General Assembly Security Council

 Statement by Ambassador Asoke Kumar Mukerji, Permanent Representative, at the Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security at the UN Security Council, on   October 13, 2015

 

 

Mr. President,   

 

At the outset, we thank you for organizing the open debate on this important and pertinent issue and the informative concept note. We also thank the Secretary General for his annual report on the Agenda including the select findings of the global study on implementation of resolution 1325, as well as the briefers on their constructive remarks.

 

The report is being considered at a historic moment, when we have just adopted Agenda 2030, and commemorated the 40th anniversary of the historic first UN Women's Conference held in Mexico, and the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Plan of Action.

 

The annual report underscores that armed conflict has escalated to unprecedented levels, dramatically reversing progress made, including in the area of women, peace and security. About 60 million people have been forcibly displaced, there is blatant violation of human rights, increasing gender based sexual violence, and growing involvement of non-state actors.

 

 Mr. President,

 Mainstreaming the gender perspective in the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda is a sine qua non for lasting peace and security. To sustain solutions to conflict situations, we must synergize the WPS Agenda with the relevant Agenda 2030 goals for sustainable development. Unless the members of the Security Council are able to reflect this perspective into their deliberations while drawing up mandates for peace operations, we will not succeed in doing so. Developing countries must have a greater presence in the permanent membership of this Council. This is why the existing structure of the Security Council needs early reforms, as decided by all our leaders at the 2005 World Summit.

 

Due to this major shortcoming, the elaborate normative framework and the Secretary General's 7-Point Action Plan on gender-responsive peacebuilding, has not been achieved. The United Nations must encourage the full and meaningful participation and leadership of women in the decision making processes of conflict prevention, conflict-resolution and post-conflict reconstruction. In this context, our pioneering role in Liberia, where India became the first UN member state to send an all-female peacekeeping unit, illustrates what we are calling for.

 

High priority must be accorded to effectively tackling the problem of increasing emergence of non-state actors in conflict situations, who are immune to coercive and punitive measures. The Council should take the lead in investigating and prosecuting such non-state actors, and not be atrophied by the opaque procedures in its sanctions regimes, which have been further distorted by hidden vetoes, called technical holds or blocks, cast by some permanent members without accountability.

 

National governments have to be encouraged and assisted in developing and implementing national strategies in the context of Resolution 1325. The key to national capacity building is not the temporary location of external humanitarian experts, but the actual process of transfer of experience in human resource development and building national institutions by member states which are willing and able to share their experiences. Our recent commitment at the Leaders' Summit on UN Peacekeeping to ramp up our contribution of enablers and skilled female personnel from our armed forces, especially our police forces, is an illustration of how India proposes to address this issue. It goes without saying that such assistance must be with the consent of the host government, so that the United Nations can actually contribute to the objectives of peacebuilding. It is logical for us to highlight to the Council that such an approach, based on our experience as a Troop Contributing Country to UN peace operations, requires the Council to implement in letter and spirit the provisions of Article 44 of the Charter, which allows troop contributing countries like us, not represented in the Council, to sit face to face with members of the Council while drawing up the mandates of UN peace operations.

 

 Mr. President,

 

 Resolution 1325 highlighted the impact of armed conflict on women, peace and security and the need for effective institutional arrangements to guarantee full protection and participation of women in peace processes. Any diversion from this objective towards other thematic issues, including human rights, violent extremism and countering terrorism would endanger and dilute the work being done separately in the UNGA and the Council, and put undue strain on already stretched resources of the United Nations.

 

Mr. President,

 

In conclusion, I reiterate that India is committed to partner with all member states and the United Nations, civil society and local communities, to positively contribute to international efforts in the effective implementation of the agenda of women and peace and security.

 

Thank you.