An exemplary group that I wish to acknowledge here is the Leitana Nehan Women's Development Agency, which is based in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, as well as the FemLINKPACIFIC organization based in Fiji, along with many other women's committees whose collective membership contributes to that important work.

Women bear the brunt of wars and armed conflicts. Today, 90 per cent of the casualties in conflicts and wars are non-combatants, of whom 70 per cent are women and children. Moreover, women are left out of peacemaking, stabilization and reconstruction processes.

Women and girls are targeted deliberately. Sexual and gender-based violence in situations of armed conflict affects the dignity not only of victims and survivors but also of families, communities and societies. It causes moral and psychosocial injury and is used as a tactic of war to force the displacement of populations and to illegally acquire natural resources.

We welcome Special Representative Zainab Hawa Bangura's exhaustive briefing today. We pay tribute to her for her solid work and for the passion with which she pursues her mission. We appreciate the presence and testimony of the representative of the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security. Civil society has a crucial role in protecting the rights of women in conflict situations.

We support the Special Representative's call to strengthen national institutions in order to provide sustainable assistance to victims of sexual violence. Technical assistance may be provided, on request, to concerned States for reforming and rebuilding the judicial, legislative and electoral sectors, as well as for the economic, social and political empowerment of women.

We believe that the Member States concerned bear the primary legal and moral responsibility for preventing and addressing sexual violence. We urge the Special Representative to continue to work closely with Member States and regional organizations to ensure that such concerns are addressed.

We are grateful to the Secretary-General for his comprehensive briefing to the Council. The Secretary- General has placed women's protection issues high on his agenda and has put the power of the United Nations behind the efforts to combat heinous acts of violence against women.

The United Nations does much to deal with the protection of women in situations of armed conflict. We all know that that is not enough. Much more needs to be done. It is imperative to continue to mainstream the gender perspective into peacekeeping operations. As the largest troop-contributing country, we can testify to the fact that the appointment of gender advisers in the field has served a useful purpose.

The six-point priority agenda of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General is a good way to address impunity, empower women to seek redress, strengthen the international political response and foster national ownership.

The Council has set a good example by sending strong signals that sexual and gender-based violence is unacceptable. We should give due credit to the Security Council for transforming the protection of women in armed conflict situations from a soft to a hard issue.