Press Advisory

On June 19, the United Nations Security Council is set to debate the relevance of sexual violence in conflict to its work. The debate may result in the adoption of a historic resolution which would require the Council to analyze and address the occurrence of sexual violence in all conflict-affected situations on its agenda. Until now, the Council’s record on raising concerns on this issue has been inconsistent, only recently issuing strong statements on the appalling levels of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo—a conflict that has been marred by unconscionable violence for years—and hardly any mention of rape and other forms of sexual abuse in Cote d’Ivoire, where nongovernmental and humanitarian organizations systematically have documented continued use of such violence by all sides of the conflict.

The Security Council is mandated by the UN Charter to address situations that threaten international peace and security, including violations of international law (such as rape) that raise to this level. The Council consists of 15 member states, all of whom would have to agree to the proposed resolution on sexual violence for it to pass. The Council is composed of China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States--the five permanent members and Belgium, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, Indonesia, Italy, Libya, Panama, South Africa and Vietnam--the non-permanent members.

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