Secretary-General Calls for Greater Progress for Women's Roles in Peace and Security

Inadequate resources, insufficient data, lack of political will, under-representation of women and disconnections between government and civil society hold back progress on United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said this at a Wilton Park conference in the UK on 30 May 2006.

"Progress on the implementation of UNSCR 1325 has been too little, and too slow," stated the Secretary-General. "It has failed to protect the women and girls it was designed to assist. In the name of tradition, culture or even security -- women have continued to be excluded from decision-making over conflict. The fact remains that where women are included, their representation is often no more than token in character."

Mr McKinnon said he has seen women at work as peace-builders while often being denied official access to the negotiating table. The Secretary-General urged the nearly 190 countries which had been unanimous in passing UNSCR 1325 in October 2000 to be equally unanimous in doing something about it. He reiterated that the Commonwealth is committed to the realisation of UNSCR 1325, which recognises the role women can play in conflict prevention, resolution and peace-building. Mr McKinnon said conflict destroys development and threatens democracy.

"Conflict is appalling. It rips apart countries, communities, families and individual lives. But it also provides a major opportunity for a radical break with the past. This is why we prefer to talk of 'post-conflict transformation' rather than 'post-conflict reconstruction'."

The Secretary-General pointed out that the Commonwealth is able to act as a bridge-builder across ethnic, political and economic divides, besides promoting gender equality and women's rights.

"UNSCR 1325 gives us a mandate to build something better following conflict: a society in which women and men work together as equal partners, with full recognition of women's rights," he added.

Mr McKinnon highlighted the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender Equality 2005-2015 which incorporates gender considerations into all of the Commonwealth's work on democracy, peace and conflict; human rights and law; poverty eradication and economic empowerment; and HIV/AIDS. The plan was in part drafted in the context of the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

"Our Commonwealth Plan of Action commits all our member states to that, and to nothing less. In the interests of both fairness and sanity, we will continue to work for full implementation of UNSCR 1325, both in the Commonwealth and beyond," he stated.

Key Links:

• Speech by Rt Hon Don McKinnon, Commonwealth Secretary-General