My government welcomes the UN's development of training materials focused on sexual and gender-based violence, as well as other tools to help missions improve their protection strategies. The United States helps the UN to survey current practices and has initiated a workshop for missions with civilian-protection mandates.

We welcome the mainstreaming of the Protection of Civilians activity with the work of the SRSG on Sexual Violence in Conflict and with the working group of the SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict.

In the post-conflict phase, Sri Lanka set up special women's protection units with female police officers and women's centres in former IDP camps, and continues to provide counselling services in the north and east. The Government has given special consideration to raising the social and economic status of war widows.

We wish to highlight in particular the recent advances in fostering the principle of accountability in two important areas of the Council's work, notably in protecting women and children.

The protection of civilians in armed conflict cannot be achieved without promoting respect for and observance by States of their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, first and foremost with a view to ensuring accountability in the event of grave violations. Special attention should also be given to those in vulnerable situations, such as women and children, who face great and multiple risks during conflicts.

We share the general consensus on the importance of drawing up realistic mandates for the protection of civilians and ensuring they are adapted to the real situation on the ground and compatible with the capacity and human resources available to the respective peace keeping missions.

We welcome the commitment of the Security Council to establish a stronger protection framework against sexual violence in conflict and for children in armed conflict, most recently through the resolutions 1960 and 1998.

The last report of the Secretary-General (S/2010/579), submitted in November 2010 pursuant to resolution 1894 (2009), also highlights ongoing and emerging concerns regarding the state of protection of civilians.

Malaysia reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that our peacekeepers are trained to face, to the best of their ability, the multitude of challenges that are prevalent in United Nations peacekeeping operations.

The efforts of the Council to better protect children in armed conflict and to fight against sexual violence in conflict form an integral part of the protection of civilians agenda.