SCR1325 Africa EN.120925

ImplementatIon of
SecurIty councIl reSolutIon 1325 (2000)

In afrIca
Peace Operations
Training Institute
DEVELOPED BY
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the
Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the Peace
Operations Training Institute (POTI)
N COLLABORAT ON W TH
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
AND THROUGH THE SPONSORSH P OF
The Government of Norway
SER ES ED TOR
Harvey J. Langholtz, Ph.D.
ImplementatIon of
In afrIca
Foreword viii
Acknowledgements ix
IntroductIon x
method oF study xi
lesson 1: the unIted nAtIons And women And PeAce
And securIty 13
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.2 Overview of the United Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.3 The UN Security Council and Peacekeeping Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.4 Defning Gender and Important Related Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.5 Navigating the Gender Equality Regime within the United Nations . . . . . 26
lesson 2: gender dImensIons oF Armed conFlIct And
Post-conFlIct reconstructIon 35
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.2 The Nature of Contemporary Armed Confict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.3 The Gendered Impact of Armed Confict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.4 Womens Roles in Armed Confict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.5 Gendered Perspectives in Confict Resolution and Post-confict
Reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
ImplementatIon of
In afrIca
UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for
women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. UN Women sup-
ports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality, and works with governments and civil
society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to implement these standards. It stands behind womens
equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on fve priority areas: increasing womens leadership and participation;
ending violence against women; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes; enhancing womens
economic empowerment; and making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting. UN Women
also coordinates and promotes the UN systems work in advancing gender equality.
2011 United Nations. All rights reserved.
First edition: 2011
Cover: Ky Chung/UN Photo
The material contained herein does not necessarily refect the views of the Peace Operations Training Institute (POTI), the
Course Author(s), or any United Nations organs or affliated organizations. The Peace Operations Training Institute is an
international not-for-proft NGO registered as a 501(c)(3) with the Internal Revenue Service of the United States of America.
The Peace Operations Training Institute is a separate legal entity from the United Nations. Although every effort has been
made to verify the contents of this course, the Peace Operations Training Institute and the Course Author(s) disclaim any and
all responsibility for facts and opinions contained in the text, which have been assimilated largely from open media and other
independent sources. This course was written to be a pedagogical and teaching document, consistent with existing UN policy
and doctrine, but this course does not establish or promulgate doctrine. Only offcially vetted and approved UN documents may
establish or promulgate UN policy or doctrine. Information with diametrically opposing views is sometimes provided on given
topics, in order to stimulate scholarly interest, and is in keeping with the norms of pure and free academic pursuit.
lesson 7: guIdelInes For nAtIonAl ImPlementAtIon oF
scr 1325 (2000) In AFrIcA 115
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
7.2 Creating a National Action Plan for Implementing SCR 1325 (2000) . . 117
7.3 Action Plan Components and Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
7.4 Content of National Action Plans: Sample Provisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
7.5 Key Issues: Commitment of Resources and Measuring Results . . . . . . 129
7.6 Deciding on an Integrated or Separate Approach to Action Plans . . . . . 130
APPendIx A: lIst oF Acronyms 134
APPendIx B: lIst oF un PeAckeeePIng oPerAtIons 136
APPendIx c: securIty councIl resolutIon 1325 (2000) 139
APPendIx d: securIty councIl resolutIon 1820 (2008) 143
APPendIx e: securIty councIl resolutIon 1888 (2009) 148
APPendIx F: securIty councIl resolutIon 1889 (2009) 155
APPendIx g: securIty councIl resolutIon 1960 (2010) 160
APPendIx h: PresIdentIAl stAtements on women And
PeAce And securIty 165
APPendIx I: excerPt From the rePort oF the
secretAry-generAl on women And PeAce And
securIty (s/2007/567) 186
APPendIx J: exAmPle oF A nAtIonAl ActIon PlAn
norwAy 190
end-oF-course exAm InstructIons 214
lesson 3: securIty councIl resolutIon 1325 (2000) on
women And PeAce And securIty 53
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.2 The Origins of SCR 1325 (2000) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.3 Reconceptualizing Security: The Human Security Approach . . . . . . . . . 57
3.4 The SCR 1325 (2000) Mandate: What Is Required and Who Is
Responsible? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.5 Implementation of SCR 1325 (2000) in the UN System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.6 Implementation of SCR 1325 (2000) at the National Level . . . . . . . . . . . 64
lesson 4: women And PeAce And securIty:
chAllenges For AFrIcA 69
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.2 Contemporary Armed Confict in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.3 Impact of Contemporary Armed Confict on Women and Girls . . . . . . . . 75
4.4 Peace, Transition, and Recovery Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
lesson 5: women And PeAce And securIty:
PrIorItIes For AFrIcA 87
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.2 Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.3 Participation and Representation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
5.4 Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
lesson 6: the role oF regIonAl And suBregIonAl
orgAnIZAtIons In suPPortIng nAtIonAl
ImPlementAtIon oF scr 1325 (2000) 103
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
6.2 The African Union and the Commitment to Gender and
Peace in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
6.3 Subregional Commitments for Gender and Peace in Africa: The
Regional Economic Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
v i i i | P E A C E OP E R AT I ON S T R A I N I N G I N S T I T U T E
Foreword
Unanimously adopted by the Security Council in 2000, resolution 1325 is a landmark resolution that
provides an essential framework for womens full participation in confict resolution and gender equality
in all aspects of building peace and security. The resolution calls on governments, international and
regional institutions as well as civil society to engage women in peace processes and protect womens
rights in confict and post-confict situations. The core principles of resolution 1325 have traveled beyond
the Security Council and have been embraced by Member States and civil society around the world.
The UNs newest institution UN Women (the Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of
Women) -- is also dedicated to providing continued support and assistance in these processes and
to increase awareness and implementation of the resolution at all levels. Real and lasting progress
requires building capacities for national and regional implementation of resolution 1325, including through
empowering womens peace movements, the development of national and regional strategies or action
plans, building alliances with key stakeholders and mobilizing resources.
One of UN Womens contributions in this regard is this e-learning programme. It was developed in
partnership with the Peace Operations Training Institute, with sponsorship from the Government of
Norway, and in collaboration with the UNs Economic Commissions for Africa (ECA) and Latin America
and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
The course is a practical tool for policy decision makers, practitioners and civil society to understand the
impact of confict on women, womens role as agents of change in peace and security efforts. It should
inspire commitment and innovation and help a wide range of peace and security actors to integrate
this perspective in their daily work. This e-learning experience similarly ought to support governments,
regional and international stakeholders and civil society in promoting gender-responsive peacebuilding
and post-confict recovery. At UN Women we are committed to a vision where women play an equal role
with men in building peace for all.
Without peace for women, there can be no peace. Until women and womens needs, priorities and
concerns are identifed, addressed and resourced in a timely and systematic way in confict and
post-confict contexts, peace processes and peacebuilding will continue to fall far short of delivering
effective and sustainable peace dividends. It is my sincere hope that this course will galvanize great
determination and effective action to engage women in confict prevention, resolution, and recovery.
Michelle Bachelet
Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director
UN Women
I mP l E mE N TAT I ON Of S C R 1 3 2 5 ( 2 0 0 0 ) I N A f R I C A | i x
Acknowledgements
This project was carried out under the overall guidance and supervision of Rachel Mayanja, the
former Assistant Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI, now
part of UN Women). Natalia Zakharova of UN Women served as project coordinator and a contributor
to the work.
UN Women would like to specifcally thank and acknowledge the collaboration with the Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the Peace Operations Training
Institute (POTI). UN Women also owes very particular thanks to the Government of Norway, whose
generous support allowed this project to be carried out successfully.
This project was a collective effort and became possible thanks to many people who participated
and contributed in various ways. UN Women thanks the following individuals very warmly for their
valuable contributions: Amelia Berry, Lauren Butt, Natalie Hudson, Ximena Jimenez, Ilja Luciak,
Michelle Minaskanian, Sonia Montano, Laura Myftaraj, Elsie-Bernadette Onubogu, Nicola Popovic,
and Ximena Sanchez.
In addition, UN Women would like to express its appreciation to all the participants of the High-Level
Policy Dialogue on the National Implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) in Latin
America and the Caribbean, organized by former OSAGI in collaboration with ECLAC in November
2007 in Santiago, Chile, for their comments and feedback.
WATCH:
MICHELLE BACHELET
UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF UN WOMEN
To view this video introduction by Michelle Bachelet, either click on the image above or go
to: https://www.peaceopstraining.org/users/media_page/1159/un-women-executive-director-
michelle-bachelet-introduces-scr1325-course/
x | P E A C E OP E R AT I ON S T R A I N I N G I N S T I T U T E I mP l E mE N TAT I ON Of S C R 1 3 2 5 ( 2 0 0 0 ) I N A f R I C A | x i
Method of Study
The following are suggestions for how to proceed with this course. Though the student may have alternate
approaches that are effective, the following hints have worked for many.
Before you begin actual studies, frst browse
through the overall course material. Notice the
lesson outlines, which give you an idea of what
will be involved as you proceed.
The material should be logical and straightforward.
Instead of memorizing individual details, strive to
understand concepts and overall perspectives in
regard to the United Nations system.
Set up guidelines regarding how you want to
schedule your time.
Study the lesson content and the learning
objectives. At the beginning of each lesson,
orient yourself to the main points. If you are able
to, read the material twice to ensure maximum
understanding and retention, and let time elapse
between readings.
When you fnish a lesson, take the
End-of-Lesson Quiz. For any error, go back to
the lesson section and re-read it. Before you
go on, be aware of the discrepancy in your
understanding that led to the error.
After you complete all of the lessons, take time
to review the main points of each lesson. Then,
while the material is fresh in your mind, take the
End-of-Course Examination in one sitting.
Your exam will be scored, and if you acheive
a passing grade of 75 per cent or higher, you
will be awarded a Certifcate of Completion. If
you score below 75 per cent, you will be given
one opportunity to take a second version of the
End-of-Course Examination.
One note about spelling is in order. This course
was written in English as it is used in the United
Kingdom.
Key features of your course classroom:
Access to all of your courses;
A secure testing environment in which to
complete your training;
Access to additional training resources, including
Multimedia course supplements;
The ability to download your Certifcate of
Completion for any completed course; and
Student fora where you can communicate with
other students about any number of subjects.
Access your course classroom here:
http://www.peaceopstraining.org/users/user_login
Aim
The purpose of this course is to raise awareness about Security Council resolution 1325 (2000); to
mobilize governments to mainstream a gender perspective into all areas of peace and security; and
to build national capacity within the public sector to develop a national action plan or strategy for the
implementation of the resolution.
scope
The course will provide information about the intergovernmental process, including in the area of gender
equality and empowerment of women and girls, that led to the adoption of SCR 1325 (2000). It will
describe the efforts of various United Nations entities towards the implementation of the resolution.
The course will also analyse the efforts of Member States, particularly in Africa, to mainstream a gender
perspective into the area of peace and security. It will explain the gender dimensions of armed confict
and peace processes in the region and provide evidence of the important role women play in ensuring a
sustainable and lasting peace.
Approach
The course will identify national priorities in Africa in the areas of women and peace and security, provide
practical information about how to develop a national action plan or strategy for the implementation of
SCR 1325 (2000), and provide key elements and tools for such an action plan or strategy.
Audience
This course was designed as a resource for senior government offcials, civil servants, and Members of
Parliament who are involved in policy development, planning, and programming in the area of peace and
security.
Introduction
LESSON 1
THE UNITED NATIONS AND
WOMEN AND PEACE AND
SECURITY
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LESSON
1
1.1 Introduction
1.2 overview of the United
nations
1.3 The Un security
Council and
Peacekeeping
operations
1.4 Defning Gender and
Important Related
Concepts
1.5 navigating the Gender
equality Regime within
the United nations
LESSON OBJECTIVES
This lesson provides a brief history of the United Nations (UN) and an
overview of its current work in international peace and security. More
specifcally, this lesson introduces the ways in which the UN addresses
the issues of women and peace and security (WPS) as one component
of the broader agenda aimed at achieving gender equality and the
empowerment of women and girls. The lesson will cover the fundamental
documents and decisions that constitute the institutional framework for
the UNs work in this arena. Given that many of the WPS policy objectives
directly or indirectly address UN peacekeeping operations, this lesson
also discusses shifting legal and procedural trends in UN peacekeeping
operations, particularly as they relate to womens and gender issues.
After studying the material in this lesson, the student will be
able to do the following:
Understand the work of the United Nations system, especially in the
area of peace and security;
Understand the development of peacekeeping operations, including
their goals and challenges;
Recognize the main concepts related to gender and gender
mainstreaming;
Understand the importance of promoting gender equality and the
empowerment of women and girls; and
Identify the main documents and decisions of the UN system that affrm
the equal rights of men and women as they relate to international peace
and security.
1.1 Introduction
This lesson consists of four sections. First, to lay
a foundation, we must briefy discuss the origins
and basic functions of the UN as it relates to the
promotion of international peace and security.
From this basis, we can turn to the purpose of
the UN Security Council and its multidimensional
peace operations. The third section outlines a
number of concepts critical to understanding WPS
and the UNs broader commitment to gender
equality. Lastly, numerous legal documents and
organizational structures must be explored in
order to understand the institutional framework
that guides policy-making and programme
implementation in this area.
1.2 Overview of the United Nations
Replacing the fawed League of Nations, the UN
was established in the aftermath of the death and
destruction of World War II. Its primary purpose
was, and continues to be, the promotion and
protection of international peace and security. By
providing a platform for dialogue between states,
the UN seeks to end existing wars and prevent
future armed confict between both state and
non-state actors.
The Charter of the United Nations was unanimously
approved by 51 states attending a 1945 conference
in San Francisco. Its frst article states that the
UNs purpose is:
To maintain international peace and security,
and to that end: to take effective collective
measures for the prevention and removal of
threats to the peace, and for the suppression
of acts of aggression or other breaches of the
peace, and to bring about by peaceful means,
and in conformity with the principles of justice
and international law, adjustment or settlement of
international disputes or situations which might
lead to a breach of the peace;
To develop friendly relations among nations
based on respect for the principle of equal
rights and self-determination of peoples, and to
take other appropriate measures to strengthen
universal peace;
To achieve international co-operation in solving
international problems of an economic, social,
cultural, or humanitarian character, and in
promoting and encouraging respect for human
rights and for fundamental freedoms for all
without distinction as to race, sex, language, or
religion; and
To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of
nations in the attainment of these common
ends.
1

