Kazakhstan

2010 marks the Tenth Anniversary of Security Council Resolution (UNSeR) 1325, which is a landmark legal and political framework that acknowledges the importance of women's participation and gender perspectives as an integral part of peace negotiations,
humanitarian planning, peacekeeping operations, post-conflict peacebuilding and governance. The successful launch of the Open Days for Women and Peace, under the auspices of the United Nations, in June 2010 in several countries, later reinforced by the
Global Open Day at the United Nations last week, as well as numerous other forums, events and activities, have brought to light and carried forward in a dramatic way our many accomplishments, but also the need to go from resolution to action. This is the moment for critical assessment, as well as, for delineating a road map ofaction hereafter.

While individual success stories are inspiring, women on the whole, remain marginalized in mediation roundtables with their needs and voices unheard. UNIFEM reports that in 24 peace processes over the past two decades, women formed less than 8% of negotiating teams, and were only 3% of signatories to peace agreements - a very small ratio considering that women constitute 50% ofthe world's population.

A major concern challenging us is the very high incidence of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict reconstruction phases. Of the 300 peace agreements signed since the end of the Cold War, only 18 of them included a mention of sexual and gender violence. My delegation therefore strongly supports the request of Ms. Margot Wallstrom, the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, for establishing new posts and allocating additional funding towards that end. This would result in bridging the gap in collecting data on sexual violence during the chaos of war, and the subsequent development of systematic and rigorous response strategies. Funds for activities for women and peace should also be built into the Official Donor Assistance (ODA) budgets.

My country has great expectations of the future contribution of UN Women - a newly established entity of the United Nations family, which can take the lead in revitalizing ongoing efforts to implement SCR 1325, bring about a UN system wide coherence and a greater interrelatedness of key UN and regional human rights instruments, especially focusing on women and children, which have a direct bearing on Res 1325. My delegation recommends strengthening the mandate ofUN Women to serve as the lead agency in implementing efforts for resolutions on Women, Peace and Security. It will have to collaborate with humanitarian, development, human rights, aid-to development agencies, and the Defence Forces of concerned countries. It will also have to engage the participation of women activists, war victims and other groups of women refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants to shape programmes and services at all levels.

My delegation welcomes the development ofNational Action Plans (NAP) of several Member States, as proposed by the Secretary General, to include women in peace and security measures, and expresses concern at the lack of such plans by countries most affected by war, and urges Member States to formulate their own NAP and to develop them from best practices and lessons learned from other countries.