A/HRC/47/26 with respect to genocide, and stresses the need for the exclusion of sexual violence crimes from amnesty provisions in the context of conflict resolution processes. 58. In resolution 1888 (2009), the Security Council requested the appointment of a Special Representative of the Secretary-General on sexual violence in conflict. Implementation of the resolutions is supported by the Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict, which contributes to the annual reports of the Secretary-General to the Security Council. 59. The Security Council’s efforts have significantly contributed to the visibility of sexual violence and rape in conflict-affected States, but there is a clear lack of results in prosecuting perpetrators of rape and combating widespread impunity. This lack of results could also be linked to the lack of a human rights-based approach and legal shortcomings in the criminalization of rape that existed before the conflict in the States under consideration. 60. Of the 19 States monitored by the Secretary-General in the context of his report on conflict-related sexual violence,50 17 States had ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, while two (Somalia and Sudan) had not yet done so. Only seven of the States had ratified the Rome Statute (Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Central African Republic, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria), thus accepting the exclusion of a statute of limitation for the prosecution of rape during the conflict, while the 12 other States had not.51 61. According to the responses that the Special Rapporteur received to her questionnaire, of those States that had not ratified the Rome Statute, only Myanmar had no statute of limitation for rape in times of peace or conflict. Having a statute of limitation for the prosecution of rape contributes to the widespread impunity for perpetrators.52 62. For example, when the Special Rapporteur visited Nepal, which had not ratified the Rome Statute, she observed that its statute of limitation requiring rape to be reported within a year precluded the prosecution of rape cases that had occurred during the conflict, and she therefore recommended changes.53 Human rights and international humanitarian and criminal law standards on rape should be interlinked in conflict-affected States. 63. There is an opportunity for the Security Council and conflict-affected States to better utilize both human rights instruments in general and, more specifically, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and general recommendations No. 30 (2013), on women in conflict prevention, and No. 35 (2017), on gender-based violence against women, of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, as they are applicable to all of the States except Somalia and the Sudan. Rape is a widespread crime in peace and in conflict, and it cannot be successfully addressed in conflict contexts without addressing pre-existing shortcomings in its criminalization and normalization in the State concerned. 64. The Special Rapporteur therefore calls for a human rights-based approach to the prevention and eradication of sexual violence and rape during conflict, as also recommended by the Platform of Independent Expert Mechanisms on Discrimination and Violence against Women.54 She additionally calls for increased cooperation with her mandate, as envisaged in Security Council resolution 1888 (2009) but which has never materialized in practice. 50 51 52 53 54 S/2020/487. Article 29 of the Rome Statute prohibits statutes of limitation f or crimes under its jurisdiction. The Special Rapporteur requested information from United Nations field presences in 19 States, and received nine responses, from Colombia, Libya, Nepal, Nigeria, Somalia, Sri Lanka, the Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen. Considering other sources, responses were received for 16 States in total, all but Burundi, the Central African Republic and Côte d’Ivoire. See A/HRC/41/42/Add.2. See the statement adopted by the Platform on 11 February 2020. Available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Women/SR/Statement_conflict_prevention_ED VAW_platform.pdf. 11