The Charter defnes six main organs within the
UN: the General Assembly, the Security Council,
the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship
Council, the International Court of Justice, and the
Secretariat. While all six organs are important to
the overall mission of the UN, the Security Council
is the centre of UN power and acts as the primary
decision-making body in the area of international
peace and security. Therefore, it is the starting
point for addressing these issues from a gender
perspective.
1 Charter of the United Nations, Chapter 1:
Purposes and Principles, available from http://
www.un.org/en/documents/charter/chapter1.shtml,
accessed 9 January 2010.
United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
(Harvey J. Langholtz)
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1.3 The UN Security Council and
Peacekeeping Operations
According to the UN Charter, the mandate of
the Security Council is to maintain international
peace and security. Thus, it is the UN organ
committed specifcally to the central mission of
the UN. Its mandate is also the most challenging
to implement, given that the second article in the
UN Charter affrms that the Organization is based
on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its
Members. Tension can thus emerge between the
obligation of UN Member States to take collective
measures, including the use of force, to defend
international peace and security, on the one hand,
and the sovereign rights of state actors on the
other. Still, the UN Charter grants the Security
Council signifcant power by stating that in order
to ensure prompt and effective action by the United
Nations, its Members confer on the Security
Council primary responsibility for the maintenance
of international peace and security, and agree that
in carrying out its duties under this responsibility
the Security Council acts on their behalf (Article
24). In other words, the Security Council is
in charge of these responsibilities and acting
consequently. Further, according to Article 25, UN
Member States are legally obligated to accept and
carry out the decisions of the Security Council in
accordance with the present Charter.
The activity of the Security Council is infuenced
greatly by its members. Currently, it consists of
15 members, of which fve are permanent. The
non-permanent members serve for two years
and are distributed by geographic area, with two
representatives from Latin America, two from Asia,
three from Africa, three from Western Europe, and
one from Eastern Europe. The fve permanent
members, which have the power to unilaterally veto
Security Council resolutions, are China, France,
the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and
the United States.
To maintain international peace and security in
conformity with the purposes and principles of
the United Nations, the Security Council does the
following:
Investigates any dispute or situation that may
cause international tension or confict;
Recommends methods or conditions for
settlement of disputes;
Formulates plans for the establishment of a
system to regulate armaments;
Determines whether there is a threat to the
peace or an act of aggression, and recommends
which measures should be taken;
Encourages Members to apply economic
sanctions and other measures that do not involve
the use of force in order to prevent or stop
aggression;
Employs military action against aggressors;
Recommends the incorporation of new
Members;
Exercises United Nations trusteeship functions in
strategic zones; and
Recommends to the General Assembly the
appointment of the Secretary-General and, in
conjunction with the Assembly, appoints the
magistrates of the International Court of Justice.
Although this is not an exhaustive list, it is clear
that in fulflling its mission, the Security Council
engages in a range of actions from preventive
and provisional measures, such as requesting
a ceasefre or sending observers to supervise a
truce, to coercive measures (with or without the use
of force), such as an economic blockade or military
intervention. The former actions occur in the
context of Chapter VI of the UN Charter, while the
latter generally adhere to Chapter VII. Chapter VII
peacekeeping operations not only allow but require
peacekeepers to use all necessary means to
protect civilians, prevent violence against UN staff
and personnel, and deter armed elements from
ignoring peace agreements. Chapter VII provisions
have also led the Security Council to establish ad
hoc war crimes tribunals in the aftermath of certain
horrifc instances of armed confict, such as those
in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.
Despite these mandated functions and activities,
the term peacekeeping does not appear in the
UN Charter. This is not surprising given that the
Charter was designed to provide mechanisms
that could prevent the sort of border aggression
and violence between nations that triggered the
Second World War. The concept of peacekeeping
did not emerge until the late 1940s, in a series of
ad hoc interventions that began in the Middle East
(UNTSO in 1948) and along the border between
India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP in 1949).
As the nature of armed confict has shifted since
then, so too has the response of the UN. Very
few peacekeeping operations occurred during the
UNs frst four decades. The Security Council was
often split along the ideological lines of the Cold
War, and the veto power of the fve permanent
members proved to be a major obstacle to
action.
2
The peacekeeping missions that did
occur during the Cold War have been defned as
traditional peacekeeping missions, in which the
purpose of UN peacekeepers was to monitor and
assist an agreed-upon ceasefre while diplomats
sought a more permanent political solution. Such
peacekeeping missions were intended to be
temporary interventions that depended on the
consent of the warring parties, and their mandates
tended to fall somewhere between Chapters
VI and VII of the UN Charter. While Chapter VI
discusses the peaceful settlement of disputes
through negotiation, mediation, and arbitration,
Chapter VII discusses the use of coercive means,
including force. Peacekeeping missions developed
in a way that blurred the line between the two, and
thus, the colloquially identifed Chapter Six and a
Half came into existence. UN Secretary-General
Dag Hammarskjld coined this phrase and worked
with the former prime minister of Canada, Lester B.
Pearson, to develop and implement peacekeeping
missions that went far beyond the parameters of
more traditional missions.
2 Global Policy Forum, The Power of the
Veto. Available from http://www.globalpolicy.org/
security-council/security-council-as-an-institution/
the-power-of-the-veto-0-40.html
The end of the Cold War created new opportunities
for cooperation within the Security Council,
and the complicated and violent conficts that
emerged during the 1990s pushed the Security
Council to think and act in new ways in terms
of peacekeeping. In response to these shifting
realities, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
formulated An Agenda for Peace (1992), which
called for the UN to play a more proactive role
in peace missions by going beyond simply
peacekeeping and to engage in both peacebuilding
and peace enforcement over the long term.
He asserted that the sources of confict and
war are pervasive and deep and asked that
peace missions be enhanced in size, scope and
complexity
3
to better address the needs of the
changing world. Thus, peacekeeping operations
expanded in terms of nature, scope, and frequency;
this evolution is often referred to as second- and
third-generation peacekeeping. The functions of
these multidimensional missions go far beyond
simply monitoring a ceasefre to include:
Truce supervision and military observation;
Disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration
(DDR);
Humanitarian aid;
Electoral assistance;
Human rights (HR);
Mine action;
Use of UN Police (UNPOL); and
Cooperation with local and regional
organizations, as well as non-governmental
organizations (NGOs).
3 An Agenda for Peace, written by
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, served
as a blueprint for post-Cold War peacekeeping
missions. People who study this document all
recognize that it called for an expansion in the
size, scope, and complexity of UN peacekeeping
missions although those specifc words never
appear together in the document. For the full text,
see http://www.un.org/Docs/SG/agpeace.html
UN peacekeeping missions expanded not only in
size, scope, and complexity but also in frequency.
Of the 64 operations that had been deployed as of
October 2010, 13 were established between 1948
and 1989, while 51 were established from 1990 to
2010. The table below provides a summary of the
shifting trends in UN peacekeeping activity.
45
4 Information in the table is drawn from
International Organization by Margaret P. Karns and
Karen A. Mingst (Boulder, Lynne Rienner, 2004)
5 In some cases, peace enforcement operations
have been replaced with successor missions, e.g.,
MONUSCO (2010present) in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and UNMIT (2006present)
in East Timor.
In short, peacekeeping missions have become
a vital UN instrument. Because their mandates
are established by Security Council resolutions,
they obligate UN Member States to act. These
missions are managed and coordinated by the UN
Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO)
and operate on a separate budget from the UN
system. The UN peacekeeping budget for July
2010June 2011 was set at $7.26 billion.
Type Action Examples
First Generation:
Traditional Peacekeeping
Observation and monitoring
Separation of combat forces
Limited use of force
(Only with military personnel
under the UN mandate)
First UN Emergency Fund, Suez
Canal (UNEF I), 19561967
UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus
(UNFICYP), 1964present
UN Disengagement Observer
Force, Syrian Golan Heights
(UNDOF), 1974present
Second Generation:
Complex Peacebuilding
Humanitarian assistance
Institution-building
Encouragement of political parties
Protection of human rights
Support of democratic elections
(Military and civilian UN personnel
plus NGOs)
UN Transition Assistance Group,
Namibia (UNTAG), 19891990
UN Observer Mission in El
Salvador (ONUSAL), 19911995
UN Transition Authority in
Cambodia (UNTAC), 1992199
Third Generation:
Peace Enforcement
5
Use of air, navy, and land forces
to restore peace
Creation of safe havens
Humanitarian assistance
(Military and civilian UN personnel
plus NGOs)
UN Protection Force, Former
Yugoslavia (UNPROFOR), 1992
1995
UN Mission in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (MONUC),
19992010
UN Mission in Support of East
Timor (UNMISET), 20022005
A Summary of Peacekeeping Operations
4
1.4 Defning Gender and Important
Related Concepts
Before we can begin to understand the UNs
approach to WPS and the many obstacles and
challenges it faces, it is important to defne several
key gender-related terms.
6
Although often used interchangeably, the words
sex and gender do not mean the same thing.
They refer to two different, albeit interconnected,
aspects of our world. Sex has an exclusively
biological connotation, whereas gender refers to
socially constructed notions about masculinity and
femininity that may or may not exactly coincide with
notions of a persons sex.
6 United Nations Department of Peacekeeping
Operations, UN Peacekeeping Operations Fact
Sheet, www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/documents/
bnote010101.pdf, accessed 22 May 2012.
More specifcally, gender refers to the social
attributes, roles, and responsibilities associated
with being male or female and to the relationships
between women and men and girls and boys, as
well as the relationships between women and
those between men. It also includes expectations
about the characteristics, aptitudes, and likely
or appropriate behaviours of both women and
men, including what it means to be masculine
or feminine. Gender roles and expectations are
learned; therefore, they are temporally bound and
context-specifc. Gender often intersects with
other systems of social differentiation, such as
political status, class, ethnicity, physical and mental
disability, age, and other factors that can modify
its meaning in particular contexts. Within these
broader socio-cultural contexts, gender determines
what is expected, allowed, and valued in a women
or a man. In most societies, there are differences
and inequalities between women and men in
responsibilities assigned, activities undertaken, and
access to and control over resources, as well as
decision-making opportunities.
The concept of gender is vital because it reveals
systems of subordination and domination, as well
as how such systems are socially constructed.
Gender roles, responsibilities, norms, expectations,
and stereotypes that are accorded to men and
women in different ways directly affect power
relationships in society, such as division of
labour and decision-making structures. Gender
is relational in that it does not exclusively refer to
women or to men but rather to relations between
them. Gender defnes certain roles that men
and women play in society; socialization and
stereotypes teach and reinforce these ideas and
expectations.
Gender mainstreaming, which begins by taking the
distinction between sex and gender seriously, is the
central overarching concept in addressing issues
of WPS. Gender mainstreaming is a process rather
than a goal; it entails bringing the perceptions,
experience, knowledge, and interests of women
and men to bear on policy-making, planning, and
decision-making. Mainstreaming does not replace
the need for targeted, women-specifc policies,
programmes, and positive legislation, nor does it do
away with the need for gender units or focal points.
According to the UN Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC), gender mainstreaming
must be institutionalized through concrete steps,
mechanisms and processes in all parts of the
United Nations system.
7
This means that putting
gender mainstreaming into practice requires
system-wide change at the highest levels. Beyond
broadening womens participation at all levels
of decision-making, gender mainstreaming also
requires that issues across all areas of activity
should be defned in such a manner that the
objective for gender mainstreaming will be
reached: to design and implement development
projects, programmes, and policies that do not
reinforce existing gender inequalities (are not
gender negative or gender neutral), that attempt
to redress existing gender inequalities between
men and women (are gender sensitive); and that
attempt to redefne womens and mens gender
roles and relations (are gender positive or gender
transformative). The degree of integration of a
gender perspective in any given project can be
conceptualized as a continuum, as shown in the
following table.
7 UN Economic and Social Council, Agreed
Conclusions 1997/2, 18 July 1997, 1997/2.
Available from http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/
docid/4652c9fc2.html, accessed 25 January 2010.
Statistics
Peacekeeping operations since 1948 66
Current peacekeeping operations 15
Current peace operations directed and supported by DPKO 16
Personnel
Uniformed personnel*
(82,153 troops, 14,421 police and 2,033 military observers)
98,607
Countries contributing uniformed personnel 117
International civilian personnel* (31 December 2011) 5,468
Local civilian personnel* (31 December 2011) 12,290
UN Volunteers* 2,421
Total number of personnel serving in 15 peacekeeping operations* 118,786
Total number of personnel serving in 16 DPKO-led peace operations** 121,046
Total number of fatalities in peace operations since 1948*** 2,989
Financial Aspects
Approved budgets for the period from 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012 About 7.84 billion
Estimated total cost of operations from 1948 to 30 June 2010 About $69 billion
Outstanding contributions to peacekeeping About 2.18 billion
* Numbers include 14 peacekeeping operations only. Statistics for UNAMA, a special political mission directed and
supported by DPKO, can be found at www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/documents/ppbm.pdf
** This fgure includes the total number of uniformed and civilian personnel serving in 14 peacekeeping operations
and one DPKO-led special political missionUNAMA
*** Includes fatalities for all UN peace operations
Status of UN Peacekeeping Operations
6
Distinction between sex and Gender
A persons sex is biologically determined.
A persons gender is socially constructed,
refecting learned rather than innate
behaviours. It is specifc to time and
space, which means it can change over
time and within and between cultures.
Gender Mainstreaming
Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process
of assessing the implications for women and men
of any planned action, including legislation, policies
or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a
strategy for making womens as well as mens concerns
and experiences an integral dimension of the design,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and
programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres
so that women and men beneft equally and inequality is
not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender
equality.
Source: UN Economic and Social Council, Agreed Conclusions
1997/2, 18 July 1997, 1997/2, available from http://www.unhcr.
org/refworld/docid/4652c9fc2.html, accessed 25 January 2010.
Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process
of assessing the implications for women and
men of any planned action, including legislation,
policies, or programmes, in all areas and at all
levels. It is a strategy for making both womens
and mens concerns and experiences an integral
dimension of the design, implementation,
monitoring, and evaluation of policies and
programmes in all political, economic, and societal
spheres, so that women and men beneft equally
and inequality is not perpetuated. This defnition,
which is drawn from the ECOSOC document cited
above, points to fve areas in which such gender
mainstreaming efforts are critical:
The intergovernmental processes of the UN;
Institutional requirements for gender
mainstreaming in all policies and programmes;
The role of gender units and focal points in
gender mainstreaming;
Capacity-building for gender mainstreaming; and
Gender mainstreaming in the integrated follow-
up to global United Nations conferences.
In effect, gender mainstreaming seeks to eliminate
all forms of gender-based discrimination. Gender
discrimination has detrimental consequences not
only for women and girls but also for an entire
society socially, economically, and politically.
As of March 2011, 187 countries (over 90 per cent
of UN members) have committed themselves to
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
This international treaty, often referred to as the
international bill of rights for women, defnes
discrimination against women as any distinction,
exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex
which has the effect or purpose of impairing or
nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise
by women, irrespective of their marital status, on
a basis of equality of men and women, of human
rights and fundamental freedoms in the political,
economic, social, cultural, civil or any other feld.
By accepting CEDAW, states commit themselves
to undertake a series of measures to end
discrimination against women in all forms, including
the following:
To incorporate the principle of equality of men
and women in their legal system, abolish all
discriminatory laws and adopt appropriate ones
prohibiting discrimination against women;
To establish tribunals and other public institutions
to ensure the effective protection of women
against discrimination; and
To ensure elimination of all acts of discrimination
against women by persons, organizations or
enterprises.
8
Gender mainstreaming, however, goes beyond a
discussion of ending discrimination against women.
It is a much more radical approach that takes
into account a number of other gender-relevant
concepts as part of the process. Therefore, it is
critical to briefy defne such concepts, as they
can enhance our understanding of the nature and
scope of gender mainstreaming.
Gender Equality
Gender equality refers to the equal rights,
responsibilities, and opportunities of women and
men, and girls and boys. Equality does not mean
that women and men will become the same but
that womens and mens rights, responsibilities, and
opportunities will not depend on whether they are
born male or female. Gender equality implies that
the interests, needs, and priorities of both women
and men are taken into consideration, recognizing
the diversity of different groups of women and men.
Gender equality is not a womens issue; it should
concern and fully engage men as well as women.
Equality between women and men is seen both
as a human rights issue and as a precondition
for, and indicator of, sustainable people-centred
development and security.
Gender equality is not gender equity.
Gender equity goes further than equality of
opportunity to look at outcomes. Treating women
and men, or girls and boys, equally does not
automatically ensure that they obtain equal
outcomes and benefts, since there are many
structural factors that may militate against this.
Work towards gender equity therefore looks at
structural power relations in society as well as
material resources, and may include taking
positive or affrmative action to ensure that
policies and programmes beneft women/girls
and men/boys equally.
9

