Security Council: Women and Peace and Security
(Note: A complete summary of today’s Security Council open debate will be made available after its conclusion.)
WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE (S/2023/725, S/2023/733)
Briefings
ANTÓNIO GUTERRES, Secretary-General of the United Nations, said “today, we are on a knife’s edge”, citing raging conflicts, rising tensions, erupting coups, authoritarianism on the march, a mushrooming nuclear threat, climate chaos, mistrust in global politics, increasing military spending and record-high displacement due to violence, conflict and persecution. In just over five years, the number of women and girls living in countries threatened by fighting has increased by 50 per cent, he said. “Where wars rage, women suffer. Where authoritarianism and insecurity reign, women and girls’ rights are threatened,” he said, giving examples in Sudan, Haiti, Afghanistan, the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, victims of Hamas’ atrocities and victims of the relentless bombing of Gaza.
This grim backdrop gives renewed urgency to efforts to ensure women’s full and meaningful participation in peace and security, he said. Women are leading efforts on peace, justice and rights around the world, “but still, far too many women’s organizations struggle to fund their essential work, as military spending soars, far too many perpetrators of sexual violence walk free and far too many peace processes exclude women”, he said. Of 18 peace agreements reached in 2022, only one was signed or witnessed by a representative of a women’s group or organization. Women represented just 16 per cent of negotiators or delegates in the peace processes led, or co-led, by the United Nations. Centuries of patriarchy are a massive obstacle to gender equality and, in turn, to a culture of peace. “Violence against women — both on and offline — is endemic; a massive barrier and disincentive to participation in civil and political life.”
At the current rate of progress, it will be almost another half century before women are fairly represented in national Parliaments, he said. Women being involved in processes leads to more enduring peace, and gender-equal Parliaments are more likely to increase spending on health, education and social protection, and reduce corruption. He noted that this year’s women, peace and security report shows good practice and success stories, including near gender parity in Colombia’s peace negotiations to perpetrators of sexual violence in Iraq, Syria and the Central African Republic being brought to justice. He commended the work of UN projects, for instance with local women’s organizations.
But, he said: “Overall, when it comes to women, peace and security, the world must urgently bridge the gap between rhetoric and reality. Concrete progress is slow, stagnant or even going backwards.” He said there must be steps to ensure women’s participation in peace talks, via ambitious Government targets, financing of women’s participation in peace and security, 15 per cent of countries’ official development assistance (ODA) allocated to gender equality, and an allocation of 1 per cent — at a bare minimum — of ODA to women’s organizations mobilizing for peace. He said that, by the end of 2025, the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund’s Invest-In-Women global campaign aims to raise $300 million. He also called for concrete measures to secure women’s full, equal and meaningful participation at all levels of decision-making on peace and security, and all levels of political and civil life, via pushing fair representation in local and national Governments, cabinets and Parliaments. “Quotas, targets and incentives work.” Robust, comprehensive legislation to tackle violence against women — both on and offline — is important. The Summit of the Future in 2024 represents an opportunity to push for progress. “No more stalling, no more coasting, no more delays. The state of the world demands it.”
SIMA SAMI BAHOUS, Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), presenting the Secretary-General’s annual report on women and peace and security (document S/2023/725) said: “We meet at a time when the impacts of conflict on women and girls have never been more stark, nor the price we collectively pay through spurning women’s leadership more obvious, as millions upon millions suffer the consequences of the wars of men.” She pointed to the dramatic escalation of violence in the Middle East. UN-Women estimates that, to date, this has resulted in over 1,100 new female-headed households and has displaced more than 690,000 women and girls from their homes, leaving them at greater risk of violence, she reported. “Let me be clear, every act of violence against women and girls, including sexual violence, is unequivocally condemned, irrespective of the nationality, identity, race or religion of the victims,” she stressed, emphasizing that the imperative for collective, multilateral action for peace has never been more urgent.
The Secretary-General's report highlights his call for a critical transformation in women’s meaningful participation in peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, and shares a picture of decline in several countries in the political space for women to participate in decision-making on peace and security — when women’s leadership is needed most. Among the five UN-led or co-led peace processes in 2022, women’s representation stood at only 16 per cent, down from 19 per cent in 2021 and 23 per cent in 2020. In peace processes led by Member States or other organizations, women were also almost completely absent. “A positive exception remains Colombia, where women reached near parity in the new rounds of negotiations,” she said, stressing: “It should alarm us that, 23 years after the adoption of Security Council resolution 1325 (2020), we lack an up-to-date, full, transparent, public accounting of women’s representation in peace talks.”
