Countries: World, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, Haiti, Myanmar, occupied Palestinian territory, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Ukraine Source: UN Office of the SRSG on Sexual Violence in Conflict Thank you, Sherwin, for that introduction and for moderating today’s event.Your Excellency, Francisco Fabián Tropepi, Permanent Representative of Argentina to the United Nations,Under-Secretary-General, Ms. Virginia Gamba,Distinguished guests and participants:As we gather to mark the eleventh official commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, I would like to commend the visionary leadership of Argentina in putting this date on the global calendar. Since 2015, it has become an opportunity to stand in solidarity with survivors – many of whom feel forgotten, in the forgotten corners of the world – and to pay tribute to those risking their lives to support them on the frontlines – often underfunded, under fire, and overstretched.Each year, this occasion has become more widely commemorated the world over. It is fitting that we “commemorate”, rather than “celebrate”, this milestone, given the grim reality of a world in the grip of crisis. Needs are mounting, even as funding for lifesaving aid is slashed, straining the humanitarian sector to breaking point.As we survey the security landscape, we see a growing gap between commitments made on the world stage, and compliance by parties in theatres of war.This year’s focus on addressing the intergenerational effects of conflict-related sexual violence compels us to ask the question: When does wartime atrocity end?Long after soldiers retreat, and treaties are signed, the weapon of rape keeps attacking bodies and minds, relationships and reputations, families and communities. Some scholars have therefore called sexual violence the most enduring tactic of war.For too many women and children, war is not over when it’s over. Its effects echo long after the final battle and far beyond the battlefield. We see it in the eyes of survivors, in the children born of war, in the hospitals reduced to rubble and ruin, in fractured families, and in the sprawling refugee camps where civilians languish. The legacy of war is written on the bodies of women and girls, in ways that have been written out of history. Their pain has been dismissed as “collateral” or “inevitable”, and prolonged through silence, denial, and neglect. Left unaddressed, the harms and trauma compound over time.Conflicts in the Balkans and Rwanda in the 1990s were turning-points in the global recognition of the gravity of wartime rape. Yet, research published in 2024 found that 86 percent of survivors of sexual violence in Kosovo continued to suffer post-traumatic stress 25 years after the end of the conflict. Further illustrating the long-term consequences of this crime, a survivor testified to the Bosnian War Crimes Commission: “They took my body that night, but they also took my family, my future, and my peace. I live now, not as the person I was, but as a person who remembers”.In the words of a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide: “Rape did not end the day the soldiers left my house. It continues every time I am shunned, every time my child asks who his father is, every time I feel the sickness in my body that they left behind. The war ended, but for me, the battle never stopped”.The effects of this scourge are long-lasting and life-changing – manifested in physical and psychological trauma, HIV, STIs, unwanted and unsafe pregnancies, poverty and socioeconomic exclusion, ostracism and reprisals, often linked with social codes of honor, shame and victim-blame. It is hence critical to sustain survivor-centered, trauma-informed care, to prevent further, secondary harms.Today’s speakers will span a range of perspectives, from across time and space. They include a representative of the Sudanese Government, Dr. Sulaima, and a young woman survivor with a baby born of wartime rape, who I met on my recent mission to Sudan. I also welcome the participation of Madame Solages, a civil society activist from Haiti, where successive waves of unrest have created cycles of violence and lawlessness, resulting in women and girls from across multiple generations being subjected to sexual violence as a tool of intimidation, punishment, and social control. We will hear a statement on behalf of the grandmothers of Sepur Zarco, who sought justice for sexual slavery, used as a tactic of war to shred the social fabric of Indigenous communities during the conflict in Guatemala in the 1980s. I also congratulate the brave Maya Achi women, who fought for over 40 years for justice, on another milestone verdict for sexual violence as a crime against humanity, delivered last month. Through their sheer determination, these women have set a powerful precedent and reshaped collective memory.As these experiences attest, beyond the delivery of immediate relief, we must foster long-term resilience, in order to break the vicious cycle of violence, impunity and risk, and replace it with a virtuous cycle of recognition, reporting, and response.The forthcoming annual Report of the Secretary-General on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, compiled by my Office, records violations against victims ranging from three to 75 years of age. It documents over 4,500 UN-verified cases from across 21 country situations, which represents a 20 percent increase from 2023, which was itself a 50 percent increase from 2022. Every year, over 90 percent of these atrocities target women and girls. At the same, we know this data remains a chronic undercount, reflecting incident reports, rather than the scale of actual incidents, as most cases never reach a clinic, let alone a courtroom.The report emphasizes that the drawdown of UN Missions is leading to security vacuums that threaten to reverse the progress made to protect and assist survivors and to mitigate the risk of recurrence. This, in turn, undermines the ability of women to contribute to conflict recovery, peacebuilding, and development. At the same time, rising militarization and authoritarian rule are turning back the