Trinidad and Tobago is situated in a region that continues to experience the scourge caused by the diversion of small arms and light weapons from legal markets to the illicit trade, which has led to an increase in criminal activity in the Caribbean Community. It should be noted that women and girls are disproportionately affected by that illicit trade.

Trinidad and Tobago is fully committed to the goal of gender equality. For us, the empowerment of women is an integral part of national development as well as an essential pillar in the maintenance of sustainable peace. Trinidad and Tobago is strongly supportive of the need to enhance efforts to ensure that women are equally represented in all spheres. These include decision-making at all levels, as well as in the field of peace and security.

Trinidad and Tobago holds firmly to the view that the prosecution of perpetrators of acts of violence against women and girls during armed conflict is a necessary requirement for lasting and durable peace. In that regard, we remain committed to our obligations under the Geneva Convention of 1949 and its Additional Protocols I and II of 1977.

In conclusion, Trinidad and Tobago remains committed to working with other Member States as well as its partners at the regional, hemispheric and global levels to promote the involvement of women as equal partners in matters related to peace and security, including at all levels of the decision-making processes.

As a State that seeks to fully honour its international obligations, we recognize the importance of resolution 1325 (2000) — a landmark resolution that not only acknowledges the contribution of women to international peace and security, but also addresses women's participation in all aspects of peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding.

Lasting peace can be achieved only if women are more involved in decision-making processes relating to peacebuilding and post-conflict development, which are necessary for the sustainable development of our societies.

We are deeply concerned over the deteriorating security situation in the camps in neighbouring countries that host Syrian women and girls, who suffer insecurity, human trafficking, rape and false marriages.

My country has spared no effort in providing the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General with data, forensic reports and formal letters documenting the responsibility of the various armed terrorist groups in my country for the sexual assault, rape, abduction and killing of women and girls in Syria. These crimes are part and parecel of the Salafist, Wahabi and takfiri ideology they seek to spread throughout the region.

despite the attempts of the Special Representative and her team to document crimes of sexual violence committed by the armed terrorist groups in Syria, she remains unable to verify them, preferring to keep references to them vague and indirect.

We welcome the Secretary-General's recommendation to emphasize the decisive role of civil society, in particular women's organizations and community leaders, in the many efforts to eliminate sexual violence against women. We need to ensure that women's participation in peace negotiations and processes is conducted on an equal footing with men and that the resulting agreements take gender problems into account.