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 UN Security Council
The Security
Council is mandated by the UN Charter to address situations that threaten
international peace and security, including violations of international law
such as rape. Resolutions adopted by the Security Council carry force of
law.
UN Security Council To Table New Resolution On Sexual
Violence
Source: IWTC Women's GlobalNet
IWTC Women's GlobalNet is a production of:
International Women's Tribune Centre
777 United NationsPlaza
New York, NY10017, USA
June 18, 2008
1. NEW UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE
2. ARRIA FORMULA MEETING ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN CONFLICT-AFFECTED COUNTRIES
3. OPEN DEBATE/ MINISTERIAL MEETING ON THE NEW SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION
ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE
4. NGO WORKING GROUP ON WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY RESPONSE TO THE
RESOLUTION
5. WOMEN'S NGOS FROM AROUND THE WORLD OFFER MIXED RESPONSES
1. NEW UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE
A new UN Security Council resolution on sexual violence is currently being
discussed by NGOs, UN member states, and UN agencies. This new resolution,
which is expected to be debated and voted on by the Security Council on June
19, 2008, would require the Council to analyze and address the occurrence of
sexual violence in all conflict-affected situations on its agenda. The Security
Council has been the subject of criticism - especially from women's rights
advocates - for failing to respond to the issue of sexual violence in a
consistent and systematic manner. It was only recently that it issued strong
statements on the appalling levels of sexual violence in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and in Cote d'Ivoire.
The Security Council is mandated by the UN Charter to address situations
that threaten international peace and security, including violations of
international law such as rape. Resolutions adopted by the Security
Council carry force of law. The Security Council is composed of China,
France, Russia, United Kingdom, and the United States - the five
permanent members; and Belgium, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia,
Indonesia, Italy, Libya, Panama, South Africa and Vietnam - the non-permanent
members.
2. ARRIA FORMULA MEETING ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN CONFLICT-AFFECTED COUNTRIES
In the lead-up to the Security Council discussion on the resolution on
sexual violence, the United Kingdom Mission to the UN hosted an Arria Formula
meeting to bring to the Council's attention the outcomes of the recent Wilton
Park conference (May 27 - 29, 2008) on the role of military peacekeepers alongside
other actors including NGOs, UN and government agencies, in addressing the
sexual violence in conflict-affected countries. An Arria Formula meeting
is an informal event that allows for more interaction between the Security
Council members, civil society, UN agencies and other sectors on international
peace and security issues.
While panellists speaking at the June 11 Arria came from a cross-section of
the peace and security community, they all emphasized the need for more
coherent, coordinated and robust approach to ending sexual violence in conflict
situations. They said that while peacekeepers already address the threat and
effects of sexual violence, the response is often ad hoc. The NGOs at the
meeting underscored the need for more systematic quality and comprehensive data
collection on sexual violence, the need to ensure accountability, and the need
to ensure women's participation in discussions on sexual violence as well as in
designing and implementing actions to end it.
3. OPEN DEBATE/ MINISTERIAL MEETING ON THE NEW SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION
ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE
On June 19, 2008, the US mission - which holds the presidency of the
Security Council this month - is hosting a Ministerial Meeting/open debate on
the relevance of sexual violence in conflict to its work. It is hoped
that the outcome of the debate will result in the adoption of the resolution on
sexual violence.
