STATEMENT OF NETHERLANDS ON THE SECURITY COUNCIL OPEN DEBATE ON WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY, OCTOBER, 2015
STATEMENT OF NETHERLANDS, OCTOBER, 2015
There is clear evidence that increasing political participation by women results in better negotiations, better and more sustainable agreements, better governance, more wealth, distributed more equitably, more and better conflict prevention and ultimately, therefore, more peace and security. The Kingdom of the Netherlands works with women’s organizations on peace, justice and development, and empowering women and girls is crucial in all those areas. But huge challenges remain. Conflict is still rife, and we are confronted with ever more extreme violence. In such situations, women do badly. And when women do badly, the world suffers. Guns take over, and the result is violence, impunity and spiral of more poverty and conflict. One appalling example of that was the assassination of one of our partners, the Libyan lawyer Salwa Bugaighis, on 25 June 2014.
STATEMENT OF NETHERLANDS, OCTOBER, 2015
It is urgent that we break that spiral, and resolution 1325 (2000), we believe, contains the key to addressing these challenges. The thinking behind the resolution lies at the very heart of current Dutch policies on aid, trade, security and human rights, and it is paramount for our partnerships for peace, justice and development. Before the end of this year, we will issue our third national action plan, the product of a unique platform on which the Government has worked with more than 50 civil society organizations. We are providing €4 million a year to carry out the plan, supporting organizations on the ground that work to protect and politically empower women in conflict situations. We provide both diplomatic and financial support to Syrian women’s efforts to present their views on their country’s future in international forums. Women take centre stage in our vision of the future.
STATEMENT OF NETHERLANDS, OCTOBER, 2015
But over the next 15 years, the world’s fate will be largely determined by whether or not women succeed in taking their rightful place in history. Do we want to achieve our global goals? Fight inequality? Create lasting peace? We need the women of the world to do that. Let us therefore all step up our support to organizations like Karama, a regional non- governmental organization based in Cairo that works throughout the Middle East in coalition with hundreds of partners to end violence against women.
Fifteen years ago, the Netherlands, as a member of the Security Council at the time, was one of the main advocates of resolution 1325 (2000). I was personally involved then and feel very strongly about it. Now we are aspiring to become a Security Council member again, partly in order to support increasing the pace of the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) and its successor, resolution 2242 (2015). We think we have something to offer — the desire and the capacity to stand up and invest in women who are the drivers of change. It is time, as Elvis Presley put it in one of his many classic songs, for “A little less conversation, [and] a little more action”.