To make specific roles and responsibilities clear, the Liberian national action plan delineates a lead agency and collaborators for each activity, in addition to ensuring coordination for the implementation of the activities.

The Government has also taken measures at the institutional, political and legal levels to ensure the plan's implementation, including an amendment to the penal code extending the legal definition of rape, making it a non-bailable offence, and increasing its penalty to life imprisonment.

However, we have taken some concrete steps, and the plans for the next two years include the development of a strategy to ensure 20 per cent participation of women in the security sector by 2011. Presently, women constitute 30 per cent of immigration officers and 15 per cent of the national police.

However, some challenges remain, and I will name a few that militate against the effective implementation of the plan.

Discussions with different stakeholders in Liberia highlighted the importance of implementing the Liberian national action plan at the local, national and subregional levels over four years. The implementation periods are thus designed as short term, lasting 18 months; medium term, lasting 30 months; and long term, lasting 36 months.

A gender equity in politics bill, designed to increase women's participation in governance, political parties and other institutions, has been introduced in Parliament and is awaiting approval for passage into law.

As they care for their families and raise their children, women play a crucial role in restoring the fabric of society and overcoming war wounds. Yet, their own wounds are still not being properly remedied. In that regard, reforming the security sector and ensuring respect for the rule of law in a gender responsive manner is of crucial importance.

Over the next decade, our success in protecting women in conflict situations will be measured by the real impact that our actions have on the ground. The framework and tools are there. Let us make sure that we back them with the necessary political will.

Including women in peace talks is not enough by itself. In some post-conflict societies, women who have been victims of sexual violence, widows and orphan girls are ostracized, exacerbating the challenges that they must overcome and compromising the prospects for enduring peace.

In recent peace negotiations, women represented less than 8 per cent of the participants and less than 3 per cent of the signatories. That endangers the prospects for long-lasting peace since women are crucial partners in shoring up three of its pillars: economic recovery, social cohesion and political legitimacy, as affirmed by the Secretary-General in his recent report (S/2010/466).