New York, April 24 (QNA) - The State of Qatar, on behalf of the Group of Friends on the Responsibility to Protect, called on the UN Security Council to take decisive action to end and prevent sexual violence in situations of conflict, and urged the Council to better use of sanctions in order to prevent and stop sexual violence.
This came in a statement made by HE Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Ambassador Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, on behalf of the Group of Friends on the Responsibility to Protect, which is chaired by the State of Qatar in partnership with Denmark, at the High-level Security Council Meeting on "Women, Peace and Security: Sexual Violence in Conflict".
HE Sheikha Alya Al-Thani reviewed a strategy to combat sexual violence in conflict, based on strengthening the capacity of national institutions which she said is critical to ensure accountability for these crimes in the past and to prevent and deter such crimes in the future. She called on Member States to take legal and legislative action to address the phenomenon of sexual violence in times of conflict comprehensively.
Her Excellency noted that most mass rapes continued to go unpunished despite the increased awareness of the issue. She stressed the importance of promoting national accountability efforts through enhancing judicial cooperation among States and the establishment of fact-finding missions, commissions and mechanisms, and international courts and tribunals as complementary means of accountability when the choices under national laws proved insufficient.
She also stressed the urgent need for a policy to support the needs of victims of sexual violence and violence based on inequality before, during and after situations of conflict. She underlined that the international community must support the provision of medical, psychological and socio-economic assistance and services for the reintegration of survivors and the restoration of the social fabric of post-conflict societies.
At the core of sexual violence was the neglect of human rights and the persistence of gender inequality and systematic discrimination. In that context, HE Sheikha Alya Al-Thani stressed the need to address sexual violence in conflict through the active and equal involvement of women in the identification of prevention mechanisms and comprehensive rights-based solutions in meeting their needs. She also stressed the importance of involving men and community leaders to play a positive role in addressing stereotypes of inequality and mechanisms of collective exclusion.
She called on the Security Council to impose better targeted sanctions to prevent and stop sexual violence, noting the importance of establishing criteria to include the names of perpetrators and participants in sexual violence. In that context, she called on the Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict and experts to provide information on individuals and entities responsible for sexual violence, to be submitted to the sanctions committees in order to encourage Member States to include them and make recommendations for targeted sanctions.
She underlined the importance of national training for police and its institutions as an essential element of the principle of gender equality, the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse and the treatment of sexual violence in times of conflict. She also stressed the importance of training the personnel involved in the United Nations peacekeeping operations, stressing her support for the United Nations zero-tolerance policy on exploitation and welcomed the Secretary-General's initiative for the voluntary United Nations/Member States Charter to prevent and eliminate sexual exploitation and abuse.
She noted that sexual violence was increasingly being used as a deliberate strategy by governmental and non-governmental actors to respond to, intimidate, control and displace civilians. She said that such acts may amount to crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide, explaining that sexual violence in conflict exacerbates and lengthens the situations of armed conflict, destroys the social fabric of communities and hinders peace-building and reconciliation efforts.
The Group of Friends on the Responsibility to Protect has 51 member States. (QNA)