General Women, Peace and Security

While fully acknowledging the progress made over the past 15 years, we note that, when it comes to State efforts, only about 50 countries have developed action plans, whose implementation is significantly hampered by the need for financing.

Since the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000), significant threats to global peace and security have emerged, the most prominent of which is the rise of violent extremism. The Balkans Regional Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, held in Tirana on 19 and 20 May 2015, recognized that women are both vulnerable to radicalization and have an important role to play in countering violent extremism.

We call on the United Nations system as a whole to respond to the global study’s recommendations.

Our third pledge recognizes that women, girls and women’s organizations are vital to promoting gender equality in countering terrorism and violent extremism. We will therefore support new research to be conducted by Monash University in Melbourne on preventing conflict and countering fundamentalism through women’s empowerment and civil-society mobilization.

Finally, Austria will continue to further strengthen its training activities on resolution 1325 (2000), in particular in pre-deployment training for peace and humanitarian operations, which is now provided for civilian and military experts from around the world in Austria, as well as in its national training courses.

Civil society efforts are also a critical element for the effective implementation of resolutions on women and peace and security. Austria, through its Development Cooperation, will spend more than €1 million in the next 3 years on its cooperation with civil society activists in that field.

Austria supports the work of UN-Women and will continue, on a voluntary basis, to support its activities in the field of women and peace and security.