Thank you Margaret for that introduction and for moderating today’s event.
Excellencies, Secretary Clinton, Distinguished participants and guests:
In 2009, the world’s paramount peace and security body unanimously created a mandate to combat the scourge of wartime sexual violence. Fifteen years ago, that founding Security Council resolution responded to the brutal reality of modern war, in which sexual violence is often a deliberate tactic, rather than a byproduct, and in which women and girls are often intentionally targeted, not merely incidental victims or so-called “collateral damage”. It recognized that like bullets, bombs and blades, the widespread, systematic use of sexual violence decimates communities, drives displacement, and inflicts trauma that echoes across generations.
The reason for that historic Security Council decision is represented here today: it was a mandate created for the sake of the survivors and those working to support them on the frontlines – often under-funded, under-equipped, and under fire. I therefore wish to begin by paying tribute to the courageous survivors and advocates who have joined us today. Thank you for lending your voice to the global search for solutions. When we listen to their testimonies, I urge all of us to consider the countless victims – across time and space – whose words will never be heard or heeded by those in positions of power. For every story we hear, let us remember: thousands upon thousands are lost to history, shrouded in the “fog of war”, or suppressed by a conspiracy of silence that serves to shield the perpetrators.
~~~
Since taking up this mandate in 2017, I have met with survivors in many war-torn corners of the world, and carried their ground truths to the corridors of power. I have focused on giving survivors from remote and volatile theatres of war a platform on the world stage. This is why the centerpiece of today’s event is a Survivors’ Hearing. This hearing provides a critical opportunity to amplify the voices of survivors and to signal our solidarity. Yet, fifteen years on, survivors need more than solidarity – they need decisive action to turn resolutions into results through enhanced service-delivery, economic opportunity, and access to justice and redress.
Above all, they need peace and peace of mind. No amount of protection, assistance or accountability after the fact is a substitute for peace. The message of this mandate, over many years, has been clear: we must silence the guns and unmute the voices of survivors as a critical constituency for peace. Empowering survivors is key to social transformation that addresses the root causes of conflict, such as inequality and exclusion. The aspiration of this mandate is not just a war without rape, but a world without war; not simply to apply the law, but to deliver justice that is felt in communities, as well as courtrooms.
~~~
Yet, as we are all painfully aware, we live in uniquely dangerous times, marked by cascading crises, record levels of displacement, and runaway military spending. Generational gains on gender equality are being thrown into reverse by rising militarism, coups and unconstitutional seizures of power. We see warfare erasing decades of development gains virtually overnight – decimating the infrastructure and institutions vital to public health, welfare and education. The figures speak for themselves: in 2023, over 170 conflicts were recorded; the number of people forced to flee war and persecution surpassed 117 million; global military expenditure exceeded a record-breaking 2.2 trillion USD; and more than 612 million women and girls now live under the shadow of conflict.
Since the resurgence of hostilities in the Sudan, night and day there have been new reports of rape, gang-rape, abduction at gunpoint, and sexual slavery. Millions have been driven from their homes in search of safety and sustenance, as man-made famine looms. When I visited the refugee settlements along the border and the spontaneous camp sites in eastern Chad, the sense of helplessness and hopelessness was palpable. I was told of a woman whose attacker said: “We will make you give birth to Arab children”; I was told of a woman who lost her life in an attempt to terminate a pregnancy by recourse to dangerous medication; and I met a grandmother who told me that after fleeing the fighting in Khartoum she had been unable to protect her six-year-old granddaughter from being raped in the camps where they sought refuge. There has been a staggering 288 percent increase in the number of survivors seeking services for gender-based violence in 2024, though the Humanitarian Country Team stresses that those who come forward represent just a fraction of actual cases.
In Myanmar, sexual violence is wielded as a tool of terror and political repression, including in detention settings, to silence opposition. My mandate continues to report patterns of sexual violence during village raids and ground operations by the Myanmar Armed Forces and affiliated militia. I have visited Rohingya refugee survivors in the “mega-camps” in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, who face elevated risks of exploitation and trafficking, compounded by diminishing humanitarian aid and global attention. Though survivors have been repeatedly interviewed, the prospects for justice, redress, and safe return remain elusive.
In Ukraine, the full-scale military invasion by the Russian Federation has caused a devastating loss of life and critical infrastructure. Cases of conflict-related sexual violence have been documented against civilians, including in temporarily-occupied territories, and during house raids and incursions, as well as against detainees and Prisoners of War as a method of torture. I visited Ukraine in 2022, as soon as the first reports of sexual violence surfaced, and signed a Framework of Cooperation with the government.
The widening war in the Middle East has devastated and displaced countless civilians. The report of my mission to the region, earlier this year, found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that sexual violence occurred in at least three locations during the 7th October attacks on Israel by Hamas. We also found clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, had been committed against some of the hostages held in captivity, and may be ongoing. Deeply disturbing reports have surfaced of sexual violence being perpetrated against Palestinian men and women held in Israeli detention, including rape and forced nudity. I have consistently called for the unconditional release of all hostages; an immediate ceasefire to end the appalling bloodshed; and for independent investigations into all alleged violations in order to hold the perpetrators accountable and deter further abuse.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while important progress has been made in the fight against impunity, the renewed hostilities with the M-23 have led to a resurgence of horrifying patterns of sexual violence, driving thousands of civilians into displacement camps. When I visited those camps, I heard how women and girls have resorted to prostitution out of sheer economic desperation.