8 For more information, see http://www.un.org/
womenwatch/daw/cedaw/.
9 Commonwealth Secretariat, The
Commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender Equality
20052015 (Commonwealth Secretariat:
Within the UN system, gender equity is often
associated with notions of justice and fairness
and, therefore, requires a value judgment. Such
judgments can, of course, be subjective, since
factors like tradition, custom, religion, and culture
weigh into what constitutes fairness. From a
gender perspective, these factors can certainly
be detrimental to women and girls, particularly in
societies in which gender relations have historically
been asymmetrical and biased against women
and girls. From this perspective, it is necessary to
frst achieve gender equality before trying to defne
what gender-equitable policies and practices might
look like in a society.
Gender Balance
Gender balance refers to the equal representation
of women and men at all levels of an organization.
Efforts that increase the number of women in
decision-making positions constitute gender
balancing. The UNs goal is to achieve a 50-50
gender balance in all professional posts. While
achieving a gender balance is certainly an
important part of gender mainstreaming, it is only
one component of a larger process.
London, 2005), p. 18. Available from http://www.
thecommonwealth.org/shared_asp_fles/GFSR.
asp?NodeID=142576, accessed 1 April 2011.
Gender Negative Gender Neutral Gender Sensitive Gender Positive
Gender
Transformative
Involves the inten-
tional use of gen-
der norms, roles,
and stereotypes to
reinforce gender
inequalities in order
to achieve desired
outcomes in terms
of peace, security,
and order.
Does not consider
gender roles and
norms relevant to
desired outcomes;
thus, often unin-
tentionally reinforc-
es gender inequali-
ties in rebuilding a
society.
Recognizes that
gender roles and
relations affect all
aspects of society
and, therefore,
have implica-
tions for achiev-
ing desired goals.
Addresses gender
inequalities insofar
as raising aware-
ness about how
such issues affect
mission goals.
Sees addressing
gender relations
and inequalities as
central to achieving
desired outcomes.
Project outcomes
specifcally ad-
dress changing
gender roles and
expectations, from
a practical and
largely immedi-
ate or short-term
perspective.
Sees addressing
gender relations
and inequali-
ties as central to
achieving desired
outcomes. Ap-
proach tends to be
more strategic and
long-term in terms
of transforming
unequal gender re-
lations to promote
shared power, con-
trol of resources,
decision-making,
and support for
womens and girls
empowerment.
Liberian refugees in a transit camp in Abidjan, Cte dIvoire. These girls
were taught feminine activities during this confict, which reinforced
gender stereotypes regarding domestic chores reserved for women.
(UN Photo #32504 by Eskinder Debebe, August 2004)
Sex-Disaggregated Data
Effective gender mainstreaming requires the
availability and use of sex-disaggregated data
because such empirical evidence is critical to
determining the differentiated impact of policies
on women and men. Sex-disaggregated data are
statistics that are usually collected and presented
separately for men and women. Such data are
extremely valuable because they provide insight
into how given gender roles lead to distinct needs
being met in order to fulfl those roles effectively.
Gender Analysis
Gender analysis refers to a variety of methods
used to understand the relationships between
men and women, their access to resources, their
activities, and the constraints they face relative
to each other. It recognizes that gender and its
intersection with race, ethnicity, culture, class,
age, disability, or any other status is important in
understanding the different patterns of involvement,
behaviour, and activities that women and men have
in economic, social, political, and legal structures.
At the local level, gender analysis makes visible
the varied roles women, men, girls, and boys
play in the family, in the community, and in social,
economic, legal, and political structures. An
analysis of gender relations can tell us who has
access, who has control, who is likely to beneft
from a new initiative, and who is likely to lose.
Gender analysis asks questions about why a
situation has developed the way it has. It explores
assumptions about issues such as the distribution
of resources and the impact of culture and tradition.
It can provide information on the potential direct
or indirect beneft of a development initiative on
women and men, on some appropriate entry points
for measures that promote equality in a particular
context, and on how a particular development
initiative may challenge or maintain the existing
gender division of labour. Implementing an effective
gender analysis requires skilled professionals with
adequate resources, as well as the use of local
expertise. The fndings from a gender analysis
must be used to shape the design of policies,
programmes, and projects.
Gender Impact Assessment
Gender impact assessment refers to the differential
impact intentional or unintentional of various
policy decisions on women, men, girls, and boys.
It enables policy-makers to picture the effects of
a given policy more accurately and to compare
and assess the current situation and trends with
the expected results of the proposed policy.
Gender impact assessment can be applied to
legislation, policy plans and programmes, budgets,
reports, and existing policies. However, it is most
successful when carried out at an early stage in the
decision-making process so that changes and even
the redirecting of policies can take place.
Empowerment
Empowerment is about men and women taking
control of their lives: setting their own agendas,
gaining skills (or having existing skills and
knowledge recognized), building self-confdence,
solving problems, and developing self-reliance.
Empower ment is sometimes described as being
about the ability to make choices, but it must also
involve being able to shape what choices are
available or seen as possibilities. The process
of empowerment is as important as the goal.
Empowerment should not be seen as a zero-sum
game in which gains for women automatically
imply losses for men. In empowerment strategies,
increasing womens power does not refer to power
over others, or controlling forms of power, but
rather to alternative forms of power power to,
power with, and power from within all of which
focus on utilizing individual and collective strengths
to work towards common goals without coercion or
domination.
10
Misunderstandings about the Meaning of
Gender
It is important to understand some typical
misconceptions about gender and its place in
discussions of international peace and security.
First, even though in many languages there
is little or no linguistic distinction between the
terms, gender and sex are not the same, and
the difference is critical. Second, addressing
10 IDRC 1998; see http://archive.idrc.ca/
library/document/annual/ar9899/. For additional
information, see Z. Oxaal and S. Baden, Gender
and Empowerment: Defnitions, Approaches and
Implications for Policy, BRIDGE (development
gender) (Brighton: Institute for Development
gender is not the same as addressing womens
issues. Womens issues are a part of gender
issues, but gender also involves the relationship
between men and women and boys and girls, as
well as the impact of ideas about masculinity and
femininity within a given society. Third, gender is
not a marginal issue in the UNs work in peace
and security. Gender being male or female is
integral to our being: how we face the world, how
it perceives us, how we are expected to behave,
the tasks we undertake, and how we relate to other
females or males. It encompasses all aspects of
societal structures, from the family level to state
institutions. Thus, gender roles have far-reaching
implications, and their consideration should be
central to peace and security work.
Studies, 1997), available from http://www.bridge.
ids.ac.uk/go/home&id=23334&type=Document;
and S. Longwe, Gender Equality and Womens
Empowerment, paper presented at a working
seminar on methods for measuring womens
empowerment in a Southern African Context,
1718 October 2001, Windhoek, Namibia.
HIV-positive women work in an open-air embroidery workshop they
started to boost income, as well as confdence, which helps in the
empowerment of women in Honduras. (UN Photo #138811 by Mark
Garten, June 2006)
WATCH:
SIDE BY SIDE WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY
This 30-minute documentary, which was jointly developed by the Australian Governments
Australian Civil-Military Centre and UN Women, explores the ways in which the
international community have met and can continue to meet its commitments on women,
peace, and security. To view the video, either click on the image above or go to:
http://www.peaceopstraining.org/e-learning/course_media_page/1154/side-by-side-women-peace-and-security/
1.5 Navigating the Gender Equality
Regime within the United Nations
When trying to understand the many institutions
and complex legal frameworks that seek to promote
gender equality within the UN system, thinking
in terms of an international regime of gender
equality is a useful starting point. The term regime
refers to agreed-upon principles, norms, rules,
and decision-making procedures around which
actors expectations converge in a given issue
area.
11
Such rules and procedures may be explicit,
such as the codifcation of international law in the
form of treaties, or they may be implicit or less
formally binding. Whether or not these principles
are formalized in a treaty or more informally part
of international agencies and conferences, they
constitute a regime because they come together in
a way that can infuence state action. The gender
equality regime, like other regimes, includes a
web of organizations from the global to the local,
including governmental and non-governmental
organizations. Many actors, organizations, and
pieces of legislation make up the gender equality
regime even beyond the UN. The following section
highlights some of the key institutions, principles,
and rules that contribute to the establishment of
global normative standards for gender equality in
the context of the UN system.
The UNs contribution to the international regime of
gender equality begins with the UN Charter. This
founding document commits the organization to
ensuring and protecting equal rights for men and
women. Specifcally, the Preamble to the Charter
reaffrms faith in fundamental human rights, in the
dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal
rights of men and women and of nations large and
small, andto promote social progress and better
standards of life in larger freedom. It also places
special emphasis on non-discrimination against
women and girls and the promotion of equality,
balance, and gender equity in Chapters I, III, IX,
and XII. However, a number of other key principles
that emerge in the Charter, including sovereign
11 Stephen D. Krasner, Structural causes and
regime consequences: Regimes as intervening
variables, International Organization, vol. 36, No. 2
(Spring 1982), p. 186.
equality of states, maintenance of peace and
security, and non-intervention in the domestic
affairs of states, often operate in direct opposition
to such gender-related goals and can ultimately
override them.
Gender equality as a human-rights issue received
institutional reaffrmation within the UN in what
is informally known as the International Bill of
Human Rights: the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (1948), the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), and
the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (1966). While these foundational documents
were important in establishing a normative
legal framework as substantial components of
international law, their implementation often falls
short. From a gender equality perspective, this
declaration and two subsequent treaties approach
to gender equality is fairly narrow, often excluding
certain issues from the human rights agenda, such
as those that occur in the private realm. In this
sense, their mandates are often criticized for not
taking womens and girls human rights seriously.
Thus, the UN was in need of a legally binding
document specifcally devoted to the rights of
women and girls as part of the gender equality
regime. In 1979, the UN General Assembly
adopted the Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW), which is the frst international human
rights instrument to explicitly defne all forms of
discrimination against women as fundamental
human rights violations. Much of the text of this
convention was drafted by the Commission on
the Status of Women (CSW), another important
element of the gender equality regime within the
UN system. This intergovernmental body was
established in 1946 with 15 members and now has
45 members, elected by ECOSOC for a period of
four years. Every year, representatives of Member
States gather at United Nations Headquarters in
New York to evaluate progress on gender equality,
identify challenges, set global standards, formulate
policies, and promote gender equality and the
advancement of women and girls worldwide.
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women, which entered into force in 2000, further
enhanced the gender equality regime by putting
procedures and mechanisms in place that hold
states accountable to the Convention. By ratifying
the Optional Protocol, a state recognizes the
competence of the Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination against Women the body
that monitors states parties compliance with the
Convention to receive and consider complaints
from individuals or groups within its jurisdiction.
More specifcally, the Protocol contains two
procedures:
A communications procedure allows individual
women, or groups of women, to submit claims
of violations of rights protected under the
Convention to the Committee. In order for
individual communications to be admitted for
consideration by the Committee, a number of
criteria must be met; for example, domestic
remedies must have been exhausted.
Another procedure enables the Committee
to initiate inquiries into situations of grave or
systematic violations of womens rights.
In either case, states must be party to the
Convention and the Protocol.
12
The global discourse on gender equality norms
further evolved at four world conferences
on women held between 1975 and 1995 in
Mexico, Copenhagen, Nairobi, and Beijing.
These conferences provided platforms for
intergovernmental negotiations and gave womens
organizations an international arena for making
their claims and for networking. The frst was
convened in Mexico City to coincide with the 1975
International Womens Year, observed to remind
the international community that discrimination
against women and girls continued to be a
persistent problem in much of the world. The UN
General Assembly called for this frst conference to
focus international attention on the need to develop
goals, effective strategies, and plans of action for
the advancement of women and girls.
12 See: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/
cedaw/protocol/
To this end, the General Assembly identifed three
key objectives that would become the basis for UN
work on gender equality:
Full gender equality and the elimination of
gender discrimination;
The integration and full participation of women in
development; and
An increased contribution by women in the
strengthening of world peace.
The conference, along with the United Nations
Decade for Women (19761985), proclaimed by the
General Assembly fve months later at the urging
of the conference, launched a new era in global
efforts to promote the advancement of women by
opening a worldwide dialogue on gender equality.
A process of learning was set in motion that would
involve deliberation, negotiation, setting objectives,
identifying obstacles, and reviewing progress.
This process continued with the second world
conference for women in Copenhagen in 1980,
building upon the objectives laid out fve years
earlier. In terms of the UNs work on peace and
security, the report from this second conference
specifed: In accordance with their obligations
under the Charter to maintain peace and security
and to achieve international cooperation in
promoting and encouraging respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms, bearing in
The second World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women
(19761985) took place in Copenhagen in 1980. In this photo, Lucille
Mair, Secretary-General of the Conference, addresses the delegates at
the opening ceremony. (UN Photo #66207 by Per Jacobsen)
mind, in this respect, the right to live in peace,
States should help women to participate in
promoting international cooperation for the sake
of the preparation of societies for a life in peace
(paragraph 33). In this way, the UN began to frame
womens rights and gender equality as important
components of their peace and security work.
The third world conference in 1985 adopted
the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for
the Advancement of Women, with the goals of
equality, development, and peace as a blueprint
for action until 2000. This document clearly linked
the promotion and maintenance of peace to the
eradication of violence against women at all levels
of society. Paragraph 13 states that the full and
effective promotion of womens rights can best
occur in conditions of international peace and
security. Peace includes not only the absence of
war, violence, and hostilities at the national and
international levels, but also the enjoyment of
economic and social justice, equality, and the entire
range of human rights and fundamental freedoms
within society. Peace cannot be realized under
conditions of economic and sexual inequality,
denial of basic human rights and fundamental
freedoms, deliberate exploitation of large sectors of
the population, unequal development of countries,
and exploitative economic relations. The document
urges Member States to take constitutional and
legal steps to eliminate all forms of discrimination
against women, as well as to tailor national
strategies to facilitate the participation of women in
efforts to promote peace and development. At the
same time, it contains specifc recommendations
for womens empowerment in regard to health,
education, and employment.
The fourth world conference on women, held in
Beijing in 1995, produced the Beijing Declaration
and Platform for Action. The Declaration committed
governments to implement the strategies agreed
to in Nairobi in 1985 before the end of the
twentieth century and to mobilize resources for
the implementation of the Platform for Action.
The Platform is the most complete document
produced by a UN conference on womens
rights, since it incorporates achievements from
earlier conferences and treaties, such as the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, CEDAW,
and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of
Action, which was produced at a global human
rights conference in 1993. In terms of WPS, the
Beijing Platform for Action was critical, because
it identifed women and armed confict as one of
12 critical areas of concern. Within this area, six
strategic objectives were identifed:
1. Increase the participation of women in confict
resolution at decision-making levels, and
protect women living in situations of armed and
other conficts or under foreign occupation;
2. Reduce excessive military expenditures and
control the availability of armaments;
3. Promote non-violent forms of confict resolution,
and reduce the incidence of human rights
abuse in confict situations;
4. Promote womens contributions to fostering a
culture of peace;
5. Provide protection, assistance, and training to
refugee women, internally displaced women,
and other displaced women in need of
international protection; and
6. Provide assistance to the women of colonies
and non-self-governing territories.
As will be seen in Lesson 3, some of these
strategic objectives were very infuential in the
development of the UNs approach to the issues of
women and peace and security.
In addition to these global conferences,
international treaties, and the various international
bodies in place, several UN General Assembly
Declarations are worth noting here. Although
declarations are by defnition non-enforceable,
they still make important contributions, particularly
to the ideational development of gender equality
and its impact on the UNs mission of maintaining
international peace and security. First is the
1966 General Assembly Declaration on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women,
which paved the way for CEDAW. In 1974, the
General Assembly passed the Declaration on the
Protection of Women and Children in Emergencies
and Armed Confict, which laid the groundwork
for the protection framework within the gender
equality regime. In reaffrming CEDAW and these
previous declarations, the General Assembly then
adopted resolution 3521 (1975), calling on UN
Member States to ratify international conventions
and other instruments concerning the protection
of womens rights. According to this resolution,
women, enjoying fully the rights provided for in the
relevant international instruments, should play an
equal role with men in all spheres of life, including
the ensuring of peace and the strengthening of
international security, and should fully participate in
political life. Lastly, in 1993, the Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence against Women recognized
the urgent need for the universal application to
women of rights and principles with regard to the
equality, security, liberty, integrity, and dignity of
all human beings, and expressed concern that
violence against women is an obstacle to the
achievement of equality, development, and peace.
It noted that this violence could be perpetrated by
assailants of either sex, within the family and the
state itself. These General Assembly declarations
and resolutions, among others, are central to
understanding the development and trajectory of
the UNs work to promote gender equality and the
empowerment of women and girls.
Beyond these efforts specifcally focused on gender
issues, other areas within the UN system have
shifted, creating space for gender issues to appear
in new contexts, particularly that of international
peace and security. For example, in the late 1990s
in the context of the horrifc violence in Rwanda
and the former Yugoslavia, the Security Council
undertook a series of meetings to address the
issue of responsibility to protect civilian populations
during times of war. Part of this shift in thinking was
related to developments in international law, which
for the frst time codifed rape and sexual violence
as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts
of genocide. This important legal categorization
began with the International Criminal Tribunals
for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and was
made permanent in the 1998 Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court, which defnes rape
and sexual violence in its elements of crime
section. These historic international instruments
were part of what pushed the Security Council
to expand its understanding of what constitutes
a threat to international security, establishing
jurisdiction beyond actual or imminent international
armed confict.
From 1999 to 2000, the Security Council adopted
a number of SC resolutions (SCRs) on thematic
issues, in addition to traditional resolutions on
country-specifc conficts, refecting a broader view
of security and subsequently an enlarged agenda
for the Security Council. These include resolutions
on the protection of civilians in armed confict (SCR
1265 and 1296), children and armed confict (SCR
1261 and 1314), the importance of democracy and
human rights in establishing peace (SCR 1327),
and the threats HIV/AIDS poses to international
peace and security (SCR 1308).
It was in this context that SCR 1325 (2000) on
Women and Peace and Security, the focus of
this course, was adopted.
13
As will be discussed
in Lesson 3, SCR 1325 (2000) was passed
unanimously on 31 October 2000. It was the frst
resolution ever passed by the Security Council
that specifcally addressed the impact of war on
women and girls, as well as womens contributions
to confict resolution and the maintenance of peace
and security. Although gender mainstreaming has
been offcial UN policy since 1997, this resolution
represents the frst time that gender had been
mainstreamed in the armed confict and security
side of the UN. Lesson 6 will discuss the regional
priorities that have emerged with regard to the
implementation of SCR 1325 (2000) at the national
level, and Lesson 7 will examine the development
of national action plans.
13 For the full text of Security Council resolution
1325 (2000), see Appendix C.
On 3 December 2009, the 30th anniversary of CEDAW was celebrated in
New York. (UN Photo #422063 by Eskinder Debebe, December 2009)
Since adopting SCR 1325 (2000), the Security
Council has adopted several additional resolutions
related to WPS. On 19 June 2008, the Council
held an open debate on Women, Peace and
Security: Sexual Violence in Situations of Armed
Confict and unanimously passed SCR 1820
(2008), which recognizes that sexual violence
as a tactic of warfare is a matter of international
peace and security. This resolution states that
widespread and systematic sexual violence can
exacerbate armed confict, can pose a threat
to the restoration of international peace and
security, and has an impact on durable peace,
reconciliation, and development.
14
Sexual violence
not only has grave physical, psychological, and
health consequences for its victims but also has
direct social consequences for communities and
entire societies. SCR 1820 (2008) reinforces and
complements SCR 1325 (2000) by urging all actors
to incorporate gender perspectives in all United
Nations peace and security efforts.
Two further resolutions were adopted the next
year. In September 2009, SCR 1888 (2009) was
introduced, further enhancing SCR 1820 (2008)
by not only highlighting the grave threat of sexual
violence during armed confict but also calling
for the rapid deployment of gender advisers
and experts to monitor such situations and work
with UN personnel, as well as calling for the
appointment of a Special Representative to the
Secretary-General (SRSG) on sexual violence
and confict.
15
In October 2009, the Security
Council adopted SCR 1889 (2009). This resolution
reinforces the goals of SCR 1325 (2000), much
in the same way that SCR 1888 (2009) continues
the aims of SCR 1820 (2008). SCR 1889 (2009)
calls for greater participation of women in all areas
of peacebuilding, specifcally citing the need for
monitors to ensure that this inclusion happens and
that indicators will be developed to ensure effective
implementation and monitoring of SCR 1325
(2000).
16
Both SCR 1888 (2009) and SCR 1889
(2009) call for the need for accountability to their
predecessor resolutions.
1820 (2008), see Appendix D.
1888 (2009), see Appendix E.
1889 (2009), see Appendix F.
Despite these accountability efforts, the Security
Council remains deeply concerned over the slow
progress on the issue of sexual violence in armed
confict in particular against women and children.
17

