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“The Security Council requests the Secretary-General to provide a report on the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) over the coming year; including information on the impact of armed conflict on women and girls in situations of which the Council is seized, on the obstacles and challenges to strengthening women’s participation in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding, and recommendations to address those issues; to be submitted to the Security Council by October 2009.”

http://www.un.org:80/News/Press/docs/2008/sc9487.doc.htm

29 October 2008

Security Council

SC/9487

Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York

Security Council

6005th Meeting (AM & PM)

SECURITY COUNCIL STRONGLY CONDEMNS ALL VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW COMMITTED AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS DURING, AFTER ARMED CONFLICT, IN PRESIDENTIAL STATEMENT

Hears 50 Speakers in Day-Long Debate on ‘Women and Peace and Security’,

Reaffirms Commitment to Implementation of Resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008)

 

After a day-long debate on “Women, peace and security”, in which more than 50 speakers participated, the Security Council today issued a strong condemnation of all violations of international law committed against women and girls during and after armed conflicts.

 

In a statement read by this month’s Council President, Zhang Yesui ( China), the Council urged complete and immediate cessation of such violations by all parties, and urged Member States to bring to justice those responsible for crimes of that nature.

 

Reaffirming its commitment to the full and effective implementation of its resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008), the Council urged Member States, international, regional and subregional organizations to take measures to increase the participation of women in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding, and to strengthen the role of women as decision-makers in those areas.  The Council further called upon the Secretary-General to appoint more women to pursue good offices on his behalf, particularly as special representatives and special envoys.

 

In its presidential statement, the Council requested the Secretary-General to submit to it by October 2009 a report on the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000), including information on the impact of armed conflict on women and girls in situations of which the Council was seized, on the obstacles and challenges to strengthening women’s participation in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding, as well as recommendations to address those issues.

 

Introducing the Secretary-General’s report (document S/2008/622) on progress and challenges in the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000), Rachel Mayanja, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, said much progress had been made in the past years in mainstreaming a gender perspective into the overall peace and security architecture and stepping up efforts to end gender violence.

 

She said that, despite successes, however, women continued to be marginalized and ignored.  Their full force could be harnessed by increasing their representation at higher levels of decision-making and by ending gender-based violence against women.  “To engage those resources requires a fundamental shift in our thinking”, she said.  “It must become unthinkable not to have women integrally involved in every stage of peace and post-conflict reconstruction processes.”

 

Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said it was no exaggeration to say that in the eight years since its adoption, resolution 1325 (2000) “has changed the way we do business in peacekeeping”.  From planning processes to guidance development, training, staffing and operational priority-setting, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations was ensuring that gender issues were accorded due priority.

 

He said that the United Nations’ role as standard-setter required that, in all negotiations with national authorities, the importance of women’s participation must be underlined.  Exercising the standard-setting role also required that there must be more women in senior positions, both within the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Services, and at the field level.  Some modest progress had been made in that regard.  Efforts to increase the number of uniformed peacekeeping personnel to better respond to operational priorities remained a challenge, however.  To reverse that trend, there was a need for troop- and police-contributing countries to nominate greater numbers of women, particularly as military observers and as police officers.  It was unfortunate that no woman had yet been appointed as Force Commander or Deputy Force Commander.

 

Inés Alberdi, Executive Director, United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), said women’s engagement in peacebuilding did not start when the fighting stopped.  Gender issues must be addressed in conflict mediation, in peacekeepers’ deployment, in integrated missions, in stabilization and in post-conflict recovery.  That was particularly important in conflicts in which sexual violence was used as a tactic of war.  “If abuses of women’s rights are tolerated through de facto impunity for perpetrators, efforts to restore the rule of law lose their credibility”, she said.  If countries and the international community did not respond decisively to violence against women, they would raise the cost of peacebuilding.

 

Sarah Taylor, Coordinator, NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, drew attention to the fact that women were “dramatically” underrepresented in the United Nations’ 30 missions and should be appointed to more leadership positions.  It was unacceptable that the exceptions to that situation were seen as novelties, she said, urging for a clear and transparent process for Member States to submit names of women to the Secretary-General for appointments to high-level posts.  Aside from other benefits, women’s participation at those levels and their presence at field level were crucial for ending sexual violence.

