2017 annual report of the secretary-general on children and armed conflict

The term “conflict-related sexual violence” refers to rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilization, forced marriage and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity perpetrated against women, men, girls or boys that is directly or indirectly linked to a conflict. As an integral component of strategies to secure the control of land and resources, conflict-related sexual violence has devastated the physical and economic security of displaced and rural women and women belonging to minority groups.Ģ. In the year under review, sexual violence was also used by belligerent parties to attack and alter the ethnic or religious identity of persecuted groups. In the context of the mass migration crisis, sexual violence continued to serve as a driver of forced displacement and a factor inhibiting the return of uprooted communities to their places of origin. It also underscores the importance of socioeconomic reintegration support aimed at restoring community cohesion in the wake of war. That development has lent urgency to efforts to alleviate the stigma associated with sexual violence, which can have life-long, and sometimes lethal, repercussions for both survivors and for children conceived through rape.

The reporting period was marked by the liberation of territories and the attendant release or escape of numerous women and girls formerly held by armed or terrorist groups. The present report, which covers the period from January to December 2017, is submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution 2106 (2013), in which the Council requested me to report annually on the implementation of resolutions 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009) and 1960 (2010) and to recommend strategic actions. Download Report (PDF | 631.29 KB | Arabic version)ġ.Download Report (PDF | 573.8 KB | English version).

2017 annual report of the secretary-general on children and armed conflict