The meeting, chaired by Suminwa within the framework of the Congolese leadership, was devoted to the topic «Compliance with international legal obligations towards victims of sexual violence in armed conflict». For Suminva, this was an opportunity to draw attention to the need for practical implementation of the resolution.
Speaking on behalf of DR Congo, which has suffered from armed conflict and sexual violence, Suminwa said that international institutions must move from passive surveillance to active action. She stressed that it is important not only to record the horrors, but also to prevent the conditions that contribute to their occurrence. This requires an active presence in risk areas, early warning systems, effective justice to bring perpetrators to justice, as well as compensation and economic rehabilitation that give women a voice and influence.
The strategy involves understanding the links between sexual violence, territorial occupation, population displacement, illegal arms trafficking, human trafficking, impunity, and «military-economic systems». To eliminate such crimes, according to Suminva, it is necessary to analyze not only the crimes themselves, but also the infrastructure that supports them. Conflict prevention and peace-building measures should take these aspects into account from the very beginning.: in ceasefire agreements, oversight mechanisms, disarmament programs, transformation of law enforcement agencies, sanctions regimes and guarantees of the impossibility of relapses. In cases where individuals or entities coordinate, sponsor, or benefit from abductions, human trafficking, and sexual slavery in conflict zones, the Council's tools should be applied systematically and consistently, including sanctions committees and expert groups.
The Congolese Presidency of the Security Council has decided to begin its work with the issue of victims, believing that no peace architecture can be credible if it does not focus on those who have paid the highest price for conflicts. Judith Suminwa also announced that in the coming days, the Council will continue to discuss structures that fuel conflicts, illegal economies that prolong them, as well as ways to turn natural resource management into instruments of peace, security and prosperity. «Today, our main duty is clear: to listen to survivors of violence, recognize their rights, support national and international responses, fund basic services, fill information gaps, strengthen cooperation, and make the fight against impunity a condition for peace. Based on the results of our work, one message should be clear: sexual violence in conflict situations is neither inevitable nor secondary. The answer cannot be limited to condemnation. It must include prevention, protection, justice, reparations, economic recovery, recognition of children born as a result of this violence, and the means necessary to turn commitments into results», the Prime Minister said.
In the same spirit, the Head of Government stressed that combating sexual violence in conflict situations is not only a moral imperative, but also a strategic condition for establishing lasting peace. According to her, justice and reparations should no longer be considered as secondary issues, but as fundamental elements of the restoration of society. «Combating sexual violence in conflict situations is a moral imperative, but also a strategic requirement for any lasting peace. You can't rebuild a society by leaving its victims without justice. Communities cannot be rebuilt by abandoning children born as a result of this violence to silence or stigmatization. Conflicts cannot be prevented by ignoring the economies that finance them, the weapons that prolong them, the networks that exploit victims, and the systems of domination that accompany them», Suminva argues.
She concluded by calling on Member States to make the dignity of survivors of violence the foundation of any peace strategy. «Our shared responsibility is to ensure that the dignity of victims, children's rights, justice, reparations and basic services do not remain on the periphery of the world, but are at the very heart of its construction. More than twenty-five years after the adoption of resolution 1325, the next step of our commitment cannot be a new promise. It must be a fulfilled promise. Because no natural resource should be extracted at the cost of human dignity, because no economy should thrive on the suffering of the population, and because no lasting peace can be built on impunity», she stressed.
Resolution 1325, which was unanimously adopted by the UN Security Council on October 31, 2000, is considered a historic text. As the first official document to establish a link between women's rights and issues of peace and security, it calls for their full participation in conflict prevention, resolution, and peace-building processes.
Prime Minister Judith Suminwa's statement on this resolution comes in a context where women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially in conflict zones, continue to be victims of sexual violence committed in an atmosphere of activity by local and foreign armed groups. To this is added aggression from Rwanda, as stated by the Congolese authorities, through the AFC/M23 rebellion, which contributes to the increased vulnerability of women in the east of the country. The diplomatic initiatives undertaken to end this crisis and establish lasting peace have been difficult to produce concrete results. Although progress is regularly announced at the political and diplomatic levels, the situation on the ground remains alarming: the parties continue to clash, accusing each other of not complying with their commitments.
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