Austria

Today's meeting will allow us to continue the review of the implementation of landmark resolution 1325 (2000). We would like to thank the delegation of Viet Nam for its efforts, which resulted in the adoption of resolution 1889 (2009) today. Furthermore, I would like to express my gratitude to Deputy Secretary- General Asha-Rose Migiro for her continued leadership and commitment to gender equality and women's participation. We are grateful for her statement today. We are equally grateful for the valuable input of the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General, Ms. Rachel Mayanja, and the Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Ms. Inés Alberdi. We were also very happy to listen to the presentation by Ms. Asha Hagi Elmi Amin from the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security.

With the expansion of the monitoring and reporting mechanisms in resolution 1882 (2009) to situations where parties to armed conflict engage in rape and other sexual violence against children, a coherent and coordinated implementation of the mandates of both the new Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and the special representative to address sexual violence in armed conflict will be crucial. Progress is, however, also urgently needed on other pillars of resolution 1325 (2000). Austria sees great value in focusing this debate on responding to the needs of women and girls in post-conflict situations for sustainable peace and security. Investing in women means investing into the future, and ensuring women's and girls access to education is one of the cornerstones of their empowerment.

Next year will mark the tenth anniversary of the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000). This opportunity should be used to define future priorities and to identify how to address the remaining and new challenges in fully implementing resolution 1325 (2000). A set of global indicators, as called for in the resolution adopted today, will complement this important work.

Austria will continue to advocate for an increase in the number of women appointed to senior United Nations positions both at Headquarters and, in particular, in field missions. We highly welcome the efforts of the Secretary-General in this regard. Having three female special representatives and six deputy special representatives serving in missions in various conflict areas is already a major step ahead. We hope to see this positive trend continue and urge all special representatives and envoys to make full use of the potential of women in peace processes, conflict resolution and peacebuilding.