Originally published by Cihan on October 14, 2015.

A leading advocate for women’s rights in Syria said on Tuesday (13 Oct) during a press briefing in New York, more focus should be placed on empowering women to restore the future of her country, as “there will be not enough men” left to do so because of the conflict.

Mouna Ghanem, Founder and Coordinator of the Syrian Women’s Forum for Peace, made her comments during a press briefing on the sidelines of the Security Council annual debate on women, peace and security.

The debate marks the 15th anniversary of resolution 1325, which was the first resolution to link women’s experiences of conflict to international peace and security.

Ghanem called on the UN to be more effective in its handling of the four-year conflict in Syria, which has caused the displacement of half of its population and the death of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children.

She also urged for the involvement of women in rebuilding the country “now everybody is under threats of being killed and what we also need is to empower the women, because they will be the builder of a new Syria. I mean, there will be no enough men, I am sorry, I mean there will be no enough men. Most of our men, I mean, in the demographic parameters there is a missing group, category and you can see between 20-40 from the young men, this is…we lost our men. So we need to focus on the Syrian women if we want to really have a future for this people and this country.”

In a new resolution adopted today, the Security Council recognized the ongoing need for greater integration of resolution 1325 in its own work, and, among other provisions, expressed its intention to dedicate periodic Council consultations on country situations, as necessary, to the topic of women, peace and security implementation, as well as the intention to ensure Security Council missions take into account gender considerations and the rights of women.