WUNRN
UN News Centre
2 November 2012 –
The Security Council has called on the international community to give women’s
civil society organizations a prominent role in the negotiation, planning and
implementation of peace processes and post-conflict development programmes.
“The Security
Council takes note of the important role that civil society, including women’s
organizations, can play in the prevention and resolution of armed conflict,
peacebuilding and post-conflict situations,” Ambassador Gert Rosenthal of
The statement was
prepared for an open debate on the subject of women and peace and security
scheduled for Monday, 29 October, which was expected to include briefings from
the head of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment
of Women (UN-Women), Michelle Bachelet, and the head of the UN Department of
Peacekeeping Operations, Hervé Ladsous.
Monday’s meeting,
as were all meetings at UN Headquarters in
Meeting briefly on
Wednesday in the wake of the storm, the Council endorsed the
Secretary-General’s call for a stronger commitment to address challenges to
women’s participation in all levels of peacemaking, and encouraged
international and regional organizations, Member States and UN envoys to
promote the active engagement of women’s organizations in all stages of
peacemaking and peacebuilding.
It also underlined
the primary role of national governments in empowering women in conflict
situations, and welcomed the role of UN-Women in coordinating programmes for
women and girls throughout the UN system.
In addition, it
welcomed the role of gender advisers in assisting the capacity-building
activities of civil society organizations and governments and providing
training and awareness-raising on gender issues for peacekeepers.
The Council
reiterated its call to deploy women protection advisers in peacekeeping
missions, stressing the need to ensure that gains made in women’s protection
and empowerment must be sustained during mission draw-downs and transitions.
It was in 2000
that the Council first gave prominence to this topic, adopting resolution 1325,
in which it called for action to reverse the egregious and inhumane treatment
of women and girls during conflicts, the denial of their human rights and their
exclusion from decision-making in situations of armed conflict, in peacemaking
and peacebuilding.