Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia to follow the UN Security Council vote on the draft resolution “Sexual Violence in Conflict”

Mr. President,

We could not support the draft resolution Germany put forward.

Russia strongly condemns sexual violence in armed conflict. We have comprehensively supported eradication of this abhorrent war crime. Any sorts of violence against civilians in wartime are absolutely unacceptable.

However, sexual violence is equally unacceptable at any other time, not only amidst an armed conflict.

In these conditions, we are sincerely disappointed by the approach of negotiations coordinators, who were in such a hurry in view of the upcoming debate that they presented a non-consensual draft. This is a precarious precedent, that could have produced a most negative impact on the operational methods of the Security Council. It was at the very last moment that we agreed to cancel the most inadmissible provisions which made it possible for us to abstain from the vote.

The earlier edition of the document would lead the Council’s mandate beyond the framework of maintaining peace and security, extend the duties of the Secretary-General and the functions of the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

What failed to be explained was the attempts to intrusively extend mandates of various UN mechanisms by means of a thematic resolution and to assign to them a task of countering sexual violence. We see no reason to request numerous reports from the Secretary-General to cover various aspects of sexual violence.

We are concerned by the intention to increase the number of UN bureaucratic mechanisms that would create an illusion of “robust activity”. We believe it is unacceptable to insistently promote concepts and terminology that the Security Council has not reached consensus on or rejected.

Do not attempt to depict us as adversaries to the fight against sexual violence in conflict. Our position on that remains tough and irreconcilable – this evil must be eradicated. But in our capacity of a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council, we cannot permit manipulations with the issue of sexual violence in conflict, because we bear the responsibility in the face of the international community.

Security Council is a serious body, and we cannot imperil its reputation in the eyes of the global community. The Council should make well-balanced decisions and only set clear and achievable objectives, while not creating space for arbitrary or biased interpretations thereof.

Russia and China had an alternative text, focused on conflict-related sexual violence, that in our view was better designed to meet the tasks of today’s meeting. However, after the draft resolution of Germany was adopted, we decided not to follow-up on our draft.