UN’s annual council urges members to stand up for Women Empowerment

The UN Security Council called on all Member of States to embrace a “dedicated commitment to women's empowerment, participation, and human rights,” reported India Blooms. The annually held debate on ‘Women, peace and security,’ allows its members to discuss the progress of the implementation of the Security Council resolution 1325, adopted in the year 2000.

The resolution urges all its members to respect women's rights and support their participation in peace negotiations and in post-conflict reconstruction. Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a message to the 15 members, said that debates such as these enable the international community “to move beyond viewing women as only victims of conflict to seeing them as agents of peace and progress.”

Ban Ki-moon stated: “The confluence of crises we face, rather than distracting from the imperative of gender equality, should drive us to do even more to live up to the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter and global norms.” He then asked the Member States to stand against abuses, and condemned the recent human rights violations committed against women and girls.

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Mlambo-Ngcuka, pointed out that the UN chief's report on women and peace and security revealed that countries like Iraq, Nigeria and Syria to Somalia and Mali were seeing a heightening of targeted violence against women, girls.   She added, “During and after conflict, more women die during childbirth, and more girls are forcibly married. Fewer women work and participate in the economy and girls go to school. Of primary school age children that are out of school, half live in conflict areas. Only 35 per cent of girls are enrolled in secondary education in these settings.”

Edmund Mulet, Assistant Secretary, General of Peacekeeping Operations concluded by saying, “the best way to protect and support women IDPs is to help women help themselves by giving them a voice in decision-making and socio-economic resources to empower them.”

ORIGINAL SOURCE: India Blooms http://indiablooms.com/ibns_new/world-details/F/1665/un-reaffirms-importance-of-women-s-empowerment-for-global-peace-security.html