Statement by Deputy Permanent Representative Maria Zabolotskaya at UNSC open debate "Women’s participation in international peace and security – from theory to practice"
Mr.President,
We are thankful to Secretary-General Guterres, Executive Director of UN-Women S.Bahous, ICRC President M.Spoljaric, Director General of Rio Branco Institute M.de Oliveira and civil society briefer for their insights and assessments of the current situation.
As a country with one of the most advanced legislations in terms of protecting women's rights, Russia supports women's participation in peacekeeping processes, including in the negotiation and peacekeeping segments; and their contribution to addressing security issues, resolving armed conflicts and post-conflict recovery.
Such engagement allows for more sustainable and trust-based relations with the local population, prevents occurrence of new and investigates the existing cases of violations against women and children, and facilitates follow-up measures for the rehabilitation and reintegration of victims of such violations.
Conditions for women's participation in all aspects and phases of peacebuilding and political processes must be tailored to fit into each specific situation. Priority should be given to women's professional competencies as well as their personal interests.
In this context, states need to take efforts to protect family and maternity, traditional values as a moral foundation of any society and a prerequisite for successful development in the future.
Mr.President,
Another important area of cooperation is ensuring women's access to resources, technology, and the banking sector in the context of sustainable post-conflict recovery. Increased attention should be paid to the problems of women's development, overcoming poverty, and access to education in countries in situations of armed conflict.
In this connection, unilateral coercive measures constitute a serious problem. UCMs have a devastating impact on women and their families, depriving them of prospects, employment, education, social protection and other benefits. We call on the UN to actively monitor the adverse impact of such measures.
These and other issues should be the focus of the UNSC Informal Experts Group on Women, Peace and Security. The Group should pay more attention to such issues. It is important to avoid politicization, and the decision-making procedure within the Group should meet the requirements of transparency and coherence among its members.
In general, what can guarantee effectiveness of Security Council’s efforts is the implementation of key resolution 1325 and strict adherence to its mandate, which has it that women’s agenda should be addressed in the context of maintenance of international peace and security and in relation to the situations that are on the table of the Security Council. The Council needs to focus on specific tasks and avoid duplicating the work of the UN General Assembly, the UN Human Rights Council and the Peacebuilding Commission.
Mr.President,
Cases of killing or injuring of women, a.i. as a result of indiscriminate or excessive use of force are deeply concerning.
In this connection, we cannot but turn to the situation in Gaza and the unprecedented round of Palestinian-Israeli confrontation, which primarily victimizes women and children. The scale of this humanitarian disaster is growing. Women fall victims to acts of terrorism and the indiscriminate fire against densely populated areas.
We call on the parties to restrain, de-escalate, return to dialogue and find a political and diplomatic solution to the long-standing conflict. For our part, we are taking effort via all possible channels, including the Security Council and the General Assembly, to put an end to the bloodshed.
Mr.President,
Our discussions need to steer clear of politicizing. Alas, some delegations still neglect that rule. We believe it is very important for all of us to monitor compliance by own armed forces with all relevant commitments. Unfortunately, representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States do not care to investigate sexual crimes against women in Afghanistan and Iraq, but for some reason they pay increased attention to the situation in Ukraine.
Summing up, we stress again that women can enjoy safe conditions for joining in peace processes only once shared security is there for all the participants. This is the only approach that can provide for a genuine, reliable, and long-term peace where interests of all stakeholders are taken on board.
For our part, we reaffirm our readiness to engage constructively with all states on issues of equal participation of women in responding to security challenges and in peaceful resolution of conflicts.
Thank you.
