UN Security Council Resolution 2106 | ||
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Date | 24 June 2013 | |
Meeting no. | 6984 | |
Code | S/RES/2106 (Document) | |
Subject | Women and Peace and Security | |
Voting summary |
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Result | Adopted | |
Security Council composition | ||
Permanent members | ||
Non-permanent members | ||
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Adopted unanimously [1] on June 24th, 2013, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2106 (S/RES/2016) centers around the protection of women from sexual violence, especially in armed conflict or post-conflict areas. The resolution highlights the need for countries to both:
(1) implement firm regulations around the prosecution of sexual violence crimes
(2) adequately address the origin of such crimes
It further states that in order to fulfill these needs, promoting women's (political/social/economic) empowerment, gender equality, and encouraging men and boys' cooperation to combat women-centered violence is imperative in order to enact long-term change. [2]
The United Nations first classified rape as a war crime with Security Council Resolution 1820 in 2008. [3] Rape and other forms of sexual violence are also explicitly prohibited under International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Resolution 2106 addresses the need to challenge the idea of sexual violence in conflict areas being an inevitability, or a symptom of specific cultural values. [2]
Resolution 2106 is the sixth resolution passed relating to Women, Peace and Security, and the fourth relating to sexual violence in conflict. This resolution differs from previous resolutions passed by the UN Security Council in that it establishes more specific processes for how women's empowerment and protection from sexual violence in conflict areas can be achieved. It also urges that these process be implemented at a more accelerated rate. [1]
While the resolution emphasizes the need for such protections for women and girls first and foremost, as sexual violence disproportionately impacts them, it also notably specifies that men and boys are also able to be victims of sexual violence. Further implementation of outlined process would only serve to benefit them as well, whether they be direct victims or "secondarily traumatized as forced witnesses". [2]
A need for Women Protection Advisors (WPAs) to be deployed in armed-conflict and post-conflict areas to protect against sexual violence was first outlined as a need in Resolution 1888, which was adopted in 2009. Resolution 2106 indicates that deployment of WPAs to conflict areas has not been sufficient, and must be increased for effective implementation in accordance to Resolution 1888. Resolution 2106 further detailed a need for these Advisors to be effectively trained, and for systemic checks to be put in place to assess such training. [1]
Most prominently, Resolution 2106 specified a need for more strict and accurately enforced legal action against perpetrators of sexual violence. [4] Sexual violence when implemented as a war tactic often both worsens and lengthens the duration of armed conflict. Criminal prosecution is absolutely necessary to hinder the occurrence of such acts and help maintain international security long-term. [2]
CARE International, an international NGO focused on providing humanitarian advocacy and relief, offers salient points of reflection to the passing of Resolution 2106.
First, they emphasize that seeking justice through criminal prosecution of perpetrators of sexual crimes is important, but must never come at the cost of the safety of their victims. An important consideration that must be made is that victims of sexual violence face often face retaliatory violence should they seek retribution. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that protection of victims is provided alongside prosecution of the perpetrators.
They also specify the importance for medical, mental health and general well-being services as well as livelihood support services to be offered to victims in conflict areas. [5]
Eight resolutions on Women, Peace, and Security have been adopted by the United Nations Security Council, alongside Resolution 2106. [6]
1. Resolution 1325 [7]
2. Resolution 1820 [8]
3. Resolution 1888 [9]
4. Resolution 1889 [10]
5. Resolution 1960 [11]
6. Resolution 2016: See above
7. Resolution 2122 [12]
8. Resolution 2242 [13]
Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as foreign nationals. Together with war crimes, genocide, and the crime of aggression, crimes against humanity are one of the core crimes of international criminal law and, like other crimes against international law, have no temporal or jurisdictional limitations on prosecution.
Sexual violence is any harmful or unwanted sexual act—or attempt to obtain a sexual act through violence or coercion—or an act directed against a person's sexuality without their consent, by any individual regardless of their relationship to the victim. This includes forced engagement in sexual acts, attempted or completed, and may be physical, psychological, or verbal. It occurs in times of peace and armed conflict situations, is widespread, and is considered to be one of the most traumatic, pervasive, and most common human rights violations.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (S/RES/1325), on women, peace, and security, was adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council on 31 October 2000, after recalling resolutions 1261 (1999), 1265 (1999), 1296 (2000), and 1314 (2000). The resolution acknowledged the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women and girls. It calls for the adoption of a gender perspective to consider the special needs of women and girls during conflict, repatriation and resettlement, rehabilitation, reintegration, and post-conflict reconstruction.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1674, adopted unanimously on April 28, 2006, after reaffirming resolutions 1265 (1999) and 1296 (2000) concerning the protection of civilians in armed conflict and Resolution 1631 (2005) on co-operation between the United Nations and regional organisations, the Council stressed a comprehensive approach to the prevention of armed conflict and its recurrence.
Wartime sexual violence is rape or other forms of sexual violence committed by combatants during an armed conflict, war, or military occupation often as spoils of war, but sometimes, particularly in ethnic conflict, the phenomenon has broader sociological motives. Wartime sexual violence may also include gang rape and rape with objects. It is distinguished from sexual harassment, sexual assaults and rape committed amongst troops in military service.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the east of the country in particular, has been described as the "Rape Capital of the World", and the prevalence and intensity of all forms of sexual violence has been described as the worst in the world. Human Rights Watch defines sexual violence as "an act of a sexual nature by force, or by threat of force or coercion", and rape as "a form of sexual violence during which the body of a person is invaded, resulting in penetration, however slight, of any part of the body of the victim, with a sexual organ, or of the anal or genital opening of the victim with any object or other part of the body."
