Implementation

"Given women's strong stake in peace and in how peace is negotiated, kept and consolidated, the role of women as peacemakers and peacebuilders must be integrated into the various stages of engagement, outreach and decision-making. Increased integration in pursuing the agenda on women and peace and security is useful for enhanced coordination and for avoiding duplication and the overlap of efforts and resources.

While it is obvious that States have the primary responsibility for ensuring that the Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security are translated into action, regional organizations working on the maintenance of international peace and security such as the OSCE, also have a recognized role.

To take just one example: the OSCE promotes gender balance in its work with judicial personnel because we believe that diversity has a positive impact on women's access to justice and the perceived legitimacy of the judiciary.

There is a good window of opportunity now to give women peace and security issues a boost on the regional level as the UN is currently leading a process of strengthening the role of regional organizations under Chapter VIII of the UN Charter, dealing with conflict prevention, in particular early warning and early action.

I would like to conclude by drawing attention to the good cooperation between OSCE Field Operations and UN Women offices on Women, Peace and Security issues. For example, next month we will be co-hosting a conference in Almaty for OSCE participating States to discuss with expert representatives and Civil Society Organizations progress in drafting and implementing National Action Plans or other strategies on Security Council Resolution 1325.

Allow me at this point, Mr. President, to refer to one more issue that we believe is important also in the framework of today's debate. The OSCE is a leader in a key peace and security issue that is not discussed enough from a “Women, Peace and Security” perspective: integrating a gender perspective in combating violent extremism and radicalization that leads to terrorism.

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.

Nigeria shares the Secretary-General's view that there has been measurable progress in all areas of the women and peace and security agenda, especially as it relates to the increased provision of expertise and training.

Nigeria is committed to the implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions on women and peace and security. Strident steps have been taken at the national level to ensure the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000). In the same vein, Nigeria stresses the importance of compliance with resolution 1820 (2008), on ending acts of sexual violence against women in conflict situations.

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.