6 of 15 Ambassadors in UN Security Council are women!

The United Nations Council sadly, has always had more men ambassadors than women. Even though this trend still continues today, the UN Security Council has made history with currently 1/3^rd of its ambassadors being women.

According to the UN Centre website, Ambassador Sylvie Lucas of Luxembourg said, “It’s a little strange that it’s taken us this long, I think that it is important to have women representing their countries in the organ of the United Nations which is dealing with international peace and security.”

Currently, six of the fifteen seats are taken by women, including Ambassadors Joy Ogwu of Nigeria, Raimonda Murmokaite of Lithuania, Maria Cristina Perceval of Argentina, Samantha Power of the United States, and Dina Kawar of Jordan, along with Sylvie. Ambassador Murmokaite stated that the ambassadors should be judged by their work and not gender.

She added, “In too many places around the world, women don’t have the opportunities, even basic opportunities, It is an enormous message of empowerment but also an enormous message of what women can do, how women can contribute, if they are given this opportunity.”

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Ambassador Kawar, is the newest member of the club. She took up the post as Jordan’s Permanent Representative in August, after having served for many in France. The website reported her saying, “Obviously, we all represent our countries and certain positions of our governments. So, being a female does not change that. However, I’ve noticed there’s a difference in approach to problems, and that is instead of immediately coming up and talking about our Government position… we try to look at problems and see how we can change that.”

In the year 2000 the security Council adopted a landmark resolution that acknowledged the important role played by women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace negotiations, peace-building, peacekeeping, humanitarian response and in post-conflict reconstruction. It emphasized the need for their equal participation and involvement in promoting peace and security.

ORIGINAL SOURCE: UN News Centre

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48711