Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC debate "Preventing conflict-related sexual violence through demilitarization and gender-responsive arms control"
Mr.President,
We have listened to the briefers’ remarks.
We believe that linking the prevention of sexual violence in conflict to demilitarization and arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation under the agenda item "Women, peace and security” (WPS) is artificial and diverts attention from the truly important issues that exist in each of these areas. .
Russia condemns sexual violence in all forms, as well as any other crimes in armed conflict and post-conflict situations. Such acts must be investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice. That law enforcement activity falls within the competence of states. Measures taken by the bodies of the United Nations system and civil society are only complementary to those efforts.
However, one must recognize that he United Nations’ contribution in this area is significantly limited by the presence of Ms. Pramilla Patten, SRSG for Sexual Violence in Conflict, who has turned an important mandate into a source of political statements, blatant lies, and manipulation, which is unacceptable.
A prime example of this politicization is the section of the UN Secretary-General's report on conflict-related sexual violence that dwells on Ukraine.
At the outset, we should like to point out that this section of the report does not add any value. It merely replicates data from the OHCHR’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. As we know, this mission is fully controlled by Kiev, which means that we cannot speak of any objectivity of its data. But even this mission took note of some crimes by Ukrainian militants - beatings, electric torture, physical intimidation, rape of those suspected of collaborating with the authorities in Donetsk and Lugansk. However, this information did not find its way to Ms. Patten's report.
Any allegations against States or parties to the conflict in the report must be credible, based on confirmed facts and drawn from verifiable sources. However, the SRSG simply prefers to include unsubstantiated accusations against armed forces not bothering to verify that.
Last year, prior to the publication of the report, Russia officially appealed to the UN Secretary-General with a request to provide information that would allow for verification. These appeals were ignored. This year, the Special Representative did not even submitted the relevant part of the report to Russia for comment. Thus, it has become obvious that prevention of sexual violence is nowhere among the SRSG’s goals, she is only interested in political labeling.
Therefore we stress once again that we completely reject the insinuations set out in the report. The actions of Russian servicemen in and out of combat situations are subject to a unified command, strict regulations and statutes. Any unlawful acts are promptly investigated and the perpetrators brought to account.
Other sections of the report lack balance too. In particular, the section on Myanmar turned out one-sided and politicized again. The fact that only Myanmarese armed forces were listed as violators, while crimes committed by terrorists and militants were ignored, does not testify to the objectivity of the report.
Mr.President,
Russia considers the control of armaments and transfers of military products, including small arms and light weapons (SALW), to be one of the most important elements in maintaining international peace and security, especially in the context of combating terrorism.
Here, it is important to make sure that those who make decisions on issues of international security, arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation, as well as those involved in relevant activities, should be evaluated on the basis of their competences, talents and merits, regardless of gender. WPS agenda should not be mechanically incorporated into non-core UN documents. For our part, we do not see how exactly discussing "gender-responsive arms control" can help address the real problem that many states of the world are faced with, namely the increasing access of terrorists and criminal groups to SALW, which surpasses any other category of weapons in terms of the number of human casualties.
Secretary-General's reports on the threats posed by ISIL address this issue. However, they fail to mention where exactly terrorists receive their weapons from.
The Council should not turn a blind eye to the fact that terrorists get weapons through criminal networks or directly from those who supply them worldwide in vast quantities. The weapons and equipment abandoned by the United States and NATO in Afghanistan are being used by terrorists, including ISIL, in South Asia and the same Afghanistan. Weapons sent by Western states to the Kiev regime end up in the hands of criminal groups in Europe and terrorists in Africa.
Right now, the United States Government is working to allocate 23 billion USD to Ukraine and 26 billion USD to Israel to replenish their stockpiles of American weapons. It is exactly these weapons that will become a breeding ground for terrorists and criminals around the world and claim thousands of lives of women and children.
Russia used to be the member of the Security Council who initiated the improvement of existing standards in the field of combating arms transfers to terrorists. Back in 2017, with our active support, specialized Security Council resolution 2370 was adopted. We promoted the inclusion of this topic in Security Council resolutions 2462 on countering the financing of terrorism and 2482 on combating the terrorism-organized crime nexus. In 2018-2019, major international conferences on this topic convened in Moscow.
However, the situation has not improved since then, because measures developed by the Security Council can only be implemented through depoliticized engagement of states under the central coordinating role of the UN, which is scarce these days.
Russia supports the strengthening of interaction and coordination between specialized mechanisms of the UN Secretariat and regional organizations. At the initiative of my country, the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) launched specialized technical assistance programs to strengthen the capacity of Central Asian countries to combat illicit arms trafficking, i.a. prevent weapons from falling in the hands of terrorists. A new phase of the project involves assistance to African states.
Mr.President,
The current global situation clearly demonstrates the importance of controlling transfers of conventional arms and military products, including SALW. We cannot fail to recognize that, despite the measures taken, women continue to be victims of various forms of violence and to be killed or injured in armed conflicts.
We need to find ways to develop solutions in areas under consideration without politicization and double standards, and without artificially linking sexual violence and the issue of arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation.
Thank you.
