Remarks by Assistant-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Ms. Joyce Msuya at the side event of the Commission on the Status of Women's 68th Session hosted by the Republic of Türkiye: "Unveiling the Untold: The Devastating Impact of Conflict on Women and Girls"
As prepared for delivery
Excellencies, honourable ministers, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
The great thinker Rebecca Solnit once wrote that "violence against women is often against our voices and our stories."
This violence, she said, "is a refusal of our voices, and of what a voice means: the right to self-determination, to participation, to consent or dissent, to live and participate, to interpret and narrate."
And we see this in every country where there is conflict. We see women being shut out, barred from participation, unable to dissent, and subjected to the violence and suffering that robs them of their right to determine their own futures.
But we also know what happens when we give women a voice, when we let them tell their own stories and shape their own futures.
I have just returned from Somalia. In a camp for internally displaced people in Doolow I met 17-year-old Fadumo, who was forced to flee her home. Thanks to a women and girls centre set up with money from Somalia Humanitarian Fund, Fadumo undertook vocational training to develop skills around henna. She painted these beautifully intricate designs.
And with the money she makes from this work, she provides her family with a better life, and with a chance to shape their own narrative.
Stories like Fadumo's are an example of what we can do to end the injustices women and girls face. But what more can we do to end the silencing of women, and stop the way conflict deprives them of their fundamental rights?
And what more can we do to protect and empower these women so that they can determine their own futures? I want to answer these questions with three main points:
Firstly, we need to make sure their voices are heard. This isn't only about amplifying their stories by sharing them with policymakers, the media and the public. Nor is it just about speaking out against the grave violations they suffer - although both are helpful.
It's about recognizing that the safety and well-being of women in conflict - indeed peace itself - can only be achieved if women are allowed to participate in decision-making fully, equally and meaningfully at every single level of society.
That means women assuming senior leadership positions in every kind of organization working to end conflict - whether it's peacebuilding, conflict resolution or humanitarian work.
It means giving women affected by conflict a real say in how this work is undertaken.
And it means funding and supporting women-led organizations on the frontlines, so that our actions are adapted to, and guided by, the very people who often need help the most.
Secondly, women and girls need urgent protection from the terrible ravages of war. As we have heard, when conflict erupts it is women and girls who bear the brunt of the suffering.
Sexual violence against women and girls becomes a weapon of war. Health systems fall apart. Gender inequality spikes. Child marriage, human trafficking, begging, and child labor rise. Mental and physical health plummets.
Yet violence against women and girls remains one of the most underfunded humanitarian sectors in the world. And reproductive and maternal health facilities are often the first to close. This is unacceptable.
The humanitarian sector, donors and partners urgently need to scale up funding for responses that prevent and mitigate the suffering that women and girls are subjected to.
That means channeling money and support to organizations led by women who are working on the frontlines. It means enforcing the protection of hospitals under international humanitarian law, including pre- and postnatal care and delivery facilities.
And it means donors and international organizations prioritizing the funding of maternal, sexual and reproductive health services so that women are no longer abandoned in their hours of need.
Thirdly, I want to talk about how we stop the violence against women and girls - how we stop the harm in the first place rather than just responding to the fallout. This isn't only about working to end conflict. It's about ensuring that, when war does break out, law enforcement, military personnel and peacekeepers are fully trained to respond appropriately.
It's about establishing safe spaces and shelters where women like Fadumo can seek refuge and support. It's about challenging harmful social norms, promoting equality and raising awareness about the violence women suffer, and doing so at every level of society and in every organization.
But it's even deeper than this. If we are going to make real progress, then we can't just respond to the consequences of inequality. Instead, we must tackle the root cause of this inequality - the discriminatory gender roles and norms, the individual attitudes and behaviors, and the power structures that perpetuate violence.
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Change this culture and we can empower women in a way that allows them to steward and guide our collective future towards a world that is better because of their participation and leadership.
In Somalia, when I asked people how the country had survived decades of conflict, I was told that it was only thanks to the strength and resiliency of the country's women. Women who had given everything to keep their communities together, who had sacrificed so much for the collective.
So, imagine what we can achieve when we really allow female leadership to emerge, when we properly fund female entrepreneurs and women-led organizations - when we give women a genuine voice in the decision-making process.
What happens is that girls like Fadumo, who painted this henna on my arms and hands, are able to shape their own future and, in doing so, lay the foundations upon which peace can thrive.
But until we achieve this for all women - until we end the silencing of women - the story of human progress will remain a pretty myth we tell ourselves so that we can sleep easily at night. Let us not shut our eyes to this truth, nor rest until this work is done.
Thank you.
