United Nations
To combat sexual violence in conflict situations, India has advocated a multifaceted approach which includes gender-responsive arms control that prevents the proliferation of weapons.
Demilitarization, intertwined with disarmament, calls for gender-responsive arms control (and) this approach recognises the role of weapon proliferation in conflict-related sexual violence, India’s Permanent Representative Ruchira Kamboj said on Tuesday during a Security Council open debate on protecting women against sexual violence in conflict.
She advocated arms control policies that address the specific vulnerabilities of women.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, emphasised the need to stop the flow of weapons into the hands of perpetrators of sexual violence.
There could be no more direct and effective way to disarm the weapon of rape, and ultimately, to prevent and eradicate these crimes than by using sanctions against the arming of those committing the crimes, she said.
Malta’s Deputy PM Chris Fearne, who presided over the meeting, said that UN Sanctions Committees should make sexual and gender-based violence a criterion for imposing sanctions.
As conflicts have become more fragmented, and the theatre of conflict much more complex and volatile, Kamboj said that preventing sexual violence requires a multifaceted approach, involving community engagement particularly with women in security and disarmament decisions.
