Thank you Special Envoy, and ASG, for your briefings.
As part of our WPS commitments as President, we designated today’s meeting to have a focus on WPS. To draw attention to the urgency of strengthening the role of women in conflict resolution, and peacebuilding. So I wish to thank my fellow Council members and the briefers for highlighting today that Women, Peace, and Security is a priority in Yemen.
Yemeni women mediate humanitarian access, services, and local conflicts every day. They have made significant contributions to track-two and three peacemaking efforts.
However, seven years of conflict has diminished the space for women. On the global index on Women, Peace and Security on women’s inclusion, Yemen ranks 3rd last.
Women have a right to participate on issues that are fundamental to their security, and the future of Yemen.
And we know that inclusive peace processes- where women participate in outcomes- produce more sustainable solutions.
Women’s voices, in all their diversity, must be included.
As we have heard from the briefers, much work has gone into ensuring an inclusive political dialogue in Yemen and we commend this.
However, ensuring the meaningful inclusion of women- including young women- in all aspects of peace and security needs to be an ongoing priority.
In this respect, I want to also sincerely thank
Ms. Al-Aghbary for sharing your invaluable insights and recommendations.
Let me highlight four recommendations of our own:
First, we encourage the Government of Yemen to operationalise their strategy on Women, Peace and Security.
And to meaningfully include women in decision making, and leadership positions.
Second, as Ms. Al-Aghbaryhas highlighted, grassroots women’s organizations remain fundamental to building peace in Yemen.
Yet, funding for their work is scarce.
We encourage the international community to provide more flexible support.
Third, we call for accountability to end the cycle of impunity- and for immediate steps to ensure women are safe to speak up and contribute.
And Fourth, we want to encourage the Special Envoy to seek out new opportunities for the direct participation of a diverse group of Yemeni women of all political backgrounds.
We also emphasise the importance of the Special Envoy continuing efforts to advance women’s participation in the peace process.
Colleagues,
Turning now to recent events.
We are deeply concerned about the recent military escalation by all parties. And thank Special Envoy for this updates.
And are alarmed by the continued cross-border attacks.
De-escalation of military activities; a nation-wide ceasefire; and a turn towards a political solution is the only path forward to end the cycle of violence.
We remind parties of their obligations to:
respect international humanitarian law, international human rights, and protect civilian lives and infrastructure.
We also underline the importance of free and secure navigation at sea.
And echo others urging the parties to ensure the safe use of Sana'a airport for humanitarian flights.
It is of deep concern that humanitarian partners in Yemen have had to cut critical humanitarian programs as a result of insufficient funding.
This means that daily rations for 8 million Yemenis are reduced, at a time when one Yemeni child dies every ten minutes from preventable causes.
Inaction in the face of this kind of suffering is not possible to comprehend.