UNSC OPEN DEBATE ON CONFLICT-RELATED SEXUAL VIOLENCE: HONOURING THE PROMISE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW TO SURVIVORS OF CONFLICT-RELATED SEXUAL VIOLENCE
Statement delivered by H.E. Mr James Larsen, Ambassador and Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations
Statement on behalf of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (CANZ)
08 July 2026
Thank you President.
On behalf of Canada, New Zealand, and my own country, Australia, we thank the Democratic Republic of the Congo for convening this important debate.
The Secretary-General’s report is stark: UN-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence were marked by extreme brutality and rose sharply in 2025, overwhelmingly targeting women and girls.
These verified cases represent only a fraction of the true scale – because stigma, fear of reprisals, and lack of support services continue to prevent survivors from coming forward.
Too many survivors and children born of conflict-related rape remain invisible.
Too many are denied justice, dignity, care and legal identity, with profound intergenerational consequences.
CANZ makes three points:
First, we must end impunity for conflict-related sexual violence.
We must use accountability mechanisms effectively, including through sanctions regimes, domestic systems and other avenues available under the international legal framework.
Second, we must prevent conflict-related sexual violence by addressing the conditions that enable it.
This requires gender-responsive security sectors, including the deployment of Women’s Protection Advisers in peacekeeping and special political missions.
Third, CANZ is committed to practical action.
We must ensure survivors’ access to sustained trauma-informed support including medical and mental health services, sexual and reproductive health services, legal aid, livelihood support and transformative reparations.
Protecting survivors also means protecting those who support them.
As signatories to the Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel, we are taking practical action to strengthen protection of humanitarian workers, helping survivors access the support, protection and justice to which they are entitled under international law.
CANZ is backing that commitment with practical action at national, regional and global levels.
Australia partners with the Global Survivors Fund to provide interim reparations for survivors of CRSV, and supports the international Gender Justice Practitioner Hub to enhance trauma-informed and survivor-centred accountability processes
Like Australia, Canada supports the Global Survivors Fund and strengthens accountability for CRSV by supporting UN Women’s deployment of sexual and gender-based violence experts to international accountability mechanisms.
New Zealand helps prevent violence against women by supporting initiatives across the Pacific region that strengthen women's leadership in peace and security, improve protection from gender-based violence, and integrate women and girls’ perspectives in security and peacebuilding efforts.
President,
CANZ urges all member states to act with urgency and resolve to tackle the drivers of conflict-related sexual violence, end impunity for perpetrators and provide survivors with the support and justice they need.
Thank you.