Participation

Apart from the United Nations, we continue to have strong support from our development partners — Australia and New Zealand, along with other partners such as the European Union — which are prioritizing gender empowerment and equality by providing capacity-building programmes for our women and girls in the area of peace and security.

We support the Special Representative's call to strengthen national institutions in order to provide sustainable assistance to victims of sexual violence. Technical assistance may be provided, on request, to concerned States for reforming and rebuilding the judicial, legislative and electoral sectors, as well as for the economic, social and political empowerment of women.

The six-point priority agenda of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General is a good way to address impunity, empower women to seek redress, strengthen the international political response and foster national ownership.

Sustainable peace cannot be achieved without inclusive processes in which women's agency and contributions are fully recognized. We strongly commend the tireless work of civil society organizations in continuing to advance women's participation and bringing their voices from the ground to the fore of international peace and security.

Security threats against women are often dismissed as belonging to the private sphere or are written off as cultural issues. But let us be clear, conflict-related sexual violence can constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity, and, in the most extreme cases, an act of genocide. We must respond with the same sense of urgency as we do to other threats against peace and security.

The Netherlands has for decades put gender equality at the heart of all its policies. Internationally, we support female leadership, the follow-up of resolution 1325 (2000), women's economic empowerment and the elimination of sexual violence against women.

My delegation is deeply concerned that forced marriage, rape and sexual slavery have been documented in several States in conflict and have occurred under the pretext of Islamic sharia law. Malaysia wishes to emphasize that Islam does not condone forced marriage, rape or sexual slavery in any way. We believe that education is key to reducing the incidence of sexual violence.

My delegation believes that women's equal, full and active participation is key to peacekeeping and peacebuilding.

In that context, my delegation welcomes the various initiatives and actions undertaken by Member States, United Nations entities, including UN-Women, civil society organizations and other relevant actors that are focused on supporting and increasing the representation of women in peace negotiations and mainstreaming gender perspectives into peace agreements.

We know the extent to which crisis resolution and post-conflict situations are volatile and precarious. That is why it is important once again to ensure the involvement of women in peace processes so that peace and ceasefire agreements fully and systematically take into account the issue of sexual violence.