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STORY: UN / WOMEN PEACE AND SECURITY
TRT: 05:34
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 08 JULY 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UN headquarters (as seen from Long Island City)
08 JULY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“The promise of international law has never been more relevant – or more severely tested. The report before us holds a mirror up to the changing face of war.”
4. Wide shot, Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“The annual report of the Secretary-General documents 9,788 cases of conflict-related sexual violence verified by the United Nations in 2025 – more than double the number recorded last year.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“The highest number of UN-verified cases were recorded in the DRC, Haiti and Sudan.”
8. Wide shot, Security Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“New listings this cycle include non-State actors in the DRC and Haiti, and two State actors in Israel and the Russian Federation. At this time last year, both State parties were put on notice due to protection concerns, including patterns of sexual violence and systematic denials of access to independent UN monitors.”
10. Wide shot, Security Council
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“We do not compile these reports simply to count the victims; we compile them because the victims are counting on us. They are counting on this Council to turn documentation into accountability, rights into protection, and atrocities into assistance – to chart a path to peace out of the wreckage of war.”
12. Wide shot, Security Council
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“Instead of defending lifesaving progress, we are defunding lifesaving programmes. Instead of punishing these crimes, we see increased persecution of those who dare to denounce them. Eighty years ago, this Organization was founded to replace the law of force with the force of law. We cannot afford to allow an inversion of these hard-won values, whereby human rights, equality, and respect for diversity are disparaged, and institutions built over decades are dismantled overnight.”
14. Wide shot, Security Council
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Carine Jocelyn, Founder and Director, Haitian Women’s Collective:
“As the UN Secretary-General said when he visited Port-au-Prince last month, the greatest disgrace in Haiti is not gang violence but the indifference of a world that has looked the other way for far too long while women and children pay the heaviest price. This is true not only of Haiti but of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Palestine, Sudan and others – situations over which you have influence.”
16. Wide shot, Security Council
17. SOUNDBITE (French) Judith Suminwa Tuluka, Prime Minister, Democratic Republic of the Congo:
“Our national experience leads us today to ask a broader question: how do we prevent the systems that make these crimes possible? Faced with this barbarity, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has refused to remain a mere victim, under the impetus of His Excellency Mr. Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, President of the Republic, we have chosen to strengthen our institutions, to break the cycle of impunity, and to make the dignity of survivors a priority of public action.”
18. Wide shot, Security Council
19. Wide shot, ambassadors at the stakeout area
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Eloy Alfaro de Alba, Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Panama:
“On the occasion of the Security Council's open debate on conflict related sexual violence [we] commend the work of the office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Pramila Patten, and we affirm our full support for her mandate. Despite several financial constraints across the United Nations, the office must have the resources required to deliver timely and reliable information to the Council. The Secretary General's 2026 report highlights a sharp increase in conflict related sexual violence, with UN verified cases more than doubling since the last reporting period. Women and girls represented 88 per cent of victims, reflecting the disproportionate impact of these crimes. We are particularly concerned by the growing risk faced by displaced women and girls. Conflict related sexual violence continues to terrorize communities, drive displacement, and undermine peace and security. We unequivocally condemn all violations of international humanitarian law and of the human rights of all women and girls, including the use of conflict related sexual violence by both state and non-state actors.”
21. Wide shot, ambassadors leaving the stakeout area
“Instead of defending lifesaving progress, we are defunding lifesaving programmes. Instead of punishing these crimes, we see increased persecution of those who dare to denounce them,” the UN’s envoy on sexual violence in conflict told the Security Council.
Briefing the Council today (8 Jul), Pramila Patten, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, said the annual report before the Council “holds a mirror up to the changing face of war.”
“The promise of international law has never been more relevant – or more severely tested,” she said.
Patten's remarks drew on the Secretary-General's latest annual report on conflict-related sexual violence (S/2026/321), which was made public on 29 May.
According to the report, the UN verified 9,788 cases of conflict-related sexual violence in 2025, “more than double the number recorded last year,” Patten said, adding that the true toll is far higher, with humanitarians in the field estimating that for every case reaching a clinic, 10 to 20 go unreported.
“The highest number of UN-verified cases were recorded in the DRC, Haiti and Sudan,” she noted. The report also names the Central African Republic among the worst-affected situations, out of 21 contexts covered overall.
Patten pointed to two new state listings in the annex to the report. “New listings this cycle include non-State actors in the DRC and Haiti, and two State actors in Israel and the Russian Federation. At this time last year, both State parties were put on notice due to protection concerns, including patterns of sexual violence and systematic denials of access to independent UN monitors,” she said.
The Secretary-General formally communicated required measures to both parties on 11 August 2025, she added, but “neither the violations nor the conflicts have ceased.”
“We do not compile these reports simply to count the victims; we compile them because the victims are counting on us. They are counting on this Council to turn documentation into accountability, rights into protection, and atrocities into assistance – to chart a path to peace out of the wreckage of war,” Patten said.
She warned against a broader erosion of the international system. “Eighty years ago, this Organization was founded to replace the law of force with the force of law. We cannot afford to allow an inversion of these hard-won values, whereby human rights, equality, and respect for diversity are disparaged, and institutions built over decades are dismantled overnight,” she said.
Carine Jocelyn, Founder and Director of the Haitian Women's Collective, invoked the Secretary-General's recent visit to Port-au-Prince. “As the UN Secretary-General said when he visited Port-au-Prince last month, the greatest disgrace in Haiti is not gang violence but the indifference of a world that has looked the other way for far too long while women and children pay the heaviest price. This is true not only of Haiti but of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Palestine, Sudan and others – situations over which you have influence,” she told the Council.
Judith Suminwa Tuluka, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who presided over the meeting, said her country's own experience had prompted it to confront the roots of the crisis. “Our national experience leads us today to ask a broader question: how do we prevent the systems that make these crimes possible? Faced with this barbarity, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has refused to remain a mere victim, under the impetus of His Excellency Mr. Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, President of the Republic, we have chosen to strengthen our institutions, to break the cycle of impunity, and to make the dignity of survivors a priority of public action,” she said.
Speaking to reporters at the stakeout before the meeting, Eloy Alfaro de Alba, Permanent Representative of Panama to the UN, affirmed his country's support for Patten's mandate. “Despite several financial constraints across the United Nations, the office must have the resources required to deliver timely and reliable information to the Council,” he said, noting that women and girls represented 88 per cent of victims recorded in the 2026 report.
“We are particularly concerned by the growing risk faced by displaced women and girls,” he said. “We unequivocally condemn all violations of international humanitarian law and of the human rights of all women and girls, including the use of conflict related sexual violence by both state and non-state actors.”