On 16 December 2010, the Security Council
adopted SCR 1960 (2010). While reaffrming the
previously mentioned resolutions, SCR 1960
(2010) most closely strengthens SCR 1888 (2009)
in working to protect women and children from
sexual violence by deploying gender experts and
by reminding states to prosecute those who commit
sexual violence.
To further the goals of these Security Council
resolutions, the United Nations formed a new
entity, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality
and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women),
which offcially became operational on 1 January
2011. This organization is dedicated to streamlining
the work on the protection and promotion of
women and girls. Four previously separate UN
agencies the Division for the Advancement of
Women (DAW), the International Research and
Training Institute for the Advancement of Women
(INSTRAW), the Offce of the Special Adviser
on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women
(OSAGI), and the United Nations Development
Fund for Women (UNIFEM) have been brought
together under the UN Women umbrella. The
Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director
of UN Women is Ms. Michelle Bachelet, former
President of Chile. The three key goals of UN
Women are:
To support inter-governmental bodies, such
as the Commission on the Status of Women, in
their formulation of policies, global standards and
norms.
To help Member States to implement these
standards, standing ready to provide suitable
technical and fnancial support to those countries
that request it, and to forge effective partnerships
with civil society.
To hold the UN system accountable for its own
commitments on gender equality, including
regular monitoring of system-wide progress.
18
17 Security Council resolution 1960 (2010). See
Appendix G.
18 For more information on UN Women, see http://
www.unwomen.org/about-us/about-un-women
While SCR 1820 (2008), SCR 1888 (2009), SCR
1889 (2009), SCR 1960 (2010), and UN Women
were all adopted or created after SCR 1325 (2000),
this course is focused on the role SCR 1325 (2000)
has taken in shaping WPS issues in the twenty-frst
century. Without this important resolution, the
subsequent developments would not have been
possible.
Before we turn to the details of SCR 1325 (2000)
and its implementation since 2000, however, it is
important to understand the gender dimensions
at work during armed confict and post-confict
reconstruction, which is the focus of Lesson 2.
As this lesson demonstrates, the United Nations
work on WPS issues did not occur overnight.
It is built upon a long-developing commitment
within the UN system to gender equality and
the empowerment of women and girls. This
commitment has roots in the founding document
of the UN its Charter and has been linked to
its most important mission the maintenance of
international peace and security.
Lesson Summary
Having studied this lesson, the student should be
able to understand and discuss the following:
The origins of the United Nations and how its
commitment to maintaining international peace
and security has shaped the emergence and
development of international peacekeeping
operations, particularly since the end of the Cold
War;
The difference between gender and sex, the
process of gender mainstreaming, and the
meanings of gender equality, gender balance,
sex-disaggregated data, gender analysis, gender
impact analysis, and gender empowerment; and
The key components of the international regime
of gender equality, including the UN Charter,
several human rights treaties, protocols,
conventions, and other documents, the four
world conferences on women, CEDAW, and
selected General Assembly declarations and
Security Council resolutions.
1. The concept of peacekeeping began as:
A. An addendum to Article 24 of the Charter of the
United Nations;
B. An alternative to military peace enforcement
along the border between India and Pakistan in
1949;
C. A series of ad hoc interventions at the end
of the 1940s, beginning with missions in the
Middle East;
D. A phrase in An Agenda for Peace, written by
UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
2. Which of the following attributes CANNOT
be used to describe gender?
A. It is a social construction, refecting learned
rather than innate behaviours;
B. It is biologically determined;
C. It is specifc to time and space, meaning that it
can change over time and within and between
cultures;
D. It includes roles and relationships between men
and women that are learned and transmitted by
family, society, and culture.
3. How is traditional peacekeeping different
from complex peacebuilding?
A. Traditional peacekeeping allows the use of
armed force, while complex peacebuilding
employs only diplomacy and humanitarian
assistance;
B. Traditional peacekeeping involves public
opinion and protection of human rights, while
complex peacebuilding deals only with the
heads of nations and factions;
C. Traditional peacekeeping requires the
separation of combat forces, while complex
peacebuilding employs air, navy, and land
forces to keep the peace;
D. Traditional peacekeeping emphasizes
observation and monitoring, while complex
peacebuilding involves protection of human
rights and institution building.
4. What is the goal of gender mainstreaming?
A. To replace targeted, women-specifc policies
and programmes and positive legislation;
B. To reinforce gender norms, roles, and
stereotypes in order to achieve desired
outcomes in terms of peace, security, and
order;
C. To promote the concerns and experiences
of women in political, economic, and social
spheres so that women beneft more than men;
D. It is a process rather than a goal, and
entails bringing the perception, experience,
knowledge, and interests of women and
men to bear on policy-making, planning, and
decision-making.
5. The Commission on the Status of Women
was established in:
A. 1945
B. 1946
C. 1956
D. 1992
6. Why did peace missions change in nature
and expand to encompass electoral
assistance, protection of human rights,
and disarmament, demobilization, and
reintegration, among other functions?
A. The number of overall deaths related to
conficts increased;
B. The beginning of the Cold War brought a new
environment of international diplomacy and
cooperation, facilitating this expansion;
C. The end of the Cold War and the complicated
and violent conficts that emerged during the
1990s necessitated new ways to carry out
peacekeeping;
D. The traditional methods of peacekeeping were
invalidated by a new interpretation of Chapter
IV of the UN Charter.
End-of-Lesson Quiz
7. Which of the following documents is
considered the frst international treaty
focused specifcally on protecting and
promoting womens human rights?
A. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
B. The International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights;
C. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women;
D. Security Council resolution 1325 (2000).
8. Systematic rape and sexual violence during
armed confict:
A. Are crimes that are not covered by international
law;
B. Constitute war crimes and crimes against
humanity;
C. Are not related to the Security Councils work in
international peace and security;
D. Only affect women during war.
9. Which of the following is a function of the
UN Security Council?
A. To determine whether there is a threat to the
peace or an act of aggression and recommend
which measures should be taken;
B. To encourage Member States to apply all
necessary measures in order to prevent or stop
aggression, including the employment of force;
C. To consider and approve the United Nations
budget and establish the fnancial assessments
of Member States;
D. To establish UN-sanctioned governments in
unstable states.
10. Gender equality:
A. Refers to the equal rights, responsibilities,
and opportunities of women and men where
the interests, needs, and priorities of both are
taken into consideration;
B. Is an issue that affects only women;
C. Is the same as gender equity;
D. Necessitates a special emphasis on
non-discrimination against both men and
women, with the exception of nations with a
historical culture of prescribed and clearly
delineated gender roles.
ANSWER KEY
1C, 2B, 3D, 4D, 5B, 6C, 7C, 8B, 9A, 10A
LESSON 2
GENDER DIMENSIONS OF ARMED
CONFLICT AND POST-CONFLICT
RECONSTRUCTION
l e s s on 2 : Ge n d e r d i me n s i on s of A r me d C on f l i C t | 3 7
LESSON
2
2.1 introduction
2.2 the nature of
Contemporary Armed
Confict
2.3 the Gendered impact
of Armed Confict
2.4 Womens roles in
Armed Confict
2.5 Gendered Perspectives
in Confict resolution
and Post-confict
reconstruction
LESSON OBJECTIVES
This lesson provides a brief overview of the nature and scope of
contemporary armed confict and how confict today affects women,
men, girls, and boys in different and signifcant ways. The gendered
consequences of armed confict include gender-based and sexual
violence, socio-economic shifts, forced migration, and displacement,
as well as challenges to health and education systems. This lesson
also introduces the various ways that women participate in confict as
both combatants and peacemakers at the grass-roots level, as these
roles are often invisible at higher levels of decision-making. It discusses
womens involvement in formal and informal peace processes, gender
mainstreaming in UN peacekeeping missions, and what it means to take
gender seriously in post-confict reconstruction efforts.
Understand the scope and nature of contemporary armed confict and
its differential impact on society;
Recognize the many ways that sexual and gender-based violence
(SGBV) manifests itself in modern armed confict;
Appreciate the various ways that women participate in armed confict
and work for peace;
Apply a gender perspective to all activities that are part of the peace
process;
Identify UN activities aimed at mainstreaming a gender perspective into
peacekeeping operations; and
Understand the importance of addressing gender inequalities in
post-confict reconstruction processes, including disarmament,
demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) and security sector reform
(SSR).
2.1 Introduction
It is critical to understand how culturally embedded
gender roles and expectations shape the scope
and nature of armed confict today. Such socially
constructed ideas and identities have direct
implications for how a society transitions out of
confict and successfully works towards peace
and stability. Armed confict and post-confict
reconstruction efforts explicitly and implicitly affect
women and men in different, but related, ways.
Gender affects the challenges that women, men,
girls, and boys face during and after confict as
both victims and participants. By understanding
these important gender dimensions of armed
confict, we can improve our ability to design and
implement appropriate and effective post-confict
reconstruction strategies.
2.2 The Nature of Contemporary
Armed Confict
In the opening words of the Preamble to the
UN Charter, Member States pledge to save
succeeding generations from the scourge of
war. Since the Charter was signed in 1945, the
nature of global violence has shifted signifcantly.
Wars between states have decreased, while
conficts within states have increased dramatically.
According to the Human Security Report, intrastate
conficts now make up more than 95 per cent of
all conficts.
1
The report also defnes confict as
having at least 25 battle-related deaths (including
both combatants and civilians) per year and war as
having at least 1,000 battle-related deaths per year.
Todays conficts tend to be low-intensity civil
wars, or asymmetric wars in which irregular
militias and other opposition groups engage with
each other or with the conventional armies of
nation-states. These conficts frequently involve
protracted struggles between competing principles
and ideologies. Tactics range from subversion
to the use of armed force, employing political,
economic, informational, and military instruments.
Low-intensity conficts are often localized, generally
in the developing world, but have regional and
1 Human Security Centre, Human Security
Report 2005: War and Peace in the 21
st
Century
(Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 23.
global security implications. Most wars now
occur in the Global South, which is home to the
highest number of states, the largest populations,
the lowest income levels, and the fewest stable
governments.
2
More people were being killed
in wars in sub-Saharan Africa, at the turn of the
twenty-frst century, than in the rest of the world
combined.
3
The combination of pervasive poverty,
declining GDP per capita, poor infrastructure,
weak administration, external intervention, and
an abundance of cheap weapons makes armed
confict in these countries diffcult to avoid, contain,
or end. While these trends can be generalized
across the globe, each region of the world faces
specifc challenges in the context of armed confict.
Lesson 4 discusses in greater depth the shifts in
contemporary confict in Africa.
Many believe that wars are becoming deadlier,
particularly in the post-Cold War era. In fact, there
has been a substantial decline in battle-related
deaths, from nearly 700,000 in 1950 to about
20,000 in 2002.
4
The nature of low-intensity
confict, high-tech weaponry, and the increased
movement of displaced people, among other
factors, have all contributed to this trend.
This does not, however, necessarily mean that
there are fewer victims of war. The consequences
of war are complex, and the impact of armed
confict must be examined in longer-term, more
nuanced ways. With the prevalence of civil wars,
many of which have no clear political objectives
or defned actors, the line between combatants
and non-combatants, victims and perpetrators
is often blurred, further exacerbating the lasting
consequences of confict. In this sense, conficts
have increasingly involved attacks on civilians and
gross, often systematic, human rights abuses.
Despite the decline in the number of conficts, there
has not been a decline in human rights abuses.
Countries embroiled in, or recently emerg ing from,
armed confict tend to have higher levels of human
rights violations.
2 Nils Petter Gleditsch, Peter Wallensteen, Mikael
Eriksson, Margareta Sollenberg, and Harvard
Strand, Armed Confict 19462001: A New
Dataset, Journal of Peace Research, vol. 39, No. 5
(2002), pp. 615637.
3 Op. cit., Human Security Report 2005, p. 4.
4 Op. cit., Human Security Report 2005, p. 5.
3 8 | i mP l e me n tAt i on of s C r 1 3 2 5 ( 2 0 0 0 ) i n A f r i C A l e s s on 2 : Ge n d e r d i me n s i on s of A r me d C on f l i C t | 3 9
Beyond this link with human rights abuses,
contemporary armed confict is also associated
with a signifcant upward trend in numbers of
refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs). As
one UN report put it: Refugee movements are no
longer side effects of confict, but in many cases
are central to the objectives and tactics of war.
5

Refugees and IDPs are particularly vulnerable to
malnutrition, disease, sexual violence, other forms
of abuse, and death. Despite the efforts of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to
fnd durable solutions, the number of refugees and
IDPs under its care rose by 1 million during 2009,
surpassing an unprecedented 26 million receiving
UNHCR aid by the end of that year. During that
time, the number of refugees under UNHCRs
responsibility was 10.4 million, out of the 15.2
million worldwide. The number of people affected
globally by confict-induced internal displacement
increased globally from 26 to 27.1 million, with
UNHCR providing protection or assistance either
directly or indirectly to 15.6 million of them.
6
5 United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, The State of the Worlds Refugees:
Fifty Years of Humanitarian Action (Oxford, Oxford
University Press, 2000).
6 United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, 2009 Global Trends: Refugees,
Asylum-Seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced
and Stateless Persons (June 2010). Available from
<http://www.unhcr.org/4c11f0be9.html>, accessed
19 March 2011. See also the Internal Displacement
Monitoring Centre of the Norwegian Refugee
Council.
In short, the impact of armed confict is complex,
widespread, and often indiscriminate. Combatants
and civilians of all ages suffer. Women, men, girls,
and boys are all victims. However, the ways that
women, men, girls, and boys experience armed
confict are often very different. Women and girls
have particular vulnerabilities that men and boys
do not always have. Additionally, just as men and
boys participate in contemporary confict, so too
do women and girls. Women also rarely have
the same resources, political rights, authority, or
control over their environment and needs as men
do. The situation of women in armed conficts is
systematically neglected.
7
Thus, their situation and
needs deserve further explanation and analysis,
as detailed below. Lesson 5 discusses protection
challenges in Africa.
2.3 The Gendered Impact of Armed
Confict
Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
SGBV is violence that is directed against
individuals or groups of individuals on the basis of
their gender or sex. It includes, but is not limited to,
sexual violence. Sexual violence goes beyond rape
and includes sexual slavery, forced impregnation,
sexual mutilation, harassment, and humiliating
treatment, such as being forced to disrobe
publicly.
8
Thus, SGBV includes acts that infict
physical, psychological, social, or sexual harm or
suffering, threats of such acts, coercion, and other
deprivations of liberty. In this sense, SGBV can
target males or females, based on their gender role
in society. Although the term SGBV provides a new
context for understanding violence against women,
because it refects the unequal power relationship
7 Elisabeth Rehn and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,
Women, War and Peace: The Independent Experts
Assessment on the Impact of Armed Confict on
Women and Womens Role in Peace Building
(New York, United Nations Development Fund for
Women, 2002), p. 1.
8 Human Rights Watch, Well Kill You If You Cry:
Sexual Violence in the Sierra Leone Confict (New
York: Human Rights Watch, 2003). Division for the
Advancement of Women, Department of Economic
and Social Affairs, Sexual violence and armed
confict: Answers of the nations, in 2000 Report
(Beijing +5), available from <http://www.un.org/
womenwatch/daw/public/w2apr98.htm#part2>.
between women and men in society, it does not
mean that all violence against women and girls is
SGBV or that all victims of SGBV are female.
While SGBV continues to be a key threat to human
security in all societies, it is particularly problematic
during times of armed confict. Violations of the
rights of women and girls are pervasive and form
a central component of todays armed confict.
All warring sides tend to target women in acts of
torture, rape, mass rape, sexual slavery, enforced
prostitution, enforced sterilization, enforced
abortion, custodial violence, forced displacement,
and mutilation.
All of these violent acts are deeply embedded in
gender roles and relations: the sex and gender of
the victim, the sex and gender of the perpetrator,
and gender relations in the society and culture.
9

These violent acts seek to attack not only the
individual but also the society more broadly
because such forms of humiliation and dominance
take on both political and symbolic meaning.
Womens bodies become a battleground over
which opposed forces struggle. This is a critical
security issue that the international community
has taken steps to deal with; for example, the
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
now recognizes and prosecutes, as war crimes
and crimes against humanity, sexual and gender
violence including rape, sexual slavery (including
traffcking of women), forced prostitution, forced
pregnancy, forced sterilization, other forms of grave
sexual violence, and persecution on account of
gender. SCR 1820 (2008) also recognizes that
rape and other forms of sexual violence can
constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a
constitutive act with respect to genocide.
Even after a war has ended or a ceasefre has
been brokered, levels of SGBV tend to remain high
and even intensify well into the post-confict period.
Gender relations are often visibly affected in the
household, where women are likely to experience
increased violence by men in the post-confict
period. Studies have indicated that women in war
9 United Nations, Integration of the Human
Rights of Women and the Gender Perspective:
Violence against Women, Report of the Special
Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Radhika
Coomaraswamy (E/CN.4/2001/73).
zones often experience physical and sexual abuse
by male spouses who have been demeaned by
the armed confict, crippled by guilt, or angered
or humiliated by having failed to live up to their
perceived responsibility to protect their women.
10

