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Statement by Minister of State Böhmer on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security
The Cabinet agreed today (11 January) on the Federal Government’s 2017‑2020 Action Plan to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on women, peace and security. It also approved the Federal Government’s report on the implementation of UNSCR 1325 for the 2013‑2016 period.
Minister of State Böhmer issued the following statement on this today (11 January):
The large number of crises and violent conflicts worldwide, some of which are in Europe’s immediate neighbourhood, pose great challenges to us. Lasting crisis prevention, conflict resolution and post-conflict peacebuilding can only succeed if women and men play an equal role in them. No conflict can be permanently resolved if half the population is excluded from peace processes.
I particularly welcome the wide-ranging programmes and measures to include women, especially those aimed at protecting women and girls in armed conflicts. Parties to conflicts continue to violate international humanitarian law, including through the use of sexualised and gender-based violence. All perpetrators of such violence must be held to account.
Background information:
The Action Plan was drawn up by the ministries in the Interministerial Working Group (the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, the Federal Ministry of Defence, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development) and also includes ideas and suggestions from civil-society organisations.
The 2017‑2020 Action Plan builds on the comprehensive approach of the first Action Plan, which covered the 2013‑2016 period. Through the measures and projects contained in the new Action Plan, the Federal Government will continue working to foster the greater involvement of women in crisis prevention, conflict management and post-conflict peacebuilding and the protection of women and girls against violence in armed conflicts. The definition of the women, peace and security agenda as a cross-cutting issue of Germany’s foreign, security and development policy remains the fundamental approach of the Action Plan. As such, this field will be further enhanced and defined more strategically.
The implementation report describes the Federal Government’s activities and measures to implement UNSCR 1325 between 2013 and 2016. It reports on women’s participation at the national and international level and on the Federal Government’s political endeavours in the national, regional and international context. In addition, it reports on political and project measures in line with the six priority areas of the first Action Plan and lists the some 200 projects carried out during the reporting period (2013‑2016).
The aim of UNSCR 1325, which was adopted in the year 2000, and of follow-up resolutions 1820, 1888, 1889, 1960, 2106, 2122 and 2242, is to include women to a greater extent in crisis prevention, conflict management and post-conflict peacebuilding and to protect them against violence in armed conflicts. An informal Security Council working group is addressing the implementation and further development of the resolution.
