Director-General/Executive Director
Under-Secretary-General Patten,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am honored to speak today on behalf of the UN Action Network against Sexual Violence in Conflict. Thank you very much for inviting me.
Your story, Jineth Bedoya, and the stories of all the survivors in this exhibition are profoundly moving.
These individuals have survived sexual violence intended to destroy their dignity and their humanity.
Their stories are horrifying.
We must do all that we can to help survivors recover from these devastating experiences and put their lives back on track.
As the UN, we have a commitment to put an end to sexual violence in conflict situations, which is a tactic of war, torture and terrorism, and a monstrous violation of human rights.
Survivors deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
They are not to blame for what happened to them.
They need acceptance and support.
And they deserve justice.
Yet all too often survivors face inadequate care and support, criminal justice systems that are ill-equipped to respond to their needs, and rejection by their families and communities.
So this exhibition is a call to action.
We must do all that we can to prevent conflict-related sexual violence, to provide survivors with the support they need, to put an end to stigmatization of survivors, and to help them achieve justice and a new start in life.
This exhibition reminds us that we need to listen to survivors and take their experience and needs into account in prevention, protection and support initiatives.
It also highlights what we can accomplish when we work together.
The UN Action Network unites 24 UN entities with specialized expertise and mandates in preventing conflict-related sexual violence, meeting the needs of survivors, and enhancing accountability for perpetrators.
Through cooperation and coordination, we multiply the impact of our individual efforts.
I am proud that UNODC is an active member of the Network.
We bring longstanding experience with survivor-centered, human rights-based approaches and gender-responsive, tailored responses to sexual violence as part of our work on preventing and countering terrorism, human trafficking and violence against women and children.
Enhancing survivors’ access to justice is a priority, so UNDOC supports reforms in the criminal justice system and we provide tools, training and capacity building for law enforcement and criminal justice officials.
We build partnerships among governments, civil society and the private sector to ensure that survivors’ needs are being met, including by providing support to assistance providers, civil society and community leaders.
We also gather relevant data, which increases understanding of the challenges of conflict-related sexual violence and enables more effective policy responses.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Please join me in paying tribute to all the women, men and children who have survived conflict-related sexual violence, and to all those who support them.
We will watch the story of another such survivor shortly, but before we do, I would like to thank Special Representative Patten for her personal commitment to helping survivors, and for her active leadership of the UN Action Network. Dear Pramila, you and your team are an inspiration to us all.
As the world grapples with a range of complex and overlapping crises and conflicts, the UN Action Network’s combined efforts are needed more than ever to ensure that survivors of conflict-related sexual violence receive support, acceptance and justice.
But we need your help. With sustainable funding from Member States, the Network can continue providing survivors with the vital services and support that they need. They deserve nothing less.
Thank you.