General Women, Peace and Security

Recognizes the significant progress achieved on gender equality in Afghanistan in recent years, strongly condemns continuing forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls, in particular violence aimed at preventing girls from attending schools, stresses the importance of implementing Security Council Resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008), and requests the Secretary-General to continue to include in its report to the Security Council relevant information on the process on integration of women into the political, economic and social life of Afghanistan;

34. Encourages all Afghan institutions, including the executive and legislative branches, to work in a spirit of cooperation, calls on the Afghan Government to pursue continued legislative and public administration reform in order to ensure good governance, with full representation of all Afghan women and men, and accountability at both national and subnational levels, and stresses the need for further international efforts to provide technical assistance in this area;

37. Welcomes the Afghan Government's commitment to strengthen the participation of women in all Afghan governance institutions, including elected and appointed bodies and the civil service, supports efforts to accelerate implementation of the National Action Plan for Women in Afghanistan (NAPWA), to integrate its benchmarks into the National Priority Programmes and to develop a strategy to implement the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) law, including services to victims, recalls that the promotion and protection of women's rights are an integral part of peace, reintegration and reconciliation, and requests the Secretary-General to continue to include in its reports to the Security Council relevant information on the process of integration of women into the political, economic and social life of Afghanistan;

36. Recognizes that despite progress achieved on gender equality, enhanced efforts are necessary to secure the rights of women and girls, strongly condemns continuing forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls, in particular violence aimed at preventing girls from attending schools, stresses the importance of implementing Security Council resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009) and 1960 (2010), and of ensuring that women fleeing domestic violence are able to find save and secure refuge;

11. Welcomes the renewed efforts of the Afghan Government, including through the national Consultative Peace Jirga held in June 2010, the establishment of the High Peace Council and the implementation of the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Programme, to promote dialogue with those elements in opposition to the Government who are ready to renounce violence, break ties with Al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations, denounce terrorism and accept the Afghan Constitution, particularly as it relates to gender and human rights issues, and encourages the Government of Afghanistan to make use of UNAMA's good offices to support this process as appropriate, in full respect of the implementation of measures and procedures introduced by the Security Council in its resolution 1267 (1999), 1822 (2008) and 1904 (2009) as well as other relevant resolutions of the Council, also welcomes the measures taken by the Government of Afghanistan, and encourages it to continue to increase the participation of women, minorities and civil society in outreach and consultation processes, and recalls that women can play a vital role in the peace process, as recognized in Security Council resolution 1325 (2010) and related resolutions;

Recalling its resolutions 1265 (1999), 1296 (2000), 1674 (2006), 1738 (2006) and 1894 (2009) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, its resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008) and 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009) and 1960 (2010) on women and peace and security, and its resolution 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009) on children and armed conflict, and taking note of the report of the Secretary-General (S/2011/55) on Children and Armed Conflict in Afghanistan,

Recognizing the courage and dedication of millions of women and men who exercised their right to vote, in the face of serious security threats, in the 2010 legislative elections, recognizing also the Afghan leadership in the elections, including the work of the Independent Electoral Commission and the Electoral Complaints Commission, welcoming the inauguration of a new Wolesi Jirga, recalling the Government of Afghanistan's commitments at the Kabul Conference to long-term electoral reform, and stressing the need for completing electoral reforms in order to ensure that future elections will be transparent, credible and democratic, and reaffirming that Afghanistan's peaceful future lies in the building of a stable, secure, economically self-sufficient state, free of terrorism and narcotics and based on strengthened democratic institutions, respect for the separation of powers, reinforced constitutional checks and balances and the guarantee and enforcement of citizens' rights and obligations,

Recalling its resolutions 1265 (1999), 1296 (2000), 1674 (2006) and 1738 (2006) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, its resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009) and 1889 (2009) on women and peace and security, and its resolutions 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009) on children and armed conflict,

e. Welcoming the ongoing implementation of the 2 April 2009 Joint Communiqué by the political parties, including efforts to prevent political violence among the youth and to enhance greater political participation of women, and underlining the need for political parties to hasten the full implementation of its provisions and to ensure that their supporters abide by the code of conduct for political parties and remain committed to sustained cessation of the political violence in Sierra Leone,

Condemning the serious abuses and violations of international law in Côte d'Ivoire, including humanitarian, human rights and refugee law, reaffirming the primary responsibility of each State to protect civilians and reiterating that parties to armed conflicts bear the primary responsibility to take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of civilians and facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance and the safety of humanitarian personnel, recalling its resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009) and 1889 (2009) on women, peace and security, its resolution 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009) on children and armed conflict and its resolution 1674 (2006) and 1894 (2009) on the protection of civilians in armed conflicts,