Women’s participation in peacekeeping has increased in the past year, she said, highlighting achievements last year such as the set-up of mobile courts to convict perpetrators of gender-based violence in conflict-affected settings and the deployment of female engagement teams to learn about the situation of women and girls in the most remote areas. However, as peace operations are withdrawn, the UN’s capacity to monitor and protect women’s rights becomes more limited. “We need women’s leadership now,” she said, pointing out that, in conflict-affected countries, only 23 per cent of parliamentarians and 20 per cent of ministers are women, both below the global average. These numbers can be increased with quotas and by tackling increasing political violence against women and gender-based hate speech. Stressing gender equality must be at the heart of resource allocation, she said bilateral aid to support it in conflict-affected countries declined in 2021.
The Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund introduced a window for women human rights defenders in 2022 and was able to support 214 women and their 553 dependents within a few months of operation, she said, urging more of such action. Highlighting five transformative actions “so that this open debate is a milestone, not just a reiteration”, she called for ambitious and measurable targets for women’s direct and meaningful participation on delegations and negotiating teams. Also, women must be nominated and appointed as lead mediators and as mediation experts; gender balance and the inclusion of gender expertise must be a norm for mediation teams. Further, a minimum 15 per cent of funds must be earmarked for mediation support to women’s participation. The number and percentage of women directly participating in these peace processes must be tracked and publicly reported in real time. Moreover, the international community must ensure that gender equality and women’s human rights are a central part of peace agreements.
Joining Brazil, she paid tribute to the memory of Brazilian activist Bertha Lutz, the most prominent advocate for women´s rights in the Charter of the United Nations. Noting that women continue to risk their lives amid crises and conflicts around the world, she said: “They are caring for those around them, trying to carry their families, communities and nations to peace. We can no longer fail to offer them the best support.”
MIRJANA SPOLJARIC EGGER, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), observing that current developments in the Middle East and elsewhere are a shocking reminder of how rapidly humanitarian conditions can deteriorate, said that, amid the desperate situation: “Reprieve must come quickly for all civilians no matter where they are: it is urgent that warring parties maintain a minimum of humanity even during the worst of war.” All parties to a conflict must do their utmost to ensure civilians are protected and international humanitarian law is strictly adhered to, protecting diverse women, men, girls and boys, whether they are civilians, combatants, wounded or prisoners of war. Her organization consistently recalls the rules of war to parties, she said, outlining their provisions, including protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure; to not resort to indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks; to not take hostages; and to allow impartial humanitarian organizations, such as hers, to work unhindered.
In its neutral intermediary role, ICRC regularly works with the parties to facilitate their agreements, so civilians can safely cross front lines; people deprived of liberty are accounted for and can be released; and families separated by armed conflict are reconnected, she went on. In her first year as President of ICRC, she noted witnessing how gravely women and girls are affected by conflict, although the harms they suffer are insufficiently understood or addressed. Many violations against women go undocumented and continue to be considered an inevitable side effect of war. Against this backdrop, she called for the urgent addressing of the realities of, among others, women killed or injured from the reverberating effects of hostilities on health services, and women who suffered and survived sexual violence, and those who did not survive it.
Recalling her address to the Council earlier in 2023 on the gendered impacts of armed conflicts, she outlined several areas of change. First, she underscored the need to prevent and address the harms caused by sexual violence, which still continues to occur with frequency and impunity. She underlined the need for States to adapt national laws to ensure that sexual violence is always designated as a war crime; for special measures of protection for victims and survivors to be provided, among other measures. As well, the faithful application of international humanitarian law requires an understanding of the gendered harms caused by armed conflict, she said, pointing out that women are impacted differently by the conduct of military operations, for instance, in their ability to flee — as they are more likely to care for children, the sick or elderly. She noted that ICRC is working with legal and military experts to better understand such impacts.
The full participation of women is a critical pathway to peace, she continued, noting that peace negotiations and agreements are more likely to succeed when they take account of the gendered impacts of armed conflict, and the specific needs of all segments of society post-conflict. Recalling her interactions with women who were the front-line negotiators in the search for their missing relatives, she noted that they were also activists and leaders, whose knowledge and role in influencing and mobilizing their authorities must be respected in peace negotiations. “There are a hundred steps to peace, and the first are always humanitarian,” she emphasized, reiterating that, without input from women and the recognition of the gendered impact of armed conflicts on women, peace responses will fall short and therefore lack the prospect for true security.
