First Anniversary
of the Security Council resolution 1325 (2000)
United Nations Inter-agency Panel
on Women, Peace and Security
31 October 2001

Introductory Remarks by Mr. Brian Cowen, T.D.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ireland
President of the Security Council

Madame Chairperson,

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak at this important discussion here today to mark the first anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.

Resolution 1325 is of enormous significance, a landmark in the treatment of this most important of issues by the Council. Resolution 1325 powerfully called for women's full access to power structures and their central role in all efforts to resolve conflict.

Resolution 1325 also illustrates the vital importance of bringing gender perspectives to the centre of attention in all United Nations peacemaking, peacebuilding, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts.

The Public Meeting of the Council that preceded it was the Council's first ever - in its then 52 year history - on the issue of Women, Peace and Security.

The context of its adoption was the unacceptable factors that characterise the experience of women in conflict: a higher than proportionate share of the suffering, misery and horror of conflict and yet a smaller than proportionate share, indeed often almost exclusion - from the political processes that seek to end such conflicts. It is not only time for this to be put right: it is one of the more pressing issues facing the entire international community today and must be at the forefront of our agenda.

As Graça Michel observed in her much lauded study last year on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, women and children constitute three-quarters of the world's refugees and yet are grossly under-represented in peace negotiations.

There is a critical need for women to be adequately and fairly represented in peace processes and in UN peace operations. There is a vital dynamic at work here. As you, Madame Chairperson observed in last year's Council Meeting Awomen's participation in United Nations missions empowers local women and may inspire them to organize for the achievement of a democratic society.

But we must remind ourselves that today is an anniversary, a celebration and a re-dedication to the goals we agreed a year ago. Earlier today I had the honour of reading into the record a Presidential Statement of the Council, a Statement which underlines the importance the Council attaches to Resolution 1325.

Tomorrow we look forward to the establishment of a transitional Government in Burundi. We are all aware of the important contribution that women's groups have made to the peace process in Burundi. The All-Party Burundian Women's Peace Conference held in July last year addressed such critical questions as ending impunity for gender-based war crime and crimes against humanity; guaranteeing women's rights in the constitution and enacting laws to assist in eliminating gender discrimination in Burundian society.

UNIFEM - the United Nations Development Fund for Women - played a key role in convening the conference. It is one of the many areas in which UNIFEM has played such a crucial part, and I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the valuable work done by UNIFEM and its Executive Director, Ms. Noeleen Heyzer.

Closer to home, my home, I can only emphasise that any one who, like me, has worked to help find an agreed solution to the problems of Northern Ireland will be aware of the crucial role of civil society and women's groups in building trust in Northern Ireland, in what Secretary-General Annan has called the work of women's groups in building bridges not walls.

Yesterday Council members had the opportunity to hear in an Arria Formula Meeting important testimonies from women from a huge variety of backgrounds - from East Timor, from Afghanistan, from Kosovo.

I would like, accordingly, to take this opportunity to pay a warm tribute to Ambassador Durrant of Jamaica and her team who provided the draft for the Presidential Statement and who organized the Arria Formula Meeting.

Madame Chairperson

Resolution 1325 requires action within the UN system but also action from member States.

On a national level, Ireland has been strongly supportive of Resolution 1325 and we are anxious to see it fully implemented and taken forward. We are committed to the active promotion of the full observance of universal human rights standards. This includes promoting the rights of women and mainstreaming gender concerns across the range of UN activity and our foreign policy. Since we joined the Security Council in January, we have endeavoured to put particular emphasis on women and security issues. We have worked hard to protect the rights of women and have highlighted specific issues to the Council, including the level of sexual violence against women in Sierra Leone and allegations that East Timorese women are being forced into sexual slavery in West Timor. We look forward to participating in the Security Council Meeting on Children in Armed Conflict next month, bearing in mind the particular impact that armed conflict has on the girl child.

At the time of adoption of Resolution 1325, we felt strongly that the utmost importance must be given to the special needs of women and girls in all stages of peace agreements, including repatriation, rehabilitation, reintegration and post-conflict reconstruction and in particular we emphasised the crucial role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflict and the importance of including women in the vital area of peace-building. Accordingly, we were delighted when Resolution 1325 was adopted. We believe it is already having, and will continue to have a major effect.

Earlier this month, Ireland published a draft National Plan for Women, 2001 - 2005 which will lead into a three month consultation process on a national plan to promote women's advancement. In our plan we are making commitments to tackle gender inequalities in health, education and training, to reduce poverty and violence against women, and to promote women's participation in power and decision-making at all levels. We have set the targets and we know there is much to be done.

Madame Chairperson

We take on board fully the observations made by Secretary-General Annan in the Public Meeting of the Council, a week before the adoption of the Resolution, that the UN Charter tells us that while the Organization was set up to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, it also proclaims the equal rights of men and women, and that we must live up to both challenges or we shall not succeed fully in either.

Resolution 1325 is more than a statement of intention. It is a process and today we will have the opportunity to hear from the United Nations Under Secretaries-General about the process of implementation of 1325.

We are deeply aware of the significance of the study that you, Madame Chairperson, are coordinating the preparation of, across the UN System, and of the intensive work that is going into its preparation.

Ireland was not a member of the Security Council when Resolution 1325 was adopted. But we will be a member when Secretary-General submits to the Council the Report requested by the Resolution. We believe that this Report will be a hugely important aspect of the Council's work.

We wish you well in this important endeavour and we look forward very much to participating in the Council's deliberations on the Secretary-General's Report next year.

In closing, let me wish you all well in the important work ahead in the implementation of Resolution 1325.

Thank you.