Ms Mary Van Lieshout:

I thank the committee for offering this opportunity to the ICGBV to spend some time talking to the members about our work, some ongoing concerns we have and the solidarity we might seek from the committee in this regard. After a brief introduction, I will ask Ms Ryan to outline the work of the consortium and Mr. Sadlier to speak about the areas of ongoing concern on which we might seek the support, solidarity and advice of the committee.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security was adopted by the UN Security Council in 2001. That means we have had the last 20 years to reflect on the value of this resolution and, in broader terms, the value of a resolution adopted by the Security Council. When we look back over that time, we can see some significant strides have been made owing to this resolution. These developments and the benefits stemming from them have been enjoyed by member states in all corners of the globe. Today, 98 members of the UN have developed action plans under this resolution. By way of example, in Uganda, where GOAL has worked since 1989, women now enjoy the highest level of representation in public office and in senior cabinet roles under this action plan. In another example, in Ukraine, which we will talk more about later, under the national action plan on women, peace and security, significant investments have been made in services for survivors of gender-based violence in the past five years. Indeed, there have also been significant legal reforms in respect of the recognition of people from the LGBTQI+ community under the auspices of the action plan.

Noting these successes, and many more, including here in Ireland, we do also have concerns about some softening of language used in international forums on the issue of women's rights and on women, peace and security more specifically. We also have some concerns that the rights of women and girls in armed conflicts and violent settings are not fully appreciated by all actors. Therefore, we are here to talk to the committee about some of these concerns and the work we are doing to address them. As the Chair said, UN Resolution 1325 addresses two critical issues: the inordinate impact of conflict and violent armed settings on women and girls; and the crucial role women can and do play in conflict resolution and peacebuilding, when they are so allowed.

The committee has had a presentation from Ireland's representatives on our national action plan, but allow me to outline the four key dimensions of Resolution 1325. It binds us all when we understand these four dimensions under which the work takes place. The first dimension under this resolution is participation. Under this dimension, actions are set out to ensure that women and girls equally participate in society, and in all forums of society that are relevant to their ages and capacities, to be leaders for peacebuilding and conflict resolution and prevention.

The second dimension is prevention. This refers to the prevention of discrimination and violence against women and girls during armed conflict through legislation on gender equality and gender empowerment. The third dimension is protection. I refer to important work to protect women and girls from illegal, unlawful violence during conflict. Under this arm of protection, we see many kinds of work undertaken to ensure that peacekeeping forces are appropriately trained in the rights of girls and women during armed conflict.

The fourth pillar of these dimensions is relief and recovery. Under this pillar, the UN has set out numerous actions to ensure that, following conflict, the rights of and opportunities for girls and women in all their identities, be they displaced or disabled and of all ages, are protected during post-conflict periods and that investments in humanitarian work are proportionately and equally shared to ensure that girls and women enjoy the benefits of those investments and opportunities.

This was a quick tour of UN Resolution 1325. Under these four dimensions, the ICGBV has been conducting its work for over a decade now. I ask Ms Ryan to describe some of the important actions we have been taking.