PELAKITA.ID – There is nothing worse than when someone in a military uniform harms the very civilians they were sent to protect. No perpetrator is above the law, and no one is beneath it.
Your Excellencies, Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honor to be here. I would like to acknowledge the ancestral lands of the First Nations, the 110,000 men and women currently deployed in United Nations peacekeeping operations, and the families of all those peacekeepers who have been killed in the line of duty.
I also thank the Government of Canada for hosting this event and for their leadership on women, peace, and security.
We meet at a time when peace is scarce—with armed conflicts in Myanmar, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, to name just a few of the worst examples.
With over 65 million refugees and displaced people worldwide, and UN peacekeeping forces deployed in 15 unprecedented operations, the protection of civilians remains at the heart of the laws of war, as enshrined in the Geneva Conventions.
These conventions state that, in any conflict, civilians must never be the target of attacks.
However, women and children make up the vast majority of victims of armed conflicts today.
Laws prohibiting attacks on schools and hospitals are routinely violated, as seen in Syria. Laws forbidding the denial of humanitarian aid are frequently ignored—whether in Rakhine State in Myanmar or in Yemen, where millions are on the brink of starvation.
Despite being outlawed by international law, sexual violence continues to be used as a weapon of war in 19 countries. This includes mass rape, sexual slavery, rape as a form of torture, ethnic cleansing, and terrorism.
It has been 68 years since the Fourth Geneva Convention Protocol declared that women must be protected from attacks on their honor, especially rape, forced prostitution, and any form of indecent assault.
It has been 21 years since the United Nations first promised to tackle sexual abuse by peacekeeping forces and to increase the number of women deployed in operations.
Yet civilian exploitation still occurs, and less than 4% of all peacekeepers are women. It has been 19 years since the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court stated that mass atrocities, including rape and sexual slavery, will not go unpunished.
Yet, justice for survivors of rape remains the exception rather than the rule.
Seventeen years have passed since UN Security Council Resolution 1325 called for an end to the exclusion of women from peace negotiations, special protection for women and girls from sexual violence, and an end to impunity for such crimes.
So we must ask: After all these years, all these laws, all these resolutions, and all these horrors—why do women still have to demand the most basic right of all? The right to live free from violence.
Sexual violence is everywhere—in the industry where I work, in businesses, universities, politics, and militaries worldwide. It affects both men and women.
However, the UN recognizes it as one of the key reasons why women remain subordinate to men in many parts of the world and as a major obstacle to achieving gender equality and full human rights for women.
Ending gender-based violence is a vital social justice issue in every nation. Confronting its use in its most extreme form—as a weapon of war—is essential for peace and security in the future.
I want to address three myths that I believe are at the core of why these crimes continue to happen and what we need to overcome together.
The first myth is that sexual violence is about sex. Too often, these crimes against women are trivialized as a crime of desire, a loss of self-control, or a sexual need. But a man who abuses a woman is an abuser, not a man driven by uncontrollable desire.
Just last week, a trial began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo concerning 46 cases of child rape allegedly committed by militia fighters who were told that the blood of virgins would grant them supernatural protection. Some victims were just 18 months old.
According to the United Nations, nearly every Rohingya refugee woman in the camps in Bangladesh is either a survivor of sexual violence or a witness to multiple cases of sexual assault, rape, or gang rape.
Doctors Without Borders reported that half of their rape victims were under 18, with some as young as 9.
This is rape and assault designed to torture, terrorize, and force people to flee. It is not about sex—it is about the abuse of power. It is a crime.
The second myth is that sexual violence in war is inevitable and not a priority.
Even when conflict-related sexual violence is recognized as a crime, it is often treated as a lesser offense—an inevitable consequence of war rather than a central issue in peace negotiations or something that warrants trials and punishment.
Yet, sexual violence is a weapon—used deliberately to achieve military or political objectives. It is cheaper than bullets and has long-term, predictable consequences, making it highly effective.
The third myth is that preventing sexual violence in war is impossible. Some believe that violence against women is just how things are and that stopping sexual violence in war is too difficult. But that is not true.
We have the laws, institutions, and expertise to collect evidence and identify the perpetrators. What is missing? Political will.
This brings me back to the role of the military. There is nothing worse than when someone in a military uniform harms the very civilians they were sent to protect.
I want to believe that no one is more outraged than you when one of your own betrays their uniform and values in this way.
In recent years, I have seen military leaders become more willing to break the silence on these issues and take action.
Earlier this year in Kenya, I met UN peacekeepers from around the world receiving training—many for the first time—on how to recognize, respond to, and properly interact with survivors of sexual violence.
Today, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Bangladesh have announced a network of senior military leaders, committing to increase the number of women in their armies, change training programs to include gender, women, peace, and security issues, deploy more women in operational roles, and appoint full-time gender advisors.
Many other nations at this conference have also made significant new commitments. So, I thank them—and I thank you—for these pledges. I hope this is just the beginning.
Through this work, we will not only strengthen our communities and improve peacekeeping, but we will also prove that no perpetrator is above the law and no one is beneath it.
I stand here determined to do everything I can to work with all of you. Thank you for everything you have done today. Thank you for your efforts. I look forward to our work together.
