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Progress in gender and security issues requires women’s participation – Migiro

Progress in gender and security issues requires women’s participation – Migiro

Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro
The real measure of women’s progress in peace and security issues is not the setting up of processes but women’s participation in sustainable peace agreements and post-conflict reconstruction efforts, the United Nations’ Deputy-Secretary-General said today.

“More than a dozen countries have developed national action plans that aim to increase women's contributions to conflict resolution and sustainable peace,” Asha-Rose Migiro told an event on UN support in advancing national implementation of the Security Council on Women, Peace and Security.

“Other States are in the process of doing so. We need to help these countries and many more to create an environment where every woman and girl feels safe,” she added.

The landmark resolution 1325 was adopted by the Council in 2000 and stresses the importance of giving women equal participation and full involvement in peace and security matters and the need to increase their role in decision-making.

“We need to prevent this resolution from remaining simply words on paper,” Ms. Migiro said.

She said that the UN, through its Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality, is trying to ensure that our work on advancing the resolution is coordinated system-wide, with results-based programming and monitoring and reporting tools.

To assist national implementation, “we need to translate the provisions of the resolution into practical policy recommendations,” she said.

As a model, she pointed to Liberia, where, she said many UN entities joined together to help the Government create a comprehensive national action plan, which was launched last month after extensive consultations.

The resulting plan, she said, focused on strategic issues, with specific actions and indicators, to ensure women are included in post-conflict recovery efforts at every level of society.