Swedish Statement at the UN Peacebuilding Committee meeting on Women, Peace and Security

Thank you Chair and briefers for your excellent contributions. Highlighting real challenges on from the ground and up.

Today’s meeting provides a good opportunity to further elaborate how we can make gender equality and the WPS Agenda central to UN work in peace and security.

I have three key points:

• First, there is a need for closer connection across UN peace and security-related fora and entities, including the PBC, Security Council, GA, HR Council, Fifth Committee, to enable/ensure effective integration of WPS perspectives by DPPA and DPO, including OMA. In addition, close cooperation between DPO and DPPA is needed to ensure operational impact and cross-learning between peacekeeping and peacebuilding for a more systematic implementation of the WPS Agenda.
• Second, UN operations must be adequately resourced to support to peace and political processes over time. The Peacebuilding Fund plays an important role in transition contexts focusing on its peacebuilding-niche. In addition, we must ensure long-term, adequate and flexible financing to women peacebuilders.
• Third, we must defend the defenders and act to prevent conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence. Civil society, especially women peacebuilders and human rights defenders, are pathfinders paving the way for peace and security, often under enormous risks. Together with the UN, PBC and Security Council members must take measures to prevent and address any reprisals. All Missions and relevant UN structures at country level must take the necessary actions and precautions to protect human rights defenders and women peacebuilders and act decisively to prevent and address conflict-related sexual violence.

Finally, we need to increase opportunities for women peacebuilders and uniformed women peacekeepers to benefit from one another’s work. For this we need mission capacity for gender specific analysis, but also active engagement between Missions and civil society, particularly at the grassroot level.

Gender equality and women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in peace and political processes, at all levels, is both a matter of rights and a prerequisite for inclusive and sustained peace. As LTCDR Steel mentioned we need meaningful participation of women and more accountability. Women should never have to justify their inclusion and there is no task in peacekeeping or peacebuilding that cannot be performed by a woman.