A/HRC/17/22 11. Ms. Tiberia explained the project’s assumptions that: (a) victims of sexual violence suffered stigma when the assault was known about by others, thus stigma could be one of the reasons for a victim to conceal the sexual violence experienced; (b) victims of sexual violence were rational actors who made decisions about what was in their interest; and (c) when it was possible to keep a sexual assault secret, a victim could calculate whether and to whom to disclose information about the assault. Disclosing information had different effects depending on whom the information was disclosed to (close friends or relatives, the police or courts, service providers, human rights activists, customary leaders, anonymous surveys, etc). 12. Ms. Tiberia noted that the decision to conceal or disclose an assault was linked to the characteristics of both the sexual assault and the victim. The victim’s age, sex, and marital status, as well as the number of perpetrators, degree of violence used, and location of the assault, influenced the reporting process. Data collection was similarly likely to reflect cases with certain characteristics while missing others. She concluded with case studies where different factors led to different results in disclosing or concealing sexual violence. 13. Ms. Holmes presented an analytical framing of conflict-related sexual violence, crafted in response to Security Council resolution 1888 (2009). She recalled that resolution 1888 was a follow-up to Security Council resolution 1820 (2008), which recognized sexual violence as an explicit tactic of war. Sexual violence is not collateral damage from armed conflicts, but a crime per se, which could constitute a war crime, crime against humanity, act of torture, or part of an act of genocide. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the International Criminal Court defined conflict-related sexual violence to encompass sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other forms of sexual violence of comparable gravity, which may include indecent assault, trafficking, inappropriate medical examinations and strip searches. 14. Ms. Holmes presented a “six pillar test” designed to determine when sexual violence is a security issue: (a) the crime must be of concern to the international community as a whole; (b) command responsibility is entailed; (c) civilians are targeted; (d) there is a climate of impunity – sexual violence is “normalized” after the conflict; (e) there are crossborder implications, such as displacement or trafficking; (f) there is a ceasefire violation. Recognition of sexual violence as a security issue justified a response from a broad range of actors, including peacekeepers, peacemakers, and humanitarian and development actors. 15. Ms. Holmes recalled that Security Council resolution 1888 (2009) called for the appointment of a Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict; the creation of a team of rapidly deployable experts to bolster national rule of law responses; and better data to inform the deliberations of the Security Council, inter alia. A number of practical challenges were highlighted: the unreliable sexual violence statistics; difficulty engaging with non-State actors/armed groups; establishing command responsibility; building public trust in post-conflict security institutions; the normalization of rape as a chronic social problem; the threat of sexual violence as a barrier to women’s participation in public life; and the logistical and infrastructural challenges to delivering services to survivors. 16. In the discussions that followed, the representative of Timor-Leste outlined some of the challenges in effectively addressing violence against women and highlighted in particular the limited knowledge about women’s rights and existing judicial and other procedures and the underlying problem of lack of resources. He also wondered how the issue of rape and other forms of sexual violence committed by United Nations peacekeepers had been addressed and what measures could be envisaged to avoid impunity. The representative of Colombia acknowledged the challenges with respect to systematic 5