Participation

Sexual violence against women and girls in conflict and post-conflict situations should remain a matter of high priority to the international community. More needs to be done to hold accountable the perpetrators of such heinous acts. Indeed, the adoption of resolution 2016 (2013), in June, underscored the need for more systematic monitoring of sexual violence in armed conflict.

In spite of those accomplishments, we believe that considerable work still needs to be done to overcome the challenges posed by a lack of implementation of commitments on women and peace and security. A nexus must be created among women's participation, security and the core work of United Nations peacekeeping operations — often overlooked when gender-specific information is provided to the Council.

New Zealand's experience, in its own region and beyond is that credible, informal and tradition-based justice systems have a demonstrated role in establishing accountability. In post-conflict societies, it is often informal justice mechanisms that are the most accessible for justice, mediation and conflict resolution.

In June, when the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region, Mary Robinson, made her first statement to the United Nations family in her new role, she spoke of women not as victims but as stakeholders. She questioned the sustainability of any peace that half the population has had no role in building and she called for women to be put at the core of peacebuilding. New Zealand agrees.

Hard tools, such as sanctions regimes that target perpetrators of sexual violence and appropriately mandated and trained peacekeeping missions, are effective instruments for the protection agenda, but the participation dimension of the women and peace and security agenda still requires targeted action by the Council. Indeed, the Council's role in addressing women's political participation in the peace and security agenda remains a challenge.

Beyond simply being a just democratic principle, there are many tangible reasons for that. It builds trust in post-conflict justice institutions, and UN Women's research shows that women are more likely to report sexual and gender-based crimes to transitional justice institutions that involve women judges and officials.

We encourage the Security Council to remain committed to the full agenda of resolution 1325 (2000), including the meaningful participation of women in all peace negotiations, security sector reform and decision-making related to conflict resolution and post- conflict rebuilding. We call upon the Security Council to more systematically implement the women and peace and security agenda.

We also welcome efforts by United Nations mediators to include women in peace and transition processes. Yemen is an inspiring example, where, against all odds, women are participating in the National Dialogue and are claiming their role in the next phases of transition. We also pay tribute to Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Mary Robinson's outreach to women early on in her mandate, as our Irish colleague briefly mentioned a moment ago.

First of all, the Government of the Netherlands sees women as leaders. In our national action plan based on guidelines set forth in resolution 1325 (2000), as well as in our wider human rights and gender equality policies, we have chosen to focus on the role of women as political actors in conf lict prevention, conf lict resolution and recovery.

NATO fully recognizes the need to ensure access to justice for all, and we recognize the challenges that occur when the rule of law breaks down in a conflict situation and when there is no equality before the law.