Mr. Maurice Sadlier:

This set of recommendations came out of those listening sessions and the work that we as implementing partners do on the ground. There are five recommendations we believe will strengthen the approach to women, peace and security, if they are implemented.

To be honest, the first recommendation is an embarrassment for me to say, and it should be an embarrassment for all of us sitting in this room that it has to be repeated 27 years after the Beijing Declaration, which is the inclusion of women and minorities in decision-making. The fact we are so far into this agenda and we still have to remind ourselves that women and minorities have to be included in processes that affect their lives is simply not acceptable. We know that women face greater barriers to involvement in processes, leadership and decision-making processes and we have to do better to overcome those barriers and provide that support. That requires finance, capacity building and a change of mindset at all levels in order for us to do that. It is not only that our results are not taking on board the needs of women and minorities. It is that if such needs are taken into account, it leads to better results. We know when women are involved results are better, so it is something we have to improve on.

The second recommendation is removing the barriers to access to services and basic needs. We recently did a study of 28 camps of internally displaced people in north-west Syria. Some 88% of the women we interviewed said they lacked access to basic essential services, namely, education, healthcare and general support. It is not only detrimental to survivors of GBV that they cannot access the relevant support services they require; education is a way to break many of these cycles. I have seen this in South Sudan where in a school of 700 or 800 children, there are approximately 120 children in the early years class and the gender divide is approximately 50-50. As we go up through the years, the numbers dwindle and the number of girls in the classes really dwindles. Girls are missing their opportunity, which we know can bring about profound changes. It is also becoming much more complex. Ms Ryan mentioned the issues around GBV and climate change. I was in South Sudan last December and schools we had supported, with the help of Irish Aid, had been washed away by floods along the River Nile. There is an internally displaced people, IDP, camp, schools are flooded and the local health centre, which was built by GOAL in the same IDP camp, was also flooded. The nexus of climate change, protection and access to services is becoming increasingly important.

The third area involves the protection and provision of safe spaces for human rights defenders and civil society organisations. We see this from our community work where we need to provide places for women and survivors of GBV to come together to support each other. By providing these very simple areas that are safe and protected for women in the community they get to have peer support and access services they need. We need this at different levels so we can provide spaces for women to come together to support each other, and to plan, talk and take things forward. It is becoming increasingly important and, again, we see that many human rights defenders need this support.

The fourth area relates to active support and collaboration with civil society organisations. This is an area where Irish Aid is incredibly strong, as are many of the Irish agencies, in supporting the localisation agenda and the grand bargain, looking at how we support local civil society and local organisations to be a voice for themselves and, increasingly, allowing them to play the leadership role in how we build capacity, especially for local women's organisations and how we help them develop to be in the lead and support their own communities.

The fifth area is that of the implementation of children's rights in conflict and post-conflict situations. Again, our recent study in north-west Syria showed that 43% of children we spoke with knew of somebody under the age of 18 who had been married. Child marriage is an increasing issue, as are teenage pregnancies. The recruitment of children into armed forces, especially young boys, is also a major issue. We cannot talk about women, peace and security without looking at the impact on children and ensuring we protect their safety in it. In many cases, it is the mother who is looking after the security of the child. By making sure women are safe, therefore, we are also protecting their children.