Nordic Statement for UNSC Open Debate on “Protecting Participation”
Madam Chair,
distinguished delegates,
I am delivering this statement
on behalf of the Nordic countries – Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and my
own country, Denmark.
The full implementation
of the resolutions that constitute the WPS Agenda is a key priority for the
Nordics. We thank successive presidencies of the UN Security Council for their
commitment to ensuring a sustained focus on WPS in the Council’s work. We
welcome today’s focus on addressing the protection gap that women
peacebuilders, human rights defenders and civil society representatives face. Their
insights and recommendations are essential and must feed into actions on how to
ensure better their future protection.
The realization of
women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in peace and political
processes is at the heart of the WPS Agenda. A safe and enabling environment is
a precondition for this. It is the duty of the international community and the
UN Member States present here today to ensure an environment s that enables WHRDs
to exercise their right to participate in all aspects of public life in line
with UNSCR 2222, 2467 & 2493. This is first and foremost a rights issue, but
also a crucial step towards building inclusive sustainable peace. The role of WHRDs
is integral to all four pillars of the WPS Agenda: participation, protection,
prevention, and relief.
The increasing number of
reprisals against women peacebuilders and human rights defenders on a global
scale is alarming as also highlighted by the SG’s latest annual report on
reprisals covering the UN system as a whole. Further, intimidation and
reprisals against women peacebuilders and human rights defenders have taken on
new forms during the pandemic, both offline and online. Through Front Line
Defenders, the Nordics support a fast, flexible and effective 24-hour emergency
service that responds to the protection needs of WHRDs at immediate risk
In order to address the
protection gap faced by women peacebuilders and human rights defenders, the
Nordics want to put forward the following points and recommendations:
It is imperative to
address the protection gap through consultations with women peacebuilders and
human rights defenders themselves, factoring in their unique risk assessments
and needs to ensure their protection in a gender-transformative way. This also
pertains to the Security Council. We encourage Council Members to continue inviting
women peacebuilders and human rights defenders to brief the Council whilst
engaging in tailored due diligence measures to ensure a safe and enabling space
for their participation. And most importantly to act upon their
recommendations, not just listen and take note.
Where prevention and
mitigation fail, robust accountability measures are key. We call on Member
States to adopt a zero-tolerance policy to address reprisals and to follow up
with robust and systematic accountability measures against all perpetrators.
Concrete follow-up
measures to reprisals involve ensuring that all relevant actors are informed of
such incidents, including the Secretary-General, the Security Council and the
Human Rights Council. This entails that all UN representatives and
mechanisms include references to credible allegations of intimidation, reprisals
and of hampering of access to the UN in their reporting. We therefore welcome
the HRC-resolution from last October (48/17) inviting the SG to submit his
annual report on reprisals to the GA starting from its 77th session.
We would like to encourage that this is also presented to the GA. This allows for
information-sharing on matters of key importance for the UN system as a whole
and thus the full UN membership to ensure adequate follow-up to reprisals.
The
Nordics are committed to working together with the UN at HQ and field level to
create a safe and enabling environment for women peacebuilders and
human rights defenders. We appeal to Council
Members to incorporate language on protection mechanisms into the mandates of
UN peace operations. We fully support the important work of human rights
components within peace operations. These have a vital role to play in ensuring
monitoring, reporting and ensuring gender-transformative support to human
rights defenders and peacebuilders at risk on the ground.
The Nordics encourage rapid, flexible and
targeted funding for the effective protection of women
peacebuilders, human rights defenders and civil society representatives. We welcome the funding window for WHRDs under the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund
as an important new initiative. The threats against WHRDs in Afghanistan acted
as a catalyst for this initiative. Similarly, it is our sincere aspiration that
today’s debate will be a vital first step towards addressing more effectively
violence targeting women’s participation in peace and security processes.
Thank you.