24 Apr 2012

UN / WOMEN PEACE AND SECURITY

UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet told the Security Council this morning that women’s rights could be threatened in countries undergoing transition, with the crisis in Syria and the aftermath of the Arab Spring presenting an opportunity to increase the participation of women in politics. UNTV

Posted at: April 24, 2012 2:26 pm

Duration: 02:10

Available in: SD

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STORY: UN / WOMEN PEACE AND SECURITY
TRT:  2.10
SOURCE: UNTV 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: 24 APRIL 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

24 APRIL 2012, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Med shot, delegates
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director, UN Women:
"In countries undergoing transition, the combination of recent conflict and weakened social protection threatens to undermine progress in women's rights. As a matter of principle, women's rights must never be used as negotiating instruments, as a soft bargaining chip to placate certain social groups. Particular attention should be paid by this Council to ensuring that women's rights are not eroded during mission drawdown."	
5. Med shot, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director, UN Women:
"I strongly urge the Council to support increased numbers of women in leadership positions, in constitution making processes and inclusion in the justice and security-sector work of UN missions. Women's participation in political, legislative, judicial and security institutions is perhaps the greatest resource on offer to promote peaceful and inclusive transitions."	
7. Med shot, delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (French) Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations: 
"Political participation and protection are especially critical because they represent both the opportunity for women to make their voices heard, and to shape the peace, but also the risk that women face from insecurity, sexual violence and targeting of civilians. Peacekeepers must work to maximize the former, and minimize the latter."
9. Med shot, delegates
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations: 
"Host governments are ultimately responsible for the protection of the civilian population. Our peacekeeping missions cannot act as a surrogate for state authority. We must do our best to strengthen frail state institutions to facilitate their ability to better protect civilians."
11. Med shot, delegates
12. Wide shot, Security Council

STORYLINE:

The Executive Director of UN Women, Michele Bachelet, told the Security Council today (24 April) that women's rights could be threatened in countries undergoing transition and that it is crucial to involve women in the constitutional process.
   
Speaking at the annual Council meeting on Women, Peace and Security, Bachelet said that "the combination of recent conflict and weakened social protection threatens to undermine progress in women's rights."

The Executive Director noted that the current crisis in Syria as well in other countries emerging from the so-called Arab Spring present a crossroads to increase the participation of women in politics.

She stressed that "as a matter of principle, women's rights must never be used as negotiating instruments" or as "a soft bargaining chip to placate certain social groups."

She also emphasised that "particular attention" should be paid once conflicts come to an end and ensure that "women's rights are not eroded during mission draw-down."

Bachelet "strongly" urged the Council to support "increased numbers of women in leadership positions, in constitution making processes and inclusion in the justice and security-sector work of UN missions."

She added that "women's participation in political, legislative, judicial and security institutions is perhaps the greatest resource on offer to promote peaceful and inclusive transitions."      
 
The UN chief of peacekeeping, Hervé Ladsous, in his address to the Council noted that political participation and protection are especially critical as "they represent both the opportunity for women to make their voices heard, and to shape the peace", but also present the risk that women face from "insecurity, sexual violence and targeting of civilians."

He said that peacekeepers "must work to maximize the former, and minimize the latter."

Ladsous stressed that a determined effort must be made at strengthening a state's ability to protect civilians and that governments are ultimately responsible for the safety of their people.

He pointed out that peacekeeping missions "cannot act as a surrogate for state authority" but must do their utmost to "strengthen frail state institutions to facilitate their ability to better protect civilians."

Women's role in peace and security has become more clearly integrated in the Security Council's deliberations since the body adopted resolution 1325 on women, peace and security in the year 2000.

The Council has further adopted resolutions 1820 (2008) and 1888 (2009), which focus on sexual violence in conflict, and resolution 1889 (2009) which calls for concrete action to accelerate the implementation of resolution 1325. The fifth and latest Security Council resolution on women, peace and security was resolution 1960, adopted in 2010 to combat impunity in the area of sexual violence in conflict.