U.A.E. calls for strengthening women's participation in achieving international peace and security

NEW YORK: The United Arab Emirates has called for strengthening the meaningful participation of women in achieving international peace and security, including tackling the root causes and impacts of displacement, and ensuring the consistent and effective implementation of Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security. Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, U.A.E. Permanent Representative to the United Nation in New York, yesterday delivered a statement to the Security Council during the Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security. The debate focused on the effects of forced displacement on women refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). The debate was convened under the Argentinian Security Council presidency, and briefings were provided by the Executive Director of UN Women, the Assistant Secretary-General of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons at OHCHR, and the Founder and Director of the Sadr City Women's Centre and Legal Clinic in Iraq. Ambassador Nusseibeh began by highlighting the urgent issue of displaced women and girls, as new crises and outbreaks of violence increase the levels of forced displacement to its highest levels since World War Two. She placed this discussion in the context of UN Security Council Resolution No. 1325. This historic resolution, adopted in the year 2000, recognised the importance of women in the prevention, mitigation, and resolution of conflict, as well as the differential and unique burden that women and girls bear during conflict. The U.A.E.’s Permanent Representative highlighted the data in the 2014 Secretary General’s report on Women, Peace and Security, which shows important progress in all four pillars of the WPS agenda: participation, prevention, protection and relief and recovery. She continued by underscoring the challenges that remain in the full implementation of the WPS agenda. Ambassador Nusseibeh underlined measures that the U.A.E. has taken to prevent and protect women from violence at the international level. "The U.A.E. has built the Mrajeeb al-Fahood refugee camp in Jordan for Syrian refugees, exclusively for married couples, children, and women. The family-focused nature of the camp has helped to protect women from harassment, extra-marital violence, and exploitation, and has served to reduce overall levels of violence towards women and children within the camp." She reaffirmed the U.A.E.’s commitment to advocacy at the UN level. The U.A.E. Mission is hosting a Panel Series on Women, Peace and Security, in partnership with UN Women, and the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security in support of the Global Study on the Implementation of Security Council Resolution No. 1325. Ambassador Nusseibeh commented on Monday’s inaugural panel discussion, which focused on the role of women in countering violent extremism. "We are navigating a shifting security context where the rise of violent extremism has led to increased and targeted violence against women and girls. This is unacceptable to the U.A.E. and to all responsible member states." Ambassador Nusseibeh reiterated that "we must recognise women as the agents of change that they are, and not solely as the victims." Ambassador Nusseibeh concluded by confirming that the UN remains the central forum for addressing the women, peace and security agenda, and called for 2015 to be the year where ... "we move the dial forward in a significant way." – Emirates News Agency, WAM – http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates/1395271597302.html