Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is impossible without addressing gender-based violence and especially sexual violence in conflict. Survivors of sexual violence in conflict speak at UN headquarters Women
An event was held at the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday to mark the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on sexual violence in conflict. The event was attended by survivors of sexual violence from around the world, as well as former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The mandate of the Special Representative was established in 2009 by the unanimous adoption of Security Council resolution 1888. This resolution called upon the Special Representative to provide consistent strategic leadership to UN efforts to combat sexual violence in conflict, while promoting cooperation and coordination among all stakeholders.
“Fifteen years ago, on the day we adopted this resolution, I spoke of meeting with survivors in eastern Congo who were recovering from horrific injuries,” Clinton said in her speech. “They mentioned a local proverb I often think of: ‘No matter how long the night, the day will come.’ Well, that day is coming now.”
The current Special Representative is Pramila Patten. Speaking at an event at UN Headquarters on Wednesday, she stressed that an active global response to sexual violence in conflict is more urgent than ever, as evidenced by what is happening in many hot spots, including the Middle East, Sudan, the DRC, Somalia and Ukraine.
“For our efforts in this direction to be effective, broad political and financial support is needed,” the Special Representative said.
According to Pramila Patten, the past decade and a half has seen a sea change in the way conflict-related sexual violence is understood, with it now being framed as a threat to individual and collective security and an obstacle to restoring peace. This new understanding has given impetus to efforts to combat a scourge once called “history’s most silent crime” and “the least censurable war crime.”
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is impossible without addressing gender-based violence, and particularly conflict-related sexual violence. UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed reminded the participants of this in her video address.
“We must not only seek to punish those guilty of committing such crimes, but also seek new, innovative methods of preventing them,” she emphasized.
Lyudmila Guseinova works in the non-governmental organization SEMA Ukraine.
Ukrainian Lyudmila Huseynova, who spent more than three years in Russian captivity and was released in October 2022 as part of a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia, came to the UN to take part in a meeting dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the resolution on combating sexual violence in conflict.
This was a unique prisoner exchange – all female. Dozens of women evacuated from Azovstal returned home with Lyudmila. Lyudmila now works for the non-governmental organization SEMA Ukraine (Ukrainian Women Against Sexual Violence and Impunity in War). Her story about her experiences in captivity is hard to listen to… “But we cannot remain silent,” she said in an interview with the UN News Service. “With our silence we are covering up the criminals, those who committed sexual violence against us, we are covering up the guilty.”