Participation

Resolution 1325 (2000) remains the effective reference for enhancing women's roles in preventing and settling armed conflicts, in post-conflict reconstruction and in the protection of women's rights in conflict situations.

The second point concerns the persistent lack of participation by women throughout the peace process, which is a core element of resolution 1325 (2000). As the Secretary-General's report expresses, a persistent cause of concern is that women continue to be virtually absent from the peace table and to be severely underrepresented as third-party mediators in most conflict-affected countries.

Portugal reaffirms its commitment to the full implementation of resolution 1325 (2000). We adopted last August our national plan of action to contribute to the implementation of that document at the national, regional and international policy levels.

Our national plan recognizes the specific impacts of contemporary wars on the lives of women and addresses the efforts to prevent, combat and mitigate these impacts.

It is our belief that the equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes has a positive impact on the international security system, thus favouring the implementation of the objectives of the Security Council - maintaining peace and security.

Furthermore, our national action plan emphasizes that women and girls are relevant and capable actors of change and development, and is based on the conviction that, first, it is critical that we overcome the traditional perspective of women and girls as being exclusively vulnerable victims in need of protection, and that, secondly, it is thus essential to implement measures that guarantee that this perspective will be taken into consideration

Allow me briefly to highlight five main objectives of our plan.

We are currently conducting field consultations for a National Action Plan on Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008) in various regions of the Philippines. These consultations will culminate in a national consultation in Manila on 19 October 2009.

It took a whole nine years after the passage of the landmark resolution 1325 (2000) for the Council to request a study on women's participation and inclusion in peacebuilding in the aftermath of a conflict. My delegation believes that such a report is long overdue and should therefore be given the promptest attention, if the United Nations is to urgently address the situation of the millions of women affected by the ravages of war.

We therefore welcome resolution 1888 (2009), which the Council adopted last week, as well as resolution 1889 (2009), which was adopted today and which the Netherlands would have wished to sponsor. That is because those resolutions give women more of a voice in these matters — for example, through the country reports to the Security Council.