Statement of Liechtenstein at the 2016 WPS Debate

We would like to commend the Security Council for the establishment of the Informal Expert Group on Women and Peace and Security, thereby implementing one important aspect of resolution 2242 (2015). We hope that the Council will keep the broader membership informed of the work of the Expert Group and that its work will lead to a stronger presence by women and further peace and security debates and draft resolutions on conflict situations before the Council.

We see the Secretary-General’s Human Rights Up Front Initiative as an important tool for doing so. We also see a strong need for the United Nations to become more effective in the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) with regard to peacekeeping missions. Therefore, we support the call for proper resources for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations/ Department of Field Support gender advisers.

We also need to further strengthen the fight against human trafficking. For that reason, we will jointly organize a side event, together with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, on countering human trafficking and achieving the universal ratification of the Palermo Protocol, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, on Thursday, 27 October at 11.15 a.m. in Conference Room 9. We call on all States that have not yet done so to ratify and effectively implement the Palermo Protocol.

Let me conclude by emphasizing once more our full commitment to the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) and all follow-up resolutions. We continue to be committed to the pledges that we issued last year during the fifteenth anniversary of the women and peace and security agenda, and we hope that the impressive amount of pledges issued by other States will also be implemented in due time.

When we look at positive examples of the inclusion of women in peace processes — for instance, in Colombia — we clearly see that it is indispensable to empower women as agents of peace. We have data that show that women’s participation increases the probability of a peace agreement lasting at least two years by 20 per cent, and at least 15 years by 35 per cent. In order to make that possible, we need to eliminate barriers to their participation in peace-related activities. We also need to ensure that women are fully included during the formulation and implementation of early- warning systems and peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts at all levels.