With respect to national action plans, we note with interest the references in the Secretary-General's report to the practices in some countries of providing for the production of shadow reports of civil society organizations as part of their monitoring mechanisms. Following the adoption of its national action plan, Lithuania intends to apply for membership in the Group of Friends of resolution 1325 (2000).
The improvement of the status of women, in particular in countries with identified patterns of conflictrelated sexual violence, starts with addressing the very basic issues involved in enabling women to live a more decent life.
Successive chairmanships of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), including that of Lithuania, have sought to include gender issues within the scope of OSCE activities related to peace and security. Ministerial Council Decision 14/05 builds in part on resolution 1325 (2000) and calls for engaging women in conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation.
Lithuania attaches particular importance to conflict prevention. We support the first General Assembly resolution on strengthening the role of mediation in the peaceful settlement of disputes (resolution65/283), which, inter alia, advocates the enhanced role of women in peace mediation.
Last June, women leaders from all parts of the world — Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral Wallström among them — met in Vilnius at a conference entitled “Women Enhancing Democracy: Best Practices” under the Lithuanian presidency of the Community of Democracies, and shared their experiences and best practices in enhancing the role of women.
The Lithuanian National Programme on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men 2010-2014 raised, for the first time, gender issues in the national defence system and included measures for training gender experts who will now prepare Lithuanian personnel in this area for deployment to missions and operations.
Resolution 1325 (2000) is relevant to the implementation of Lithuania's foreign, security and development cooperation policy objectives, as well as our participation in international peacebuilding and peacekeeping missions. Lithuania was one of 38 Member States that contributed to the Secretary-General's report on women and peace and security (S/2011/598*).
We welcome the latest report of the Secretary-General (S/2011/598*), which for the first time measures the progress of implementing resolution 1325 (2000) against specific indicators.
The Rome Statute of the ICC has significantly advanced international law by including sexual violence in the definition of crimes, in particular as a crime against humanity. The ICC therefore represents an important mechanism in the fight against sexual violence, which should be better integrated in the Security Council work on the issue.
The Council must increase its efforts to incorporate a gender perspective in relevant country specific resolutions, with a view to increasing women's participation in peace negotiations and mediation and in meeting the specific concerns of women during post-conflict reconstruction.
