That would be bad enough, but the reality is much worse. We’ve seen rape used as a tactic of war before in Bosnia, Burma, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere. In too many countries and in too many cases, the perpetrators of this violence are not punished, and so this impunity encourages further attacks.

Last month, I traveled to Goma in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where over 1,100 rapes are reported every month. I met with survivors of sexual violence. And the physical and emotional damage to individual women and their families from these attacks cannot be quantified, nor can the toll on their societies.

The dehumanizing nature of sexual violence doesn’t just harm a single individual or a single family or even a single village or a single group. It shreds the fabric that weaves us together as human beings, it endangers families and communities, erodes social and political stability, and undermines economic progress. We need to understand that it holds all of us back. Also, our failure as an international body to respond concretely to this global problem erodes our collective effectiveness. So we must act now to end this crisis not only to protect vulnerable people and promote human security, but to uphold the legitimacy of this body.

Now, the international community has made progress. Many peacekeeping mandates now include Security Council requests for strengthened measures to prevent and respond to sexual violence. In Chad and Sudan, UN peacekeepers have clear instructions underscoring their responsibility to protect local populations against sexual and gender-based violence.

And I recently met with the UN troops in Liberia, who provide an excellent example of the steps a UN mission can take, Mr. Secretary General, both through its own actions and in cooperation with the host government to prevent violence against women and girls. It is also very important that in Liberia, the United Nations mission includes an all-women police unit from India. That all-women police unit has helped to motivate more Liberian women to become police officers, and the mission has launched a joint UN-Liberian campaign against rape.

Now, these steps are essential, but alone they’re not sufficient. So this resolution identifies specific steps that the United Nations and member-states can and should take to improve the UN response to sexual violence committed during situations of armed conflict. It calls on the Secretary General to appoint a special representative to lead, coordinate, and advocate for efforts to end sexual violence. We expect that person to engage at high levels with civilian and military leaders to spearhead the UN’s activities on this front.

It also calls on the Secretary General to rapidly deploy a team of experts to work with governments to strengthen the rule of law, address impunity, and enhance accountability while drawing attention to the full range of legal venues that can be brought into play, including domestic, international, and mixed courts that bring local and international judges and prosecutors together to strengthen local justice systems.

We must also recognize that ending conflicts outright is the most certain path to ending sexual violence in conflict. So pursuing peace and successful post-conflict transitions should be our highest priority. In states where conflict is taking place and those that are moving beyond it, local police must receive better training, the rule of law must be strengthened, and survivors must be ensured full access to justice and protection throughout the judicial process. We envision that this team of experts called for in this resolution will help us strengthen initiatives like those.

Now, beyond the measures outlined in the resolution, the Security Council should take additional steps. Protecting women and children should be a critical priority for all troops who wear the blue helmet. To reflect this, new and renewed peacekeeping mandates should include language condemning sexual violence and giving further guidance to peacekeeping missions to work with local authorities to end it.

We must seek to ensure that our respective military and police forces, especially those who will participate in peacekeeping missions, develop the expertise to prevent and respond to violence against women and children. And this will be helped by increasing the number of women who serve in UN peacekeeping missions. When I visited the mission in Goma, I was very impressed at how integrated it was in every way, from every country, every kind of person represented, and many women in the leadership as well as in the ranks.

And let us not forget that it is often women who lead the call for peace in communities shattered by violence. We have seen women in this role from Liberia to Rwanda to Northern Ireland to Guatemala. Even when they suffer terrible losses in conflicts they had no part in starting, women have the will to reach across divisions, find common ground, and foster understanding. As they seek peace, so must we by making sure they are part of all efforts. So I urge UN member-states to make sure their foreign assistance programs include measures to prevent and respond to violence against women and children, and to ensure that women are included in designing and implementing those programs.

In his speech at the General Assembly last week, President Obama challenged nations of the world to assume responsibility for the challenges confronting us. Certainly, the challenge of sexual violence in conflict cannot and should not be separated from the broader security issues confronting this Council. It is time for all of us to assume our responsibility to go beyond condemning this behavior, to taking concrete steps to end it, to make it socially unacceptable, to recognize it is not cultural; it is criminal. And the more we say that over and over and over again, the more we will change attitudes, create peer pressure, and the conditions for the elimination of this violation.

When I was in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I was told of an old proverb that says “No matter how long the night, the day is sure to come.” Well, I hope our work today and every day going forward will hasten the time when thousands of women around the world will be able to feel comfortable in walking the streets of their cities and villages freely again – to work outside their homes, collect firewood and water without fear, play with their children, spend time with their husbands, enjoy all the blessings of life in freedom, peace, and security. That is our dream for a better future for them and for us, and I thank this body for the strong commitment that this resolution represents. (Applause.)

Thank you so much. I resume now my function as president of the Council. I kind of like being a president, so I – (laughter) – this may go on a little longer than anticipated. (Applause.) And I shall now invite the distinguished Secretary General, His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon to take the floor.

###