Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Statement by Mr. Evgeniy Zagaynov, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, during the Security Council meeting on Women and Peace and Security

June 2, 2016



Today’s meeting provides a good opportunity for us to discuss the state of efforts to combat sexual violence in armed conflict on the basis of the most recent report of the Secretary-General (S/2016/361) on the topic. An important role in that undertaking is played by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, in particular with regard to cooperating with the Governments of countries affected by armed conflicts.

We have carefully studied the report of the Secretary-General on sexual violence in conflict for 2015. Many of the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report dovetail with today’s topic. Without any doubt, oremost on our minds today is the problem of the scope and unprecedented brutality of sexual violence by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and other terrorist armed groups and the ensuing imperative to attach particular importance to the matter of rehabilitating affected women and girls. Dealing a final blow to international terrorism and its crimes is impossible without consistently strengthening international cooperation, with the central and coordinating role to be played by the United Nations and the Security Council.

Women and children in armed conflicts most often become refugees and internally displaced persons. Moreover, they face the threat of sexual violence both in transit and in refugee centres. Of particular concern are reports — which the report of the Secretary-General also draws attention to — about the emergence of an illegal infrastructure for exploiting refugees, including through networks of illicit trafficking, commercial sexual trafficking and sexual slavery.

Various aspects of combating sexual violence in armed conflict, including issues related to human trafficking, are the focus of a number of United Nations agencies and international initiatives. As the Secretary-General has rightly noted, those phenomena are cross-border in nature. There is a need to strengthen international efforts to combat human trafficking in step with existing instruments. In that regard, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is making a practical contribution by providing technical assistance to States.

Our country, as a member of the Group of Friends United against Human Trafficking, attaches great importance to the system-level work to combat human trafficking. Given the topical nature of the issue, especially in the light of the mass influx of refugees as a result of armed conflicts, the implementation of the United Nations Global Plan of Action against Trafficking in Human Beings has particular relevance. The Security Council should focus its activities on issues of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict, especially in situations that are on its agenda, while avoiding duplication of effort with other United Nations bodies and other international mechanisms. At the same time, the matter of combating sexual violence in armed conflict should be regarded as an integral component of a whole package of conflict-resolution measures.

Unfortunately, once again, we have to note the ongoing practice of diverging in reports from previously Council-approved terminology. Our delegation drew attention to the issue earlier. We are talking about replacing Security Council language on the matter of sexual violence in conflict with the more blurred concept of conflict-related sexual violence. That approach has also been followed in the proposed theme of this debate. That type of attempt to reopen agreed-upon provisions is a matter of concern for us, primarily because that could also bring with it broad interpretation of existing mandates, blurring the lines between the issue of the maintenance of international peace and security and general matters of combating organized crime or human rights violations.

We are convinced that the Security Council’s consideration of sexual violence in conflict, just like the matter of women and peace and security as a whole, should not be used to promote documents and debates that are contentious and do not enjoy consensus among States in their concepts and approaches and focus on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity. That risks distracting attention from tasks that are directly planned for in the mandates formulated by the Security Council.

Very soon, on 19 June, we will marking the second International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. We hope that the United Nations events, including today’s debates, will serve to eradicate sexual and other types of violence with respect to civilians in armed conflict and help to find more effective ways to resolve conflicts and to maintain international peace and security.

In conclusion, I will say a few words relating to the statement of the Ukrainian delegation. In that statement, yet another attempt was made to assign blame for the disasters of Ukrainian civilians on Russia. The suffering of civilians in eastern Ukraine is the consequence of full-scale military operations begun by Kyiv in 2014 against the region, as well as the social and economic embargo against the region. Specifically, regarding the topic of today’s meeting, we might note, for example, the matter of the situation of women in Ukraine and that of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Those matters, unlike the affirmations of the Ukrainian delegation, are reflected in documents of international bodies. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, for example, has many times called attention to cases of sexual and gender-based violence against such women. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine also noted the particular vulnerability of IDPs regarding human trafficking and exploitation. The list of such examples goes on.