United Nations Security Council resolution 904 was adopted without a vote on 18 March 1994. After expressing its shock at the massacre committed against Palestinian worshippers in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron in the West Bank, the Council called for measures to be taken to guarantee the safety and protection of the Palestinian civilians throughout the occupied territory.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1919, adopted unanimously on April 29, 2010, after recalling resolutions 1674 (2006), 1894 (2009) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009) on children in armed conflict, 1502 (2003) on the protection of humanitarian and United Nations personnel, and 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), and 1889 (2009) on women, peace, and security, the Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) until April 30, 2011 with the intention of renewing it further if necessary.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1960, adopted unanimously on December 16, 2010, after recalling resolutions 1325 (2000), 1612 (2005), 1674 (2006), 1820 (2008), 1882 (2009), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009) and 1894 (2009), the Council requested information on parties suspected of patterns of sexual violence during armed conflict to be made available to it.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1983 was adopted unanimously on June 7, 2011, after recalling meetings on HIV/AIDS in Africa and in the mandates of peacekeeping operations, as well as resolutions 1308 (2000), 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1894 (2009) and 1960 (2010). The Council encouraged the inclusion of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support in its peacekeeping mandates.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1998, adopted unanimously on July 12, 2011, after reaffirming resolutions 1261 (1999), 1314 (2000), 1379 (2001), 1460 (2003), 1539 (2004), 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009) on the protection of children in armed conflict, the Council declared schools and hospitals off limits for both armed groups and military activities, asking the Secretary-General for such crimes to be placed on a list of those committing "grave violations" against children.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1820 was unanimously adopted on 19 June 2008. It condemns the use of sexual violence as a tool of war, and declares that “rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide”. The adoption of the resolution marked the first time that the UN explicitly linked sexual violence as a tactic of war with women, peace, and security issues. Security Council Resolution 1820 reinforces United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and highlights that sexual violence in conflict constitutes a war crime and demands parties to armed conflict to immediately take appropriate measures to protect civilians from sexual violence, including training troops and enforcing disciplinary measures. In November 2010, the UN Secretary General presented a report on the implementation of UNSCR 1820.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1888 was unanimously adopted on 30 September 2009. It was introduced by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who also presided over the session. The resolution established the United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1889 was unanimously adopted on 5 October 2009.
Gender and security sector reform is an emerging subfield of security sector reform (SSR) that is both practical and conceptual. SSR generally is a comprehensive framework within which all or part of a state's security sector undergoes a process of transformation in order to bring it more into line with principles such as democratic oversight, good governance and the rule of law. The overall objectives of SSR programmes – as defined both by the state in question and any international donors supporting the process – tend to include improving service delivery, enhancing local ownership and ensuring the sustainability of security sector institutions. As gender-specific approaches take into account the specific needs of men, women, boys and girls through gender mainstreaming and by promoting the equal participation of people of all genders in decision-making processes, states and international organisations increasingly consider them to be a necessary component of SSR programmes.
The term international framework of sexual violence refers to the collection of international legal instruments – such as treaties, conventions, protocols, case law, declarations, resolutions and recommendations – developed in the 20th and 21st century to address the problem of sexual violence. The framework seeks to establish and recognise the right all human beings to not experience sexual violence, to prevent sexual violence from being committed wherever possible, to punish perpetrators of sexual violence, and to provide care for victims of sexual violence. The standards set by this framework are intended to be adopted and implemented by governments around the world in order to protect their citizens against sexual violence.
Nadia Murad Basee Taha is an Iraqi-born Yazidi human rights activist based in Germany. In 2014, during the Yazidi genocide by the Islamic State, she was abducted from her hometown of Kocho in Iraq. Much of her community was massacred. After losing most of her family, Murad was held as an Islamic State sex slave for three months, alongside thousands of other Yazidi women and girls.
The U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security was adopted when President Barack Obama signed an executive order on December 19, 2011, 11 years after the United Nations Security Council adopted United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security. It specified initiatives and activities that will empower and enlist women and girls in efforts to achieve international peace and security. The U.S. NAP was formally revised in June 2016. On June 11, 2019, the White House released the U.S. Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security, which superseded the National Action Plan.
The Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (OSRSG-SVC) is an office of the United Nations Secretariat tasked with serving the United Nations' spokesperson and political advocate on conflict-related sexual violence, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (SRSG-SVC). The Special Representative holds the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the UN and chairs the UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict. The mandate of the SRSG-SVC was established by Security Council Resolution 1888, introduced by Hillary Clinton, and the first Special Representative, Margot Wallström, took office in 2010. The current Special Representative is Pramila Patten of Mauritius, who was appointed by UN Secretary General António Guterres in 2017. The work of the SRSG-SVC is supported by the UN Team of Experts on the Rule of Law/Sexual Violence in Conflict, co-led by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPO), Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), also established under Security Council Resolution 1888.
International law is a series of verbal agreements and written contracts between nations that govern how those nations interact with one another. "Public" international law includes human rights both in conflict situations and post-conflict reconstruction. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979 and has the goal of promoting women's rights. Women have contributed to work on post-conflict reconstruction, aid and ceasefire negotiations. They have also contributed to the Geneva II peace talks regarding Syria, and were involved in the Rohingya conflict in Myanmar as 'front-line responders'.