Statement by
Ambassador Rezlan Ishar J enie
Charge d'Afaires a.i./Deputy Permanent Representative
of the Republic of Indonesia
at Open Meeting of the Security Council
under the Agenda Item:
"Women and Peace and Security"

New York, October 29, 2003

Mr. President,

I should like to begin by extending the appreciation of my delegation to you for convening this meeting today on the agenda item before us which reflects the renewed determination of the Council to protect women in armed conflicts and promote their role in addressing the issues of peace and security.

On the occasion of the anniversary of the Council resolution 1325 concerning women and peace and security, my delegation wishes to reaffirm its support for the resolution. Since its adoption on October 31, 2000, we note encouraging progress resulted from the implementation of the resolution by governments, the U.N. bodies, NGOs, and other relevant sectors of civil society.

Gender mainstreaming activities by the U.N. bodies continue in the fields of peacekeeping operations, peace-building, and disarmament. We welcome the initiatives by the UNDPKO to incorporate gender focal points and gender affairs offices in field operations as well as by UNIFEM, UNDESA, and UNDP A to promote programme activities in enhancing women's role in peace-building, and the development of the Gender Mainstreaming Action Plan by the UNDDA which incorporates the gender perspectives in the fields of disarmament and security. We also welcome the establishment of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Women and Peace and Security which serves as a focal point to implement all aspects of resolution 1325.

My delegation also notes with interest the actions taken by relevant NGOs to disseminate the resolution and to promote women's role in peace and security. Their contribution should fortify the work of governments and the UN system in that field.

Mr. President,

Despite the aforementioned progress, there remains much to be done in the future. In our view, as long as conflicts occur in various parts of the world, we will continue to deal with women and other vulnerable populations in such a situation.

During armed conflict women often become targets of groups who use terror as a tactic of war and suffer from gender-based violence. They have often been forced to become sex worker or to exchange sex for basic needs. Women have also been abducted and trafficked for sexual slavery and exploitation.

When women are forced to leave their countries and become refugees or IDPs, they often have to deal with violence at camps. A report by UNIFEM titled "Women, War, and Peace" indicates that sexual exploitation of women and girls occurred at refugee camps in some conflict zones and its impact was devastating. The teenage pregnancy rate reached 50 per cent at the camps. Women often suffered from attacks by members of different ethnic groups. They also often risked abuse from their own relations.

Armed conflicts have also brought about severe impacts on women's health. This has been more serious to women who were pregnant or breast- feeding their children. Women have often suffered from infectious diseases, injuries and wounds, mental fatigue, and stress-related diseases. Access to health services became scarce because war had ruined the health systems and providers of health services.

In some conflict areas, women have also been at risk from HIV / AIDS. According to the UNIFEM report, women's exposure to HIV in war zones were: sexual violence and exploitation, lack of adequate health care facilities, medical treatment with contaminated instruments, and the mixing of civilians and combatants. Underlying factors but not direct causes of the epidemic were economic destitution, the psychological trauma, and poor nutrition.

Mr. President,

My delegation has in the past supported concerted international efforts in alleviating the suffering of women dragged into conflicts. We believe that the rights of women in armed conflicts should be acknowledged as an explicit priority and firmly entrenched in peace-making, peace-building and conflict resolution processes as well as in demobilization and re-integration plans.

We give particular emphasis on the efforts to make women central to peace-building by promoting the understanding of the impact of conflicts on women; improving protection and assistance for women; placing women and gender perspectives at the core of peace processes; and fostering gender justice. We also value the initiative to develop networking among women stakeholders such as the Mano River Women Peace Network.

My delegation stresses the need to address the cases of sexual exploitation and abuse of women and girls in humanitarian crises and conflict situations, including those cases involving humanitarian workers and peacekeepers. We welcome in this regard the Secretary-General's Bulletin on special measures against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse and other measures developed by the UN System to prevent and address such incidents.

We also see the need by contributing countries to incorporate the Six Core Principles of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee on Emergencies as well as relevant provisions in the Beijing Political Action and Platform for Action and the outcome of the UN General Assembly Special Session on Women and relevant provisions of CEDA W into pertinent codes of conduct for peacekeeping personnel. Contributing countries are also encouraged to develop appropriate disciplinary measures and accountability mechanisms and to improve awareness of responsibilities of the UN peacekeepers, especially in the protection of vulnerable populations.

Among the Secretary-General's recommendations in his last report, was the expression of his intention, which we supported, to establish a database of gender specialists and women's groups and networks in countries and regions in conflict. We look forward to obtaining some elucidation on how work is progressing on this database, which can be of tremendous help whenever conflict breaks out in a particular region. In this regard, we recommend support of this idea to Member States of the Organization, donors and civil society, towards providing financial, political and technical support for women's peace-building initiatives and networks.

Mr. President,

Indonesia looks forward to the forty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women in 2004 which, in accordance with its multi-year programme of work for 2002-2006, will. review the thematic issue of "women's equal participation in conflict prevention, management and conflict resolution and in post-conflict peace-building."

We also welcome the initiative of the Division for the Advancement of Women, in collaboration with the Office of the Special Adviser of the Secretary- General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women and the Department of Political Affairs, to organize an Expert Group Meeting on "Peace agreements as a means for promoting gender equality and ensuring participation of women - A framework of model provisions," to be held in Ottawa, Canada from 10 to 13 November 2003.

Indonesia wishes to reaffirm its commitment to the implementation of resolution 1325 and to constructively contributing to the deliberation on the issue at the forthcoming session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

I thank you, Mr. President.