Participation

But the specific life experiences of women in conflict, as well as their skills, are not sufficiently taken into account in reconciliation, reconstruction and peacebuilding processes, precisely because women and girls are often kept away from decision- making bodies.

As is known, Senegal was among the earliest African countries to enact legal standards for absolute parity between men and women for all its elected and semi- elected posts. At the same time, we have pushed for the adoption by the African Union of the same full gender parity within the governing bodies of the African Union Commission. Senegal is also the first African country to have successfully tested the powerful mechanism of the “situation room”, the crisis- management tool through which women deploy all their energy, all their commitment and their entire sense of responsibility in order to ensure that election processes are as free, transparent and peaceful as possible.

Similarly, we have to think about strengthening dialogue between women and national and regional authorities on women’s rights and the involvement of women in peace and security processes.

Last year, at the global leaders’ summit meeting presided over by the Chinese President here in New York, at which Senegalese President Macky Sall participated, strong and encouraging commitments were made in favour of the full participation and better representation of women at all levels. The effort to fulfil these commitments will be the price we have to pay to achieve peaceful and inclusive societies by 2030.