Statement delivered by Minister-Counsellor Ms Sara Lindegren, Permanent Mission of Sweden, on behalf of the Nordic Countries.
Thank you, Madam President.
First, let me congratulate you on assuming the presidency of the CD, and assure you of the full support of the delegation of Sweden.
I will now deliver a joint statement on behalf of the Nordic countries Finland, Sweden and Norway.
We also wish to thank you for organising this event on International Women’s Day.
Advancing the integration of gender perspectives across the entire spectrum of disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control is, and has been for a long time, a key priority for the Nordic countries.
Women and women peace movements have traditionally played an instrumental role in advocating for disarmament as well as peace and security. Women have, however, long been underrepresented in negotiations and decision-making processes.
We are encouraged by the increased women participation in disarmament fora including the Conference of Disarmament in recent years - but more can be done.
The continued promotion of equal participation of women and men in disarmament affairs is fundamental to ensure robust, sustainable and effective processes and outcomes. Ensuring the full and effective participation of women and to further integrate gender perspectives in all aspects of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation decision-making process is also one of the stepping stones in the Stockholm Initiative for Disarmament.
Our discussions on gender inclusion and sensitivity can be better informed by facts and statistics on gender impacts. In this context we wish to thank UNIDIR for its excellent expert support including with gender disaggregated data.
Finally, we, like many others in this conference, believe that a welcomed and long overdue step would be to make a technical update of this conference Rules of Procedure to better reflect today’s reality.
Thank you.
