Kenya

In his statement at the General Assembly on September 17, 2005, His Excellency President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, strategically placed women in the centre of all development activities. Today, with the steady, and sure evolution in the establishment of a Peace-Building Commission, the role of women in initiating, nurturing and entrenching post-conflict peace-building, is a given. In our own remarks during recent informal consultations, Kenya stressed the need to incorporate early, this important element within formal architecture of the Peace-Building Commission, as well as deepen the role of women in implementation of programmes to empower women in post-conflict areas.

Liechtenstein

[W]e are also of the view that the mandate of the Peace-Building Commission should explicitly commit to partnering with civil society, including women's organizations, through format mechanisms at headquarters and at the country level. This would go a long way towards ensuring that women's needs, priorities and roles in peace processes are duly taken into account n the Peace-Building Commission's activities and programs, as has been requested in the letter of 14 women ministers, including the Foreign Minister of Liechtenstein.

Myanmar

I am confident that the action plan and the recomnendations contained in the report as well as the Peace Building Commission established by the 2005 World Summit will contribute meaningfully in promoting the role of women as envisioned in Security Council Resolution 1325(2000).

Philippines

The Philippines looks forward to the establishment of the proposed Peacebuilding Commission; resolution 1325 should be among the basic pillars of its work. Essential to the work of the Peacebuilding Commission would be its coordination with civil society, including women's organizations, both at the headquarters level and at the country level.

Samoa (on behalf of Pacific Islands Forum)

The Pacific Islands Forum Leaders welcomed this agreement reached at the World Summit to establish a Peace-building Commission It is a matter of highest priority to us that this new body will support and promote the protection and promotion of the rights of women and build on international work on women, peace and security. We urge Security Council members to ensure a gender perspective is mainstreamed throughout the operations of the Commission.

South Africa

The decision by the 2005 High Level Summit to establish the Peacebuilding Commission is an important milestone in farthering the contribution to the full implementation of Resolution 1325. It opens the door for women to ensure integration of the gender perspective in all phases of peace building. Our own experience in South Africa taught us that, given a chance, women can bring an important and much needed perspective: They are not simply victims of wars and conflicts, but are an important part of the solution. We would urge the Commission, once established, to pay particular attention to the knowledge and understanding women can bring in peace building processes.

Sweden

...both participation and protection of women would benefit from a Peace-building Commission with a clear and integrated gender perspective. Along with 14 colleagues, the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs has presented the Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly with specific idea:; on how to integrate a gender equality perspective in the design and work of the Commission and its Support Offices. This continues to be a priority, for Sweden, and for the EU.

Tanzania

The proposed Human Rights Council and the Peacebuilding Commission will be crucial for the promotion and protection of the rights of women. The ongoing discussion on the formation of these new organs present us with an entry point to anchor the involvement of women as participants and beneficiaries of the mandates of the two organs to ensure gender justice and gender equality.

In the envisaged Peacebuilding Commission, the role of women should be central from the very beginning at all levels and in particular at the country level configuration with visible participation of civil society. This is a unique opportunity to incorporate gender issues as integral components of the transition from peacekeeping through peacebuilding to sustainable development.

United Kingdom (on behalf of EU)

The EU believes that the Peacebuilding Commission should, as part of its mandate, ensure that women and women's groups are represented in peace processes, thus enabling them to play an essential role. Member States and organisations involved in the work of the Peacebuilding Commission should bear in the mind the desirability of gender balance in all meetings of the Peacebuilding Commission. National ownership of any peace process is vital to its success. The UN system is already doing much to ensure that the local population, and especially, women are able to play their part in peacebuilding efforts. The Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Support Office should build on this.

The Peacebuilding Commission should ensure that all actors are fully involved in and benefiting from the peacebuilding process. It should also work to promote a more coherent and more integrated approach to peacebuilding that takes advantage of the experience and knowledge that woman can bring to the negotiating table. A gender equality perspective should be fully integrated in its recommendations, reports, activities, strategies, and best practice analyses. And, by bringing together peacekeeping operations and development partners, they can ensure that progress is made to integrate gender into the political process of a post-conflict country and is not lost once the immediate post-conflict phase ends. In short, the EU believes that the Peacebuilding Commission and its support office offer the international community a major opportunity to ensure that a gender perspective becomes a normal and integral part of any peacebuilding process. We hope that the Peacebuilding Commission can address the role of women in peacebuilding, to identify ways and means how the UN can further support this role, early in its life.