UNIS/SGSM/1410
14 June 2024
Conflict-related sexual violence is a devastating form of attack and repression, which has lasting, harmful effects on survivors’ physical, sexual, reproductive, and mental health, and destroys the social fabric of communities.
Despite widespread awareness and condemnation, this grotesque crime continues around the world. The past year has seen harrowing reports of sexual violence from Sudan to Haiti and Israel. Far too often, the perpetrators walk free while survivors spend their entire lives in recovery.
This year’s International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict focuses on healthcare. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities should be beacons of safety and healing for all those injured in conflict, including the survivors of sexual violence. These are fundamental tenets of international humanitarian law.
But attacks on hospitals and healthcare facilities, and the targeting of healthcare workers, can severely limit access to medical care and psychosocial support for survivors. Women and girls who experience sexual violence may become pregnant from rape and require immediate sexual and reproductive healthcare. Men and boys may be at risk of increased isolation if they cannot access appropriate care.
On this International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, let us pledge to eliminate this scourge, stand in solidarity with survivors, and reaffirm our commitment to protecting hospitals and healthcare facilities during conflict.
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The UN Convention against Cybercrime aims to prevent and combat cybercrime more efficiently and effectively, including by strengthening international cooperation and by providing technical assistance and capacity-building support, particularly for developing countries.
I welcome the landmark adoption of a new international convention on cybercrime by the United Nations General Assembly. This remarkable step represents the first UN international legal instrument on crime-related issues in over 20 years, and it comes at exactly the right time.
"On this International Day of Epidemic Preparedness, I call on countries to heed the lessons of past health emergencies to help prepare for the next." — António Guterres
The new Permanent Representative of Ghana to the United Nations (Vienna), Matilda Aku Alomatu Osei-Agyeman, presented her credentials today to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV), Ghada Waly.
