As a vibrant democracy, we are in the process of accomplishing a historic societal transformation. The challenges our people have dealt with empower and embolden us. We will remain unflinchingly democratic. We will defeat those that seek to terrorize us. We will empower women

To build and develop the capabilities of Omani women, a symposium dedicated to understand their needs was organized and His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, has adopted the recommendation of the symposium and those recommendations were considered as a plan of action for a new phase that will enable women to enjoy many privileges that ensure equality with men in rights and duties.

Besides, the role of women in mediation must be appreciated and enhanced. Experience has shown that women can contribute a lot to efforts aimed at peaceful settlement of disputes, conflict prevention and resolution. It is, therefore, vital that women get increasingly involved in mediation efforts and processes

Similarly, we have ratified the International Convention of the protection of all persons from Enforced Disappearance and withdrawn all the reservations related to the UN convention on Suppression of All Forms of Segregation against Women, which objective is the consecration and consolidation of gender equality

On the issue of Human Rights I am pleased to say Solomon Islands has submitted its national human rights report to the UN Human Rights Council. For a developing country, the right to development is the core of the country's policy. Putting people at the center of development, their meaningful participation and fair distribution of national wealth and benefits will bring peace to an angry man, feed a hungry child and empower our womenfolk.

On the issue of gender, Solomon Islands has huge gender challenges so much so that it will be seeking a regional seat within the Executive Board of the UN Women Entity. Solomon Islands is presenting its candidate as a Pacific Small Islands Developing States endorsed candidate and with the support of the Assembly it hopes to give an LDC and SillS flavor in the Board.

Placing men and women back in the center of the great scheme of concerns of the universe is a fundamental step to -barely- start to design a future with certainty that manages to replace the frustrations of the current development paradigm with the realities of a world where good-living is much more tangible.

The General Assembly witnessed a historic moment last week, in which, for the first time,General Debate was initiated by a woman - President Rousseff of Brazil. The Marshall Islands welcomes the Secretary-General's renewed priority on addressing gender, strengthened UN-Women institution, particularly in the Pacific.

Regarding protection of women and girls from sexual violence, we place high hopes in the new monitoring and reporting mechanism on sexual violence. We trust that expert teams will help strengthen domestic accountability mechanisms. The greatest responsibility, however, lies with peacekeepers on the ground. They are mandated to go into harm's way and protect civilians.

Fourth, have we done enough to include women in conflict prevention and resolution - to make them agents of change, instead of bystanders? Have we done enough to protect them during conflict - protect them in particular from sexual violence? We have collectively sent strong signals in this regard. Liechtenstein particularly supports the Security Council's work on women, peace and security.