TUCKED away on page 42 of the SNP’s election manifesto is a paragraph few political pundits will likely pick up on. It’s a declaration that human rights and the rights of women will be placed at the heart of the SNP government's work in international relations.

While many Scots might not realise it, our nation’s track record on these issues has already resonated in the distant corridors of power at the United Nations. Frankly, this is something that should make us all proud.

Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria has been called the man with the toughest job in the world. A vastly experienced and respected diplomat steeped in the bear pit of power politics and negotiations to find an elusive peace deal to end the war in Syria, he does not suffer fools or timewasters gladly.

It’s a bit of feather in the cap then for the Scottish Government that Mr de Mistura, last year invited First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to take forward an initiative to support the role of Syrian women in the peace process.

The creation of the Syrian Women’s Advisory Board, consisting of 12 women from across all factions of Syrian society, is the first of its kind to be established through UN-led peace talks.

It will in effect offer a platform for Syrian women to voice their concerns and ideas on all issues discussed throughout the peace negotiations.

That this has come about is partly a result of the great store put by Mr de Mistura and the UN on Scotland’s work on gender issues.

It has evidently not gone unnoticed that the Scottish Parliament has three female party leaders and a female Presiding Officer. This in itself has sent out a strong signal about the role of women in politics.

That the Scottish Government, too, has gone out of its way to insist that these Syrian initiatives should be cross party in complexion has done much to highlight the relative effectiveness of the Scottish democratic process.

As the SNP manifesto makes clear, the creation of the Syrian Women’s Advisory Board is only part of Scotland’s role. Every year Scotland will fund training and help develop the skills, resources and processes that 50 selected women from those countries affected by the war need to do their job in mediation and peace making.

Already I can hear the sceptics and cynics say, so what? In the eyes of many doubters such initiatives will likely be dismissed as nothing more than tokenism, talking shops that will be drowned out by the harsh clamour of war.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Sixteen years have passed since the UN adopted its landmark Security Council Resolution 1325, on women, peace and security. That resolution acknowledged the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women and girls. But in the intervening period and right up to this moment, there continues to be a dearth of women occupying positions within senior peace-making bodies.

Covering conflicts around the globe throughout that 16 years, I’ve witnessed first hand the way war takes its heavy toll on women and children.

This last year alone I was reminded of it from the backstreets of Turkish cities to the beaches of the Greek islands, where I met Syrian refugee women many without menfolk, struggling to keep themselves and their children alive.

I saw it too even more recently and equally harshly in north-eastern Nigeria where women bear the brunt of the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency. In this conflict women are often specifically targeted. Beyond the millions displaced and widowed by the war, others are forced into sexual slavery.

Only yesterday from within Syria there were reports from the city of Mosul that the Islamic State (IS) group had ‘executed’ 250 women after they refused sexual slavery to jihadi fighters.

Whenever I have met women caught up in conflict zones it’s not only their incredible resilience that has made a profound impression, but also the almost unique way they are motivated to organise collectively.

Time and again from scratch I’ve seen women create self support groups to feed, clothe and protect their families. I’ve seen them speak on behalf of the wider community even going as far as to rein in their more belligerent and warring male counterparts. Too often all this is done against the odds but almost equally often it is phenomenally effective.

This is not just me saying this. Extensive research by humanitarian and academic bodies show that the participation of women at the peace table improves the negotiation process, contributes to a more comprehensive peace agreement, and bolsters the prospect of sustainable peace.

Given this, why then the continued scarcity of women present on the bigger platforms of conflict mediation and peace making?

Three years ago UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Mary Robinson, former Irish president and UN commissioner for human rights, in the role of lead mediator to the troubled African Great Lakes region.

Even now I find it hard to believe that this incredibly astute and articulate politician was the first woman designated as a UN mediator in a peace process.

Shamefully such appointments remain rare in a world currently ridden with conflict.

With Ban Ki-moon’s term in office due to conclude at the end of this year one only hopes that his successor will ensure other women are appointed to senior mediating roles.

Such a role is of course a specialised position, and the best mediator for the job will always be the one most likely to be effective, regardless of gender. But women, especially at the sharp end of such work have already shown themselves to be powerfully effective.

Against this backdrop and with the sort of support outlined as part of the initiative agreed between the Scottish Government and the UN, women’s voices and strategies in the Syrian peace process look set to be heard and felt. There is another positive political aspect to this too.

While foreign affairs remain a reserved issue, here is a perfect example of the kind of ‘soft’ diplomacy and policy initiative that Scotland can bring to the international table. Measures that might seem slight but can make an impact.

Keeping in mind that peace agreements need to recognise the needs of a population as a whole and that every second peace agreement falls apart within the first five years of its existence, the time has come to explore new ways to create sustainable peace in Syria and elsewhere.

Mr de Mistura might indeed be the man with the toughest job in the world. But what a welcome move it is to see those women best placed to make a major contribution to peace in Syria join him in facing that challenge.

For far too long women have been present on paper but absent in practice when it comes to peace making. I, for one, am pleased to see Scotland involved in steps to redress such a glaring anomaly.