Excellencies,
We meet at a moment of profound instability, when multilateral cooperation in general – and the Women, Peace and Security agenda in particular – face extraordinary strain. This is exactly the time to defend, rather than diminish, the norms and institutions painstakingly built over the past 25 years to protect civilians from the worst abuses of war. Indeed, ending conflict-related sexual violence is a peace and security imperative. Today, we know more than ever before about its drivers and dynamics. After 17 years of this mandate the paradigm has shifted, resulting in a robust normative framework, effective institutional arrangements, and unprecedented operational reach and results. But progress cannot be taken for granted.
The latest Report of the Secretary-General on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, which I presented to the Security Council last July captures almost 10,000 cases, verified by the United Nations in 2025 alone, of sexual violence used as a tactic of war, torture, terror and political repression across 21 situations. This number has more than doubled since last year, and has tripled since 2022, reflecting the widening scope of warfare globally. Victims ranged in age from just one year old to over 70, with nearly 3,000 cases affecting children. Women and girls account for approximately 90 percent of those targeted, with men and boys being particularly at risk in detention settings, and LGBTQI individuals facing persecution and abuse. These figures reflect only the cases the UN was able to verify, in a climate of access constraints, rising reprisals, collapsed systems of care, the precipitous drawdown of UN Missions, and harmful social norms, such as entrenched stigma. The true toll is undoubtedly far higher. Behind these figures, we see patterns of sexual violence of increasing brutality, with rising rates of trauma, suicide, and fatality in its wake. We see attacks committed in front of family members to deepen shame and sever kinship bonds. Abduction, trafficking, exploitation, forced marriage and forced prostitution have become embedded in the political economy of war, providing incentives and rewards to combatants, including violent extremist, terrorist, and transnational criminal groups and networks as seen in the Sahel and Horn of Africa including Somalia. Sexual violence continues to be used as a tactic of interrogation, torture, intimidation and punishment in contexts of detention and captivity, behind closed doors.
In South Sudan, girls have been raped in the very camps where they sought refuge; in eastern DRC, activists have been gang-raped by militias for denouncing these crimes; in Sudan, the number of women and girls seeking support after sexual assault has quadrupled since the start of the war; in Haiti, the UN reported a 163 percent increase in cases of sexual violence in 2025; and as investigations continue to uncover the extent of atrocities committed in northern Ethiopia, it is estimated that ten percent of Tigrayan women suffered sexual violence during two years of war.
Sexual violence fans the flames of conflict, with implications for regional stability. Left unaddressed, the cycle of violence, impunity and revenge continues, undermining social cohesion, driving record levels of forced displacement, and making peace less possible.
Excellencies,
The challenge before us is to translate commitments into consequences, and analysis into action. Since 2008, the Security Council has built the institutional architecture to do precisely that, although its reach and impact is increasingly constrained in the current climate. Prevention requires consistent and credible consequences. There are now 77 listed State and non-State parties, two-thirds of which are persistent perpetrators. In this respect, sanctions are an important tool to ensure that these crimes are not cost-free. Greater alignment between UN and EU sanctions practice offers an important opportunity to deepen our strategic impact. CRSV should be reflected in the designation criteria for targeted measures while demonstrable progress in reducing CRSV should be a benchmark for the easing or lifting of sanctions.
Excellencies,
My appeal to you is urgent and concrete:
First, protect with one voice the integrity and independence of this mandate and its ability to speak truth to power;
Second, preserve the operational architecture we have built. Investing in our CRSV Multi-Partner Trust Fund is an investment in peace;
Third, continue to bring the diplomatic, political and economic leverage of the European Union to bear, including by integrating CRSV into the EU Common Security and Defense Policy and EU Military training and advisory missions.
As I conclude almost a decade at the helm of this mandate, I remain convinced that progress is possible, and survivors must be empowered as agents of change and architects of peace. The norms exist. The knowledge exists. The institutions and experts stand ready. What we need now is political resolve and resources equal to the scale of the challenge.
The European Union has been an indispensable partner in building this agenda as a contribution to both human and collective security. I urge you to remain steadfast in defending it and making the gains irreversible. Ultimately, what matters is not the legacy of what we have built, but whether it will stand the test of time. These are particularly testing times. After centuries of silence, we must stand with survivors and frontline responders on the right side of history and spare no effort to save succeeding generations from this scourge.
Thank you.