Thank you very much, Mr. Silva, for that question.
I don't think we are capable of answering in an authoritative way whether things are improving or not because we are only now starting to monitor and report on this particular phenomenon.
It comes with war and conflict, of course. When I visited the Democratic Republic of Congo, women said repeatedly, “if it were not for the war”. They see the things that have come--and we've seen this in Liberia--as a phenomenon that has been introduced during a war or a conflict situation. Things such as gang rapes or very, very brutal sexual violence, unfortunately stay in the society after the guns have fallen silent, as in Liberia. Assaults on children and gang rape, which were unknown before the war, are crimes which are still occurring. Rape is the number one reported crime there still. It affects society in a very deep way.
I think that where there is active conflict, this is still being used. The new phenomenon is that it has been used to punish, I mean in the political context, in connection with elections. In Angola we have seen it as a phenomenon with the expulsion of illegal migrants.
This is why I don't think anybody can give you a really clear answer as to whether or not it is improving. We are hoping that the attention this issue is being given, and the fact that the media are reporting and there is more political will will help us to improve the situation. I think impunity is at the core of all of this. If it continues with almost total impunity and there are no risks involved in doing this to women, then I don't think we will be able to tackle it properly.
With camps and the problems of IDPs, internally displaced persons, we made an inventory of what are the best peacekeeping practices. A lot has been done ad hoc and on the ground in a number of countries. We put the information together in an inventory which was presented last year. Now we are following up with the training of peacekeepers to make sure they can protect civilians effectively, using these methods. That includes everything from joint protection teams engaging with civil society, to having more fuel-efficient stoves so that women don't have to walk so far to get firewood or water. The women are accompanied to the market or to the water well. That has also been proven to be effective.
The whole design of camp areas is also very important. Women need particular protection. They need to have separate showers. They need to have all their needs met. I think that is being done sort of step by step. There is a better understanding of those needs. But it is not perfect, as we have seen from Haiti, for example, where this continues to be a huge challenge and there are a lot of problems with sexual harassment and rape.