Implementation

Ireland is already seeking to take these recommendations forward. For example, sexual and gender-based violence has been incorporated as an indicator into an Irish Government-funded early warning/early response system in Timor-Leste.

Conflict and sexual violence feed off one another. The poisonous interrelationship is fully demonstrated in the Secretary-General's report. This is an excellent report, clear and dispassionate in its analysis and incisive in its recommendations. Ireland strongly supports the full range of recommendations and welcomes the extent to which they have been reflected in the resolution.

Among the particular priorities stressed throughout this initiative were the need to fight against the culture of impunity in relation to sexual violence, to exclude sex crimes from amnesties, to improve women's access to formal, traditional and transitional justice, to increase awareness among family members and community leaders of issues surrounding sexual and gender-based violence, to enhance capacity to prosecute sex crimes, and to incorp

A further source of insight for us has been the cross-learning process on women, peace and security that Ireland conducted in partnership with Liberia and Timor-Leste. This innovative initiative drew on the experiences of those directly affected by conflict in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Liberia and Timor-Leste to discuss the most critical issues facing women and girls n conflict and post-conflict settings.

We take great pride in the stellar record of our peacekeepers, both men and women, in the protection of women, children and the weak. Indian troops have apprehended some of the principal culprits behind the recent sexual violence in the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We can do much more if more resources are made available.

We believe that women's protection advisers have a key role to play in implementation, and we would be happy to contribute such personnel. We value the contributions of civil society in that arena.

The weakest are the biggest victims of conflict and, as the Secretary-General points out in his report (S/2010/604), women continue to suffer appallingly in conflicts. Sexual violence is, according to the report, not merely a consequence of conflict but a driver. It perpetuates conflict and locks its victims into a vicious cycle of violence and oppression.

The Security Council must ensure that the resources needed to implement its mandates are available. United Nations missions are being asked to do more with less. For example, the resolution that was just adopted will expand the mandate without expanding already inadequate resources.

The resolution that was adopted yesterday (resolution 1960 (2010)) and which we sponsored, will add a number of new dimensions to the ongoing work. While the objectives of that framework are laudable, its implementation remains a work in progress. We will, during our term on the Council, remain seriously engaged with both the evolution of the normative side and its implementation.

The monitoring and reporting mechanism, which is to provide the data on the basis of which the system is to operate, needs close supervision by Member States to ensure its veracity and credibility. Data collection and analysis, as well as listing and de-listing, should be carried out in a transparent and judicious manner under the close supervision of Member States.