General Women, Peace and Security

All of the United Nations world conferences on women have recognized the linkages among gender equality, development and peace. Today, it is heartening to observe how much the issue has gained in terms of visibility and traction. It is now taken up in various intergovernmental bodies, including the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Peacebuilding Commission.

We wish to offer the Council our full willingness to contribute to the universalization of resolution 1325 (2000) and its effective implementation.

It was this Organization that took on the calls by and the initiative of millions of women around the world in order to say “enough!” to a double situation of injustice and discrimination against women that consisted of, on the one hand, silencing the voices of the victims and, on the other hand, hiding the faces of women and girls as rights holders and protagonists of social, economic and cultural changes that could promote, prote

Each anniversary of the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000) gives us an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to its objectives and at the same time to focus on some of the many dimensions it covers. Today we have the opportunity to reflect on the central role of civil society, especially women‘s organizations, in the drafting and subsequent implementation of the normative framework launched by the Council in the year 2000.

Allow me, as Ambassador of my country, to recall that Argentina has been one of the countries promoting resolution 1325 (2000).

The Government of Afghanistan looks forward to continued cooperation with the international community in its efforts to honour and implement resolution 1325 (2000) in Afghanistan and worldwide. Through resolution 1325 (2000), the international community made a commitment to the women and peace and security agenda that still requires our full attention and dedication.

In the 12 years since its adoption, resolution 1325 (2000) and subsequent related resolutions have been helpful tools, not only to bring to the attention of the international community the importance of the women and peace and security agenda, but ALSO to strengthen women's participation rather than simply branding them as victims.

Cooperation on the bilateral level has also played a significant role in ensuring that our architecture to implement resolution 1325 (2000) is firmly in place through the provision of technical and financial support, and we look forward to engaging with our bilateral partners through the transition and beyond.

Presidential statements increasingly referred to the ICC, as did thematic resolutions, including those on the protection of civilians, children and armed conf lict, sexual violence, and the rule of law.

The resolve of the negotiators of the Rome Statute stemmed from the grim reality of the twentieth century, during which millions of children, women and men had been made the victims of unimaginable atrocities. In this century, too, we continue to face such crimes that, in the words of the Statute's preamble, deeply shock the conscience of humanity.