Implementation

United Nations field presences must fully engage with women in civil society and the community. New Zealand thus encourages a consistent practice of deploying gender advisers to peacekeeping missions, with their role continuing through any transitional arrangements to assist in post-conflict processes.

In addition to the existing Pacific Regional Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, which New Zealand is continuing to implement along with its regional partners, we are proceeding with the development of a comprehensive national action plan of our own.

In 2013 we have seen a very real focus by the Security Council on the protection aspect of the women and peace and security agenda. The Council's high- profile debate in June (S/PV.6984) and resolution 2106 (2013) demonstrated solid progress in that regard. The Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, endorsed by 113 States, including my own, was a landmark.

Hard tools, such as sanctions regimes that target perpetrators of sexual violence and appropriately mandated and trained peacekeeping missions, are effective instruments for the protection agenda, but the participation dimension of the women and peace and security agenda still requires targeted action by the Council. Indeed, the Council's role in addressing women's political participation in the peace and security agenda remains a challenge.

Beyond simply being a just democratic principle, there are many tangible reasons for that. It builds trust in post-conflict justice institutions, and UN Women's research shows that women are more likely to report sexual and gender-based crimes to transitional justice institutions that involve women judges and officials.

Secondly, we support the women's agenda in countries in conflict or transition. In his report, the Secretary- General finds that deficits remain in opportunities for women to exercise leadership, with shortfalls existing in the resources provided to support women and strengthen their organizational capacities.

First of all, the Government of the Netherlands sees women as leaders. In our national action plan based on guidelines set forth in resolution 1325 (2000), as well as in our wider human rights and gender equality policies, we have chosen to focus on the role of women as political actors in conf lict prevention, conf lict resolution and recovery.

Fifthly and lastly, we stand ready to share experiences and improve on our joint implementation of the women and peace and security agenda. We offer our full support and cooperation to the global review on the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) that UN Women is currently undertaking. In that context, we are pleased to announce that, in late 2014, the Netherlands will host an international conference on lessons learned.

As documented by that review, training, education and exercises remain key tools for ensuring that our security institutions and armed forces have the necessary competencies. We have made strides in strengthening the gender training offered under the auspices of NATO. The Nordic Centre for Gender in Military Operations, situated in Sweden, has been appointed department head for NATO gender training in military operations.

A key lesson is that we need to strengthen our focus on the implementation of already existing policies, action plans and directives. We are therefore pursuing the continued integration of a gender perspective into all phases and activities related to conflict analysis, planning and the execution of crisis management operations, and we are strengthening the role of gender advisers in the field.