 

In the ensuing debate, speakers acknowledged progress made during the eight years since resolution 1325 was adopted, but noted the continuing gender gap in participation in peace negotiations and mediation, as well as in peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations.  Speaking on behalf of the European Union, France’s representative said that both resolution 1325 (2000) and resolution 1820 (2008), which had been adopted last June and recognized sexual violence as an undermining force to establishing peace and security, were far from being fully implemented, as shown by the alarming situation of women in armed conflicts.

 

Addressing sexual violence during conflicts, the representative of the United States said rape was a crime that not only ruined individual lives, but also tore apart communities.  Women’s issues must be spread across all development areas, and additional attention must be paid to sexual trafficking and slavery.  The Department of Peacekeeping Operations should draw upon all available resources to combat sexual violence as a tactic of war and ensure women’s participation at all decision-making levels and in peace processes.

 

The representative of the Russian Federation, however, said that the attention for the protection of women in conflicts had been reduced to a focus on sexual violence, while other crimes against women had been ignored.  Cases in which women and children had been killed as a result of excessive use of force should also be of concern.  Such crimes often went unpunished, and the Council should assess such cases in an unbiased way.

 

Many speakers underlined the contribution women could make to conflict prevention, peace processes and post-conflict reconstruction.  Some asked for the establishment of a gender unit within the Department of Political Affairs.

 

Speaking on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), South Africa’s representative said that, while women might be the first casualties of war, they remained active agents of change and played a meaningful role in the recovery and reintegration of their families.  Women were also instrumental in bringing about democracy and reconciliation in post-conflict society.  Women had provided leadership and important contributions in recent peace processes and negotiations in the region.  Lack of women’s participation was largely due to lack of political will and of financial resources for the promotion of the gender perspective, he stressed.

 

Statements were also made by Council members Italy, Indonesia, Panama, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Croatia, Viet Nam, Libya, Costa Rica, United Kingdom and China.

 

Natalya Petkevich, Deputy Head of the President’s Administration of Belarus, also addressed the Council, as did the representatives of the Philippines, Liechtenstein, Australia, Ghana, Austria, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Ireland (on behalf of the Human Security Network), Bangladesh, Switzerland, Germany, Congo, Kazakhstan, United Arab Emirates, Swaziland, Israel, Iceland, Afghanistan, Kenya, Argentina, Portugal, Morocco, Sweden, Uganda, Chile, Norway, Colombia, Finland, Myanmar, Rwanda, Denmark, Tonga (on behalf of Pacific Small Island Developing States) and the Republic of Korea.

 

The Permanent Observer for the African Union also made a statement.

 

The meeting started at 10:12 a.m. and was suspended at 1:05 p.m.  The meeting was resumed at 3:05 p.m. and adjourned at 6:45 p.m.

 

Presidential Statement

 

The full text of presidential statement S/PRST/2008/39 reads, as follows:

 

“The Security Council reaffirms its commitment to the full and effective implementation of resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008) on ‘Women and peace and security’ and recalls the relevant statements of its President.

 

“The Security Council takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on ‘Women and peace and security’ (S/2008/622).

 

“The Security Council remains concerned about the underrepresentation of women at all stages of a peace process and in peacebuilding, and recognizes the need to facilitate the full and effective participation of women in these areas, given the vital role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peacebuilding.

 

“The Security Council urges Member States, international, regional and subregional organizations to take measures to increase the participation of women in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding and to strengthen the role of women as decision-makers in these areas.  The Council calls upon the Secretary-General to appoint more women to pursue good offices on his behalf, particularly as Special Representatives and Special Envoys.

 

“The Security Council strongly condemns all violations of international law committed against women and girls during and after armed conflicts, urges the complete cessation by all parties of such acts with immediate effect, and also urges Member States to bring to justice those responsible for crimes of this nature.

 

“The Security Council requests the Secretary-General to provide a report on the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) over the coming year; including information on the impact of armed conflict on women and girls in situations of which the Council is seized, on the obstacles and challenges to strengthening women’s participation in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding, and recommendations to address those issues; to be submitted to the Security Council by October 2009.”





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