UNITED NATIONS, March 7 (UPI) -- On International Women's Day, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a formal statement pointing out women's crucial role in preventing and resolving conflicts and in peace building.
Wednesday's action was not the first time the panel of 15 marked March 8 as the day, calling on all 192 member states of the United Nations and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to bolster efforts to empower women and increase their representation in decision-making.
The latest statement pointed out for women the "importance of equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security" and the "need to increase their role in decision-making with regard to conflict prevention and resolution."
The council urged the member states to enhance women's representation at "all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms" regarding peace and security.
The panel also urged Ban to forge ahead with his policy to appoint more women to senior positions, by naming them as special representatives and envoys, as well as to increase women's participation in U.N. field-based operations as military observers, civilian police, human rights and humanitarian personnel.
Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo of South Africa, this month's president of the council, read out the statement, in turn pointing to Resolution 1325, the panel adopted in 2000 and aimed at boosting women's role in conflict prevention, peace-keeping and peace-building operations.
Kumalo called on all to "strengthen its implementation" of the resolution.
The council said it "remains deeply concerned by the pervasiveness of violence against women and girls in armed conflict," condemning such practices as killing, maiming and grave sexual conflict in these situations and appealing for an end to impunity for acts of gender-based violence.
The panel also reiterated the necessity of fully putting into practice international human rights and humanitarian rights law protecting women and girls during and after conflicts.
The council meeting coincided with numerous other events marking March 8.
U.N. General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Al-Khalifa Tuesday convened an informal debate on women's empowerment with 46 speakers.
"Achieving gender equality and empowering women is a goal in itself," the secretary-general said at the opening of the meeting. "It is also a condition for building healthier, better educated, more peaceful and more prosperous societies.
"When women are fully empowered and engaged, all of society benefits," he said. "Only in this way can we successfully take on the enormous challenges confronting our world -- from conflict resolution and peacebuilding to fighting AIDS and reaching all the other (U.N.) Millennium Development Goals.
"There are countless studies that tell us that this is so," Ban said. "Leaders at the 2005 World Summit declared that gender equality and human rights for all are essential to advancing development, peace and security."
He said while there are commitments to gender equality and women's empowerment, "we still have far to go in implementing them fully." The secretary-general also pointed out, "In almost all countries, women continue to be under-represented in decision-making positions," adding women's work "continues to be undervalued, underpaid, or not paid at all."
He also said, out of more than 100 million children who are not in school, "the majority are girls. Out of more than 800 million adults who cannot read, the majority are women.
Worst of all, violence against women and girls continues unabated in every continent, country and culture."
For his part, Ban has made a major effort at reaching gender equality at the world organization, starting off with appointment of his deputy, Asha-Rose Migiro of Tanzania. Although only the third deputy secretary-general she is the second women to hold the recently created post. Louise Frechette, of Canada, was the first such deputy. Ban also appointed several women to other high profile posts, including his spokeswoman, Michele Montas, and her deputy, Marie Okabe.
Introducing the debate, Khalifa of Bahrain said gender equality had been on the U.N. agenda since the organization's inception.
Upholding commitments to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women was an important task, she said. To achieve real equality, women's empowerment must be given systematic and sustained priority.
The assembly, for its part, had an important duty, not just to celebrate women's advancement, but also to facilitate an exchange of views among its member states on effective measures to remove impediments to gender equality.
The U.N. Commission on the Status of Women held its annual session under the theme of "the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child" in the Economic and Social Council.
