United Nations: Asking the international community to mobilise itself to address the issue of protection and promotion of Human Rights of women and girls in armed conflicts, India has said that without the inclusive participation of women, peacekeeping cannot be comprehensive.

Simultaneously it warned against attempt to artificially enhancing the number of women in peace negotiations especially in conflicts where societies are male-dominated, saying it would not necessarily guarantee enduring results.

"Each participation has to be a local initiative and any external attempt at influencing the situation otherwise has to be incremental for it to have lasting effect," India's United Nations Ambassador Nirupam Sen said yesterday (Oct 28, 2004).

Intervening in the Security Council debate on 'Women and Peace and Security,' he said some solutions would have to emerge from the conflict-ridden societies themselves.

"Others are more long-term and structural. They involve, inter alia, the encouragement of democratic ideals and practices, freedom of speech and expression, effecting improvement in economic and social conditions, and expansion of opportunities for education and productive employment," he said.