Togo

Twelve years after the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000), Togo welcomes the ongoing ref lections begun by the United Nations on the implementation of the resolution. The importance of this process resides in the fact that it is an opportunity to take stock of the results achieved and difficulties encountered, and to contemplate strategies to be adopted in our future work. While tremendous efforts have been made in the implementation of the resolution, much remains to be done, in particular in areas such as the implementation of peace agreements, seamless transitions, the gradual drawn down of United Nations missions, and the pursuit of a secure environment for civil society organizations. All these elements must be taken into consideration in order to strengthen the process of preventing and resolving conflicts and peacebuilding.

It is therefore important that national legislation incorporate international criminal law, which provides for such acts and punishes their perpetrators. The Council must ensure that impunity is not the rule, but the exception. My country welcomes the fact that measures adopted by the United Nations to protect women and girls include guidelines that have been drawn up by the heads of military and police units in peacekeeping operations. The sanctions laid out therein against peacekeepers involved in cases of sexual violence meet the expectations of the international community and are designed to fully and completely protect vulnerable women and girls. The international community has deployed immense efforts to promote such protection, but it will be successful only if women are involved in the crucial processes of conflict settlement. Unfortunately, women's organizations and civil society are very often excluded from such processes. Yet the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) requires enhanced cooperation among Member States, international and regional security institutions, and civil society.

In 2011, women were represented in 12 — or 86 per cent — of the 14 United Nations mediation support teams. However, only four of fourteen delegations to peace negotiations had a woman among their ranks. This deplorable state of affairs underscores the urgent need to impress upon the parties to conflicts that they should give a significant role to women in peace negotiations and in the implementation of peace agreements, as it is women's civil society organizations that ensure the sustainability of peacebuilding on the ground.

In translating this strategy into reality, Togo promoted the participation of women's civil society organizations in the signing of the comprehensive political agreement of 2006, which allowed the country to emerge from the socio-political crisis that began in 1990. They also played an active role in the work of the truth, justice and reconciliation commission, the results of which were accepted by almost all of the population. The importance that the Government attaches to the role of women in building the country is also evident in the election of many women to Parliament and the appointment of a number of others to Government and other positions of responsibility. The aim of the Government is to ensure that women's participation in our country's political and administrative life is increased to achieve in the long term percentages that ref lect their real commitment and interest in public affairs.