Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to join this important discussion on the Addendum to update General Recommendation no. 30 on women in conflict prevention, conflict, and post-conflict situations. I thank the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Women, Peace and Security, and on International Law, Justice and Accountability for convening this timely event.
My mandate, as Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, was created by the United Nations Security Council in 2009 in response to a brutal reality of modern war: namely, the use of sexual violence as a tactic of war, torture, terror and political repression. In the implementation of this mandate, I greatly value the partnership forged with the CEDAW Committee, pursuant to a Framework of Cooperation we signed in 2018 to address the underlying root causes and invisible drivers of sexual violence, such as gender inequality and discrimination. These concerns have been increasingly integrated into the Committee’s Concluding Observations over the past 15 years.
My mandate was built on the foundational resolution on Women, Peace and Security, resolution 1325. As we mark its quarter-century anniversary this month, we are compelled to reflect on new and emerging threats to women’s peace and security. Indeed, the Addendum under discussion is a response to the changing nature of conflict and crisis in the 15 years since the advent of General Recommendation 30 (2013), which I helped to frame as a member of the CEDAW Committee and Chair of the Working Group. I wish to express my gratitude to current CEDAW experts, including Rangita De Silva De Alwis, for pursuing this work and elaborating this addendum, crucial to adapting to evolving conflict dynamics.
Today, my mandate has expanded to cover 21 situations of concern where patterns of conflict-related sexual violence have been documented. In our latest report, covering the year 2024, the UN verified 4,600 cases, reflecting an 87 percent increase over the past two years. More than 90 percent of the victims were women and girls, as has consistently been the case in every report since the inception of the mandate. A rise in the level of brutalityhas also been observed, with rapes increasingly followed by lethal violence, to silence the victims before their information can become evidence. We know there can be no security without women’s security, yet we are witnessing a rollback and reversal of gender equality gains. We speak of prevention, while military spending has reached a record-breaking 2.7 trillion. We speak of protection, yet sexual violence persists with impunity and reprisals against women’s rights defenders are on the rise. We speak of participation, yet the corridors of power, councils of war, and negotiating tables are haunted by the absence of women. We speak of relief and recovery, as women’s frontline organizations face catastrophic cuts, with half facing closures within the next six months.
Against this backdrop, General Recommendation 30 interprets the obligations of States Parties to CEDAW to apply across contexts of fragility, conflict and post-conflict, recognizing that social upheavals exacerbate inequality, intensify gender-based violence, and impede access to essential services.
In the 15 years since its adoption, our collective understanding of conflict drivers and dynamics has deepened, while new threats and forms of harm have surfaced. The proposed Addendum therefore aims to update, expand and sharpen the authoritative guidance reflected in GR 30. For instance, it will enable conflict-related sexual violence to be more effectively integrated into periodic CEDAW reporting, as well as exceptional reports, helping to close critical gaps in terms of information and action.
The Addendum reflects the evolution of normative standards in the Security Council since 2013, for instance the adoption of resolution 2467 of 2019, which called for a survivor-centered approach, as well as evolving human rights jurisprudence. It has the potential to bring into focus a more diverse range of perpetrators implicated in war crimes against women, including State actors, non-State actors, criminal and trafficking networks, violent extremist groups, militias and mercenaries. It strengthens obligations in terms of structural prevention, including through gender-responsive security sector reform, preventive diplomacy, and the activation of early-warning systems. Above all, it will strengthen national implementation, including through legislative reform and the integration of women’s rights into transitional justice, emphasizing the importance of reparations and the preservation of survivor narratives as part of historical memory. This signals that survivors’ recovery is central, not incidental, to conflict recovery.
This initiative comes at a time when impunity and implementation gaps are widening. It comes at a time when emerging technology is being weaponized, civic space is shrinking, poverty and food insecurity are increasingly feminized, and the existential threat of climate change is ever-more acute. It comes at a time whenconflicts and coups are turning back the clock on women’s rights. It is precisely because of these challenges that the Addendum cannot come soon enough, as a normative anchor for holding parties accountable. Robust international norms have a powerful restraining influence on the behavior of belligerents. By increasing the scope and credibility of consequences, they have a deterrent effect. At this pivotal moment, we need to build on progress, not rest on, or reverse, it. In that respect, CEDAW and the WPS agenda are not two tracks, but rather one road, leading to equality, stability and peace.
In conclusion, I urge States to support the Addendum and encourage survivors and civil society organizations to meaningfully engage in the process, to ensure that it reflects diverse lived realities. Adoption will be the start, not the end, of this process, which should spur States to match rhetoric with resolve and resources. By harnessing the normative and diplomatic tools at our disposal, we can empower women to not only survive the conflict, but shape the peace.
Thank you.