Approaches of the states towards sexual violence in the conditions of armed conflict: key contradictions in development of a coherent position on the United Nations agenda

Abstract

As a separate issue, sexual violence in the context of armed conflict was first brought to the agenda in 2008; and has been regularly submitted to a discussion of the UN Security Council due to the fact that the acts of violence turned into a tactic of war and/or terrorism. Despite the global scale of the problem. Its significance in the context of peacekeeping and security, the topic at hand becomes another “fault line” in intergovernmental relations, causing a growing number of contradictions. This research aims to determine the key points in of divergence in the positions of UN member-states on the topic and their causes. The methods of applied quantitative analysis were used for calculating the differences in the countries’ approaches towards the problematic in percentage correlation. The analysis relies on the voting results of the state regarding the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council and materials of the sessions of the UN Security Council, including declarations made by the states during open debates. The author indicates the escalation of contradictions, as well as notes that the position of the states on the issue of sexual violence during armed conflict is based not only on the political and economic prerequisites, but also on ethno-confessional peculiarities of the countries. The article also attempts to determine the coalitions of like-minded countries.