Women are decisive actors in the three pillars of achieving lasting peace, namely, economic recovery, social cohesion and political legitimacy. In that respect, it is essential that emphasis be placed in all post conflict phases on strengthening the rule of law as well as the economic and political empowerment of women in order to guarantee their full insertion in the community.

We have moved forward in recognizing the importance of women's participation in peace and security. However, we still face many challenges. What is most important is to join forces so that women and girls are able to exercise their right to live without fear, without violence and with respect and equality of opportunity.

Resolution 1325 (2000), adopted 11 years ago, represents a fundamental milestone, because ever since its adoption the issue of the role of women in peace and security has occupied an important place on the agenda of the Security Council. As a result, it has taken on an important and essential role in the achievement of international peace and security.

Peru believes that the high-level review of the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) proposed for 2015 will be an opportunity to comprehensively review the progress made by the United Nations system and by Member States in the priority areas of prevention, participation, protection, relief and recovery, as well as on the recommendations put forward by the Secretary-General or by a working group established to implement the resolution.

My country resolutely supports the work currently being carried out by UN-Women and encourages it to continue its decisive contribution to the implementation of resolutions relating to peace and security, as well as to follow-up with regard to the indicators that the Secretary-General presented in October 2010.

In that context, my delegation would like to point out that my country is a contributor of military observers. I am pleased to announce that, this November, Peru will deploy women on the ground in peacekeeping operations. We have already said repeatedly that we should never allow sexual violence to be seen as the inevitable consequence of armed conflict.

As we all clearly acknowledge today, women are decisive actors in every stage of long-term peacebuilding processes, which is why we concur with the Secretary-General on the need to encourage women's participation as an integral part of efforts to establish, maintain and build peace.

We note with satisfaction that the draft presidential statement accords with the theme of this open debate, namely, “The role and participation of women in conflict prevention and mediation”. Through the draft presidential statement, the Council recognizes that women can, and do, play crucial roles in the prevention of conflict.

We look forward to the inclusion in next year's report of the Secretary-General of, among other things, specific actions and achievements as well as the challenges faced in the implementation of the presidential statement that we will be adopting later today.

The gaps and challenges hindering the full implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) are indeed substantial. National, regional and international actors must rededicate themselves to addressing them. We believe that developing and implementing national action plans constitutes a viable strategy for fulfilling the obligations under resolution 1325 (2000).