Statement of Ireland at the WPS Debate, October 2016
Statement of Ireland
Last month, we adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants (General Assembly resolution 71/1). It confirms that our response to refugee and migrant flows must go beyond border security, camps and asylum processes. It highlights the particular risks faced by women migrants and women refugees, including sexual violence and trafficking. Moreover, it recognizes the role of women in peace and reconciliation processes and in developing solutions. Those are intrinsic elements of the women and peace and security agenda. Their inclusion in the Declaration is a major achievement. We urge Member States and other partners, including the Security Council, to maintain momentum by ensuring that women and peace and security priorities are now mainstreamed through our collective response to this global phenomenon.
Statement of Ireland
We are moving closer to plugging what former Secretary-General Kofi Annan termed the “gaping hole” in the United Nations machinery for sustaining peace. Much more remains to be done. Resolution 2282 (2016) and General Assembly resolution 70/262, adopted in April, provide us with a robust policy framework for enhancing the United Nations work in the areas of conflict prevention and peacebuilding.
Statement of Ireland
The women and peace and security agenda, however, provides us with a tool for implementation. We have plainly seen that when women participate in society and their voices are heard, there is a higher chance of achieving and sustaining peace or preventing the outbreak of conflict in the first instance.
The Peacebuilding Fund has met the Secretary- General’s gender target of 15 per cent and is pioneering the mainstreaming of the women and peace and security agenda in peacebuilding. Last month, Ireland pledged more than $3 million to the Peacebuilding Fund over three years. We urge the States Members of the United Nations and the Security Council to support the work of the Fund and the Peacebuilding Commission as part of a wider move to harness the women and peace and security agenda as a driver of conflict prevention and peacebuilding.
Statement of Ireland
Thirdly, women-and-peace-and- security mainstreaming has also driven changes in mediation and peace processes. A formula for lasting peace cannot be reached by excluding half of society. That has been shown by the Global Study on the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) and is also rooted in fundamental logic.
Thankfully, we are advancing in that regard. Since 2012, all United Nations mediation-support teams have included women. We have best practices, including Colombia, from which to draw. Nevertheless, the report of the Secretary-General shows mixed progress regarding the inclusion of women in peace processes. Through our experience of reconciliation on our own island and our consistent engagement with
the United Nations Mediation Support Unit, Ireland can attest to the crucial need for the participation of women in mediation and peace processes. We call for the redoubling of efforts on the part of special envoys and representatives, with support from Security Council member States and regional partners, so as to ensure that next year’s report of the Secretary-General can point to clear progress in that regard.
Statement of Ireland
Fourthly, the women and peace and security agenda is leading to a sea change in the peacekeeping paradigm. For Ireland, we do not have to look any further than home to see that. Resolution 1325 (2000) was transposed directly by our defence forces into an action plan for women and peace and security. That plan supports our national action plan on women and peace and security, which is now in its second phase. It means that women and peace and security priorities are included in almost every stage of Ireland’s overseas engagements, from pre-deployment training to the planning, execution and reporting of operations. Initiatives to target women in our 2016 army recruitment drives have been held up as best practices. We are also pleased to announce that the recent deployment of Lieutenant Colonel Mary Carroll to head the Irish contingent of the United Nations
Disengagement Observer Force represents the first woman commander of a mixed gender infantry unit in a United Nations mission.
Statement of Ireland
Those are only four areas in which the women and peace and security agenda has catalysed change and can continue to do so. There are many more, including disarmament, international criminal justice and the prevention and countering of violent extremism. It would be remiss not to focus lastly and briefly on those of us charged with living the changes that we have made.
First, with regard to the United Nations system — more work is needed to advance the Global Study’s recommendation that a gender perspective should be mainstreamed throughout the United Nations response to conflict emergencies. The recent adoption by the Peacebuilding Commission of a gender strategy is an example of a best practice that we can all learn from.
Secondly, with regard to regional and subregional organizations, in May, Ireland was pleased to host the inaugural workshop on the regional acceleration of resolution 1325 (2000). It brought together regional organizations working on peacekeeping. Such work must form part of a larger effort to support and learn from women and peace and security initiatives at the regional level.
Thirdly, with regard to Member States, 63 national action plans mean 63 opportunities to identify lessons learned, which could serve to spark new initiatives. We look forward to participating actively in the national women and peace and security focal points network launched by Spain in September.
Finally and crucially, with regard to civil society organizations, those on the front lines of the implementation of the women and peace and security agenda are often those most in need of support. Ireland has contributed almost $500,000 to the Global Acceleration Instrument for Women and Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action since its launch last February, and we encourage other donors to support this civil society organization-driven fund. When we speak at next year’s debate, we hope to be able to point to even greater progress within the frameworks of peace and security, all with the women and peace and security agenda at the core.