Participation

This also implies working closely with civil society in our countries, as we are doing in the Netherlands. We have had a very positive experience in working together with non-governmental organizations, both in developing and implementing and monitoring our national action plan.

Furthermore, we welcome the fact that, in the resolution adopted this morning, the Peacebuilding Commission and the Peacebuilding Support Office are encouraged to systematically include women in peacebuilding efforts and to improve the participation of women in political and economic decision-making from the earliest stages of the peacebuilding process.

But even women who have been violated have a voice. These are not merely voices of victims, but voices of citizens who want to contribute directly to conflict prevention, the maintenance of peace and post- conflict reconstruction in their countries. That is the second dimension: the empowerment of women in matters of peace and war.

However, as the Secretary-General's report notes and as the distinguished speakers before me have also remarked today, much work remains to be done to achieve implementation of resolution 1325 (2000). We note with concern that significant progress is still needed to ensure the equal and substantive participation of women at all levels in peace and security decision-making, particularly in negotiations in post-conflict situations.

Women and girls are often the primary victims of conflict and have specific needs in post-conflict situations, especially when they have been displaced, are refugees, or have been mistreated or maimed by anti-personnel landmines, as so rightly noted by Ms. Alberdi this morning. Those specific needs must be taken into account in assessing countries' requirements as they emerge permanently from conflict.

My country strives for the systematic incorporation of the gender dimension in its cooperation projects in order to better to respond to the Millennium Development Goals, and fully backs the peace initiatives taken by local women's groups and the exhaustive work of non-governmental organizations to ensure the equal participation of women in post-conflict situations.

Luxembourg also stresses the important role that the Peacebuilding Commission could play in encouraging all parties, including States on its agenda, to provide for the participation of women in their peacebuilding strategies and to ensure that women's civil society organizations be effectively consulted and represented in country-specific configurations.

Thus our efforts to guarantee the full and equal participation of women — as well-intentioned as they may have been — have clearly been insufficient. We hope that the input given during this debate today will lead, nine years after the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000), to significant improvements.

Some years ago, the Liechtenstein delegation headed a group of like-minded ambassadors aimed at increasing the presence of women in positions such as special envoys and special representatives in particular. The success of this cooperation with the then Secretary-General was very modest, despite regular expressions of good intentions.

Resolution 1325 (2000) calls for an increase in the participation of women at decision-making levels in conflict resolution and peace processes. According to data made available to the Council by the United Nations Development Fund for Women, only 2.4 per cent of signatories to peace agreements are women and no woman has ever been appointed as a chief mediator.