Mr. President,
I thank the Presidency of Brazil for organizing this important debate. I also thank the Secretary-General and other distinguished briefers for their remarks.
Bangladesh aligns itself with the statement made by Canada on behalf of the Group of Friends on Women, Peace and Security.
Mr. President,
At the outset I express my delegation’s full commitment to this important agenda. Having been born out of a devastating war that caused 200,000 women suffer from conflict related sexual violence, we prioritized women’s equal participation in all our post-conflict recovery efforts. Our painful legacy has also inspired us to play a key role, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, in the adoption of its founding resolution 1325.
Over the years, successive security council resolutions have expanded scope and dimensions of the agenda. Unfortunately, transformation of this agenda from theory to practice has remained slow and inadequate.
Mr. President,
Allow me to highlight a few points:
First, in order to advance full realization of the WPS agenda, it is critical to develop and apply an effective compliance mechanism at the country level. In this regard, we welcome the initiative of UN Women to develop a tracker that monitors trends across a set of indicators by tracking women’s participation in peace processes globally and the gender responsiveness of the peace agreements.
Second, we believe the Council itself has a responsibility to lead by example. Engagement of greater number of women in Council proceedings is crucial in this regard. We are encouraged to see that there have been some improvements. The number of women briefers invited to speak at the Council has increased to 46 per cent, compared to 19 per cent on average between 2013 and 2017. Going forward the Council needs to make sure that the views and recommendations of women briefers are duly incorporated in relevant resolutions and decisions.
Third, we commend the contribution of peacekeeping operations in increasing advancing gender equality and women’s participation in host countries, and in integrating gender perspectives across all areas of mandate delivery. We need to do more to increase the number of women peacekeepers in military contingents and formed police units.
We also wish to highlight the positive developments in the Peacebuilding Commission in this regard. During the Chairmanship of Bangladesh in 2022, 58 per cent of meetings of the Commission were informed by briefings from women peacebuilders, representing an increase from 52 per cent in 2021. We hope the trend will continue and the Commission will amplify the messages received from women briefers in its advices to other UN bodies including the Security Council.
Fourth, creating a safe and conducive environment for women is imperative to fully materialize the WPS agenda. In this regard, we emphasize on addressing sexual violence in conflict, ensuring accountability for crime and harassment against women, and strengthening security and judicial sector institutions. We also highlight the importance of ensuring safe space for the women in the context of current digital transformation.
Finally, we need to ensure adequate, predictable and sustained financing for implementation of the WPS agenda. In this regard, we recall the recommendations of the UNSG ensuring the availability of predictable resources to gender equality and women and peace and security programming and expertise during peacekeeping mission drawdowns and transitions; contributing to UN’s efforts to raise $300 million in new funding pledges for women’s organizations and allocating a minimum of 15 per cent of official development assistance (ODA) to gender equality. We also note the recommendation of the Secretary General in his New Agenda for Peace and call for increased investment in livelihoods and social protection sector to advance the WPS agenda on the ground.
Mr. Chair, as we head towards the twenty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000) in 2025, let me conclude by echoing the words of the Secretary General that – “women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in building peace should be the norm, not an aspiration or an afterthought.”
I thank you all.