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heartening. This is evidence of the serious commitments in addressingthe issues of conflict resolution and peace building.The linkage between human rights, peace, security and developmentis now acknowledged and established. As rightly pointed outby Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, peace is everyone’s task and itsrealisation is a prerequisite for development. Yet, more remains tobe done to achieve this prerequisite. The implementation of Resolution1325 at the national level is important to Africa, especially insituations of conflict where women and girls pay a heavy cost. Theyare subjected to various forms of violence, including sexual violence,murder, systematic rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy.Resolution 1325 calls upon Member States, the United Nationssystem and all relevant actors to ensure that the specific needs ofwomen and girls are better taken into account in conflict prevention,management and resolution. For Africa, Resolution 1325 representsa blueprint for further action in these three crucial areas if we are toachieve sustainable peace, security and development. The resolutionrecognises the central need for gender equality and women’sempowerment in all areas of life, especially with regards to peacebuilding and conflict resolution. In reality, it provides a comprehensiveagenda for gender mainstreaming in peace and security with aview to enhancing women’s participation in peace processes, includingdecision-making.As we all know, the Resolution puts emphasis on the prevention ofconflicts, the protection of all civilians, especially women and girls,and on their participation in peace building.With regard to prevention, it calls upon all actors involved, includingMember States and the United Nations system, to increase women’srepresentation at all decision making levels in national, regional andinternational institutions as well as all mechanisms and arrangementsfor the avoidance of eruption and escalation of conflicts.The Resolution, therefore, agrees with Article 33 of the UN Charter,which calls for regional arrangements in handling questions of peaceand security.Speaking on gender-based violence, the Secretary-General said in2007 that rape and other forms of sexual abuse remained “perva-Integrating Africa241