Statement by H.E. Dr Melita Gabrič, State Secretary for multilateral affairs, economic diplomacy and development cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, at the Annual Open Debate on Women and peace and security

Madam President,

I would like to thank the President of Switzerland for chairing this open debate on the UN Day, express our gratitude to all the briefers here today and in particular thank the civil society briefer for her powerful message.

Today, violence and conflict are at record high worldwide. We are witnessing a worrying erosion of norms, something that disproportionally affects women and girls.

Slovenia is deeply concerned about the lack of progress in implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda. We therefore call for concrete action to increase the full participation of women in all aspects of conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding.

Let me underline a few points in this respect:

Firstly, we must make peace processes more inclusive. Slovenia supports efforts to ensure that at least one-third of participants in all peace efforts are women, while our ultimate goal is to achieve full parity. We must lead by example. To this end, we support the Common Pledge to increase the full, equal and meaningful participation in peace processes by women.

Secondly, to make peace processes truly inclusive, we need to strengthen interactions with local or grassroots women’s organizations. This will not be possible without sufficient funding. The global decline in financing for gender equality is a matter of great concern for Slovenia. To counter this trend, we are committed to ensuring that 85 % of our development programs will promote gender equality and women’s empowerment by 2030. Along these lines Slovenia remains committed to the cause of the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund and UN Women.

Lastly, we must establish an environment that allows and enables women to safely engage in peace efforts. This includes repealing all discriminatory laws and practices as well as zero-tolerance for any form of retaliation or reprisal for their involvement in peace processes.

Madam President,

With each passing day the voices of women and girls from Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen, and too many other situations rise ever louder. They demand not just our attention, but our commitment to action.

But let me be clear: We will not achieve any progress if we don’t stop the violence, silence the guns and return to diplomacy.

We must fight against impunity and ensure accountability for gross violations of the rights of women and girls, including through international courts, such as International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, as well as through the use of targeted sanctions against perpetrators.

We must work to prevent sexual and gender-based violence, and when it occurs our response needs to be survivor-oriented and include access to sexual and reproductive health and rights services, including to contraception, safe abortion and psychosocial support.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Empowering women and ensuring their participation in leadership and decision-making is not merely the right thing to do but it is also an essential thing for building resilient and successful societies.

As I am coming from a country with a WPS National Action Plan I am proud that Slovenia is living up to this expectation, with women holding, for the first time, the positions of the President of the Republic, President of the National Assembly, and Minister of Foreign Affairs. As Minister Tanja Fajon said last month at the Women Foreign Minister’s Meeting in Toronto: “Research shows that women in decision-making positions take actions that are more beneficial to people and society. The promotion of gender equality must therefore remain a guiding and global principle in the formulation of national and international policies.“

Let me therefore conclude by agreeing with the Secretary-General – as long as oppressive patriarchal social structures and gender biases hold back half of society, peace will remain elusive.

So this is a call to all of us: Let us make women and girls an equal part of the solution for a more peaceful world. Let us work together to dismantle patriarchy in favor of true equality.

Thank you.

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