At the recent World Summit held in September 2005, world leaders reiterated the importance of women's role in peacebuilding and the prevention and resolution of conflict, reaffirming their commitments to full implementation of resolution 1325. They also explicitly condemned "all violations of the human rights of women and girls in situations of armed conflict and the use of sexual exploitation, violence and abuse," and committed to "elaborating and implementing strategies to report on, prevent and punish gender-based violence."

While previous reviews of the level of implementation have revealed progress achieved in a number of areas, these reviews have also clearly shown that much stronger and coordinated efforts are needed to reach full implementation.  The United Nations Security Council recently condemned the continuing sexual abuse and violence against women during war. The Security Council also urged that more women should get the opportunity to participate in peace negotiations and peace-building activities (News24.com). 

With the aim of strengthening the commitment and accountability of the United Nations to gender equality, the UN issued a comprehensive plan October 18, 2005, for reinforcing and integrating women's issues into the world body's peacekeeping and post-conflict operations.  The new report, prepared by the Inter-Agency Task Force, tackles the broad application of gender equality as well as the protection of women through all phases of peacekeeping, humanitarian and post-conflict operations. The plan drew on contributions from 37 different UN agencies and provides a blueprint for action to deliver concrete changes in how they conduct their activities in coming years.