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Letter to the Ambassador on Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security

Letter to the Ambassador on Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security

11 October 2005

Dear Ambassador,

The Security Council will hold an Open Debate on the implementation of UNSC resolution1325 on Women, Peace and Security on 27 October 2005. This year's Open Debate will focus specifically on the participation of women in peace-making and peace-building processes. The NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security (NGOWG) urges you to make a statement at this Open Debate in support of the implementation of resolution 1325 at national, regional and international levels.

In making your statement to the Open Debate, we hope that in addition to reporting on how your government has implemented resolution 1325 at the national level, you will also consider:

  1. Calling on the Security Council to establish a focal point and an expert level working group to ensure the integration of resolution 1325 in the Security Council's work.
  2. Welcoming the UN System-Wide Action Plan and requesting the Secretary-General to update, monitor and review its implementation on an annual basis, starting in October 2006.
  3. Requesting that the Secretary-General make recommendations to the Security Council next October 2006 on:
    • Different means by which the Security Council could be more systematically informed of the use of gender-based violence by parties to armed conflict, paying special attention to the mechanism already developed to monitor and report to the Security Council on violations against children in armed conflict,
    • Different means by which the Security Council could do more to hold parties to armed conflict accountable for these violations by considering, for example, the imposition of targeted sanctions against such parties.
  4. Committing to develop a national action plan for the coordinated implementation of resolution 1325. Such an action plan should be public, drawn up in consultation with civil society, and contain specific and time-bound activities, targets and monitoring and reporting mechanisms.
  5. Recognizing that the mandate of the proposed Peacebuilding Commission explicitly commits to partnering with civil society, including women's organizations, through formal mechanisms at headquarters and at the country level. The mandate of the Peacebuilding Commission should explicitly commit to partnering with civil society through formal mechanisms at headquarters and at the country level.

The NGOWG advocated for the adoption of resolution 1325 in 2000. Since the unanimous adoption of the resolution, we have worked with other civil society organizations, governments and the United Nations to monitor and support the full and rapid implementation of the resolution. Preceding this year's Open Debate, the Working Group will release a report, "From Local to Global: Making Peace Work for Women," which provides insight into the implementation of SCR 1325 by the United Nations, Member States and civil society over the past five years.

We are confident that the aforementioned mechanisms will do much to ensure accelerated implementation of resolution 1325. Should you wish to discuss this matter with us, please do not hesitate to contact our office at the address given above.

Thank you for your consideration and your concern regarding this issue.

Yours truly,

Gina Torry, Coordinator
The NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security