Statement of Venezuela on the Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security, October, 2015
Statement of Venezuela, October, 2015
Exclusion, inequality and the different forms of sexual violence against women and girls in times of armed conflict only reflect and exacerbate the imbalances and inequalities that women suffer in non-conflict periods. Those inequalities generate the conditions of specific vulnerability that require urgent attention and the highest political commitment. If we do not address that injustice in peacetime, we will be even less able to do so in times of armed conflict.
Statement of Venezuela, October, 2015
In addition, women are underrepresented in forums devoted to peacebuilding and the prevention and resolution of conflicts. The situation provides clear evidence that, throughout recent years, genuine political commitment to the issue has been lacking. We are convinced that the participation and contributions of women at all levels, stages and areas related to conflict management are essential in order to prevent conflicts and achieve lasting peace. There can be no international peace and security if we do not include or have due consideration for and incorporate half of the world’s population, namely, women and girls.
Statement of Venezuela, October, 2015
Venezuela is a land of peace. We have no areas of armed conflict in our territory, and we do not participate in any. That is why our Bolivarian revolution is at the forefront of ensuring gender equality and empowering women so that they have the possibility of serving as leaders in our society. Our major battle is against poverty and exclusion. We understand clearly that women have a leading role to play in that fundamental development effort, because women embody and represent the spiritual foundation of our society and the umbilical cord to our culture and our future.
Statement of Venezuela, October, 2015
Under the inspiration of the late President Hugo Chávez Frías and as part of our 1999 constitutional process, the Bolivarian Constitution guarantees the broadest human rights for our people and establishes gender equality, while also banning any kind of discrimination against women, whether on religious, racial or ethnic grounds. We do not tolerate any kind of exclusion or violence against women.
Statement of Venezuela, October, 2015
We have created the Ministry for the Popular Power for Women, and community councils are, in the vast majority, headed by women, through which they manage resources and direct projects aimed at benefiting their communities. Today, women in our country direct fundamental aspects of our society on an equal basis with men. We therefore have full moral authority to demand an end to discrimination and violence against women and girls, and to repudiate the notion of women as sex objects in consumer society or as the spoils of war at the hands of extremists. This world, wracked by violence and extremism, must act more decisively, and its leaders must act with greater political determination to address this injustice.
Statement of Venezuela, October, 2015
The prevention and peaceful settlement of disputes is always the best and most appropriate tool for preventing the harmful and devastating effects of armed conflicts on the civilian population, particularly on women and children. It is therefore essential to halt the training, equipping and supporting of non-State actors and extremists, who are used as instruments of political destabilization to overthrow Governments, acting in service to the geopolitical ambitions of foreign actors, and in most cases, they serve only to incite the commission of atrocities, acting with impunity against women and children. Such groups today have covered Africa and the Middle East in blood. They are motivated by extremist ideologies that target women and girls in the most abhorrent and unacceptable way.
Statement of Venezuela, October, 2015
If, in line with international law, we fully respected and honoured the ban on the provision of weapons and financial support to extremist groups, there would be a decrease in the operational capabilities of those actors, thus reducing the harmful and irreparable consequences of armed conflicts on the civilian population, particularly on women and children.