We are in a transitional phase of providing and improving women's access to food, water, health, education and economic opportunities. The Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020 has a gender orientation to it.
One of the six main goals of the UN-Women strategic plan, 2011-2013 (see UNW/2011/9), deals with women's leadership in peace, security and humanitarian response. That plan has outcomes with targets and indicators by which we can measure progress over time.
My delegation is mindful of the deep gaps within resolution 1325 (2000), as it deals merely with peace and security, not development. Our reading of the resolution is that it engages women becoming agents of change in conflict prevention, management and peacebuilding, acting as fire-fighters putting out fires without looking at the causes of conflict.
Given our lack of capacity and resources, much of the work on gender in Solomon Islands is externally supported and heavily consultant-driven. That said, our homegrown faith-based gender components have been in existence for the past couple of decades. We are assisted by the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI).
As a country emerging from conflict, we have put in place a number of peace and security initiatives. We have adopted traditional and external mechanisms. We have borrowed the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission model, which has a gender chapter to it.
Our concern is that the United Nations gender- supported early warning system initiative, initiated years back, unfortunately did not grow roots nationally and went silent after completion of the project. In that regard, we have been calling for an enhanced United Nations presence in Solomon Islands to ensure that there is a permanent partnership in transferring projects within the country.
While welcoming the zero tolerance policy on sexual violence of the Secretary-General, we must, in addition, insist on the need to bolster the role of women in conflict-prevention and resolution. Nevertheless, the poor results in that area have undoubtedly been due to the continuing low participation of women in the drafting of implementation strategies.
My delegation has a special interest in the topic, because resolution 1325 (2000) represented an enormous step forward in the protection of women and highlighted the importance of their role in all aspects of United Nations peacekeeping.
My country has allocated a significant part of its budget to education and health, and on 14 May 2010, it adopted a law to establish full parity in all partially or fully elected bodies. In that manner, Senegal intends to ensure the effective participation of women in decision-making processes. To follow up on that law, a national gender-parity monitoring body was set up and will be officially inaugurated on 16 November.
It is certain that those significant national and regional level initiatives are welcome. However, they will achieve the desired success only if linked with an international dynamic inspired by the Security Council and based on coordinated efforts on the part of UN-Women and all of the other relevant bodies.