Today, in relation to each of these conflicts, we will hear some of the human stories behind the headlines and statistics – the stories of survivors who could be your mother, brother, daughter or friend.
~~~
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Even as entrenched wars march on, new threats and threat multipliers continue to emerge. For instance, nowhere is the gender-based digital divide more acute than in conflict settings, hampering women’s access to essential information. At the same time, technology has enabled the spread of misogynistic hate speech and incitement to violence. In Haiti, acts of sexual violence have been filmed by armed gangs in order to extort higher ransoms from the relatives of kidnapped victims. Climate shocks have increased the risk of intercommunal violence, including sexual violence, in Somalia, South Sudan, and elsewhere.
I believe we have reached an inflection point in this agenda: we must either scale-up our collective response to protracted and emerging threats, or we risk the roll-back of gains made over the past 15 years. Indeed, there are ever-increasing demands on this mandate: the number of country situations within my remit continues to grow; the operating space for civil society partners continues to shrink; attacks on frontline humanitarians and human rights monitors, including arbitrary arrests, have spiked; and our latest report finds that UN-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence rose by an alarming 50 percent last year.
The robust prevention and response infrastructure, which the Security Council established in 2009, requires sustained political backing and financial support. This includes my mandate to provide coherent and strategic leadership to global efforts, working primarily through the interagency initiative, UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict. The UN Action coordination network, which I Chair, has grown from 12 members in 2007, to 26 members to date, and serves as an incubator and delivery-system for knowledge products, guidance and tools, including our Prevention Framework, to improve practice in the field. UN Action has implemented joint, catalytic projects in settings such as the DRC, to support survivors in the artisanal mining sector to access medical, psychosocial and reintegration assistance; in Ukraine, to equip Survivor Relief Centers; in Mali, to assist survivors and children born of rape; in Sudan, to provide safe shelters and emergency relief to survivors in Darfur; in South Sudan, to empower survivors and bolster their resilience through livelihood opportunities; and in Somalia, to support the reintegration of women and children abducted by Al-Shabaab, to mitigate ostracism and stigmatization.
The resolution also established a Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict, to strengthen institutional safeguards against impunity. Justice can have a “cascade effect”, whereby each verdict inspires another survivor to come forward, and each sentence deters another would-be perpetrator and puts commanders on notice. Over time, this can convert cultures of impunity into cultures of deterrence. In recent years, we have seen that where there is political will, matched with capacity and resources, accountability is possible. For instance, in Guinea, where a former Head of State has been convicted for a massacre and mass rape of peaceful protestors; in the DRC, where there have been multiple sexual violence convictions of both notorious warlords and members of the national armed and security forces; in Nigeria, where members of Boko Haram have been convicted of sexual violence as a tactic of terrorism; in Iraq, where, pursuant to the Yazidi Survivors’ Law, over 1,600 victims of sexual violence and other atrocities committed by Da’esh have received benefits and reparations; in Ukraine, where the Office of the Prosecutor-General has established a specialized unit to investigate conflict-related sexual violence; and in Colombia, where the Special Jurisdiction for Peace has opened a dedicated “macro-case” on these crimes.
The Security Council further called for Women Protection Advisers to be deployed to the field to enhance our monitoring, reporting and response, and to deepen the evidence-base for action. This critical capacity must be maintained in the context of the drawdown and transition of UN Missions. In addition, to address the cross-border dimensions of this crime, a regional specialist has been deployed to the United Nations Office to the African Union to monitor patterns and trends, which is a precedent that should be expanded to other regions of concern.
As part of our operational methodology, which focuses on anchoring commitments at the national-level, my Office has signed over a dozen Joint Communiqués and Frameworks of Cooperation with almost all of the countries we cover. At the same time, we have engaged with non-State armed groups implicated in patterns of sexual violence, to foster compliance and behavioral change.
This morning, we will screen a new documentary that highlights a sample of impactful interventions by the mandate to combat impunity, foster political will, deliver multisectoral assistance to survivors, and mitigate stigma. This provides a snapshot of what works and could be replicated and taken to scale as we move from impunity to unity of action.
~~~
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Our efforts over the past fifteen years have brought this crime out of the shadows and into the center of peace and security policy. Today, we have the tools, we have the resolutions, we have the red lines. We now need sustained political resolve and resources equal to the scale of the challenge.
Survivors and frontline service-providers are fighting this scourge and we must give them a fighting chance. Every measure, every step taken by my mandate is guided by the rights, needs and perspectives of the survivors as my moral compass.
The dawn of a new chapter in the history of this mandate is a chance to put survivors first and deliver on their demands. We know that the arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice. Collectively, we must continue to bend it – further and faster – in the name of every victim, every survivor, and every generation yet to come.
Thank you for your attention and continued commitment to this cause.
~~~