Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

Our international partners have assisted the Afghan Government in our endeavours. UN-Women has administered a multi-donor trust fund for the elimination of violence against women that provided grants for national organizations to combat violence against women.

Building a stable and secure environment that enables women to live free of intimidation and violence and promotes their participation and leadership in efforts to maintain peace and security is one of the core objectives of the Afghan Government.

Since the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security, missions have been mandated, with significant success, to boost women's participation in electoral and post-conflict processes, to prevent sexual violence, and to increase the presence of female peacekeeping personnel and trained peacekeepers to address gender issues.

I wish to highlight that 10 per cent of our peacekeepers are women — a figure which will surely increase in the years ahead. The Philippines is a strong partner of the United Nations in the promotion of women's active involvement and participation in peacekeeping. We fully support the idea of integrating the gender perspective in the deployment of peacekeeping personnel, and continue to play our part in putting that into practice.

Thirdly, with regard to delivering on critical roles, the protection of civilians has increasingly become a yardstick for measuring the success of peacekeeping operations. In the context of the protection of civilians, children in armed conflict deserve our special attention. They are the most vulnerable members of societies, both as victims and as coerced participants in conflicts.

Peacekeepers are tasked with establishing an environment of security to allow for the resumption of political processes. This requires the implementation of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes, including for children affected by conflict, security sector reform programmes, and programmes strengthening the rule of law.

We also support the Secretariat in their continued efforts to elaborate more advanced, scenario-based training, especially regarding the protection of civilians and response to conflict-related sexual violence.

Important progress has been made over the past year. We welcome the expansion of the triggers for listing to include the killing and maiming of children, rape and other sexual violence. We also welcome the exchange of information among the sanctions committees.

I have met girls whose colleagues stay away from school because, as female students, they may be the victims of acid attacks

Since 1998, the Council has adopted eight resolutions on this issue. It has asked me to report on the recruitment and use of child soldiers, the killing and maiming of children, rape and other sexual violence, abductions, attacks on schools and hospitals, and the denial of humanitarian access to children by parties to armed conflict.