In some cases, this violence refects patterns
that existed before the confict. Further, everyday
violence can also increase in a post-confict society
as well as in militarized environments in which
the rule of law often does not exist. The provision
of sexual services to occupying armed forces in
exchange for food or other resources a common
trend in post-confict zones tends to contribute to
such a violent environment.
In this way, everyday abuse, political violence, and
armed confict are often indistinguishable from a
gender perspective. Thus, focusing on time frames
like pre- and post-confict can be misleading when
trying to understand SGBV. As this section has
shown, high levels of SGBV tend to persist well into
the post-confict period and even beyond, creating
long-term threats to security and to womens
health, livelihoods, and ability to participate in
reconstruction and peacebuilding.
10 A. El Jack, Gender perspectives on the
management of small arms and light weapons in
the Sudan, in Gender Perspectives on Small Arms
and Light Weapons: Regional and International
Concerns, Brief 24, V. Farr and K. Gebre-Wold,
eds. (Bonn, Bonn International Center for
Conversion, 2002).
Children in the town of Labado, Darfur. Roughly 60,000 of the towns
inhabitants had fed from violence and attacks. (UN Photo #77096 by
Evan Schneider, May 2005)
Survivors of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
receive treatment at the Hospital of Panzi, a non-proft health centre
focusing on improving the quality of medical care for the population,
reducing the maternal and infant death rate, and providing treatment
for the victims of sexual violence. (UN Photo #160026 by Marie Frechon,
September 2007)
One long-term threat that is increasingly more
prevalent is human traffcking, another form of
SGBV. Human traffcking and sexual slavery are
inextricably linked to confict. Although the global
scale of human traffcking is diffcult to quantify,
as many as 800,000 people may be traffcked
across international borders annually, with many
more traffcked within the borders of their own
countries.
11
Traffcking of persons can involve the
recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or
receipt of persons, by means of threat, use of force
or other means of coercion, of abduction, of fraud,
of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position
of vulnerability or of the receiving or giving of
paymentto a person having control over another
person, for the purpose of exploitation.
12
Common
abuses experienced by traffcked persons include
rape, torture, debt bondage, unlawful confnement,
and threats against their families or other people
close to them, as well as other forms of physical,
sexual, and psychological violence. Although
11 International Organization for Migration,
Counter-Traffcking. Available from http://www.
iom.int/jahia/Jahia/counter-traffcking/lang/en,
accessed 19 March 2011.
12 United Nations Offce on Drugs and Crimes,
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Traffcking in Persons, Especially Women and
Children, Supplementing the UN Convention Against
Transnational Organized Crime, Article 3. Available
from http://www.uncjin.org/Documents/Conventions/
dcatoc/fnal_documents_2/convention_%20traff_
eng.pdf, accessed 19 March 2011
the demand for cheap labour, sexual services,
and certain criminal activities are root causes of
traffcking, armed confict and systems of gender
inequality are often the enabling factors in this
growing industry, as such conditions exacerbate
womens and childrens vulnerabilities.
The vulnerabilities to SGBV that men and boys
face during and after armed confict must also be
addressed in any gender analysis of armed confict
and post-confict reconstruction. As the Liu Institute
has recently recognized and as the Womens
Caucus acknowledges, most of the harms men and
older boys face during wartime sexual mutilation,
forced conscription, and sex-selective massacre
may qualify conceptually as gender-based
violence.
13
Such acts of violence attack and
seek to destroy mens and boys masculinity,
which threatens their honour and sense of self.
Research has shown that men and boys also
face major risks of abuse and violence based
upon culturally constructed notions about gender
roles. Such risks include summary execution,
sexual violence, mutilation, and conscription; they
constitute both human rights abuses and a human
security problem.
14
Recognizing these risks and
vulnerabilities and taking them seriously through
processes of transitional justice and societal
reconciliation are essential to rebuilding a secure
and stable society.
Socio-economic Consequences
In war-torn regions, gendered divisions of labour
often emerge or are reinforced in the interest of
serving a war economy. Often, for women and girls,
few options exist aside from working for warlords
and criminal militias or entering into exploitative
informal sects of the labour force. For example,
women and girls are used as sexual slaves for
militia commanders and soldiers in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and as cooks and domestic
servants in Myanmar. Women and girls are
often used to carry supplies, sort gems, launder
13 Op. cit., Human Security Report 2005; Womens
Caucus, Clarifcation of the term gender. Available
from <http://www.iccwomen.org/resources/gender.
htm>, accessed 2 February 2006.
14 R. Charli Carpenter, Recognizing
gender-based violence against civilian men and
boys in confict situations, Security Dialogue, vol.
37, No. 1 (2006), pp. 83103.
clothes, carry messages between work gangs
or fghting forces, and perform other activities
deemed suitable to their size, gender, and age.
15

These gendered divisions of labour have lasting
consequences not only for women and girls but
also for society more broadly, particularly when
rebuilding after war.
Contemporary armed confict also causes shifts in
demographics when signifcant proportions of the
men and boys in a society are killed, as seen in
Kosovo and Rwanda. While these shifts may create
opportunities for women, such as enabling them
to own land, womens workloads as providers and
caregivers increase. Further, the destructive nature
of confict means that wells become poisoned, land
is mined, and marketplaces are destroyed, making
the daily tasks of collecting water, farming, and
buying and selling goods increasingly dangerous.
16

In many cultures, women and girls tend to
engage most often in these essential activities.
Such conditions make womens and girls labour
increasingly time-consuming and dangerous.
Unsurprisingly, many war-torn societies see rising
numbers of female- or child-headed households.
For example, as a result of war, women now head
about one third of all households in Angola.
17
All of
these factors related to demographic composition
contribute to dramatic decreases in school
enrolment for women and girls during and after
confict.
In short, the changing demographic structures
of communities affected by war create additional
burdens on women and girls when male family
members are killed, disabled, driven into militia
forces, or forced to fee. Usually girls, and then
boys, are pulled out of school, the elderly out of
retirement, and women out of the home to seek
employment, intensify agricultural production, and
help gather water, fuel, and food.
18
In this way,
15 Dyan Mazurana, Angela Raven-Roberts, and
Jane Parpart, Gender, Confict and Peacekeeping
(Lanham, Rowman & Littlefeld, 2005).
16 United Nations, Report of the
Secretary-General to the Security Council on
the Protection of Civilians in Armed Confict, 8
September 1999 (S/1999/957).
17 United Nations Secretary-General Report,
Women, Peace and Security (New York, United
Nations, 2002).
18 Op. cit., Mazurana.
contemporary armed confict often has long-term
implications for socio-economic structures and
networks, particularly for the women and girls who
survive the violence.
Flight, Displacement, and Health
According to the UNHCR, there are about 50
million uprooted people around the world
refugees who have sought safety in another
country and people displaced within their own
country and 75 to 80 per cent of them are
believed to be women and children.
19
The 1951
Refugee Convention defnes a refugee as any
person who, owing to well-founded fear of being
persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality,
membership of a particular social group or political
opinion, is outside the country of his nationality
and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling
to avail himself of the protection of that country;
or who, not having a nationality and being outside
the country of his former habitual residence as a
result of such events, is unable or, owing to such
fear, is unwilling to return to it. While IDP status is
not defned by international law, IDPs are certainly
a central concern of the UN. UNHCR defnes an
IDP as someone who, like a refugee, has been
displaced by crisis or confict but, unlike a refugee,
has not crossed an international border. In other
words, IDPs are displaced within their own home
countries. This can make assistance and protection
much more diffcult. Of the estimated 27.1 million
IDPs around the world, UNHCR currently helps
more than 15.6 million.
20
Each phase of displacement including forced
eviction, initial displacement, fight, protection,
assistance, resettlement, and reintegration
affects people differently. In all phases, women and
girls confront discrimination and suffer signifcant
human rights abuses, especially SGBV, largely
because of the weakening of existing community-
and family-protection mechanisms, the lack of
physical security, and sometimes the need to rely
on armed groups for protection. For many, the
violence that causes people to fee their homes
19 Statistics: the world of refugee women
at a glance, Refugees Magazine, vol. 1, No.
126 (2002), available from http://www.unhcr.
org/3cb5508b2.html, accessed 21 March 2011.
20 Ibid.
Members of the United Nations Police Unit (UNPOL) and the National
Police Force in Timor-Leste carry out special operations targeting illegal
immigration, human traffcking, and drugs in nightclubs notorious for
prostitution. (UN Photo #233450 by Martine Perret, November 2008)
and countries is only the beginning. From this
perspective, many refugee advocates maintain
that fight must be seen in the broad context of
international issues such as good governance,
sustainable development, trade, and most
importantly, peace and security.
21
Examining the deteriorating health of those in fight
is one way to understand this issue in this broader
context. Armed confict often means the looting and
destruction of health-care infrastructure, and those
in fight often do not have access to health-care
facilities. Many vulnerable groups, but particularly
women and children, do not have access to
medical treatment. Additionally, it is important
to remember that medical care goes beyond
attending to physical ailments to include access to
medical information, including on the prevention
of HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases,
and early pregnancy. Disease, particularly HIV/
AIDS, spreads faster where there is poverty,
lawlessness, and social instability, and these are
the conditions that often give rise to, or accompany,
forced displacement. In this way, womens and
girls physical, nutritional, reproductive, and mental
health is negatively affected during armed confict
and especially during forced migration.
21 James Milner and Gil Loescher, New safety
or old danger? UN protection areas for refugees,
Open Democracy (13 February 2003).
2.4 Womens Roles in Armed
Confict
Women as Warriors
As the previous section demonstrated, the targeting
of women, girls, men, and boys based on their
gender roles within particular societies and cultures
is often systematic and thorough. Women and
girls are not only victims of contemporary armed
confict; they often assume more active roles,
including as combatants, spies, messengers, and
porters. There are few armed forces worldwide
from which women are totally absent. Women can
be found in both conventional and paramilitary
forces. They even engage in suicide bombing,
a relatively new trend in contemporary armed
confict.
Like men and boys, women and girls engage in
armed confict for a variety of reasons, including
opposition to unjust or predatory governments,
support of religious or ideological goals, and pursuit
of economic incentives. For example, women
have fought in liberation struggles in Colombia, El
Salvador, Eritrea, Guatemala, Namibia, Palestine,
and Timor-Leste. Women and girls also become
combatants through abduction, intimidation, and
forced recruitment, such as in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Sri Lanka,
Turkey, and northern Uganda.
22
Women have also
served in oppressive and extermination institutions
in totalitarian regimes, as well as terrorist
organizations.
Armed confict often provides women the
opportunity to transcend gender roles and
stereotypes that limit them to the home or the
private sphere by picking up arms and fghting on
the front lines. Particularly when women fght with
a group opposing a repressive government, their
empowerment is often framed as an example of
the groups emancipating intentions. The reality is,
however, that women are mostly relegated to their
subordinate positions in society after confict for the
22 Dyan Mazurana, Susan McKay, Khristopher
Carlson, and Janel Kasper, Girls in fghting forces:
Their recruitment, participation, demobilization,
and reintegration, Peace and Confict, vol. 8, No. 2
(2002), p. 97.
sake of peace or stability. The presence of women
in conventional or unconventional armed forces has
never fundamentally changed their social position.
23
Women as Peacemakers
Although women are largely absent from formal
circles of power and decision-making during armed
confict and the peace processes that follow, it
is important to recognize womens contributions
at the informal, grass-roots level where their
peacebuilding activities are substantial. Research
into womens peacebuilding work in confict and
post-confict situations has found that:
Women, although less visible than men,
have long been integrally involved in seeking
solutions to issues intrinsic to building peace,
including ecological balance, demobilization
and reintegration of former child soldiers,
demilitarization and disarmament, and
sustainable economic, environmental, and
political development. Furthermore, women
are resource managers, advocates for other
women in emergency and crisis situations,
leaders in political processes, and community
infuentials. Women often develop informal or
formal groups and processes that contribute to
peacebuilding and the construction of democratic
societies.
24
While womens peace activism is not a new
phenomenon, it seems to be shifting to refect the
realities of contemporary armed confict. It is not
limited to any one region, class, race, or religion. It
is a global phenomenon that is growing every year
and with every confict. It is both highly localized
in nature and increasingly a global movement with
its own characteristics, linked to the UN and the
system of international conferences and networks
23 Marie Vlachov and Lea Biason, eds., Women
in an Insecure World: Violence against Women
Facts, Figures and Analysis (Geneva, Geneva
Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed
Forces, 2005), p. 136.
24 Dyan Mazurana, Susan McKay, and
International Centre for Human Rights and
Democratic Development, Women and
peacebuilding, Essays on Human Rights and
Democratic Development, No. 8 (Montreal,
Democratic Development, 1999), p. 2.
that have emerged since the early 1990s. As wars
(particularly civil wars) destroy the social taboos
and mores that protected women, so women
themselves are taking a stand and saying enough
is enough.
25
From Afghanistan and Iraq, to Israel
and Palestine, to Liberia and Sierra Leone, to
Nepal and Sri Lanka, women are organizing at the
local level and effectively pushing their societies
towards greater peace, stability, and democratic
governance.
2.5 Gendered Perspectives in
Confict Resolution and Post-confict
Reconstruction
Women, Gender, and the Peace Process
Although SCR 1325 (2000) calls on all actors
to include women in peace processes, and the
UN has repeatedly recognized the important
contribution women make to peacemaking,
women are still almost absent from the peace
table and are severely underrepresented as
third-party mediators or even as representatives
of the UN in most confict-affected countries.
Womens activism at the grass-roots level does
not often translate into offcial recognition during
the peace process, in which women are rarely
included in formal negotiations as members of the
opposition group, political parties, civil society, or
even special-interest groups. According to Inonge
Mbikusita Lewanika, President of the Federation
of African Womens Peace Networks: Women
establish their credibility as peacemakers at the
grass-roots level but they are marginalized from
offcial negotiations. Making it from the grass mat
to the peace table has nothing to do with their
qualifcations as peacemakers. Once the foreign
mediators come and the offcial negotiations start,
you have to be able to sit at the table and speak
their language.
26
25 Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, Women Building
Peace: What They Do, Why It Matters (Boulder,
Lynne Rienner Publishers), p. 5.
26 Cited in Rehn, op. cit., p. 81.
Some of the tens of thousands of IDPs arrive by truck with their few
possessions at the Zamzam camp in Sudan. (UN Photo #401314 by Olivier
Chassot, June 2009)
UNIFEM conducted a review of 21 major peace
processes from 1992 to 2008 and found strikingly
low numbers of women participants, even after
the passage of SCR 1325 (2000). They found the
following in the peace processes they reviewed:
Only 2.4 per cent of signatories were women;
No women had been appointed as lead peace
mediators in UN-sponsored peace talks, but
in some talks sponsored by the African Union
or other institutions, women had been part of a
team of mediators for example, Graa Machel
was one of three mediators for the Kenya crisis
in 2008;
Womens participation in negotiating delegations
averaged 5.9 per cent in the 10 cases for which
information was available; and
Priority gender-specifc provisions in peace
accords were womens physical security and
human rights guarantees.
As the table below demonstrates, women continue
to be underrepresented in the peace process, and
this poses serious challenges to the international
community in upholding and protecting womens
rights. These numbers are problematic from both
a legal and a social justice perspective. For many
practitioners, however, the issue is not simply what
the peace process can or should do for women
but what women can do for the peace process
that can beneft society as a whole. According to
Elisabeth Rehn and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: When
women are present, the nature of the dialogue
changes. Womens concerns come not merely
out of their own experiences but out of their
rootedness in their communities. They represent
different constituencies: those in need of education,
of health care, of jobs and of land. They have a
different experience of war from male fghters and
politicians.
27
In this way, many believe that women
bring different skills and a different approach to
problem-solving, and they are a resource that
28
27 Ibid.
28 UNIFEM, 1325/1820 National Action Plans,
presented 24 April 2009. Available from http://www.
cwwl.org/media/UNIFEM-April%2024NAPS1.pdf,
needs to be utilized in these extremely complex
and diffcult processes. Including more women
in the peace process demands that female
participants feel safe and secure, receive adequate
resources and training, and have access to
decision-makers at the highest levels.
From this perspective, it is important to debunk the
myth that peace accords can be gender neutral.
International policy-makers often believe that by
broadly referencing human rights and justice, they
have adequately addressed womens rights and
concerns. Former U.S. Ambassador to Angola
Donald Steinberg maintains that the term gender
neutral often translates into discrimination against
women because the decisions made at the
negotiating table rarely consider the experiences of
women who have to live with the results. He points
out, for example, that policies such as reintegration
of combatants became problematic when it was too
late. Men unskilled in anything other than warfare
returned to homes where women had learned to
live without them. The result was an increase in
domestic violence, alcoholism, and drug abuse.
29
Gendering Peacekeeping Operations
We know from Lesson 1 that peacekeeping
operations have evolved since their introduction
in 1948. Initially, they emphasized monitoring,
observing, and reporting of ceasefre truces
between parties. Most of the conficts they
addressed were between states and arose from
border disputes. The UN personnel involved
were exclusively military. With the end of the
Cold War, the nature and complexity of most
conficts changed, demanding that peacekeepers
tackle much more diverse tasks, many of them
humanitarian in nature:
The face of modern warfare is not only
burned-out tanks and fallen soldiers on the
battlefeld, but also smuggling of diamonds,
drugged child soldiers, starvation of civilians,
mass rape and genocide. The conficts in the
Balkans and the Great Lakes region have proven
that a sustainable peace requires much more
than disarming and supervising soldiers. It
29 Donald Steinberg, Initiative for inclusive
security, speech, Policy Forum, Washington, DC,
16 January 2007.
needs a multifaceted response that addresses
all sectors of society, not only the military, but
also the civilian population, the justice and
political system, the economy and educational
infrastructure.
30
In addition to UN, military, and other personnel,
missions now include police and civilian personnel
who must interact with other international
agencies such as NGOs and intergovernmental
organizations. Certainly in such multidimensional,
human-rights-oriented approaches to
peacekeeping, men and women of all ages
emerge as confict victims, aid recipients, and
potential partners in reconstruction efforts, and
this is the spirit of SCR 1325 (2000). It calls on all
the stakeholders in UN peacekeeping operations
to integrate a gender perspective in training for
peacekeepers, to take action to protect women and
girls, and to support local womens peace initiatives
and their involvement in all stages of post-confict
reconstruction.
The integration of a gender perspective needs
to start at the very beginning of a peacekeeping
mission. Thus, when the Security Council
establishes a mission, it is critical that it explicitly
mentions women and gender as part of the mission
objectives. Even before a mandate is agreed
upon, gender expertise ought to be utilized during
assessment missions or feld surveys conducted
prior to mission design. After these initial planning
stages, it is important to monitor and report on
progress (or lack thereof) in implementing this
aspect of the mandate. Despite the importance of
these strategies and resources, most are not in
place.
Still, several important gains and best practices
have occurred since the passage of SCR 1325
(2000). As Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General
for DPKO, stated at the 2008 Security Council open
debate, SCR 1325 (2000) has changed the way
30 Nadine Puechguirbal, Martin Bohnstedt, and
Lea Biason, Gender mainstreaming of peace
support operations, in Women in an Insecure
World: Violence Against Women Facts, Figures
and Analysis, Marie Vlachov and Lea Biason,
eds. (Geneva, Geneva Centre for the Democratic
Control of Armed Forces, 2005).
Womens Participation in Peace Processes
28
we do business in peacekeeping.
31
These gains
are largely in terms of procedural changes. By
looking at DPKO missions that started after
2000, as well as those started in the late 1990s
whose mandates extended signifcantly into
the twenty-frst century, one can see signifcant
procedural shifts in terms of the planning process,
training programmes, and staffng structures.
More specifcally, all 11 missions that have been
established since 2000 have accomplished the
following:
Incorporated SCR 1325 (2000) in the mission
mandate;
Created a gender affairs offce or unit or at least
the position of gender adviser for the mission;
and
Integrated some form of gender-sensitive training
for peacekeeping personnel once in mission.
31 Security Council Strongly Condemns All
Violations of International Law Committed Against
Women and Girls During, After Armed Confict, in
Presidential Statement, available from http://www.
un.org/News/Press/docs/2008/sc9487.doc.htm,
This means that gender-based concerns and
womens rights have become at least part of the
peacekeeping efforts in Burundi, Chad, the Central
African Republic, Cte dIvoire, Darfur, Haiti,
Liberia, Sudan, and Timor-Leste, in procedures and
practices that did not exist before.
32
For example,
gender advisers and gender advisory offces were
non-existent prior to 2000, and they now have
a dual role, supporting gender mainstreaming
internally within peacekeeping missions as well
as externally with government counterparts and
womens organizations in the host country.
Gender advisers have even been established
in missions that began before 2000. The
mission in Kosovo is a good example of this.
DPKO also established a gender adviser at its
headquarters on a full time-basis in 2004, as well
as gender-sensitive training for peacekeepers
prior to and during their service. Gender training
is becoming more standard in peacekeeping
missions, and trainers often introduce
SCR 1325 (2000) in their in-mission training
programmes as a useful entry point to establishing
their mandate from the Security Council to
conduct such training.
33
Mandates, gender units,
and training programmes, then, become factors
in terms of the allocation of mission funding,
and funding is always an issue when it comes to
mainstreaming gender. Furthermore, these data
illustrate a move from an ad hoc consideration, at
best, to a more systematic consideration of gender
perspectives by the Security Council in peace
missions.
34

