Statement by the Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations, Ambassador Sérgio França Danese, at the Arria Formula meeting on "Leveraging the synergies between CEDAW and the Women, Peace and Security Framework" - March 12th, 2024

Brazil welcomes this very timely meeting. As a party to the CEDAW Convention, Brazil underscores the importance of including information on the implementation of the women, peace and security agenda in national reports presented to CEDAW.

Even though women seldom take part in decision-making related to military issues, they account, together with children, for a significant number of the shocking figures of death, sexual violence and other atrocities against civilians in the wars the world sadly continues to witness today.

Against this regrettable background, two misconceptions constitute major obstacles to advance the women, peace and security agenda.

The first misconception is that the agenda applies only to countries in armed conflict It makes it difficult for many agencies in charge of gender equality to become acquainted with it.

The second misconception, reversely, is that some Security Council members seem to view the WPS agenda and gender equality as distractions in relation to the so-called hard questions of international peace and security, even though WPS has been an agenda item for almost 25 years.

This meeting is an important opportunity to reaffirm the agenda’s cross-cutting nature and its ability to bring together different fora. As the chair of the Peacebuilding Commission for 2024, Brazil looks forward to further engaging with the Security Council on the WPS agenda.

Upholding gender equality and women’s perspectives is essential for rendering peacebuilding and conflict prevention more effective.

We must remind the whole UN membership that it took a lot of effort, especially from women from the Global South, to include explicit language on gender equality in the preamble of the UN Charter. A Brazilian feminist activist and scientist, Dr. Bertha Lutz, was one of only six female delegates to the San Francisco Conference, where she firmly advocated for the equal rights for women and men to be a part of the Charter. The women, peace and security agenda was always meant for the Security Council and so it must be regarded.

Guaranteeing the equal participation of women from all regions, notably from the Global South, in decision-making institutions and fora is beneficial to all. In this respect, we welcome and commend the recent appointment, by the Secretary General, of the Brazilian prosecutor Ms. Najla Nassif Palma for the position of UN Victims Rights Advocate.

Women belong wherever decisions are made on their behalf, as Dr. Bertha Lutz and many others have pointed out.

Thank you.