Resolution 1325 Reception Moderators: Ruhakana Ruganda, Uganda U.N. Ambassador Morten Wetland, Norway U.N. Ambassador Speakers: Eriya Kategaya, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Affairs of Uganda Grete Faremo, Minister of Defence of Norway Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director and Undersecretary General for U.N. Women Abigail Disney, Executive Producer of "Women, War and Peace" International Peace Institute 777 United Nations Plaza Warren Hoge: Good evening. I'm going to invite the President of IPI Terje Rod-Larsen to take the floor. Terje Rod-Larsen: Thank you very much, Warren, excellencies, ladies and gentleman and dear friends, good evening everybody and a warm welcome to the International Peace Institute and to this event commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Security Council Resolution 1325. I'd like to start with expressing my sincere appreciation to our two co-hosts, Norway and Uganda, to thank them for initiating this event and for bringing to our attention this landmark resolution. Before I continue, let me welcome and very briefly present our distinguished panel. And let me start by extending a special word of welcome to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Affairs of Uganda, Eriya Kategaya. I'm also delighted to welcome the Minister of Defense of Norway, Grete Faremo my old colleague and friend. Grete, you are most welcome. And let me also warmly welcome to IPI the Executive Director and Undersecretary General for U.N. Women, the former president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet. And, finally, a warm welcome to our first speaker Abigail Disney who is the executive producer of the forthcoming documentary, "Women, War and Peace." She will tell us a little bit more about that a little bit later. Our discussion tonight comes at a particularly important time because tomorrow the Security Council will convene for its high level debate taking stock of the past ten years of implementation of Resolution 1325. Indeed this ten-year anniversary is not only a time for celebration it is an opportunity to have a candid discussion and an honest assessment of our achievements. The price of not doing so is simply too high. Unfortunately, there is an increased scale and an increased brutality of sexual violence and conflict and the trend of using sexual violence as a strategic and technical weapon of war reminds us what is to expect if we fail. And while women are widely recognized as effective agents of peace, we still have little access – they still have little access -- to power and peace negotiations. Much more needs to be done to recognize the central role played by women in conflict prevention and resolution, peacekeeping and peace building. This includes achieving better gender balance at the U.N., though major achievements have taken place over the last few years. We need to get serious with addressing the low numbers of female staff, including military and civilian personnel in U.N. peacekeeping operations and at the senior levels such as special envoys and special representatives of the Secretary General and other staff at U.N. headquarters. The challenges are many, and I hope we can address some of them this evening. Before I give the floor to our two co-chairs, Ambassador Wetland of Norway and Ambassador Ruganda of Uganda, I'd like to recognize, in particular, a few other prominent guests that are with us this evening. I'd like to welcome in the audience the Minister of State for Integration, Equality and Human Rights of Ireland Mary White and the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women Issues of the United States Melanne Verveer. Finally, I'd like to also welcome, in particular, the Women's Division of the United Methodist Church who owns the very building we are in. She has been a valued partner of IPI for many years here. So please join me in extending a warm welcome to Harriet Olsen, the Deputy General Secretary. Let me now with these words give the floor to Ambassador Ruganda and Ambassador Wetland for them to chair the panel. Thank you very much. Morten Wetland: Dear guests, Ambassador Ruganda and I, we just reached a consensus conclusion that I should introduce the speakers and he should moderate the debate afterwards. But let me say first of all how pleased I am representing Norway that we were able to do this together with Uganda who, as you know, is holding the presidency of the Security Council this month. And I believe that such partnership between countries of the north and countries of the south are essential to move the issues forward. None of us are perfect. We all have ground to cover to reach and realize the intentions of that resolution. We have a few eminent speakers to start with, and we will have a little trailer. I will speak about that film. We'll speak about that later. And then we will invite comments from you all, in particular, those of you who will not have the opportunity to speak in the Council tomorrow. So this is the overture for tomorrow's Council meeting. Our first speaker is the Deputy Prime Minister of Uganda. Minister Kategaya has held – he's a lawyer by training, and has held a number of ministerial posts in his country over several decades. He's been Minister of the Interior and has been Minister of Foreign Affairs and he is now serving as both as Deputy Prime Minister and as Minister for East African Affairs of Uganda, and it's a privilege to have you here, and I give you the floor, sir. Eriya Kategaya: Thank you. Excellency, Mrs. Grete Faremo, Minister of Defence of Norway, Excellency, Mrs. Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director and Undersecretary General for U.N. Women, Mr. Terje Rød-Larsen, President of the International Peace Institute, Ms. Abigail Disney, and members of the civil society, I welcome you all to this event this evening. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate former President Bachelet for a recent appointment as the head of the U.N. Women. The year 2010 marks the 10th anniversary of the Security Council Resolution 1325. When it was adopted on the 21st October 2000, Resolution 1325 was recognized as a landmark resolution. It was the first Security Council resolution to address women's issue in international peace and security agenda. The resolution sought to ensure women full and active participation in conflict resolution, peace processes, and post-conflict reconstruction. And it also sought to protect women and girls from violence, particularly sexual violence, in conflict and post-conflict situations. It affirmed that women were an integral part of peace and security. For the first time the Council provided a strong rationale for all stakeholders, itself, member states, the United Nations system, civil society, peacemakers, peacekeepers, peace builders and parties to conflict to acknowledge and address the plight and role of women in the situations of armed conflict. On our part, the government of – the Uganda government will launch a national action plan for Security Council Resolutions 1325, 1820, as well as the Goma Declaration in December, 2008. It highlights specific commitments and duties of the government and stakeholders, identifies the priority interventions for the short- and medium-term, out five years, lays out the institutional responsibilities, and establishes a mechanism for coordination, monitoring and reporting. These are issues which we shall further elaborate upon in our national statement during the open debate tomorrow. You are all welcome here this evening to share your experiences as well as the views of the way forward for the way of the UN membership, as well as the United Nation system, and I hope to see you all in the Security Council chambers tomorrow. Morten Wetland: Thank you Deputy Prime Minister. The next speaker is the Minister of Defence of Norway, Ms. Grete Faremo, here who has come to New York for the council meeting tomorrow. Ms. Faremo is also a lawyer by training. She has a comprehensive background as a business executive covering finance and information technology. But she's here now into her fourth ministry as a cabinet member. She has been Minister of Development Cooperation. She has served as Minister of Justice and she has served as Minister of Oil and Energy of Norway, and is now back here in charge of our operations in several countries which are represented here today. I have the honor to give you the floor. Grete Faremo: Thank you, and Mr. Deputy Prime Minister Kategaya, President of the Security Council, ministers, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I am overwhelmed to see such a full house of decision makers, experts and advocates come together for this very important cause. Security Council Resolution 1325 is a milestone, not only in our struggle for gender equality, human rights and the empowerment of women, but for political legitimacy, social stability and economic efficiency for society at large. This is Norway's experience, and our conviction. Norway and the Nordic countries would not be as prosperous nor as stable as we are today without the full participation of women. Experience proved that gender equality and full participation of women is a precondition for growth, development and peace. And those countries who neglect that need pay for it by slowing down on their paths to progress. Societies that fail to tap the full talent of 50 percent of their population are less likely to achieve political legitimacy, social cohesion, and economic growth – the essential building blocks of peace. I am particularly proud to co-host this event with Deputy Prime Minister Kategaya of Uganda who tomorrow will preside over the 10th anniversary ministerial meeting of the United Nations Security Council.