GLIVÂNIA MARIA DE OLIVEIRA, Director General, Rio Branco Institute in Brazil, said that women, young people, girls and boys are the first victims of conflicts. “In circumstances of forced displacements, hostage-taking and sexual violations, deterioration in living conditions, abandoning of projects and dreams for the future, women are seeing their existences being destroyed materially, socially and psychologically in a spiral which is leaving deep scars, often irreversible ones,” she stressed, adding that many of these women are joining the terrible statistics of deaths and disappearances. “Women undoubtedly pay the highest price of war and it is also they who are most capable, as we know, of supporting inclusive forms of governance and coexistence, to foster investment for sustainable development, to choose the financing of peace rather than devoting resources to war,” she emphasized.
While, in theory, negotiations and agreements that involve women have better prospects for success, the path from theory to practice continues to be marked by visible and invisible obstacles, with backsliding or threats of backsliding in the condition of women, with exacerbation of vulnerabilities and levels of participation in decision-making processes which are clearly insufficient, she said. “Resolution 1325 (2000) opened the way and offered the necessary tools, it provided normative progress but the implementation of norms is not keeping up,” she noted, spotlighting the great risks posed to peace and security increasingly across the planet.
“We note that the negotiating tables are still mostly or exclusively made up of men,” she said, recalling that the newspapers show on a daily basis many images of men leading wars and, at the same time, ironically, negotiating or mediating for peace. “The images of women that we see generally present them as victims of the tragedies or quite simply as carers in the shelters and hospitals, in the face of the pain and desperation caused by dynamics that they have neither triggered nor supported,” she underscored.
“I bring words of hope and optimism from my experience on the Peace Dialogue Table of the Government of Colombia with the National Liberation Army (ELN),” she stated, stressing that following decades of conflict, the example of Colombia is of immense importance. “Our Latin America is generating a negotiating dynamic which has the potential to serve as an example for the world,” she said, highlighting that women are involved in the peace process with the National Liberation Army as builders and promoters of peace as the State delegation seeks to ensure parity, with the contribution of Indigenous and Afro-Colombian leaders, human rights defenders, military and police observers, representatives of religious entities and the private sector. “For the first time, the parties managed to agree and implement a ceasefire of 180 days which is intended to continue,” she stressed, pointing out to the National Participation Committee which is made up of 82 members, of whom 31 are women.
HALA AL-KARIB, Regional Director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, said the debate is an opportunity to reflect on why women’s rights are central to addressing conflict and crisis and that her own country, Sudan, illustrates the consequences of failing to do so. Violence there has impacted almost every part of women’s lives, including through sexual violence and rape, atrocities that took place during the reign of Omar al-Bashir. Mass protests, led by women and youth, began in December 2018 and led to Mr. Al-Bashir’s fall and were in part a response to how women’s bodies and voices were systematically attacked for more than 30 years, she said, adding that while Mr. Al-Bashir was forced out of office, change didn’t come. Transition authorities failed to address systemic violence, repression of protestors and discrimination against women and perpetrators in some cases were appointed to top Government positions. When war erupted again in April, the gendered nature of the conflict immediately became clear. Women were subjected to brutal atrocities, torture and trafficking by the Rapid Support Forces.
More than 4 million women and girls are now at risk of sexual violence in Sudan, she said, with both parties committing serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. While calling on both parties to end such acts, UN experts have expressed concern at consistent reports of widespread violations of women by the Rapid Support Forces, including enforced disappearances, sexual assault, slavery, forced work and detention in inhumane conditions. This pattern of widespread, ethnically motivated attacks, including sexual violence, could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, she said and urged the Security Council to demand an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire in Sudan to end all violence targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure. She reiterated Sudanese women are critical to peace efforts and demanded meaningful representation of women at 50 per cent at all levels and went on to call on all parties to ensure safe and unhindered humanitarian access and full funding of the humanitarian response and women’s groups.
“The suffering of women in Sudan mirrors the suffering of women across Africa,” she said. “We are being treated as collateral damage, rather than as agents of our own lives … This must change now.” She also called on the Council to pursue accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including sexual violence, and for a strengthening of the existing sanctions regime to include sexual violence as a designation criterion. Furthermore, she urged a strengthening of the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) to enable it to effectively protect human rights, including women’s rights, and for the Council to condemn attacks and threats against women human rights defenders.