A draft of this resolution on sexual violence is being circulated by the US
and following are some of the points it addresses:
The recognition that sexual violence, when used as a weapon of war, can
significantly exacerbate armed conflict and, therefore, effective steps to
prevent and respond to such violence would contribute to the maintenance of
international peace and security;
The demand that all parties to armed conflict should immediately cease acts
of sexual violence against civilians and take measures to protect civilians
including women and girls;
The recognition that sexual violence can constitute a war crime, a crime
against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide and the need
for the exclusion of sexual violence crimes from amnesty provisions in conflict
resolution processes and that ending impunity for such acts is important;
The intention to consider targeted and graduated measures;
A request to the Secretary-General to develop and implement training
programs for police, security, peacekeeping, and humanitarian personnel
deployed by the United Nations to help them better prevent, recognize and
respond to sexual violence;
A request to the Secretary-General to develop mechanisms to increase
peacekeeping operations' ability to protect civilians including women and girls
from sexual violence, including in refugee and internally displaced persons
camps, as well as in all UN-assisted disarmament, demobilization and
reintegration processes and in security sector reform efforts;
The call to all parties including concerned Member States, UN entities and
financial institutions, to support the development and strengthening of the
capacities of national institutions, in particular of judicial health systems,
and of local civil society networks in order to provide sustainable for
assistance to victims of sexual violence; and
A request to the Secretary-General to submit a report to the council by 31
June 2009 on the implementation of this resolution, including an action plan
for a mechanism to collect information on sexual violence in situations of armed
conflict.
A number of high level government ministers are expected to be at this
meeting. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to chair the
debate. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose
Migiro, Liberia Foreign Minister Olubanke King-Akerele and Major General
Patrick Cammaert (former Force Commander of the UN Mission in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (MONUC)) are expected to brief the Council.
4. NGO WORKING GROUP ON WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY RESPONSE TO THE
RESOLUTION
The NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security (NGOWG), a coalition of
NGOs and women's groups advocating for the full implementation of Resolution
1325, sent a letter to Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, the Permanent U.S. Representative
to the United Nations, stressing the importance of highlighting women's
capacity as active agents of change in any new Security Council resolution on
sexual and gender-based violence. The NGOWG also expressed that it is crucial
to ensure that sexual violence not be seen as an isolated issue but as integral
to the issue of women's full and equal participation at all levels of
decision-making on peace and security issues.
The NGOWG added that any resolution adopted to better protect and promote women's
human rights in conflict-affected situations, should at a minimum:
Recognize that sexual and gender-based violence in conflict-affected
situations is relevant to the maintenance of international peace and security
and therefore the Security Council should ensure systematic monitoring and
analysis of such violence and, where appropriate, take timely action;
Require that the Secretary-General systematically include comprehensive
information on acts of sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls
in all of his reports on conflict-affected situations and to report to the
Security Council on ways to improve the level and quality of such reporting;
Require the Secretary-General to report to the Security Council on ways to
improve the UN's response, in particular at the highest levels, including at
the Security Council, to stop gender-based violence in conflict-affected
situations. Such a report should draw on the full capacity and expertise of all
experts including the UN Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict and
relevant non-governmental organizations and women's groups at the local and
global level. An independent expert could be appointed to lead this study; and
Require that women's groups at the local level actively participate in the
design and implementation of strategies and programmes to meet their security
needs and concerns.
Additionally, members the NGO Working Group sent a letter to all permanent
members of UN Member States and the General Assembly highlighting the above
points and demanding an end to impunity for perpetrators of sexual and
gender-based violence.
5. WOMEN'S NGOS FROM AROUND THE WORLD OFFER MIXED RESPONSES
Meanwhile, other NGOs assert that the new resolution should have clear
benchmarks, commitments, directives, programming and resources that build on
progress that has been made, particularly through the UN Security Council
Resolution 1325, on Women, Peace and Security. Sanam Anderlini, one of the
original members of the NGOWG, believes that the new resolution proposed by the
US government does not strengthen 1325. Anderlini is concerned that
political posturing and talk about bringing depth to SCR 1325, would actually
serve to only re-open negotiations on a resolution that has already been
negotiated by member states including some who sit on the Council today.
"1325 did not come easily, there was and still is much resistance to it.
But it exists. It is international law, and those who claim to support it,
should focus on implementation, not on new words and more rhetoric," she
added.
Overall, some NGOs are concerned that the new resolution on sexual violence
does not sufficiently strengthen Resolution 1325 provisions and that it does
not offer clear measures to end impunity for sexual violence. IWTC has received
a number of comments and statements about the new resolution from women's
organizations around the world.
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