We recognize that empowering women will lead to their taking command of resou...

While the former could be achieved by ensuring women's access to and participation in income- generating and entrepreneurial activities, such as micro-credit, education, vocational training and public health, the latter could be ensured through the recruitment of women, particularly to senior positions. In order to more clearly understand the needs of the women of the South, we must ensure that women from the global South get due recognition in the consideration of such recruitment. For proper coordination with the field, the fair representation of troop- and police-contributing countries must be ensured, as decided previously by the General Assembly and the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations of the United Nations. We believe that women's participation can be ensured through an inclusive process. At the policy level, this requires the creation of a mechanism to integrate women into decision-making processes, which should be supported by the necessary capacity- building initiatives at the community level that would enable women to effectively participate. We strongly believe that our debates and discussions, instead of being confined to our respective capitals, should transcend borders and reach women at the grass-roots level, women who may sometimes be unable even to find the words to express their agony. This has to be done by empowering the people, especially women, at the grass-roots level. If we fail to do so, our progress will be slow.