Implementation

As far as facts in the report are concerned, they have been compiled on the basis of the first third of the assessment indicators on the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000), and we still have questions regarding the usefulness and relevance of individual indicators, as well as the scope for applying them. We believe that work on indicators, which is still undergoing approval, must be transparent and open in nature.

After all, issues of international peace and security are of interest to all States Members of the United Nations. We do not share the report's concept of using national plans of action for the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) as an assessment tool for States' policies to improve the overall status of women. Relevant national plans ought to be prepared voluntarily by those States that find themselves in situations of armed conflict.

Fourthly, we would like to underline the crucial role played by women's civil society organizations in conf lict- resolution and peacebuilding. In that regard, the Republic of Korea attaches great importance to the interactions between the Security Council and women's organizations.

Thirteen years after the adoption of the historic resolution 1325 (2000), the culmination of a long process concerning women and international peace and security, the Security Council is still considering the issue. Our debates, however, reveal shortcomings in the area of the rights of women, which are being terribly violated, particularly in the Arab world.

I would first like to congratulate you, Mr. President, on your assumption of the presidency of the Council for October, and to thank the Permanent Representative of Australia for his leadership of the Council last month. I am also grateful the Secretary-General and the Executive Director of UN Women for their contributions this morning.

Let me conclude by stressing the role of the economic, social and cultural rights of women as a central component of protection. Portugal strongly supports the inclusion of this subject in the Secretary- General's latest report (S/2013/525). These issues belong at the forefront of our discussions on women and peace and security and we commend his effort to do so.

We welcome the convening of this debate under your auspices, Mr. President. We are grateful to the Secretary- General for his insightful briefing and for his strong leadership in advancing the agenda on women and peace and security. Pakistan welcomes the statements made this morning by Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the Executive Director of UN Women, and by Ms. Navanethem Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

We believe that the real value of thematic discussions in the Council is to help identify the related aspects in the Council's country-specific work in practical terms. It is there that the gaps in implementation lie and it is there that action is needed the most.

Appreciable progress has been made over the years in promoting the agenda on women and peace and security, but much remains to be done to fully translate the objectives of resolution 1325 (2000) and subsequent decisions of the Council into more tangible results on the ground. We do have a solid and comprehensive normative framework in our hands; resolution 2122 (2013), adopted today, further consolidates it.

"We speak on the subject from experience, and our feedback to the Security Council is positive. The Council's decisions and direction are helping women caught in situations of armed conflict. We believe that the Council should continue to address those issues in accordance with its primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security.