32 These indicators only tell part of the story.
As Sandra Whitworth (2004) points out in her
research, it is one thing to establish a gender
affairs unit, but it is quite another to allocate the
basic funding that such a unit needs. While these
procedural shifts are important, they are simply the
beginning of a very long road.
33 Minna Lyytikinen, Gender training for
peacekeepers: Preliminary overview of United
Nations peace support operations, Gender, Peace,
and Security Working Paper #4 (Washington,
DC, INSTRAW, 2007). Available from http://www.
un-instraw.org
34 Natalie Florea Hudson, Gender, Human
Security and the United Nations (London,
Routledge, 2009).
In addition to these systematic changes within
DPKO, several states have made important
gender-sensitive contributions to UN peacekeeping
operations as a direct result of SCR 1325 (2000). In
2007, the frst all-female unit of UN peacekeepers
was created and sent to Liberia as part of Indias
contribution to the mission there. In 2008,
Sweden followed suit by providing an all-female
police contingent to the peacekeeping mission in
Timor-Leste. Ghana, the seventh largest contributor
to UN peacekeeping operations as of December
2008, reported the highest level of women
peacekeepers 12 per cent of the total number of
military personnel (just over 400 women). While
inserting female personnel certainly does not
guarantee gender sensitivity in UN peacekeeping
operations, there is much anecdotal evidence to
suggest that female UN personnel are perceived as
more accessible and less threatening by the local
population, particularly local women.
35
Along these
lines, DPKO also disseminated a policy directive on
Gender Equality in UN Peacekeeping Operations
in 2006 and submitted an action plan on SCR 1325
(2000) for 20082009, reiterating the necessity
of increasing womens civilian and military roles
in feld missions.
36
The mere fact that DPKO has
been reporting sex-disaggregated data on police
and troop contributions to its missions refects an
awareness that did not exist before.
37

35 Jane Lloyd, Women peacekeepers making
a difference, UN Chronicle, vol. XLIII, No. 1
(2006). Available from http://www.un.org/Pubs/
chronicle/2006/issue1/0106p06.htm, accessed
January 2009.
36 For more information, see PeaceWomen,
Peacekeeping, available from http://www.
peacewomen.org/resources/Peacekeeping/
DPKO/policy_directive.pdf and 2008-2009
UN System-Wide Action Plan on Security
Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women,
Peace and Security, available from http://
www.un.org/womenwatch/ianwge/
taskforces/wps/actionplan20082009/pdfs/
DPKO%202008-2009%201325.pdf, accessed 19
March 2011.
37 For the most recent statistics, see United
Nations Peacekeeping, Gender Statistics,
available from http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/
contributors/gend.html, accessed 19 March 2011.
Still, many signifcant challenges remain. In
60 years of UN peacekeeping from 1948
to 2008 only seven women held the post of
Special Representative of the Secretary-General
(SRSG), who serves as the head of the mission.
38

Lack of accountability and capacity are glaring
obstacles. The knowledge and skills needed
to be gender-sensitive and to be aware of the
unique challenges that men and women face in
post-confict societies are not natural for most;
gender advisers require training. Simply being a
woman, for example, does not make one a gender
expert. Further, bringing gender advisers into
peacekeeping missions and increasing womens
presence in post-confict reconstruction efforts
require simultaneous institutional reforms that
support these individuals in a systematic and
legitimate way.
Women and Gender Issues in Post-confict
Reconstruction
We have seen that armed confict affects women
and men differently. Each confict has specifc
characteristics and dynamics. In general, however,
men often have been more active in organized
fghting, while women often have had to fee to
refugee camps, have been subjected to violence,
have had to assume non-traditional responsibilities,
and have seen their domestic responsibilities
intensifed in their efforts to secure food, shelter,
and security for their families. These different
experiences need to be recognized in order to
begin rebuilding a society in which peace and
security are sustainable.
One of the frst orders of business in any
post-confict reconstruction effort is to disarm,
demobilize, and reintegrate (DDR) combatants
in society, and it is essential to construct DDR
programmes that respond to the actual (rather than
assumed) needs of all those involved, both men
and women. Collecting weapons, disbanding armed
groups, and offering services that help fghters fnd
38 Camille Pampell Conaway and Jolynn
Shoemaker, Women in United Nations peace
operations: Increasing leadership opportunities, in
Women in International Security (Washington, DC,
Georgetown University, 2008). Available from http://
wiis.georgetown.edu/Publications/PeaceOpsEx-
ecSummary.pdf.
Nadine Puechguirbal, Gender Adviser for the United
Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH),
addresses a press conference on gender issues in
peacekeeping operations. (UN Photo #167759 by Jenny
Rockett, January 2008)
alternative livelihoods can help consolidate peace
in formerly violent societies. The reality is, however,
that women and men have different access to
these services in post-confict situations. Many
women are unable to access services and benefts
that they should receive upon demobilization due
to the invisibility of many female ex-combatants
and other females associated with armed groups,
as well as the presumption that women performing
roles that support male combatants are not
entitled to benefts.
39
This false presumption has
implications not only for the initial stabilization
of war-torn societies but for their long-term
development, as well.
The objective of the DDR process is to
contribute to security and stability in post-confict
environments so that recovery and development
can begin. The DDR of ex-combatants is a complex
process, with political, military, humanitarian,
and socio-economic dimensions. It aims to deal
39 UN Women, Disarmament, Demobilization and
Reintegration (DDR). Available from http://www.
womenwarpeace.org/node/4.
with the post-confict security problems that arise
when ex-combatants are left without livelihoods
or support networks (apart from their former
comrades) during the vital transition period from
confict to peace and development. Throughout the
process of removing weapons from the hands of
combatants, taking the combatants out of military
structures, and helping them to reintegrate socially
and economically into society, DDR seeks to
support ex-combatants so that they can become
active participants in the peace process.
In this regard, DDR lays the groundwork for safe
and self-sustaining communities in which these
individuals can live as law-abiding citizens, while
building national capacity for long-term peace,
security, and development. DDR alone cannot
resolve confict or prevent violence. It can, however,
help establish a secure environment so that other
elements of a recovery and peacebuilding strategy
can proceed.
SCR 1325 (2000) specifcally mentions the need
to consider the different needs of female and male
ex-combatants and their dependants in DDR.
Paragraph 8 calls on all actors involved, when
negotiating and implementing peace agreements,
to adopt a gender perspective, with attention to the
following issues:
The special needs of women and girls
during repatriation and resettlement, and for
rehabilitation, reintegration, and post-confict
reconstruction;
Measures that support local womens peace
initiatives and indigenous peace processes for
confict resolution, and that involve women in
all implementation mechanisms of the peace
agreements; and
Measures that ensure the protection of and
respect for human rights of women and girls,
particularly as they relate to the constitution, the
electoral system, the police, and the judiciary.
In addition, paragraph 13 encourages all those
involved in the planning for DDR to consider the
different needs of female and male ex-combatants
and to take into account the needs of their
dependants.
DDR programmes often focus on economic and
social reintegration and deal inadequately with the
psychosocial needs of ex-combatants. Trauma
and post-traumatic stress disorder, combined with
diffculty expressing masculinity except through
violent behaviour, may become pervasive in confict
settings. This translates into an increased risk of
gender-based violence for many women and girls in
post-confict situations. Furthermore, communities
often stigmatize female ex-combatants both for
being part of the destruction inficted upon them
and for stepping out of traditional gender roles by
taking up arms. Women combatants who have
been raped, forcibly impregnated, or infected
with HIV/AIDS face heightened discrimination
upon their reintegration to their home or receiving
communities.
Women have always participated to some extent in
combat, but several recent wars have seen them
fghting on the front lines. Additionally, while the
roles of female ex-combatants vary widely, they
seem to share one unfortunate characteristic:
limited access to benefts when peace and
demobilization come. This is also true for girls
abducted for sexual services and the families of
ex-combatants in the receiving community. These
groups are often neglected during demobilization
and reintegration; at best, women, men, girls, and
boys may receive equal benefts but are treated as
a homogenous group, which prevents their specifc
needs from being addressed. Thus, it is critical that
DDR planners consider the participation of women,
girls, and dependants in DDR programmes. A
strict one-man, one-gun approach is likely to
exclude a signifcant number of women and girls,
who frequently carry out support functions for
armed groups. DDR planners must also seriously
take into account the way that these programme
interventions affect gender roles and relationships
in both the public and private sphere in the short
and long term. Such an approach pushes the
international community to pursue post-confict
reconstruction in terms of human security.
DDR programmes are often part of larger
post-confict reconstruction efforts aimed at
reforming a societys security sector. Security
sector reform (SSR) is increasingly prioritized by
governments and is on the agenda of international
development, peace, and security communities.
The security sector or security system is made
up of state institutions and other entities with the
role of ensuring security for the state and civilians,
especially those with the capacity and authority to
use force. Security forces in post-confict societies
can include both international (external) and
domestic (internal) elements. Reform can include a
wide range of activities that improve accountability
mechanisms, restructure the security apparatus
for democratic governance, strengthen civilian
control, rebuild training and recruiting programmes,
eliminate corruption, and balance resources spent
throughout the system.
SSR opens a window of possibility to transform
security policies, institutions, and programmes,
thus creating opportunities to integrate gender
issues. The integration of gender issues is being
recognized as a key to operational effectiveness,
local ownership, and stronger oversight. For
example, increasing the recruitment of female
staff, preventing human rights violations, and
collaborating with womens organizations help
create an effcient, accountable, and participatory
security sector, which responds to the specifc
needs of women, men, girls, and boys. Two
complementary strategies can be used to integrate
gender issues into SSR and security institutions:
gender mainstreaming and the promotion of equal
participation by men and women. These strategies
can be applied both to the SSR process itself (for
example, by providing gender training for personnel
responsible for SSR policy and planning) and to
the institutions undergoing SSR (for example, by
including gender training for new recruits as part of
a police reform process).
40
40 See UN Women, Security Sector Reform
and Gender Toolkit. Available from http://
www.un-instraw.org/gtcop/training-materials/
item/801-security-sector-reform-and-gender-toolkit
A female member of the medical staff of the Sudanese
Armed Forces (left) signs DDR pre-registration forms, at
the Al-Askaryia military hospital site, the only Sudanese
Armed Forces site registering female candidates. (UN
Photo #135242 by Fred Noy, December 2006)
The many components of womens participation
in peace processes, politics, military and police
services, and peacekeeping missions are
discussed in greater detail in Lesson 5. As that
lesson will demonstrate, the forms and facets of
womens participation in various spheres of power
are context-specifc, each facing unique local
challenges. What remains universal, however,
is that women continue to be underrepresented
in positions of power in all states throughout the
world.
Lesson Summary
The general characteristics of contemporary
armed confict and how confict today affects
women, men, girls, and boys differently, including
impacts relating to SGBV, forced migration,
health, education, economic development, and
gender roles;
The many (and often invisible) ways that women
participate in confict as combatants and in
supportive roles, and how women are often
working towards peace at the grass-roots level
long before a confict ceases;
The challenges that the international community
faces regarding WPS, including challenges to
ensuring womens full and equal participation
in peace processes and incorporating a
gender perspective into peace agreements,
peacekeeping operations, and post-confict
reconstruction efforts, particularly DDR
programmes; and
The relevance of SCR 1325 (2000) in addressing
these challenges.
End-of-Lesson Quiz
1. Contemporary armed conficts tend to be:
A. Low-intensity civil wars, or asymmetric wars
in which irregular militias and other opposition
groups engage with each other or with the
conventional armies of nation-states;
B. More deadly in terms of battle-related
deaths but less violent and disruptive to
non-combatants;
C. A more frequent occurrence in countries with
few human rights violations;
D. High-tech international wars waged by national
armies.
2. Which of the following statements is true?
A. While wars within countries have been
increasing, direct battle-related deaths have
decreased sharply since World War II;
B. While wars between countries have been
declining, direct battle-related deaths have
increased sharply since World War II;
C. While both wars within countries and wars
between countries have been decreasing,
direct battle-related deaths have increased
sharply since World War II;
D. While both wars within countries and wars
between countries have been increasing, direct
battle-related deaths have decreased sharply
since World War II.
3. In regions of armed confict, women and
girls:
A. Never engage in confict as conventional
soldiers, insurgency fghters, or suicide
bombers;
B. May be targeted for violence as a
demonstration of political and symbolic power;
C. May experience decreased violence from the
men within their households in the post-confict
period;
D. Experience exactly the same disruptions and
violence as men.
4. In the majority of peace processes since
1992, women constitute approximately what
percentage of those sitting at the negotiating
table?
A. Less than 6 per cent;
B. 10 per cent;
C. 20 per cent;
D. 50 per cent.
5. Reforming the security sector of a given
society:
A. Rarely creates opportunities to integrate gender
issues;
B. Involves UN peacekeepers enforcing equal
participation by men and women;
C. Must be prioritized and implemented by
governments before humanitarian relief,
the removal of weapons from the hands of
combatants, infrastructure building, and
gender-sensitive training can proceed;
D. Aims at improving accountability mechanisms,
restructuring the security apparatus for
democratic governance, strengthening civilian
control, rebuilding training and recruiting
programmes, eliminating corruption, and
balancing resources spent throughout the
system.
6. Sexual and gender-based violence:
A. Can target a man or a woman, based on his or
her specifc gender role in society;
B. Usually declines signifcantly after armed
confict;
C. Only affects women in confict;
D. Never affects young girls or women beyond
child-bearing age.
5 2 | i mP l e me n tAt i on of s C r 1 3 2 5 ( 2 0 0 0 ) i n A f r i C A
ANSWER KEY
1A, 2A, 3B, 4A, 5D, 6A, 7B, 8B, 9C, 10D
7. What are the effects of the increased
opportunities for women following shifts in
demographics during contemporary armed
confict?
A. Increased school enrolment for women and
girls during and after confict;
B. Increased workloads as providers and
caregivers, with the added burden of
degraded or damaged lands and dangerous
environments;
C. Increased social standing, resulting in gender
equality and favourable socio-political
environments for women during and after
confict;
D. Decreased workloads as labourers, due to the
loss of male family members and the resulting
decrease in the amount of food and water
needed.
8. The implementation of Security Council
resolution 1325 (2000) in UN peacekeeping
operations has resulted in:
A. The implementation of completely
gender-neutral language in all peace
agreements;
B. The creation of a gender affairs offce or unit
within all 11 missions established after 2000;
C. A small but positive amount of ad hoc
consideration of gender perspectives in UN
missions;
D. Very little change in any peacekeeping mission.
9. Integrating a gender perspective and
implementing Security Council resolution
1325 (2000) in disarmament, demobilization,
and reintegration programmes involves:
A. Recognizing that collecting guns has very
little to do with women in a society, given that
combatants are mostly men;
B. Realizing that human rights, and womens
rights in particular, often have to be put on
hold for the sake of the initial stabilization of a
war-torn society;
C. Understanding such programmes as complex
processes, with political, military, humanitarian,
and socio-economic dimensions, that affect
men and women in important and different
ways;
D. Taking into consideration the limited access to
benefts women tend to receive and providing
access to women, men, girls, and boys as a
homogeneous group.
10. Those who advocate for womens
participation in the peace process often rely
upon:
A. Legal justifcations that point out gender
equality rights in the context of international
law;
B. Moral justifcations in the context of social
justice and other normative considerations;
C. Effective arguments that maintain that women
bring different concerns and even different skill
sets to such challenging processes;
D. All of the above.
LESSON 3
SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION
1325 (2000) ON WOMEN AND
PEACE AND SECURITY
l e s s on 3 : s C r 1 3 2 5 ( 2 0 0 0 ) on Wome n A n d P e A C e A n d s e C U r i t Y | 5 5
LESSON
3
3.1 introduction
3.2 the origins of sCr
1325 (2000)
3.3 reconceptualizing
security: the Human
security Approach
3.4 the sCr 1325 (2000)
mandate: What is
required and Who is
responsible?
3.5 implementation of sCr
1325 (2000) in the Un
system
3.6 implementation of
sCr 1325 (2000) at the
national level
LESSON OBJECTIVES
This lesson focuses on the history of the adoption of SCR 1325 (2000)
by identifying the roots of its conceptual framework. The lesson explores
the politics of this framework by outlining its strengths and weaknesses.
Lastly, it provides information on the efforts of the UN system to ensure
its coherent and full implementation, as well as efforts to fully realize and
implement it at the national level around the globe.
Understand the conceptual and political framework that led to the
passage of SCR 1325 (2000) and its importance for promoting a gender
perspective in the area of peace and security;
Identify how the concept of human security is closely linked with the
UNs approach to international peace and security and, consequently,
the implementation of SCR 1325 (2000);
Understand what SCR 1325 (2000) mandates the international
community to do with regard to WPS, as well as which actors are
responsible for upholding and operationalizing this resolution; and
Analyse the implementation of SCR 1325 (2000) within the UN system
and at the national level around the globe.
3.1 Introduction
Since the adoption of SCR 1325 (2000), the
international community has explored various
means to translate its objectives into concrete
and effective action at all levels of international
and national politics. Essentially, this means
turning rhetoric into reality on the ground. In order
to understand the implementation of SCR 1325
(2000) and the many obstacles to this multifaceted,
multidimensional process, one must frst highlight
the conceptual framework driving the emergence
and development of this resolution. This lesson
begins by examining the build-up to SCR 1325
(2000) in October 2000, particularly in the context
of the human security framework. It then reviews
how SCR 1325 (2000) has been implemented
in the UN system and what challenges the UN
still faces in operationalizing it. Lastly, the lesson
examines what it means for Member States to
implement SCR 1325 (2000) at the national level
with a focus on the development of national action
plans. Lesson 7 discusses the development of a
national action plan in more detail.
National action plans provide a way for each
state to implement the resolution in a way that
meets its specifc needs. The creation of an
action plan provides an opportunity to analyse
the situation, consult with stakeholders, initiate
strategic changes that will have a better chance of
leading to sustainable, lasting peace, and ensure
comprehensive implementation of the resolution
in a way that can be monitored and evaluated.
Implementation must involve a focus on prevention
of armed confict; participation of men and
women in confict resolution and reconstruction;
protection of the rights of women, men, girls,
and boys; promotion of gender equality and the
empowerment of women and girls; and prosecution
of those who violate the rule of law. In short, due to
the deep infuence that the implementation of SCR
1325 (2000) has at the governmental level of UN
Member States and also within the United Nations
system, the following lesson attempts to provide
an understanding of its origins, objectives, scope,
implementation, and the way it can be used to
positively affect our lives and our societies.
1
1 Much of the information in this lesson is drawn
from INSTRAWs Securing Equality, Engendering
Peace: A Guide to Policy and Planning on Women
3.2 The Origins of SCR 1325 (2000)
As noted in Lesson 1, a signifcant international
regime for gender equality has developed,
especially since the establishment of the UN in
1945. From international human rights treaties to
the series of four world conferences on women,
the UN system has signifcantly affected womens
rights across the globe. In this context of global
activity and international institutions promoting
gender equality and the empowerment of women
and girls, SCR 1325 (2000) emerged.
The conceptual framework for SCR 1325 (2000)
frst emerged with the Beijing Platform for Action,
which identifed the issue of women and armed
confict as one of 12 strategic objectives.
2
In 1998,
the Commission on the Status of Women took
up this theme and discussed the obstacles to
implementing this critical area of concern from the
Beijing Platform for Action. It was at this meeting,
with women from a number of different confict
zones attending, that the NGO network for WPS
began to take shape, and the idea of advocating
for a Security Council resolution was frst raised.
3