She concluded by saying that the current conflict in Sudan is a result of the failure to uphold women’s rights and women’s participation and urged the international community not to repeat this mistake in other crises. The Council must show solidarity with Palestinian women, living under the world’s longest occupation and now suffering an escalating crisis in Gaza, and support a call for an immediate ceasefire, she said, urging the Council to support the calls of Afghan women to hold the Taliban accountable for gender apartheid and to show the women of Ethiopia, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen and other conflicts around the globe that their rights are not dispensable. There can be no peace without protection of women’s rights, she said.
Statements
MAURO VIEIRA, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Brazil and Council President for October, speaking in his national capacity, said the Council’s 10 existing women, peace and security resolutions must be followed up with concrete action, adding that the insufficient representation of women from Africa, Latin America and developing countries in tasks and events on women, peace and security is troubling, especially given their contribution to peace and security in their regions. He paid tribute to Bertha Lutz, Brazilian politician and laureate scientist who played a critical role of including gender equality as a prerequisite for the work of the United Nations in 1945 in San Francisco. Fifty-five years before resolution 1325 (2000), she and other women delegates “understood that this Council needed the contribution of women in order to avoid the errors of a new world war”. Brazil, therefore, as a matter of justice, dedicates its presidency of this annual open debate to her memory.
He said achieving gender equality and improving women’s participation in peace and security requires challenging and overcoming deeply entrenched gender norms and stereotypes that perpetuate women’s exclusions and marginalization. He called on Council members and all UN Member States to invite more women briefers, not only within Security Council agenda, but in every meeting they convene. He underscored the importance of financing women-focused mechanisms, such as women, peace and security funds which have financed over 1,000 civil society organizations in 43 countries. Highlighting the role of women in mediation efforts around the world, he said his country looks forward to joining the Global Alliance of Regional Women Mediator Networks and to start offering its contributions on several mediation initiatives. He further underscored that enhancing women participation in decision-making process is not about securing seats at negotiation tables or a symbolic representation, but “a substantive essential task that drives the effectiveness and legitimacy of peace and security endeavours globally”.
RÉGIS MICHEL M. ONANGA NDIAYE, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Gabon, said women’s central place in peace processes is a catalyst for their empowerment and reenergizing socioeconomic and political landscapes. He called for reducing gender inequalities, strengthening the leadership and resilience of women, and giving true visibility to women. “Calling for gender equality and the substantial participation of women is to choose to prevent armed conflicts.” Implementing the women, peace and security agenda means guaranteeing a more robust response to violence, war and patriarchy to ensure that women are no longer pulled into structures which generate and support conflict. He called for the stepping up of efforts at the national, regional and international levels for the global, inclusive and efficient implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) and its related texts. He highlighted the need for the inclusion of gender at all stages of peace processes, in conflict-prevention efforts, the mandates of United Nations peace missions and responses to climate change.
LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD (United States), noting that her country is the first to adopt a comprehensive law on women, peace and security, said that, later in October, President Joseph R. Biden’s Administration will launch the updated United States strategy and national action plan on women, peace and security, which will encourage partners around the world to mainstream women, peace and security principles across policies and strategies. Emphasizing that more financing is needed for women and youth peacebuilders, she said her country hopes to work through the Peacebuilding Commission to move forward on that matter. She recalled the 7 October attack by Hamas against Israel and pointed to women and girls in Gaza who have endured years of Hamas’ cruelty. The United States is providing $100 million in new humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank and continues to work around the clock to ensure that aid can reach people in need, she said.
NOURA BINT MOHAMMED AL KAABI, Minister of State of the United Arab Emirates, observed that, globally, the number of women and girls living in conflict-affected regions reached 614 million in 2022, 50 per cent higher than in 2017. Women’s potential for action as agents of peace must be leveraged, she said, adding that their participation should not remain an afterthought, but becomes the status quo. To this end, she underlined the need to boost women’s meaningful participation nationally, including through involving women and local community members in peace efforts, and the adoption of targeted measures such as quotas for political and leadership positions. At the multinational level, including at the Security Council, institutions should be shaped by women’s perspectives, she said, spotlighting, in this regard, the work of the Informal Expert Group on Women, Peace and Security. Hearing directly from women civil society leaders provides key insights into efforts on the ground, she stressed.
