The Principality of Monaco attaches the greatest importance to the protection of innocent civilian victims of conflict. Among them, women and children are clearly the most vulnerable. The fact that, over the past decade, women and children have become the targets of unspeakable violence is unacceptable.

Resolution 1325 (2000) also underscores the need to scrupulously respect the provisions of international humanitarian law and human rights instruments. It is imperative that atrocities not go unpunished, especially those in which rape is used as a weapon of war.

Although the role of women in development no longer needs to be proven, it is equally crucial to ensuring lasting peace, social cohesion and political legitimacy. Women's contributions are not an end in themselves; they are also crucial elements in achieving peacebuilding priorities. In that regard, in order to ensure the rule of law, there must be support for the establishment and strengthening of national institutions.

The establishment of the International Criminal Court represented an important step forward in the fight against sexual violence and gender-related violence. Mexico is fully convinced that we cannot achieve lasting peace without guaranteeing the delivery of justice, promoting accountability and fighting impunity.

Mexico is not a stranger to the phenomenon of violence and its consequences for women and girls. We have sought to adopt a comprehensive approach for the social prevention of violence, together with efforts to strengthen protection measures.

Women are part of the solution to the structural problems of conflict and one of the driving forces behind reconstruction. However, unless we provide effective tools and mechanisms to ensure their participation, we are perpetuating inequality, maintaining the spiral of violence and delaying the very solution of these conflicts.

The scope of resolution 1325 (2000) has not been exhausted, as has often been said in this forum. On the contrary, much remains to be done to ensure the implementation of the four resolutions that have been adopted on the subject. Today we can say that we are on the right track.

The recent Arria Formula meeting drew our attention to the importance of broadening the involvement of women in peace processes, as well as addressing the needs of particularly vulnerable groups, such as women with disabilities.

The number of women appointed as Special Representatives or to other senior positions has increased since 2000, and gender advisors have been deployed in almost half of the political and peacekeeping missions. Furthermore, we have seen an increase in the participation of women in decisionmaking, as well as in the operational functions in peacekeeping operations.

The international community has developed a robust legal framework for the protection of women in armed conflicts. The challenge now is to achieve its full implementation, given the lack of respect for the standards of international law by parties to conflicts.