and Peace and Security (UN SCR 1325). The guide
is an excellent resource for those working on the
level.
2 United Nations Fourth World Conference on
Women, Beijing Platform for Action. Available
from http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/
platform/plat1.htm, accessed 22 March 2011.
3 Carol Cohn, Helen Kinsella, and Sheri
Gibbings, Women, peace and security: Resolution
1325, International Feminist Journal of Politics, vol.
6, No. 1 (2004), pp. 130140.
The Commission on the Status of Women meets at UN Headquarters in
New York. (UN Photo #139853 by Ryan Brown, February 2007)
5 6 | i mP l e me n tAt i on of s C r 1 3 2 5 ( 2 0 0 0 ) i n A f r i C A l e s s on 3 : s C r 1 3 2 5 ( 2 0 0 0 ) on Wome n A n d P e A C e A n d s e C U r i t Y | 5 7
After the Commission on the Status of Women,
the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and
Security offcially formed and agreed to pursue
two recommendations that came from the CSW
Women and Armed Confict Caucus: to encourage
womens participation in peace agreements and to
push for the convening of a special session of the
Security Council on WPS.
The NGO Working Group initiated the notion of
working for a Security Council resolution on women
in the late 1990s and began working with a number
of UN agencies on issues of gender equality and
womens empowerment, in particular UNIFEM.
Together, these groups played an important role in
circulating the idea among members of the Security
Council and generating support for a resolution on
women and gender issues in armed confict. By
March 2000, on International Womens Day, then
Security Council President Anwarul Chowdhury of
Bangladesh delivered a critical speech that drew
attention to the campaign for such a resolution
and, more importantly, the ways in which gender
equality was essential to international peace,
security, and confict resolution. This was the
frst time that a president of the Security Council
addressed the International Womens Day
proceedings. Ambassador Chowdhury said: Peace
is inextricably linked with equality between women
and men. They affrm that the equal access and
full participation of women in power structures
and their full involvement in all efforts for the
prevention and resolution of conficts are essential
for the maintenance and promotion of peace and
security.
4
Thus, he placed womens rights and
gender equality squarely in the security framework
as an issue to be addressed by the Security
Council, no longer just under the jurisdiction of the
General Assembly. This speech not only helped
mobilize womens organizations into an effective
and heterogeneous transnational advocacy
network, but it also helped open the political space
for this network to operate in the mainstream
security arena of the UN system.
4 Peace Inextricably Linked with Equality
Between Women and Men Says Security
Council, in International Womens Day Statement,
available from http://www.un.org/News/Press/
docs/2000/20000308.sc6816.doc.html, accessed
22 March 2011. For more information on SCR 1325
(2000), see http://www.peacewomen.org/un/
Organized by the Government of Namibia and the
Lessons Learned Unit of DPKO, a UN seminar
in May 2000 on Mainstreaming a Gender
Perspective in Multidimensional Peace Support
Operations produced the Windhoek Declaration
and the Namibia Plan of Action.
5
This plan of
action established several objectives for gender
mainstreaming and gender balancing UN peace
missions, as well as the need for gender-sensitive
leadership from UN Headquarters. This established
further support for the conceptual framework
behind SCR 1325 (2000).
Following an Arria formula meeting
6
in October
2000, in which women from global and local
NGOs addressed the Security Council about
both their victimization and agency in confict
situations around the globe, the Security Council
unanimously adopted SCR 1325 (2000). The Arria
formula meeting was a unique opportunity for
Council members to be briefed by relevant actors
who were not high government offcials or part
of UN delegations. Such informal arrangements
enabled women in war zones around the world
to address the Security Council a signifcant
interaction that has occurred every October since
2000. The resolution was passed the day after the
Arria formula meeting, and although a number of
issues were not included in the fnal document, the
language in its preamble was identical to the draft
the NGO Working Group had submitted.
7
Although
SCR 1325 (2000) represents the broadest political
interpretation of gender issues ever articulated by
the UN peace and security agenda, it does not
address all issues related to WPS. For example, it
does not address overall disarmament issues.
UN1325/1325index.html. This language is very
similar to that in the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action
5 For the full text of this declaration, see http://
www.peacewomen.org/portal_resources_resource.
php?id=375.
6 An Arria formula meeting is an informal
consultation process that allows members of the
Security Council to hear persons in a confdential
setting.
7 Felicity Hill, How and when has Security
Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace
and security impacted negotiations outside the
Security Council?, masters thesis, Uppsala
University, 20042005. Available from http://www.
frauensicherheitsrat.de/data/felicity-hill-thesis.pdf,
accessed April 2011.
Despite these limitations, SCR 1325 (2000) proved
to be a landmark resolution for those working to
promote gender equality and the empowerment
of women and girls. The adoption of SCR 1325
(2000) was largely due to the efforts of NGOs that
successfully lobbied UN Member States to include
WPS issues on their agendas. In addition, their
collaboration with UN entities working in the area
of gender equality and womens empowerment in
particular, UNIFEM and several key Member States
on the Security Council, including Bangladesh,
Canada, Jamaica, Namibia, and the Netherlands
was essential to passing the resolution.
3.3 Reconceptualizing Security: The
Human Security Approach
In adopting SCR 1325 (2000) on 31 October
2000, the UN Security Council, for the frst
time in history, formally recognized the distinct
roles and experiences of women in the distinct
phases of confict, its resolution, and its long-term
management: from armed confict to peacemaking
to peacekeeping and fnally to peacebuilding and
post-confict reconstruction. In part, this refected
the growing concern within the UN system to
mainstream human rights into the UNs approach
to confict management and confict resolution. This
focus on human rights had already emerged in the
Security Council with its thematic focus on civilians
and children in armed confict in 19981999.
Taken together, these thematic Security Council
resolutions are signifcant in that they represent
a shift in how the UN defnes and addresses
international peace and security. Their mere
existence refects an expanded understanding
of the meaning of security what constitutes a
threat to security and who or what security is being
threatened. Much of this shift moving beyond
state-centred security to security that focuses on
the individual coincided with the emergence
of the human security framework within the UN
during the 1990s. Human security was frst defned
by the UN Development Programmes Human
Development Report in 1994. The concept of
security, the report argues, has for too long been
interpreted narrowly: as security of territory from
external aggression, or as protection of national
interests, or as global security from the threat of
nuclear holocaust. The politics of security, the
report made clear, must widen its focus and include
not only the security of borders [but] alsothe
security of peoples lives.
8
Expanding this notion,
the report identifed seven elements of human
security: economic security, food security, health
security, environmental security, personal security,
community security, and political security.
The UN Secretary-Generals report on the
Objectives for the Millennium follows this line of
thought. Freedom From Want and Freedom From
Fear are calls to place the human person at the
heart of the international agenda.
9
They promote
a concept of security built simultaneously upon
the right to development and the right to live in a
secure environment.
Following on the report on the Objectives for the
Millennium, the Commission on Human Security
produced the 2003 report Human Security Now.
This report emphasizes economic security and
universal access to socio-economic rights,
guaranteed civil liberties and political freedoms,
and protection of citizens against threats and
violence, particularly small-arms violence. It also
discusses environmental security, access to
education, and political participation, demonstrating
8 United Nations Development Programme, UN
Human Development Report (New York, Oxford
University Press, 1994), pp. 2223.
9 United Nations, We the Peoples: The Role
of the United Nations in the Twenty-frst Century
(A/54/2000), paras. 194 and 202.
The Security Council considers the role of women in the maintenance
of international peace and security. (UN Photo #181409 by Paulo
Filgueiras, June 2008)
the breadth of the concept of human security. The
report presents human dignity as a central value,
requiring the international community to seek
solutions that aim for genuine autonomy rather
than simply assisting individuals.
10
It connects
different types of freedoms freedom from want,
freedom from fear, and freedom to take action
on ones own behalf and offers two general
strategies to promote these freedoms: protection
and empowerment.
Human security has come to have meaning in
terms of individuals or people collectively, moving
beyond purely state-based notions of military and
territorial security. National security traditionally
refers to a states ability to defend itself from
external threats and to maintain survival through
the use of economic, military, and political power.
The goal of national security is the protection of
state power and its institutions. In this sense, the
term human security has developed as a concept
that can be compared and contrasted to the
more traditional term of national security, thereby
directing attention to an emerging and wider
spectrum of security threats from both within and
outside of the state.
Although the term human security was not
explicitly written in the passage of SCR 1325
(2000), the language surrounding the concept
certainly supports the idea that gender equality and
womens issues constitute legitimate concerns in
the area of international peace and security. This
means that the Security Council needs to address
such concerns in its work. In other words, human
security is seen as both a conceptualization,
which has allowed womens issues and gender
equality to be included in the security discourse,
and a framework for action, which changes the
way the UN approaches the maintenance of
11
Human security
allows gender issues that were once considered
irrelevant or non-essential to be taken seriously in
international peace and security discourse.
10 Commission on Human Security, Human
Security Now (New York, 2003), p. 4. Available
from http://www.humansecurity-chs.org/fnalreport/
index.html, accessed May 2007.
11 Natalie Hudson, Gender, Human Security
and the UN: Security Language as a Political
Framework for Women (London, Routledge, 2009).
3.4 The SCR 1325 (2000) Mandate:
What Is Required and Who Is
Responsible?
Previous UN mandates, including CEDAW (1979)
and the Beijing Platform for Action (1995), have
addressed WPS issues; but SCR 1325 (2000)
is one of the most specifc WPS mandates. It
directly addresses a number of actors in the UN
system including the UN Member States, parties
to armed confict, and all UN bodies, particularly
those involved in peace and security work and
calls on them to increase the protection of women
and girls from violence during all stages of confict,
to fully integrate gender perspectives in peace and
security work, and to increase the participation of
women in all decision-making processes to both
prevent and resolve armed confict.
In short, SCR 1325 (2000) is a call to action for
all multilateral, regional, bilateral, and national
stakeholders, including civil society, that are
involved in confict resolution. Its implementation
depends, on the one hand, on defning measurable
objectives and targets and, on the other hand,
on creating appropriate strategies and allocating
suffcient resources.
To facilitate the understanding of SCR 1325
(2000) and the development of strategies for
implementing its requirements, the NGO Working
Group on Women, Peace and Security has put
forth a three-dimensional framework consisting of
the principles of confict prevention, participation
of women in peace and security, and protection of
civilians with consideration to the specifc needs of
women, men, girls and boys. This 3P framework
serves as a means to facilitate the development of
strategies for advancing effective implementation
of SCR 1325 (2000) and subsequent resolutions.
12

This approach arose from three observations:
All of the resolutions mentioned above form a
commitment on the part of the Security Council
to prevent violent confict, to protect civilians, and
to ensure womens participation in prevention,
confict resolution, and peacebuilding.
The themes of these resolutions are
interdependent; experience has shown that
trying to implement them separately does not
work.
Although each resolution responds to specifc
concerns, they all place signifcant emphasis on
preventing violent confict, encouraging womens
participation, and protecting all civilians.
Using the 3P approach to understanding and
carrying out SCR 1325 (2000) leads to more
coherent and effective collective action because it
is based on the identifcation of roles, processes,
and methods envisaged by the Secretary-General,
the United Nations system, governments, and
non-state actors. UN activity is based upon this 3P
approach as a core for its strategic objectives in
12 NGO Watch: Security Council focuses on
women, peace and security, UN Chronicle online
edition, http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/
chronicle/
terms of advocacy, partnership, and monitoring the
implementation of SCR 1325 (2000). The strategies
for implementing it in Africa are discussed in more
detail in Lesson 5.
13
Prevention
The thematic area of prevention includes initiatives
aimed at mainstreaming a gender perspective into
all confict prevention activities and strategies, the
development of effective gender-sensitive early
warning mechanisms and institutions, and the
strengthening of efforts to prevent violence against
women and girls, including gender-based violence.
SCR Resolution 1325
(2000)
Interpretation and Application
13
Urges Member States
to ensure increased
representation of wom-
en at all decision-mak-
ing levels in national,
regional and interna-
tional institutions and
mechanisms for the
prevention, manage-
ment, and resolution of
confict (paragraph 1)
Confict prevention is an increasingly
important part of the UNs work on
international peace and security is-
sues. An essential aspect of confict
prevention is the strengthening of
the rule of law and, within that, the
protection of womens human rights
achieved through a focus on gender
equality in constitutional, legislative,
judicial, and electoral reform. This
paragraph is also applicable to wom-
ens contributions to early warning
information collection and response
mechanisms.
All countries share a common interest in preventing
confict. However, there is very limited information
on gender and confict prevention.
14
For example,
there is a serious lack of in-depth analysis of the
gendered dynamics of violence, which is certainly
an impediment to successful prevention. Gender
dimensions of pre-confict situations may include
increased commercial sex trade around military
bases at times of greater mobilization of soldiers, a
rise in gender-based violence infuenced by political
instability, or gender stereotypes propagated by the
mass media as part of mobilization campaigns.
15

