Argentina

Argentina wishes to associate itself with the statement made by the Minister of International Cooperation of Canada on behalf of the Group of Friends of Women, Peace and Security.

Argentina played a dynamic role in the negotiation and adoption of resolution 1325 (2000) as a non-permanent member of the Security Council in 1999 and 2000. The resolution brings together two objectives that are part of our national policy with regard to gender and defence: the promotion and protection of the human rights of women, and the inclusion of women in peacekeeping operations.

In that connection we wish to highlight the policies carried out by our Government in the defence sector. In recent years the Ministry of Defence — under the leadership of a woman, Dr. Nilda Garré — has undertaken a profound process of mainstreaming a gender perspective. That began by granting a voice to female members of our armed forces, which allowed us to diagnose their situation and led to reform that included the repeal of discriminatory resolutions in that sector. That process culminated with the National Plan for the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) in the defence sector.

To continue making progress towards the objectives set out in resolution 1325 (2000), we wish to take this opportunity to reaffirm some of the commitments taken on by Argentina. First is the implementation of quantitative and qualitative tools to measure and to know in numerical terms — but also strategically — what the situation is with regard to participation of women in peacekeeping operations. On that point it is worth emphasizing that we are planning to publish in March 2011 the results of the surveys undertaken with the contingent deployed in Haiti. It gathers their experience in gender matters prior to deployment and looks at their experience with the effective implementation of a gender perspective during the mission.

Further, we will move forward with programmes of training on issues of gender and human rights for contingents that are soon to be deployed. That will include developing curricula that consider the gender perspective in conflict resolution and peacebuilding, by integrating both women in the contingents and women in the local population.

I wish to stress the importance that Argentina affords to the systematization of international information on the matter so as to ensure the effective implementation of this standard, which is a valuable guide for ensuring respect for the human rights of women in conflict situations and makes visible the important contribution of the inclusion of the gender perspective in peacebuilding processes.