Underscoring the need for women’s participation across the spectrum, not just within the political parameters, she said their economic participation is especially important in post-war scenarios, where economies are depleted. On that, she cited the grim figure, from the UN, that there were 1,100 new female headed households today in Gaza, due to civilian casualties, with almost 4,000 children having lost their fathers. “Gaza will depend on these women not only to rebuild, but to be the sole bearers of responsibility and care for those who survive the bombardment,” she added. When space is not made for participation, women and their allies have created it, sometimes through unconventional means, she said, adding: “We have seen this in Bosnia [and Herzegovina], Liberia and Colombia. No doubt in the years to come we will refer to the women of Palestine in the same breath.”
BARBARA WOODWARD (United Kingdom) said that women and girls’ rights are under attack and called for urgent and coordinated action in three areas: participation, empowerment and protection. “The UK’s new National Action Plan focuses on putting women’s meaningful participation into action,” she said, adding that her country was proud to support Colombia with its National Action Plan and will continue to advocate for women to take on leading roles in resolving conflict, including in UN-led peace processes. “As part of our International Women and Girls Strategy, we launched a $46 million programme to support grassroots women’s rights organizations around the world,” she said, spotlighting $4 million in funding to overcome gender-based violence in Ukraine and across the region. “From South Sudan to Israel and Gaza, we see the impact of conflict on women’s lives, and this is particularly true for women’s rights defenders,” she stressed.
ADRIAN DOMINIK HAURI (Switzerland) said the participation of women is essential for lasting peace. Expressing support for women’s role in conflict prevention and social cohesion, he said progress is needed at the multilateral level. The facts are clear: without prevention of violence and protection of their rights, women cannot participate fully and equally in political, social and economic life in times of conflict and peace, he said, pointing out that the most flagrant violations occur every day in Afghanistan where the Taliban has institutionalized systematic, gender-based discrimination and persecution. Every State has a responsibility to prevent violations of women and girls’ rights, also in the digital space, he said. Almost a quarter of a century after the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000), the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in peacebuilding should no longer be a matter of debate. However, the goal remains far away, he said.
PEDRO COMISSÁRIO AFONSO (Mozambique) said women continue to be one of the most disproportionally affected social groups in all possible dimensions, by armed conflicts around the world and in Africa in particular. “We are, therefore, duty-bound to redouble our individual and collective efforts to accelerate the meaningful participation of women in peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding,” he said, adding that parties to armed conflicts must take special measures to protect women, girls and children from gender-based violence. He highlighted the socioeconomic opportunities Mozambican women ex-combatants receive in the context of a United Nations-supported disarmament, demobilization and reintegration process and their efforts in mitigating local conflict, preventing recruitment into armed groups and building community resilience. Recognizing women’s role in peacebuilding, Mozambique has taken measures to include appointing female military officers to key positions, promoting the role of women in the fight against terrorism, and promoting and strengthening gender equality within its defence forces.
MARIA ZABOLOTSKAYA (Russian Federation), noting with satisfaction the increasing participation of women in peacekeeping processes, said that such involvement allows for the establishment of more resilient and trusting relationships with the local population, the prevention and investigation of existing cases of violations against women and children, and the rehabilitation and reintegration of victims of such violations. She also said that unilateral coercive measures have an extremely negative effect on the position and well-being of women and their families, depriving them of prospects, and called on the UN to actively monitor the negative impact of such measures. “The Council needs to concentrate on specific tasks and avoid duplicating the work of the General Assembly, the UN Human Rights Council and the Peacebuilding Commission,” she stressed. Turning to the situation in Gaza and the Palestinian-Israeli confrontation, the victims of which are primarily women and children, she said that the scale of the humanitarian disaster is expanding.
HERNÁN PÉREZ LOOSE (Ecuador) expressed concern over the decrease in the number of women negotiators or delegates in active peace processes co-directed by the United Nations, stating that 16 per cent of women were included in 2022 compared to 23 per cent in 2020. He said there is a need to “mainstream the gender perspective throughout the Council mandates and in the products of the United Nations”, including those on arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation, accountability and transitional justice, and participation in mediation, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. He called for the mobilization of resources to train peacekeeping and peacebuilding forces, women peacebuilders and human rights defenders to prevent exploitation and sexual abuse and promote leadership with gender awareness. He encouraged the UN, national institutions and civil society organizations to cooperate to establish national action plans for resolution 1325 (2000).
