Press Releases
Foreign Minister KAMIKAWA’s participation in
Female Foreign Ministers of Japan and Indonesia Talk
"Why do we need women's perspectives?"
On December 16, commencing at 10:00 a.m. for approximately 60 minutes, Ms. KAMIKAWA Yoko, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, alongside H.E. Ms. Retno Lestari Priansari Marsudi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, who is visiting Japan to attend the commemorative summit for the 50th year of Japan-ASEAN friendship and cooperation, participated in an event titled “Female Foreign Ministers of Japan and Indonesia Talk ~Why do we need women's perspectives?" organized by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. The overview of the event is as follows.
- At the beginning of the dialogue, Minister Kamikawa and Minister Retno were welcomed with applause from the audience and gave an overview of the concept of WPS, international trends, the respective efforts of Japan and Indonesia in WPS, and the importance of women’s participation.
- Then, during the dialogue with Minister Retno, Minister Kamikawa reviewed her experiences as a Diet member and Minister of Justice and explained the significance of the implementation of the WPS Agenda, the efforts to date to put the WPS Agenda into practice including the establishment of a parliamentary league and listening to the opinions of experts from various sectors and the field, and the WPS Action Plan of Japan, while introducing her own experience.
- Minister Kamikawa also emphasized the importance of women's perspectives in disaster response, and stated that as she would like to promote the WPS Agenda together with Indonesia and other ASEAN countries on the Occasion of the 50th year of Japan-ASEAN friendship and cooperation, and to spread the mainstreaming of WPS to the entire international community together with Foreign Minister Retno.
- During this dialogue, the two foreign ministers engaged in a lively and frank exchange of views on WPS.
In 2000, for the first time in the Security Council's history, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted the Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), which clearly stated that international peace, conflict prevention, and conflict resolution require the equal participation of women, protection from sexual violence in conflict, and gender equality. To implement this resolution and subsequent resolutions, Japan formulated the first national action plan in 2015, the second in 2019, and the third in 2023.