Implementation

Moreover, our multidimensional operations have greatly benefited from the recruitment of gender advisers in each of our missions. Those advisers have provided valuable technical expertise in the Sudan, on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration; in Chad, on prison reform; in Burundi, on election support; and in Afghanistan, on constitutional reform.

With regard to police personnel, beyond the presence of a woman — who is seated behind me — at the head of our entire police force around the world, we have set up a plan to enable us to achieve a 20 per cent proportion of our worldwide police personnel being female by 2014. As for our 15 peacekeeping missions, three are now led by women, while none were a few years ago.

Thirdly, we will continue to engage closely with troop- and police-contributing countries to help them prepare military and police personnel with the knowledge, skills, expertise and profile to effectively implement resolution 1325 (2000).

The development of manuals and training tools for the Blue Helmets has promoted gender mainstreaming in peacekeeping missions and in predeployment planning and training of troops and police.

Secondly, our focus in future must be on building the capacities of women to build and sustain peace in their own countries. We must invest more in facilitating women's participation in political processes and in newly restructured security sector institutions. We must also work closely with local women to identify and implement protection strategies.

Our greatest indicator of success must remain, however, the extent to which our collective energies contribute to building a sustainable, nationally owned platform from which local women, working with men, can themselves define, shape and influence the course of peace in their countries.

In the first instance, there are many more actors engaged in the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) at the field level today than was the case 10 years ago. Besides the gender expertise available within peacekeeping missions, many of our United Nations partner entities are also deploying gender experts to post-conflict countries. That requires that we strengthen the coordination of our efforts on the ground.

Fourthly, during the early post-conflict phases, when peacekeeping missions have the largest presence and resources on the ground, we will continue to provide the leadership and coordination of an integrated United Nations response.

First, the necessary financing must be in place to support implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) — which has not always been the case.

Fifthly, we will actively support the strengthening of accountability and monitoring mechanisms for the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000). The recently developed standardized indicators are a welcome development. The specific indicators related to peacekeeping are, in fact, part of our existing reporting templates and guidelines.