19 November 2015

Chairperson, Distinguished members of the Committee, Distinguished panelists, Ladies and gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to open this side event, which has been organised under the theme “Connecting CEDAW and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda”. I would like to thank the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and the Treaty Bodies Platform of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights for organising this event together with us.

70 years have passed since world leaders gathered in San Francisco to sign the Charter of the United Nations to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” 15 years have passed since the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 (2000) and the launch of a Global Study on the implementation of UNSCR 1325 (2000). This event is therefore a good opportunity to take stock of current challenges and explore new ways to deal with the issue of women, peace and security in the future.

This issue has lost none of its relevance: Women continue to bear the brunt of conflicts started by men. Today, in the Congolese province Kivu, about one third of all women have been raped. In Sudan, tens of thousands of women have been mutilated and sexually abused. In Syria, mothers have sacrificed everything to protect themselves and their children. In Sri Lanka, OHCHR’s recent investigation revealed gruesome cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence. The list of conflicts in which serious violations of women’s human rights continue to be perpetrated unabated is dishearteningly long.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)’s significant role for the advancement of women and the protection of their rights is well known. But perhaps less so is its General Recommendation No. 30 on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations. In it, the Committee emphasizes that all States parties to the Convention are required to uphold women’s rights before, during and after conflict. This applies to all aspects: States that are directly involved in fighting, States that are providing peacekeeping troops or States providing assistance for conflict prevention, humanitarian aid or post-conflict reconstruction. States parties also have a due diligence obligation to ensure that non-State actors, such as armed groups and private security contractors, are held accountable for crimes committed against women.

The Committee also plays an important role in complementing the political framework of UN Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and its six subsequent resolutions. As this event will show, profound commonalities exist between States parties’ obligations under the Convention (as expounded in General Recommendation No. 30) and the political commitments in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

Under CEDAW’s reporting procedure, the Committee often explicitly demands States to provide information on the implementation of Security Council resolutions, particularly 1325 (2000), on areas which are reflective of the obligations under the Convention. Thus, the Committee has been able to obtain invaluable data from States parties and to track their progress on important issues such as:

the impact of conflict on women and girls, including measures to ensure the participation of women in conflict prevention;

measures to fight impunity for sexual violence and abuses during conflict, and

participation of women in security sector reform, disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration.

You will hear more about this from today’s panellists.

Let me conclude. Today’s violent conflicts and violence are bleeding refugees at a scale not seen since the end of the Second World War. Against this background, the ideal inscribed in the UN Charter to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” may seem a distant dream. But it is possible. As incredulous as this may seem, it has been demonstrated that, so far, every generation of humanity has experienced less violence than the former. And a key factor in the decrease of violence has been women’s empowerment. So, forging durable peace demands not only a role for women in conflict prevention, in conflict resolution and in peacebuilding as resolution 1325 demands, but a constant progression of small and large steps towards gender equality in every corner of the world. The work of CEDAW - in denouncing the ills of conflict, in holding States accountable, in demanding women’s participation – is crucial for keeping that dream alive.

Let me end by wishing you all success in driving the agenda on women, peace and security forward.

Thank you.