clock on women’s rights. The report finds that even as the world contends with record numbers of civilians forced to flee their homes and homelands, due to persecution and seemingly endless cycles of conflict, the level of respect for binding laws and obligations remains low.We see this in Ukraine, where reports of sexual violence against civilians, detainees, and Prisoners of War have surfaced since the Russian invasion.We see it in Sudan, where sexual violence is once again being used to terrorize and displace communities, with devastating reports of women in Darfur committing suicide rather than facing the near-certainty of rape by armed men.We see it in eastern DRC, where countless women have been shunned and shamed in the wake of rape, with some describing the isolation and stigma as worse than the act of violence itself, resulting in cycles of exploitation and food insecurity.We see it in Myanmar, where sexual violence is used as a tool to suppress dissent and as a torture tactic during interrogation and detention, with family members forced to witness violations, leaving lasting scars.And we see the risks multiply amid spiraling humanitarian crises in Gaza, Haiti, Afghanistan, South Sudan and elsewhere.What survivors have told me – time and time again – is: What happened to me could have been prevented. They have broken their silence for the sake of justice and future generations. While rape is still subject, in many jurisdictions, to statutes of limitations, the trauma has no expiry date. Moreover, the pace of justice is painfully slow, often coming years after the crime occurred, when stigma, economic isolation, and untreated injuries have already destroyed the lives of victims, and reverberated across generations. This includes to the children born of wartime rape, who face specific threats and risks, related to statelessness, poverty, exploitation, recruitment and radicalization.Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,We do not have the luxury of looking away. We do not have the luxury of reciting words of condemnation and moving on, when survivors lack support to move on with their lives. Women and girls are paying the price of impunity, militarism, and weaponized misogyny. They are shouldering the burden of care and the weight of history, in the face of funding cuts that undercut international security and cooperation. Thousands of survivors will lose access to medical care, psychosocial support, shelter, and legal redress. The price tag will be more chaos, displacement, broken promises, resentment and extremism, fanning the flames of hostility and fueling the next wave of warfare, wiping out decades of development gains.If we undermine investment in women’s recovery, we undermine investment in conflict recovery, and we all inherit a less safe world.At this time of complex crises and great global uncertainty, my call to action is clear:Firstly, the voices of survivors must be heard and heeded – on this day and every day – not just as stories or statistics, but as the co-creators of durable solutions.Secondly, for survivors to have peace and peace of mind, timely and tailored services must reach them at scale, and our investment must be joined-up, catalytic and sustainable. The implementation gap is, in reality, a funding and access gap. We therefore need sustained political resolve and resources equal to the scale and duration of the challenge. This includes replenishing the CRSV Multi-Partner Trust Fund, which supports the operational arms of my mandate.Thirdly, the existing normative framework and institutional architecture – which has yielded such a dramatic shift in paradigm and perspective over the past 15 years, elevating sexual violence from the sidelines of history to a redline of international law – must be strengthened and sustained. We cannot risk a reversal of the trajectory of progress. What we have achieved to date gives us hope. For instance, the interagency coordination network I Chair, UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, has supported over 60 joint, catalytic interventions across 18 conflict settings, enabling thousands of survivors to access multisectoral services. These efforts include: establishing and equipping Survivor Relief Centers across Ukraine; economically empowering survivors in South Sudan; providing safe shelters in Darfur; aiding reintegration of abducted women and children in Somalia; and supporting one-stop service centers in Mali. There have also been encouraging developments in terms of transitional justice, supported by my Team of Experts on the Rule of Law. For instance, in Ukraine, law enforcement officials have been trained on trauma-informed investigations and prosecutions. Technical support to legislative reform processes, to improve alignment with international standards, has been provided in Iraq, Libya, South Sudan and elsewhere. Operational continuity must be maintained in contexts of transition, including through the presence of Security Council-mandated Women’s Protection Advisers, which are currently deployed in less than half of the countries we cover.Finally, to drive transformation, we must dig deeper and unearth the root causes of conflict-related sexual violence, namely gender inequality and discrimination. We must silence the guns and amplify the voices of women. We owe this not only to future generations, and to present survivors, but also to the human rights defenders of the past, who were imprisoned, persecuted, and killed for forging new freedoms.Excellencies,How we meet this moment of crisis is the true test of our resolve. While political dynamics and funding decisions may vary, the laws, rights, needs and mandate remain. We must, likewise, remain principled and coherent to avoid wartime rape becoming ever-more entrenched in peacetime reality, through impunity and the absence of redress. Survivors deserve more than promises – they deserve protection, assistance, and a future free from fear. The scars and trauma left in the wake of wartime sexual violence cast a long, dark shadow. We must remain steadfast in bringing to all those affected the light of healing and hope.Thank you.Thursday, 19 June 2025