CAROLYN ABENA ANIMA OPPONG-NTIRI (Ghana) said that to translate the full, equal and meaningful participation of women from theory into practice, the Council should reinforce its support for platforms such as the Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action Compact, which rallies together UN Member States, regional organizations, civil society groups and the private sector to foster women’s economic security and leadership. The Council must also create a safe environment for women involved in peace and security through digital and offline platforms. Women civil society representatives and peacebuilders who brief the Council deserve special attention and should be accorded the utmost protection by the UN, she emphasized, reiterating calls to the High Commissioner for Human Rights to establish a framework for the protection of women who cooperate with the UN. Effective bilateral cooperation, as well as collaboration across regional organizations on the women, peace and security agenda, is crucial for accelerating the economic empowerment of women in peace and security and women’s empowerment initiatives, she stressed, encouraging such partnerships.
VANESSA FRAZIER (Malta) said that the devastating impacts of the conflict in Israel and Gaza on women and girls must be central to the Council’s deliberations on that issue. Women’s meaningful participation in political and peace processes is a precondition for sustainable peace in Libya, Iraq and Syria, she said, also noting the systematic persecution and discrimination of Afghan women and girls by the Taliban. Recalling that disarmament and arms control is at the heart of the women, peace and security agenda, she said that by stopping the illicit transfer of weapons, the links between militarisation and gender-based violence can be weakened. Long-term and flexible funding to local women’s rights and women-led humanitarian organizations can reverse the funding deficit for gender equality in crisis situations. For its part, the UN system must ensure that the risks facing women human rights defenders are never used as an excuse to exclude them, she said, emphasizing that mandates must monitor and respond to these risks and reprisals.
NATHALIE BROADHURST ESTIVAL (France) voiced worry that the rights of women and girls are being subjected to attacks, ahead of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris. She called for the full implementation of the 10 “women, peace and security” resolutions adopted by the Council, including Council resolution 1325 (2000). She underlined the need for the full and meaningful participation of women in conflict prevention and restoring peace, through strengthening the participation of women in UN missions and operations, highlighting her country’s financing of the training of women officers and gender advisors. Women must also participate in peace negotiations and humanitarian response. The infringement of women’s rights must be combated, she said, pointing to the systematic violation of their rights in Afghanistan. She also echoed the appeal of civil society organizations to combat reprisals and intimidation faced by women who bore witness before the Council.
ARIAN SPASSE (Albania) said that women’s unique experiences as leaders and agents of change provide essential perspectives in conflict resolution, peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction. “Wherever women take part in a peace process, peace lasts longer,” he said, urging to bridge the gap and ensure the meaningful participation of women. Governments and organizations must align their practices with the Council resolution 1325 (2000) and subsequent resolutions and establish adequate institutional mechanisms, he said, calling for a change to challenge societal norms and business models to eliminate discriminatory practices. “At the UN, we need to encourage and increase the number of gender-sensitive trainings for all UN peacekeeping missions' components to create a friendly environment for women and mitigate the occurrence of gender-based violence,” he stated, highlighting the need to give civil society a voice that is heard in the Security Council. He also said that his country ranks first for the share of women cabinet ministers according to the 2023 “Women in Politics” global map.
SHINO MITSUKO (Japan) expressed his country’s commitment to amplifying women’s voices and following up on the recommendations presented to the Security Council. She highlighted the need to invest in people, with a specific focus on women and girls, to ensure societal inclusivity, which will lead to building resilient and effective institutions. She urged Governments to prioritize community infrastructure and provide basic necessities to address the needs of vulnerable populations. She went on to highlight Japan’s long-standing holistic approach to international cooperation aimed at advancing gender equality and expressed continued commitment to these efforts. She noted that Japan has promoted women’s access to leadership positions in political institutions as well as in justice, security and defence institutions with numerical targets. To ensure institutions stay on track, the relevant Government departments and agencies monitor progress and take actions to bridge any gaps, she said.
GENG SHUANG (China), echoing a saying in his country that “women hold up half the sky and they are just as competent as men”, called on the international community to have a greater sense of urgency to ensure that women are protected from violence and enhance their sense of security. He called on the Council to take collective action to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and create conditions for the protection of women and children, and a commitment to putting gender equality into practice. China salutes women who have stepped forward in conflict areas in disregard of their personal safety and urges the international community to incorporate a gender perspective into peace processes, maximizing women’s communications skills. Highlighting his country’s women’s empowerment efforts, he called on the Council to put into practice the concept of development for peace and promote women’s empowerment. He said the women, peace and security agenda cannot be achieved without strengthened global cooperation.
https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15463.doc.htm
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