AMBASSADOR Elizabeth P. Buensuceso, Asean Senior Officials Meeting Leader, recently represented the Philippines in the Asean Ministerial Dialogue on Strengthening Women’s Role for Sustainable Peace and Security.
“The Philippines has been a constant advocate of gender and women’s issues, and has pushed hard for gender mainstreaming in [the region],” the ambassador said in the videoconference.
A staunch advocate of women’s rights, Buensuceso highlighted on September 10 such Philippine advocacies, including her initiative to conceptualize and launch the Asean Women for Peace Registry during her stint as the country’s permanent representative to the bloc—an aspiration aimed at enhancing the role of women in peace and reconciliation processes.
She also underscored the fact that among the major accomplishments of the Philippine Asean Chairmanship in 2017 were the adoption of the Joint Leaders’ Statement on Promoting Women, Peace and Security, as well as the Leaders’ Declaration on Gender-Responsive Implementation of the Asean Community.
The Filipina envoy cited the Philippines as the first Asian country to give flesh to the United Nations Security Council Resolution No. 1325, a landmark resolution on women, peace and security (WPS), when the country formulated and adopted in 2010 the UNSC 1325 National Action Plan. She hailed Dr. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer as the first woman in the world to have signed a peace agreement, which is today being implemented.
Buensuceso conveyed Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L. Locsin Jr.’s call for the incorporation of the WPS agenda in the Asean Comprehensive Pandemic Recovery Framework, especially since women and children are among the vulnerable sectors disproportionately affected by the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown.
Among those who spoke at the gathering were Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi, Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Women Marise Payne, Vietnam’s Chairman of the Union of Friendship Organizations Nguyen Phuong Nga and the UN’s Undersecretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary A. DiCarlo. DFA
Image credits: DFA
