Update
NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security Presents on Accountability and Implementation of SCR 1325 at the Security Council Annual Open Debate
October 2007
The NGO Working Group, of which the Global Justice Center is a member, was selected to represent civil society in the Security Council open debate to review implementation of SCR 1325 on October 23, 2007. The Working Group called for more effective monitoring and reporting on the implementation of SCR 1325. The statement, delivered by Gina Torry, coordinator of the Working Group, stressed that seven years after the adoption of SCR 1325, women are still excluded from decision-making bodies and are subjected to widespread and systemic violence in situations of armed conflict.
Additionally the presentation underscored the insufficient implementation of SCR 1325 into the work of the Security Council, and emphasized that widespread sexual violence, as well as the exclusion of women from decision-making bodies, are matters of international peace and security which call for strong accountability mechanisms.
For the NGO Working Group's full statement, see: http://www.peacewomen.org/news/1325News/Issue94.html#NGOWG
At the Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security, representatives from Benin, Liechtenstein and the Netherlands made specific reference in their statements to encouraging the referral of cases of large scale sexual and gender-based violence to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in order to send a strong message to perpetrators that the international community will no longer tolerate impunity for violence against women. The GJC applauds the recognition of rule of law and criminal accountability in enforcement of SCR 1325 and is advocating that this be applied in the case of Burma.
The GJC applauds the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, Karen Pierce, for her reference at the Security Council Open Debate to the report from Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, on widespread crimes of sex violence in Burma. Pinheiro's report explicitly notes the systemic sexual violence used by the military, police, and border guards in Burma as part of the government's anti-insurgency tactics.
For the UK's complete statement, see: http://www.peacewomen.org/un/7thAnniversary/Open_Debate/UK.pdf
To see the report by Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights: please click here.
The statement made at the Security Council Open Debate by the representative from Myanmar, however, continued to deny as "false accusations" the well documented violence against women, calling the UK's report unfounded and the allegations of gang rape by the Burmese military untrue.
For Myanmar's complete statement, see: http://www.peacewomen.org/un/7thAnniversary/Open_Debate/Myanmar.pdf
For more country statements at the Open Debate on sexual and gender-based violence, including those of Benin, Liechtenstein and the Netherlands on the ICC, please see: http://www.peacewomen.org/un/7thAnniversary/Compilation/SGBV.htm
For a GJC statement on criminal accountability in Burma, click here.