It is important to catalyse partnerships between all relevant actors: civil society, parliaments, academic institutions and women's and youth organizations, as well as the labour and business community.
Their presence on the ground and their very nature and objectives make them particularly useful and appropriate agents to warn of possible nascent conflicts and to help find mutually acceptable solutions.
Active prevention cannot be limited to State institutions, but should also extend to civil society bodies, particularly women's and youth organizations, media, universities and research centres, which can all play an important role in promoting a culture of prevention.
Developing a culture of prevention is also a question of the political participation of those affected, in particular women. Women should be at the core of prevention and sustaining peace.
As many have pointed out today, in order to fully discharge its role in the field of peace and security, the United Nations must support and promote women's participation in national and international political processes. President Dilma Rousseff stressed our commitment to that goal in her speech to the General Assembly yesterday.
Since the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security, missions have been mandated, with significant success, to boost women's participation in electoral and post-conflict processes, to prevent sexual violence, and to increase the presence of female peacekeeping personnel and trained peacekeepers to address gender issues.
I wish to highlight that 10 per cent of our peacekeepers are women — a figure which will surely increase in the years ahead. The Philippines is a strong partner of the United Nations in the promotion of women's active involvement and participation in peacekeeping. We fully support the idea of integrating the gender perspective in the deployment of peacekeeping personnel, and continue to play our part in putting that into practice.
Guatemala is a country that has benefited from United Nations peacekeeping, especially in the area of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration immediately after our peace accords were signed in late 1996.
Thirdly, with regard to delivering on critical roles, the protection of civilians has increasingly become a yardstick for measuring the success of peacekeeping operations. In the context of the protection of civilians, children in armed conflict deserve our special attention. They are the most vulnerable members of societies, both as victims and as coerced participants in conflicts.
The emergence of other challenges to peace, such as violence against civilians, has made peacekeeping operations increasingly important. Gabon feels that an additional effort should be made with regard to conflict prevention. We have stated this and reiterate it today. A culture of prevention would save enormous resources that could then be channelled towards economic and social development.
