General Women, Peace and Security

In advancing the discussions on system-wide coherence, we support the need to improve the operations of the UN at the country level to ensure that the system can appropriately respond to the needs of recipient countries and to prevent the unnecessary imposition of undue conditionalities.

In the course of the implementation of these programs, Mauritania has turned into big workshops leading to the construction of roads, building health and educational facilities, and the establishment of integrated projects, purpose of which is empowering women and youth to contribute to the economic and social development and to improve the conditions of the poor and the marginalized who have been rejoicing at the election of President Mohamed

Australia applauds the initiative to create a new institution entitled UN WOMEN under the capable leadership of the new Under Secretary-General Michelle Bachelet, the former President of Chile. Australia looks forward to working with UN WOMEN on the vast array of challenges which half of humanity faces and for which our existing international frameworks have been found wanting.

It is a fundamental tenet of the UN that women determine their own lives and help decide the fate of their countries.

The Kingdom continues to promote equality in all sectors of our development spheres. We therefore welcome the recent establishment of the new United Nations gender entity, namely UN-Women. Women, the world over, continue to play key roles in contributing to the socio-economic and political development of our nations.

Austria warmly welcomes the milestone decision of the General Assembly to establish ‘UN Women', which will make the UN a stronger and more effective partner in the advancement of women worldwide. We are looking forward to working with Michele Bachelet towards our common goals.

We also need to overcome the systemic fragmentation which has gradually developed since the creation of our Organisation and enhance the coherence of its structures. An important step in this direction has been made this year with the creation of UN Women, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

At the High Level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals, which was held earlier this week, we reiterated our collective determination to do everything to free humankind from famine, illiteracy and epidemics and eventually eradicate global inequalities: inequalities between and within continents, regions and countries, men and women.

We should never apologise for promoting the idea that women and men are equal; never flinch from insisting that governments chosen by their people are better; never shy away from our insistence that nobody should be silenced because of their religion or beliefs.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Concrete improvements have been made but we must step up our efforts to turn the objectives into practice. National Action Plans are valuable tools for implementing the Resolution. We completed our own plan in 2008 and have now started a twinning initiative with Kenya.