Implementation

The United Kingdom itself benefits substantially from early, regular and close consultation with women's civil society organisations. The United Kingdom civil society umbrella group Gender Action for Peace and Security played an integral part in our own recent National Action Plan review process.

Nationally we have recruited a specialist team of experts available to work in support of the United Nations and civil society to investigate allegations of sexual violence, gather evidence and help countries build their own capacity to do so. The United Kingdom has also contributed $1.5 million to the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict to support her team's work.

Since the adoption of the landmark resolution 1325 (2000), thanks to the efforts of the international community, including non-governmental organizations and women's organizations, progress has been made across a broad range of issues concerning the protection and promotion of women's and girl's rights in conflict-affected situations. However, as today's debate has shown, many obstacles remain.

Secondly, there is conflict-related violence against women. As a way of tackling that problem, we believe that the Security Council should, as appropriate, ensure that ceasefire agreements include sexual violence in their definitions.

Before concluding, I would like to underline the valuable contribution of UN-Women in pursuing United Nations gender-related efforts in a more systematic and coordinated manner. That is evident also in the women and peace and security agenda. In that respect, we welcome the joint strategy on gender and mediation launched by UN-Women and the Department of Political Affairs.

It must be recognized that there is much greater awareness today of the multifaceted discrimination faced by women in conflict and that significant efforts have been made with a view to remedying that situation.

In the same vein, we believe that men also play a crucial role in the promotion of gender equality. The initiatives of civil society organizations that are either led by men or that focus on raising men's awareness on gender equality deserve particular attention, since the struggle of women to enjoy all their rights can succeed only with the full involvement and engagement of men.

In that respect, we believe that national ownership of the relevant Security Council resolutions remains the best way to achieve their effective implementation. My delegation is also convinced that all national actors, including civil society, should be able to contribute actively to promoting the peace process, since a State can lay the foundations of a lasting peace only with the inclusion and support of all of its citizens.

In conclusion, I wish to reiterate that my country remains at the disposal of the United Nations for any undertaking geared towards the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) and of other international instruments aimed at strengthening women's full and broad participation in the decision-making process and in establishing a culture of respect for women's rights.

For its part, Tunisia has begun to establish an action plan on the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000).