Members of the United Nations Security Council,

Let me begin by thanking you, on behalf of the Organization of American States, and its Inter-American Commission of Women, for the opportunity to address this historic celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325, a watershed moment for the women of the world in terms of how they are affected by, and participate in, all types of conflict and crisis.

The Americas is passing through an age of democratic consolidation – which has been marked on the one hand by moments of progress - broader levels of participation in politics and decision-making, relatively stable levels of economic growth, and unprecedented levels of connectivity and access to information. On the other hand, these changes have also been accompanied by growing levels of income inequality, persistent corruption and a growing dissatisfaction with the quality of representative democracy, and above all, rising levels of crime and violence.

Security has a central role to play in the success of our new democracies. While the Americas does not have any countries that are formally defined as being “in conflict,” our region is plagued by high levels of citizen insecurity – a reality that is regularly cited in public opinion surveys as one of the main concerns of our citizens. We face many of the issues that also confront countries in conflict, including weak Rule of Law, security institution that are incapable or unwilling to respect human rights, the proliferation of small arms and high levels of all types of violence - including violence against women, and particularly the gender-based killing of women, known in our region as femicide.

Although the lack of citizen security is a problem affecting the entire population, women experience violence, robbery, trafficking, and other security issues differently from men, as a result of their differential relationship to public spaces. In addition, as a number of authors have pointed out, public debates on security issues, and public policies and programmes that attempt to address these issues, are often based on indicators that reduce violence to criminal activities, which usually excludes the violence against women that is most often exercised within the home.

In this forum, the OAS commits to undertaking advocacy efforts to promote the relevance of Security Council Resolution 1325, in addition to the other women, peace and security resolutions, and particularly those that address sexual violence in times on conflict and crisis. Our own Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women provides a strong legal framework to support the full implementation of Resolution 1325, and the Follow-Up Mechanism to the Convention - the MESECVI - has placed particular emphasis on violence against women perpetrated by the State, or people acting on behalf of the State.

Failure to consider the security situation of women, on the one hand, and their absence from structures where decisions are made and action taken in the area of security, on the other, is tantamount to the security policy in most of the region's countries ignoring more than 50% of the population. Incorporating differentiating criteria for analyzing existing threats strengthens the ability of the security sector to provide appropriate responses according to the rights and priorities of each population group.

To that end, the OAS offers its full cooperation to help incorporate women's rights and gender equality into regional and international security policies and programs, in particular with regard to strengthening civilian oversight of the security sector and effectively addressing, and preventing, violence against women.