At UN, Pakistan pushes for strict accountability to end conflict-related sexual violence

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 09 (APP): Seventeen years after the United Nations (UN) recognized conflict-related sexual violence as a threat to international peace and security, Pakistan has called for the “full, faithful and non-selective” implementation of the Security Council resolutions, including on women, peace and security, that were aimed at fighting this crime.

Speaking in the 15-member Council, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, said, “these resolutions carry clear obligations to prevent, protect, investigate, prosecute and repair” in a bid to end sexual violence in conflicts.

That would be the “true test” of the Security Council’s commitment to the cause, he said in a debate convened by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Council President for July, in which more than 70 delegations participated. They considered the Secretary-General’s recent report on conflict-related sexual violence, presented by Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

Covering 21 situations of concern, the report documented 9,788 cases verified by the United Nations in 2025, more than double the number recorded in 2024. “Yet such figures can never capture the full scale and magnitude of this chronically underreported crime,” Ms. Patten, the Special Representative, said, adding that for every case reaching a clinic, 10 to 20 were estimated to go unreported and unaddressed.

The mandate was established by Council resolution 1888 (2009), building on the Council’s recognition of conflict-related sexual violence as an issue of international peace and security, including its use as a weapon and tactic of war and the persistent impunity enjoyed by perpetrators.

In his remarks, Ambassador Asim Ahmad, the Pakistani envoy, said that conflict-related sexual violence destroyed individuals, fractures families, terrorized communities and left inter-generational wounds, including for children born of conflict-related rape.

At the same time, he stressed that the Secretary-General’s ‘listing mechanism’, the blacklist of perpetrators, should cover all situations of conflict and foreign occupation on the Council’s agenda.

“No situation should be shielded from scrutiny, and no perpetrator should be allowed to treat sexual violence as cost-free,” the Pakistani envoy said.

“Sanctions regimes, where applicable, should be used more effectively against persistent perpetrators, and justice processes must be designed to be more victim and survivor-centered, trauma-informed and accessible.”

Ambassador Asim Ahmad also underscored the need for strengthening accountability “comprehensively and consistently,” saying that victims and survivors must receive timely and comprehensive support, including medical care, psycho-social assistance, legal aid, livelihood support and reparations.

“Prevention must be placed at the centre of our collective response,” the Pakistani envoy said. “That requires compliance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law; meaningful participation of women in peace processes; early warning; sustained funding; responsible arms control; and, above all, addressing the root causes of conflict, including foreign occupation and denial of the right to self-determination.”

“The true test of this Council’s commitment lies in the full, faithful and non-selective implementation of its resolutions, including on women, peace and security,” he added.

Opening the debate, DRC Prime Minister, Judith Suminwa Tuluka, Council President for July, speaking in her national capacity, said her country wanted to preside over this meeting because its “painful experience places on us a special responsibility”.

Conflict-related sexual violence was not just an individual tragedy; it is the language of war itself there to “terrorize, humiliate, displace, dominate, break families and destroy communities”, she said.

This kind of violence accompanies control over a territory or a village or a mining site and could also take the form of abductions, sexual slavery and trafficking.

“They are not always a collateral effect of the war. Far too frequently, they are a method of war,” she said, adding, “We were painfully familiar with that” in regions of her country that were impacted by occupation by foreign forces, including Rwanda.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo refused to remain a victim and was strengthening its institutions to break the cycle of impunity. She cited a national fund for reparations for victims as well as medical, legal and socioeconomic care service centres.

Such assistance must be funded, the DRC prime minister stressed.