Croatia

The adoption by the Security Council of resolution 1325 (2000) bears testimony to the progress made during the past decade in the area of women and peace and security. That landmark resolution has brought much-needed attention to the question of women's empowerment, which represents a priority for my country. While all the resolutions on women and peace and security are equally important, resolution 1325 (2000) serves as an umbrella resolution in addressing women's empowerment, their task as peacebuilders and their fragile position as victims of war.

We call upon the Security Council to intensify its efforts in the fight against impunity and to provide strong and effective leadership in strengthening the rule of law, with the ultimate aim of eradicating this abhorrent behaviour. The Council should include sexual violence as a priority element in resolutions mandating its sanctions committees, and they should explicitly include sexual violence as a criterion for the designation of political and military leaders for targeted measures. Perpetrators of sexual violence, including commanders who commission or condone the use of sexual violence, should be held accountable. Furthermore, we encourage strengthening the coordination among United Nations agencies both at Headquarters and in the field, especially in monitoring and reporting on situations where parties to armed conflict engage in rape and other sexual violence as means of war.

Those opportunities, however, can be enhanced significantly depending on how the international community sets its priorities for recovery and uses its strategies for peacebuilding. Those priorities should consist of specific national and international policies aimed at increasing women's participation in conflict prevention and resolution, mediation, peace negotiations and peacebuilding. The integrationof the resolution has to be country-driven, and Member States need to take responsibility for its success by ensuring that it is integrated into national policies. We urge countries to apply a broad gendermainstreaming approach across Government, for instance through a system-wide approach that links development, humanitarian and defence issues. All plans should include civil society consultations, as well as monitoring and reporting mechanisms.

As a country with authentic experience in the field of conflict prevention and resolution, as well as mediation and peacebuilding, Croatia is actively contributing to the realization of the objective of the resolution during both times of conflict and times of peace. As a way of contributing to international peace and security, Croatia is increasingly taking part in peacekeeping operations, thereby informing
our perception of the role of women in preserving peace as special and unique. The lack of women's empowerment poses a major setback to the full achievement of human rights and overall economic and political development and progress.

Our national action plan will contribute to the implementation of specific tasks in a more consistent and coordinated manner, setting up measurable appropriate indicators and raising interest in women's participation in issues related to peace and security. Following the completion of the four-year period the plan has been set up for, it will be revised in the light of its performance. Specific measures in the plan are suitable for implementation in coordination with efforts by civil society and religious organizations engaged in providing humanitarian aid and development assistance.