UN Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security: strengthening women’s resilience and leadership as a path to peace in regions plagued by armed groups

(1000 hrs EST / 1930 hrs IST; 20 October 2022)

INDIA STATEMENT

We thank Gabon for convening the Open Debate on this important issue. We thank the Deputy Secretary General for her insights. I also thank Executive Director Ms. Sima Bahous and civil society representatives for their briefings. 

Mr. President

2. Women empowerment and gender equality are pre-requisites for building peaceful, inclusive and resilient societies. Sustainable peace cannot be achieved unless violence against women is eliminated and their equal and meaningful participation in public life is promoted. Armed conflicts and terrorist attacks continue to have a devastating impact on the lives and dignity of women. 

3. UNSC resolution 1325 was pathbreaking which underlined women’s participation as being key to resolving conflicts and securing peace. The WPS Agenda has a transformative potential, but there are still challenges to its realization. Lack of enabling environment, inequalities and discriminatory power structures inhibit effective conflict prevention and inclusive peace processes. 

4. The WPS normative framework needs to be powered by action. Governments, the UN, regional organisations, civil society and other actors must implement their commitments to ensure women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in political processes and decision-making to promote an inclusive society.

Mr. President

5. One of the most important indicators for strengthening the roots of democracy, pluralism and fundamental rights is the extent to which women are included in the institutions of governance. Greater involvement of women in higher echelons of decision-making considerably strengthens good governance, and more so in post-conflict situations. India has always called for advancing the democratic framework, the rule of law and institution building in post-conflict situations—a sine qua non to advance the WPS agenda. 

Mr. President

6. Under the leadership of the Prime Minister of India, it’s development narrative has witnessed a transformational change: from women’s development to women-led development, and from exclusively government-led to multi-stakeholder inclusive governance model. We believe India’s experiences in its women-centric development journey may be useful in our shared pursuit of enhancing women’s resilience and leadership.

7. As the world’s largest democracy, India offers a unique template for gender sensitive governance. The Constitution of India ensures participation of women in local governance by mandating not less than 33% reservation of total seats for women. More than 1.3 million elected women representatives, who constitute nearly 44% of the total elected representatives, are leading the political decision-making at the grassroots level. 

8. Political power of women can only sustain with their socio-economic advancement. In this context, I would like to share numerous good governance initiatives that we have taken to advance holistic empowerment of women. We have leveraged digital technologies to provide greater access for women to finance, credit, technology and employment. Online bank accounts for over 445 million people have been opened, of which more than 55 percent of account holders are women. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this initiative helped in direct benefit transfer to nearly 200 million women. Through our MUDRA scheme, the government provides collateral free loans to encourage entrepreneurship and self-employment. About 70% of its beneficiaries are women-owned and operated enterprises. Women have become consequently economically empowered and are providing employment to others as well.

 9. And to open up these economic opportunities, equal access to education is fundamental. I am happy that a large number of women in India are taking up education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine. In fact, for decades now our girls have been outnumbering our boys in our medical schools.

 10. India now has women in important positions of responsibility not just in businesses but also in the areas of science and technology. Women scientists have played a vital role in research and development in various field including tech industry. In fact, women are playing an important part in furthering India’s space research and missions. About 27% of the key executive positions in spearheading the “Mars Orbiter Mission” were led by Indian women.

11. In keeping with the Indian ethos of ‘The World as One Family’ and of Gandhian values of ‘service to humanity’, India has been sharing its developmental experiences and technical expertise with other countries across the globe. Our approach to development partnership was articulated by the Prime Minister of India in his address to the Parliament of Uganda in 2018, “Our development partnership will be guided by your priorities. It will be on terms that will be comfortable for you, that will liberate your potential and not constrain your future… We will build as much local capacity and create as many local opportunities as possible”.

12. Through our developmental cooperation, we have assisted partner countries in a range of fields with a direct bearing on women’s progress and upliftment. One such encouraging example of powering up women’s development and SDG 7 is the ‘solar mamas’ project. Under this imitative, over 15,000 women, mostly rural with no formal academic training, from 83 countries have received training in solar engineering and related skills in India providing light and power to over 1,200 villages and 5,00,000 people worldwide.

Mr. President

13. India has been an active participant in the deliberations on issues focusing on women empowerment and gender mainstreaming at various UN bodies. India fully supports Secretary General’s call to action for accelerated implementation of the WPS agenda in implementing the "Declaration of Shared Commitments on UN Peacekeeping Operations” and actions on “A4P+ priorities.” We also welcome SG’s "Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy” and are committed to comply with the same so that women’s participation and their role in peacekeeping could be enhanced.

14. India supports UN Secretary General’s zero-tolerance approach to sexual exploitation and abuse. India was the first country to contribute to the Secretary-General's Trust Fund for Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) and also signed the voluntary compact on SEA with the Secretary-General in 2017. Prime Minister of India had himself joined the "Circle of Leadership” on the prevention of and response to sexual exploitation and abuse in the United Nations operations.

15. India’s contribution of the female formed police unit to the United Nations Mission in Liberia, first-ever women contingent in the history of United Nations peacekeeping operations, helped increase participation of Liberian women in the security sector from 6% to 17%. Indian Female Engagement Team with MONUSCO (UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) has also been instrumental in enhancing local women engagement in Goma. 

Mr. President

16. Terrorism and violent extremism continue to be one of the biggest violators of human rights and threats to global peace and security. Needless to say, women and girls invariably suffer disproportionately. Terrorist attacks deserve strong condemnation and call for collective adoption of zero-tolerance approach. The Council must focus its attention on the consequences of terrorism on the rights of women.It must strive to effectively integrate WPS considerations into sanctions regimes, including by listing terrorist entities involved in violence against women in armed conflicts. 

17. It is important that in conflict situations, the spotlight on women and minority issues is maintained. A case in point is Afghanistan. The world cannot look the other way when the rights of women and minorities are being trampled upon. There has been an increasing attempt towards removing women from public life in Afghanistan. We call for women and minorities to be included in Afghanistan’s future and their rights fully respected, as affirmed in UNSCR 2593. 

18. India is committed to engaging with all its partners to work towards mainstreaming of WPS considerations for building inclusive, peaceful and resilient societies. India’s commitment and experience of enhancing women’s resilience and leadership across sectors will continue to guide our actions on taking the WPS agenda forward.  

Thank you.

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