S. Korea

Mr. Kim Bonghyun (Republic of Korea): Allow me to open my statement by thanking the Vietnamese presidency of the Security Council for the concept paper distributed for this open debate (S/2009/490). My appreciation goes also to the Secretary-General for his excellent report (S/2009/465), which provides a comprehensive outlook on the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000), as well as sound suggestions for specific actions to take.

As the Secretary-General's report states, there has been progress in some areas of the implementation of the resolution over the past year. For example, major strides have been made in developing national action plans. The cooperation and collaboration among various partners — including United Nations entities such as the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) — in developing national action plans in various post-conflict areas is commendable. Some best-practice examples, such as the Liberian case, can guide the development of future action plans.

The second point concerns the persistent lack of participation by women throughout the peace process, which is a core element of resolution 1325 (2000). As the Secretary-General's report expresses, a persistent cause of concern is that women continue to be virtually absent from the peace table and to be severely underrepresented as third-party mediators in most conflict-affected countries. It should be duly noted that since 1992, only 2.4 per cent of signatories to peace agreements were women and that no woman has ever been appointed as a chief mediator.

The third point concerns a deficit in post-conflict funding for women's needs. As stated in the concept paper, UNIFEM's review of almost 17,000 projects in consolidated and flash appeals for 23 post-conflict countries over three years indicates that less than 3 per cent of projects submitted for funding explicitly target gender issues. Additionally, only 8 per cent of proposed budgets for post-conflict situation need assessments included specific elements addressing women's needs. As a way to address that gap, my delegation urges the United Nations system to further integrate the gender perspective in designing and implementing assistance programmes.

My delegation believes that the effective implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) largely depends on the overall capacity of the United Nations system to pursue gender equality and women's empowerment. In that regard, strengthening the gender architecture is a key element. We are very much looking forward to the early establishment of a composite entity, which will be a driving force in creating an environment for the effective implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) in support of the efforts of the Security Council.