UN chief stresses role of women in preventing conflicts, building peace

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday underlined the role of women in preventing conflict and building and maintaining peace, saying that "in failing to include women and girls in peacemaking and peacebuilding processes, we are not only failing women and girls, we are failing the world."

The urgent drive to bring women into their rightful place at the heart of building peace and security "must never stop," the secretary-general said while addressing an open debate of the UN Security Council on women, peace and security.

"Women have a vital role to play in preventing conflict and building and maintaining peace. But although this is now widely recognized, far too often, women are prevented from full participation in peacemaking and peacebuilding," Ban said.

"We are all suffering from the effects of this deficit," he said.

Despite progress, the situation remains far from equitable, with many atrocities that continue to be committed against women and girls, including by UN peacekeepers, and continued political exclusion of women, including in peace negotiations on Syria or Yemen, he said.

He urged the 15-nation UN council to hold all UN peace operations accountable for putting women and girls at the centre of their work, as well as to listen to civil society, and particularly women's groups, in all deliberations on conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

Meanwhile, Ban also urged them to make sure that there are funds available for these activities, by earmarking a minimum of 15 percent of funding on peace and security to programmes that address the needs of women and girls.

"In failing to include women and girls in peacemaking and peacebuilding processes, we are not only failing women and girls, we are failing the world," the secretary-general said.

He said that this agenda is not an optional extra or a favour to women and girls but fundamental to building sustainable peace and ending conflicts. Enditem