We welcome the theme of today's debate, with its particular focus on the rule of law and transitional justice during and post-conflict, which have received limited attention to date. Yet the breakdown of the rule of law in conflict leads to a broad range of violations of women's and girls' rights.

We welcome the comprehensive approach of the report of the Secretary-General (S/2013/525) and particularly welcome the increasingly targeted and concrete recommendations for action. We underline the need for continued regular reporting and briefings to the Council.

We note positively the Council's growing practice of including sexual and gender based violence in the designation criteria for targeted sanctions regimes.

We commend the work of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Zainab Hawa Bangura, and of the Team of Experts on the Rule of Law.

We call on the Department of Peacekeeping Operations Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions to ensure gender expertise in the planning of peacekeeping operations or special missions with rule of law mandates and the gathering of gender- aggregated data when making a baseline assessment of rule of law institutions.

The provision of fair, transparent, effective and accountable justice mechanisms for all is crucial to ensuring the benefits of the rule of law for everyone. Women's and girls' rights must be secured; they must also be ensured in informal justice systems.

The increasing number of national and regional action plans for the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) provides the opportunity to compare different experiences in order to further improve our work. To further map our actions and experiences, we support the call of the Secretary-General for an independent global study on the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) to prepare for the 2015 high-level review.

The European Union supports the work aimed at increasing the role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peacebuilding, promoting women's equal participation in all efforts for the promotion of peace and security and providing an integrated approach to prevent and punish acts of sexual violence, as well as to bring justice, services and reparation to its victims.

The EU Concept on Strengthening EU Mediation and Dialogue Capacities aims to promote the representation of women and the availability of adequate resources for dedicated gender expertise at an early stage of the mediation process. We call on the United Nations system to increase the participation of women in mediation activities, including as chief and lead mediators, and to include gender experts in the mediation teams.

In that regard, we acknowledge the important contribution of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to expanding the scope of gender and sexual-based violence. We encourage States that have not yet done so to ratify the Statute, enact domestic criminal legislation of those atrocious crimes and to routinely and systematically prosecute them as the primary means of ensuring accountability.