We welcome the efforts of UN-Women to significantly boost United Nations action on the empowerment of women and gender equality, including in the area of women and peace and security. Its efforts need to be supported by all in the United Nations system and by the Member States. The Council, for its part, must make available the resources that are required to implement those mandates.

We agree with all those who support increased deployment of female military and police personnel in United Nations peacekeeping operations and the provision to all military and police personnel of appropriate training to effectively discharge their responsibilities. India was the first country to deploy an all-female peacekeeping unit, 100 troops in Liberia in 2007. We have offered to contribute more such units.

The United Nations system has come up with a comprehensive set of indicators to assess progress in the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000). We have certainly taken note of those indicators. We believe that such indicators and benchmarks need to be further discussed and conceptually developed as part of broader intergovernmental consultations before their eventual adoption.

The United Nations is being asked to do more with regard to women and peace and security, including through the mainstreaming of the gender perspective in the United Nations system and United Nations peacekeeping missions. We commend the work of the Secretary-General in mainstreaming the gender perspective in the United Nations recruitment process.

The promotion and protection of the human rights of women and girls in armed conflict continue to pose a pressing challenge. The Council has in previous resolutions recognized the specific vulnerability of women during conflicts and that they bear a disproportionate brunt of armed conflict, even though they are in most cases not directly engaged in combat.

The international community must take all necessary steps to ensure the security of women and children. We also see civil society and local communities as valued partners in this endeavour, and we look forward to working with them to take this agenda forward.

The appointments of a Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict and a number of women special envoys are also positive developments. It is important that special representatives work in a coordinated manner among themselves and with other United Nations bodies. That is not only to ensure optimal utilization of resources and avoidance of duplication but also to promote greater coherence.

Key aspects of post-conflict reconstruction, such as economic recovery, social cohesion and political legitimacy, all require the active engagement of women. Resolution 1325 (2000) was a seminal piece of international legislation in our efforts on women and peace and security. The United Nations, Member States and civil society have made steady and noticeable efforts in implementing the resolution.

Gender equality and the empowerment of women remain the key focus area of social development and distributive justice globally. Empowering women politically, economically, educationally and legally has been a major objective of the Government of India. We are proud of the fact that India gave women equal voting rights more than 60 years ago, at the time of our independence.

As the Secretary-General's report itself points out, the United Nations presence in conflict and post conflict situations — field missions and country teams — must achieve greater coherence and coordination in addressing women and peace and security issues, including through the timely provision of targeted gender expertise