(New York) – Foreign Minister of UAE, H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan urged governments to stand together to support the UN initiative to combat sexual violence in conflict situations, including condemning this crime and prosecuting and punishing the perpetrators in accordance with international criminal law. Given hereafter are the excerpts from his full speech he made during a UN meeting on the “Initiative to combat sexual violence in conflict situations” on the occasion of the declaration of international commitment to end sexual violence in conflict situations, being held in association with the 68th session of the UN General Assembly:
“I am pleased to begin my speech by expressing my sincere thanks to my colleague, William Hague, UK Foreign Secretary, for leading this initiative aimed at preventing sexual violence in all its forms. A great effort has been exerted to unite the international community and strengthen its determination to tackle this crime, stripped of all the meanings of humanity. As I believe in the awfulness of this crime, and the necessity of the world consensus to clearly denounce it, so I agreed to be the “World Supporter” for this initiative.
We live in a world of increasing conflicts and wars, such as those in Syria, for example. The crimes of rape and other forms of sexual violence that occur during these conflicts are not a new phenomenon. They have been repeated throughout history as a means to degrade communities, humiliate opponents and destroy them. We still remained committed with our partners from the international community to eliminate this barbarism. We can no longer accept that such crimes will be an inevitable result of conflicts in the 21st century. We have to refer very clearly to them as a war crime”.
