Statement delivered by Ms. Rishfa Rasheed, Assistant Director, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in explanation of Vote before the Vote, on Resolution L.20, entitled “Women and Political Participation”, 18 November 2011
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
The Maldives is pleased to be among the co-sponsors of the draft resolution L.20 Rev.1 entitled “Women and Political Participation”.
The Government of the Maldives places great importance on women's rights and on processes of political transition, given our own recent democratic transition. We are very pleased with the text proposed by the facilitator, and would like to extend our appreciation to the facilitator and other co-sponsors, who tried hard to be flexible and accommodate the concerns of all delegations, with a view to reach the broadest possible consensus.
The Maldives would have preferred to retain strong references to democracy and political transition in the text, which had been removed in the spirit of compromise and to try and reach an agreement on the text. The Maldives would also like to point out that it supports fully the PP5, on UN-WOMEN, as this is of great importance to my delegation.
Mr Chairman,
The Maldives believes that the focus of this resolution and the requested report is very timely, and we strongly support the political participation of women in all areas, and especially countries in different phases of transition. In this regard, we urge delegations to support this draft resolution.
