Senator MOORE (Queensland) (7.26 pm)
Last week in this place the Parliamentary Group on Population and Development hosted the launch of the State of World Population 2010 report, an annual report which is produced by the United Nations Population Fund, the UNFPA. The title of the 2010 report is From conflict and crisis to renewal: generations of change. In her foreword to the wonderful document the Executive Director of the UNFPA, Ms Thoraya Obaid, who has visited the Australian Parliament on a number of occasions and was actually here for a couple of our previous launches, makes a statement about one particular topic which was chosen for the 2010 report. She said:
This report coincides with the 10th anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325, which called on parties to armed conflicts to take measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence and called for greater involvement by women in negotiating and implementing peace agreements. But this report is not only about the resolution. It is also about the special challenges women face in conflict or in humanitarian emergencies and about how women themselves are responding, healing wounds, moving forward, and not just helping the communities return to the status quo but also building new nations on foundations of equal rights and opportunities.
The report covers a couple of well-known communities across the globe, all of which have been victims of horrific conflict or humanitarian crisis. We have stories from Haiti, which look at the horror of the recent earthquake response. We also have issues about East Timor and a particularly devastating chapter about Bosnia-Herzegovina 15 years after the actual conflict. We saw quite a bit of media coverage at the time, but it 64 SENATE Tuesday, 26 October 2010 CHAMBER is 15 years after the hostilities ceased and this chapter is about the ongoing pain and damage that women are suffering who were the victims of systematic rape during that conflict. They lost partners, they lost families and they were used in a systematic process of power domination during that conflict. So, 15 years on, we have the cases of women who were working to respond to that to provide counselling and services to their own community, which is making a genuine difference. The State of World Population 2010 report is a confronting document but it is also permeated by hope. The stories talk about how women have made real differences to their communities. I call upon members to read this report if they can. It comes out every year. Each year it has a different theme and focus, but this year in particular it focuses on post-conflict resolution. As Mr Obaid said, it also coincides with the 10th anniversary of United Nations Security Council resolution 1235, which came about as a result of years of lobbying by women and friends of women to ensure that the particular impact of conflict on women is acknowledged and there are true efforts made by countries across the globe to ensure that women's needs are actually responded to.
In October 2000 the Security Council of the United Nations unanimously passed resolution 1325 and for the first time recognised the impact of conflict on women and girls, their increased vulnerability to sexual violence during conflict and their exclusion often from peace agreements, negotiations and post-conflict reconstruction. UN Security Council resolution 1325 recognises the importance and the reality of women's experience of conflict in peace processes and in conflict resolution, rather than looking at women as only the victims of war or, in many cases, actual combatants. There is documented proof that, in many of the recent conflicts-and I believe also in historical focus as well-women are actual combatants, and that is often overlooked. One of the key challenges for us now is rebuilding communities and recognising women who have been taking active roles in the conflict and rebuilding their communities, re-educating and resettling. It did not just finish in 2000; there have been subsequent actions by the UN, allowing this document to have real life rather than just being put on a shelf and referred to on occasions such as this. Since that resolution in 2000, three additional resolutions have been adopted in order to ensure accountability and leadership. Resolution 1820, which was passed in 2008, called for an end to widespread conflict related sexual violence and for real accountability in order to enable impunity for women. Resolution 1888, passed in 2009, continued the focus on strengthening leadership and institutional capabilities within the UN and in member states to end conflict related sexual violence. This resolution also called for the appointment of a special representative to monitor and report on efforts made and the ongoing issues. The position was adopted and was filled by Ms Margot Wallstrom that same year. Resolution 1889, passed in 2009, called for the establishment of global indicators to measure progress on 1325 implementation. This is a real document. It has action. Together, the women, peace and security focus is now taken up with what we call the four Ps: prevention of conflict; protection of women and girls during conflict; participation of women in peacekeeping, peacemaking, peace-building and political decision making; and the prosecution of gender based war crimes. Australia has been a strong supporter of this process and has made a number of statements along the way, putting forward our support. The Australian government made a statement on this 10th anniversary of resolution 1325. There was a UN process around the anniversary of 1325. Senator Alan Eggleston, who is representing our parliament at the UN at the moment, delivered a statement to the Interactive Dialogue on Women, Peace and Security. Australia is a co-sponsor and proud supporter of 'Women, Peace and Security', and it has restated its commitment to continue to ensure the protection needs of women and girls are met, including in complex emergencies; to uphold and enforce a zero tolerance approach to sexual abuse and exploitation; to train and deploy Australian peacekeepers to the highest professional standards; to support UN nominations and recruitment policies promoting gender equality; to ensure women in the Australian military are deployed to all operational theatres, selected for command positions and promoted to star rank; to increase the proportion of women in the Australian police force and the Australian protective services; and to ensure Australia's laws and national security frameworks protect the human rights of women and girls in accordance with our international obligations.
We also as a nation have committed to finalising, in accordance with resolution 1325, an Australian national action plan on 1325. Currently there are only 18 nations in the world who have actually completed a plan. Australia has not completed a plan, but it has committed to doing so. That work is being drafted at the moment. We have committed to supporting access to justice, including women- and girl-focused legal aid and law enforcement; strengthening the role of women in conflict prevention, resolution and peace-building; increasing financial support to UN GenCAP and Pro-CAP initiatives; and rolling-out Addressing conflictrelated sexual violence: An analytical inventory of peacekeeping practice.
All those actions are specific commitments that our country has made. In that way, we are responding to the need that was put forward to the UN to ensure that resolution 1325 was passed. In the decade leading up to 2000, when the UN finally passed 1325, there were Tuesday, 26 October 2010 SENATE 65 CHAMBER a number of international conflicts which provided documented evidence of the horrific violence that was perpetrated on women in fields of conflict. It is not new; I am sure that, if you do a history on war across all the generations, you will find that women, in particular, have been victims of war. The situation in some of the African states and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as I pointed out earlier, was particularly looked at, and the UN had no other recourse but to act. Australia was part of ensuring that that occurred.
We need to celebrate the 10th anniversary of 1325. We also need to ensure that the action continues. We cannot allow this resolution to just be noted as something that communities have signed to. We need to have ongoing action, and I am sure that that is something we all expect.
