Addressing a UN Security Council debate in New York on March 7 (local time), Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, head of the Vietnam Delegation to the UN, noted that generations of Vietnamese women, through experiencing wars and countless hardships, have sacrificed and made great contributions to peace, independence and construction and development of the nation.
Vietnamese women are now continuing to make significant contributions to peace, stability and development in the region and the wider world, he said.
The UNSC debate was held to discuss women’s role and contributions to peace and security toward 25 years of Resolution 1325 on women and peace and security adopted by the UNSC on October 31, 2000.
The resolution reaffirms the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace negotiations, peace-building, peacekeeping, humanitarian response and in post-conflict reconstruction. It stresses the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security.
The resolution urges all actors to increase the participation of women and incorporate gender perspectives in all United Nations peace and security efforts. It also calls on all parties to conflict to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, in situations of armed conflict.
Ambassador Giang emphasized that since the adoption of the resolution, women have played an active role in and greatly contributed to conflict prevention and resolution, national reconstruction and promotion of social progress and development.
To address the challenges and inequalities faced by women today and promote women’s role in security and peace, Vietnam maintains that the international community needs to strengthen international cooperation and coordinate policies to ensure women’s rights and gender equality.
The Ambassador called on all stakeholders to promote programmes and measures to support capacity building at local, national, regional and global levels so that women are able to engage and fully, equally and significantly contribute to sustainable peace-building and economic empowerment for women in accordance with UNSC Resolution 1889 adopted in 2009 at the request of Vietnam in its role as President of the Security Council.