Civil society organizations, particularly womens
groups, can be effective allies in the detection and
reporting of early warning signs.
13 http://www.womenwarpeace.org/webfm_send/82
14 Tsjeard Bouta, Georg Frerks, and Ian Bannon,
Gender, Confict and Development (Washington,
DC, The World Bank, 2005), p. 145.
15 INSTRAW, Securing Equality, Engendering
Peace, Table 14.
levels and Actors involved in
sCr 1325 (2000)
Security Council
Secretary-General and the Secretariat
UN Agencies, Funds and Programmes
UN Member States
Governments (national institutions,
agencies, and mechanisms)
All parties to a confict
Non-governmental Organizations
Grass-roots (national and local) womens
rights organizations
International womens rights organizations
Human rights organizations
Actors involved in peace agreements and
negotiations
Academia
Other Regional and International
Governmental Organizations
European Union, African Union,
Organization of American States
Many others
Participation
The thematic area of participation focuses on
initiatives that promote womens active and
meaningful participation in all peace processes, as
well as their representation in formal and informal
decision-making at all levels. Initiatives aimed at
improving partnership and networking with local
and international womens rights organizations
are also included in this thematic area. Initiatives
aimed at recruiting and appointing women to
senior positions in the UN, including the Special
Representatives of the Secretary-General, and in
peacekeeping forces, including military, police, and
civilian personnel, fall into this area, as well.
As these paragraphs demonstrate, SCR 1325
(2000) reaffrms womens human right to participate
at all levels of decision-making, both in the feld
and at UN Headquarters. This translates to the
inclusion of women at the peace table during
formal and informal peace processes and as part
of UN peace operations, particularly in terms of
post-confict reconstruction. Women must be able
to participate in all phases, from assessment and
project design to implementation to monitoring
and evaluation; thus, gender equality must be
achieved at all levels of UN activity. This thematic
area recognizes and promotes womens agency
and ability to contribute to confict resolution and
peacebuilding.
Protection
The thematic area of protection encompasses
initiatives that strengthen and amplify efforts to
secure the safety, physical and mental health,
well-being, economic security, and dignity
of women and girls. Initiatives that promote
and safeguard human rights of women and
mainstream a gender perspective in legal and
institutional reforms also fall into this area. In this
way, protection is seen as a key component to
establishing international peace and security.
These paragraphs from the text of SCR 1325
(2000) demonstrate that the protection of women
and girls is deeply rooted in international law.
Member States are legally obligated to protect the
basic rights of women and girls during times of
confict and of peace. SCR 1325 (2000) recognizes
the unique ways that women and girls suffer during
confict and how vulnerable they are even after
a ceasefre has been established. For example,
women and girls are the primary targets of sexual
violence during confict. Rape of female civilians
is widespread and has been recognized as a war
crime and a crime against humanity. Women are
often systematically attacked as they are perceived
to embody the nation or the culture in sacred ways;
much of this gendered stigma relates to their ability
to bear children and, therefore, carry the enemys
future through physically and not only through
socialized gender roles. Sexual violence was
rampant during the wars in the Balkans, as well as
in conficts in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
SCR 1325 (2000) also addresses the protection
of refugees and IDPs and the reintegration into
society of ex-combatants and displaced people.
This is a key challenge for many governments.
Protection of those who are forcibly displaced
during and after confict is key to establishing and
re-establishing the rule of law and human security
for societies emerging from violence and war.
SCR Resolution 1325 (2000) Interpretation and Application
Encourages the Secretary-General to implement
his strategic plan of action (A/49/587) calling for an
increase in the participation of women at decision-
making levels in confict resolution and peace
processes
(paragraph 2)
Gender equality has long been a goal within the UN
system and involves targeting the recruitment and
promotion of women in key areas. Womens partici-
pation also relies upon corrective or new measures
within the UN for women in terms of career devel-
opment, management training, and management
culture change, including implementation of a new
performance appraisal system, review and improve-
ment of recruitment processes, introduction of more
effective systems to deal with mobility and spousal
employment, and measures and procedures to pre-
vent sexual harassment.
Further urges the Secretary-General to seek to
expand the role and contribution of women in United
Nations feld-based operations, and especially
among military observers, civilian police, human
rights and humanitarian personnel
(paragraph 4)
In addition to high-level posts such as SRSGs,
Deputy SRSGs, and Special Envoys, which are
very much dependent on the candidates put forward
by UN Member States, this paragraph urges the
Secretary-General to use his discretion to place
more women staff in UN feld missions in those ar-
eas in which they are traditionally underrepresented
particularly in the feld, where the United Nations
has an opportunity to provide a positive example
of womens leadership in the rebuilding of societ-
ies. Further, this includes the recruitment of female
soldiers by troop-contributing countries. A good
example is the all-female police unit sent to Liberia
by India.
Calls on all actors involved, when negotiating and
implementing peace agreements, to adopt a gender
perspective, including, inter alia: (b) Measures
that support local womens peace initiatives and in-
digenous processes for confict resolution, and that
involve women in all of the implementation mecha-
nisms of the peace agreements
(paragraph 8)
The peace process occurs at formal and informal
levels, which are closely interrelated. Most often,
women are excluded from offcial peace talks, de-
spite being quite active peacemakers at the grass-
roots level. This paragraph demands that attention
be given to womens peacemaking activities that
are already occurring, as well as to the inclusion
of women in formal peace negotiations and the in-
corporation of a gender perspective into any peace
accord.
SCR Resolution 1325 (2000) Interpretation and Application
Calls on all actors involved, when negotiating and
implementing peace agreements, to adopt a gender
perspective, including, inter alia: (c) Measures
that ensure the protection of and respect for human
rights of women and girls, particularly as they relate
to the constitution, the electoral system, the police
and the judiciary
(paragraph 8)
At times, the cessation of armed confict and subse-
quent peace agreements entail the opportunity for
Member States to rewrite constitutions and enshrine
gender equality. Key issues, including womens and
mens equal access to land, property, education,
health care, work, and politics can be given consti-
tutional rank. Further, the incorporation of interna-
tional treaties and conventions that protect womens
rights, foremost SCR 1325 (2000) and CEDAW,
highlights the importance that a new constitution
gives to gender equality.
Calls on all parties to armed confict to take special
measures to protect women and girls from gender-
based violence, particularly rape and other forms
of sexual abuse, and all other forms of violence in
situations of armed confict
(paragraph 10)
Gender-specifc threats to women and girls com-
pound the challenges of ensuring their protection.
During armed confict, women and girls are continu-
ally threatened by rape, domestic violence, sexual
exploitation, traffcking, sexual humiliation, and mu-
tilation. Adolescent girls are specifcally targeted for
abduction and forced recruitment into armed forces
and armed groups, and they are targets for sexual
exploitation and abuse. These practices put them at
great risk of sexually transmitted diseases, including
HIV/AIDS. International responses in confict situ-
ations must include systematic reporting on sexual
violence, emphasize the special reproductive health
needs of women and girls, and refect strengthened
policy guidance on responses to gender-based
violence and sexual exploitation.
In addition to provisions that can be understood
through the 3P framework described above, SCR
1325 (2000) also emphasizes the responsibility
of all States to put an end to impunity and to
prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes
against humanity, and war crimes including those
relating to sexual and other violence against
women and girls, and in this regard, stresses the
need to exclude these crimes, where feasible
from amnesty provisions (paragraph 11).
Many refer to this provision as the fourth P,
prosecution. This fourth thematic area applies
to both the perpetrators that are a part of the
armed confict and the UN personnel deployed
in peace operations (in the context of the UNs
zero-tolerance policy for sexual exploitation
and abuse). Thus, SCR 1325 (2000) affrms the
responsibility of all governments to put an end to
impunity and to uphold the rule of law, specifying
that crimes against women and girls should not be
included in amnesty provisions of peace treaties.
Peace agreements that include amnesty provisions
are diffcult to reconcile with the goal of ending the
culture of impunity.
Despite the UNs affrmation of the 3P framework,
signifcant challenges to fully implementing SCR
1325 (2000) still exist. Most importantly, the
resolution lacks a mechanism for monitoring
implementation at the national or international
level. It does not require regular reporting from
Member States or set forth any assessment tools to
measure implementation and overall effectiveness.
These obstacles are linked to the fact that many
actors lack the political will to implement the
resolution or to fund programmes that do. Gender
is still seen as a soft issue, not part of the security
mainstream, and women are assumed to be victims
of armed confict instead of active agents in confict
resolution. In general, the lack of information and
awareness regarding the resolution, as well as
insuffcient fnancial and institutional backing and
political will, continue to pose signifcant challenges
to implementation.
3.5 Implementation of SCR 1325
(2000) in the UN System
Despite the signifcant challenges mentioned
above, the UN has taken important steps to put
SCR 1325 (2000) into action. These can largely
be understood as procedural shifts in the planning
process, training programmes, and staffng
structures. For example, the Security Council
marks the anniversary of SCR 1325 (2000) every
year, revisiting the commitment it made in October
2000 and outlining ways to better address issues
of gender equality and womens empowerment in
confict situations around the world. As another
example, in the six-year period before SCR 1325
(2000)s adoption, only 4 per cent of Security
Council resolutions included references to women,
girls, or gender. As of November 2009, about 40
per cent of country-specifc resolutions since the
creation of SCR 1325 (2000) contained specifc
language on women and gender.
16
In addition, the
Security Council has invoked SCR 1325 (2000) in
more than 25 binding Chapter VII situation-specifc
resolutions, including those on Burundi, Cte
dIvoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Haiti, Iraq, and Sudan.
16 See Resolution Watch, available from http://
www.peacewomen.org/un/sc/1325_Monitor/
countryindex.htm, accessed 3 February 2010.
As a matter of internal UN rule-making, SCR
1325 (2000) has also been interpreted by various
UN departments to operate as a mandate to
consider the gender impacts of different policies.
For example, DPKO states that SCR 1325 (2000)
created its mandate to mainstream gender issues
and conduct gender training in peacekeeping
missions.
17
DPKO has hired a gender adviser
and has implemented gender sensitivity training
for police offcers and peacekeepers on mission.
Gender advisers have also been appointed to
missions to assist in the gender mainstreaming
of peacekeeping operations. In addition, womens
concerns were made prominent in the mandate
of the newly created Peacebuilding Commission
and are treated as cross-cutting issues, not just
the subject of a limited number of programmes, in
the Commissions recent strategic frameworks for
peacebuilding in Burundi and Sierra Leone.
17 DPKO traces its mandate for gender
mainstreaming directly to SCR 1325 (2000). See
DPKO Best Practices Unit, Gender Resource
Package for Peacekeeping Operations (United
Nations, 2004), pp. 1, 910.
Overall, the UN has agreed to a system-wide
action plan focused on results-based programming,
monitoring, and reporting tools. The Offce
of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and
Advancement of Women (OSAGI), in collaboration
with the Inter-agency Task Force on Women,
Peace and Security, has led the work in this
area, coordinating about 22 UN agencies with
work relevant to WPS issues. This system-wide
approach is founded on a results-based
framework, a dynamic process that provides
feedback throughout the full programme cycle:
planning, programming, budgeting, monitoring,
and evaluation. Thus, implementation within the
UN system has focused on the development and
application of system-wide indicators as a means
to measure results. Possible indicators include the
following:
18
Prevention
Number of gender-sensitive early warning
mechanisms
Number of policies and programmes on
prevention of SGBV
Participation
Number of consultations with womens
organizations
Percentage of appointed SRSGs, Envoys, and
Resident Coordinators who are women
Ratio of women to men participating in
government structures
Number of women participating in peace talks
Protection
Number of relevant international treaties ratifed
Number of judicial and non-judicial accountability
mechanisms in place
Number of cases brought before court by female
victims of violence
Number of SEA focal points appointed at the
country offce
18 For more information, see 2008-2009 UN
System-Wide Action Plan on Security Council
Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and
Security, available from http://www.un.org/women
watch/ianwge/taskforces/wps/actionplan20082009/
pdfs/DPKO%202008-2009%201325.pdf, accessed
19 March 2011. In addition, see Appendix I for an
excerpt from the Secretary-Generals report on WPS
Jean-Marie Guhenno, then Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping
Operations, speaks at a Security Council meeting on sexual exploitation
and abuse by United Nations peacekeeping personnel. The Council
strongly condemned all acts of sexual abuse and exploitation
committed by UN peacekeeping personnel, underlining the importance
of maintaining zero tolerance for such abuses, and advocating their
investigation and punishment. (UN Photo #77056 by Eskinder Debebe,
May 2005)
UNOCI peacekeepers participate in sexual exploitation
awareness training in Bondoukou, Cte dIvoire. (UN
Photo #87711 by Ky Chung, July 2005)
Relief and Recovery
Number of women and men of all ages
who receive information about and have
the opportunity to comment on assistance
programmes
Number of targeted activities focused on the
specifc constraints facing women and girls as a
percentage of the total reconstruction budget
Normative
Number of policies (action plans and
programmes) in place
Implementation rate of policies
Implementation of SCR 1325 (2000) at the system
level focuses on formulating concrete strategies,
actions, and programmes effectively and effciently
in order to increase womens role in the areas of
peace and security. This means that the UN must
develop and ensure effective support for Member
States and other actors in the implementation of
SCR 1325 (2000) at a national and regional level.
Such implementation relies on strengthening
accountability and increasing inter-agency
cooperation and coordination at all levels of UN
activity.
3.6 Implementation of SCR 1325
(2000) at the National Level
At the national level, it is the responsibility of the
Member States to ensure a coherent approach
to the implementation of SCR 1325 (2000)
and to promote a gender perspective in peace
and security issues. It is important to link the
implementation of SCR 1325 (2000) to national
constitutions, as well as such international and
regional instruments as the Beijing Platform for
Action, regional platforms for action, CEDAW, and
the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and
Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa.
In addition to international and regional
instruments, the Security Council has called on
UN Member States to continue to implement SCR
1325 (2000) through the development of national
action plans or other national-level strategies.
19
The
creation of an action plan provides an opportunity
to initiate strategic actions, identify priorities and
resources, and determine responsibilities and time
frames. The process of developing a plan is also a
process of awareness-raising and capacity-building
in order to overcome gaps and challenges to full
implementation.
20
As of April 2011, only 25 governments had
developed national action plans for implementing
SCR 1325 (2000). Among them are a number of
countries that have recently experienced confict,
such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cte dIvoire,
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia,
Nepal, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.
Nordic countries are leading the way, with
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden
all having fully developed plans. Austria, Belgium,
Canada, Chile, Estonia, France, the Netherlands,
Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the
United Kingdom complete this select group.
21
19 See, for example, Presidential Statements S/
PRST/2004/40 and S/PRST/2005/52 in Appendix H.
20 National Action Plans: National Implementation
Overview, available from http://www.peacewomen.
org/ pages/about-1325/national-action-plans-
naps#National_ Implementation_Overview,
accessed 1 April 2011.
21 Ibid.
Despite the development of these national action
plans, progress on the implementation of SCR
1325 (2000) at the national level has been very
slow. Only a few countries are adjusting their
training for military personnel, especially those
sent to peacekeeping missions, or altering
their development aid packages to post-confict
countries. A small number are instructing senior
representatives to address gender issues,
encouraging womens representation, and reaching
out to women in confict and post-confict zones.
In short, women continue to be marginalized
from offcial peacemaking and peacebuilding
processes; the percentage of women globally at
the highest level of decision-making remains very
low, and violence against women continues with
impunity. It is critical that more Member States take
responsibility for the successful implementation
of SCR 1325 (2000) and ensure that it is
integrated into their national policies and training
programmes.
National implementation is essential to fully
realizing and implementing SCR 1325 (2000).
Ultimately, Member States are the actors that can
provide individuals with access to gender equality,
peace, and security and, therefore, are the most
capable of implementing SCR 1325 (2000). As will
be discussed in more detail in Lesson 7, national
action plans enable each state to implement the
resolution in a way that meets its specifc needs.
The creation of an action plan provides the
opportunity to analyse the situation, consult with
stakeholders, initiate strategic changes that will
have a better chance of leading to sustainable,
lasting peace, and ensure a comprehensive
implementation of all three dimensions of the
resolution that can be relatively easily monitored
and evaluated.
Lesson Summary
The key conceptual and political developments
that led to the passage SCR 1325 (2000);
What is mandated in SCR 1325 (2000) and
what international actors are responsible for
implementing it; and
How implementation of SCR 1325 (2000) has
developed and some of the challenges that
remain within the UN system and at the national
level.
Goretti Ndacayisaba of Burundi, a member of the NGO
Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, speaks to
journalists at a press conference on the implementation
of Security Council resolution 1325, Women
Transforming Words into Action, at UN Headquarters.
(UN Photo #100627 by Mark Garten, October 2005)
End-of-Lesson Quiz
8. National action plans on SCR 1325 (2000):
A. Have only been established in advanced
industrialized societies, such as the Nordic
states;
B. Have only been developed in countries
emerging from armed confict, such as Liberia;
C. Do not need to be linked to international and
regional instruments, such as the Beijing
Platform for Action or the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women;
D. Provide an opportunity for states to initiate
strategic actions, identify priorities and
resources, and determine the responsibilities
and time frames for implementation.
9. The thematic area of participation in SCR
1325 (2000) refers to:
A. The number of gender-sensitive early warning
mechanisms in place;
B. Womens participation in the peace process at
formal and informal levels of negotiation;
C. Targeted activities focused on women-specifc
constraints during relief and recovery;
D. The implementation rate of gender policies.
10. Despite signifcant progress, the
implementation of SCR 1325 (2000) is still
limited by the:
A. Lack of monitoring mechanisms or
accountability tools;
B. Lack of political will by many within the UN
system;
C. Lack of general awareness among many
international actors;
1. The conceptual framework for SCR 1325
(2000) frst emerged:
A. As part of an International Womens Day
speech by Security Council President,
Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury of
Bangladesh;
B. During a 1998 General Assembly discussion of
the protection of women and girls from violence
in armed confict;
C. As an agenda item during the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women;
D. With the Beijing Platform for Action and its
articulation of women and armed confict as
one of 12 strategic objectives.
2. Economic security, environmental security,
and health security are defning elements in:
A. Human security;
B. National security;
C. Global security;
D. Political security.
3. The emergence and adoption of SCR 1325
(2000) was largely due to the organizing and
advocacy of:
A. Non-governmental organizations and their
partnerships with UN entities committed to
gender equality and womens empowerment;
B. The National Organization for Women;
C. UN bodies and entities, including the Offce of
the Secretary-General and the Commission on
the Status of Women;
D. A conglomeration of independent grass-roots
womens organizations.
4. Prior to SCR 1325 (2000), which UN
document, international treaty, or functional
commission addressed issues related to
women and peace and security?
A. The Commission on the Status of Women;
B. The Windhoek Declaration and the Namibia
Plan of Action;
C. Both B. and C.
D. None.
5. Security Council resolution 1325 (2000)
requires that the resolution be implemented
by:
A. Only UN Member States;
B. Only troop-contributing countries, UN mission
staff, and local actors in the feld;
C. All UN bodies, UN Member States,
non-governmental organizations, and civil
society;
D. All actors involved in negotiating and
implementing peace agreements.
6. The 3P framework refers to the
implementation of SCR 1325 (2000) in terms
of:
A. Prevention, participation, and protection;
B. Prevention, participation, and peace;
C. Participation, protection, and peace;
D. Participation, protection, and prosecution.
7. Implementation of SCR 1325 (2000) at the
system-wide level has largely focused on:
A. Substantive shifts in terms of the establishment
of concrete monitoring mechanisms;
B. Procedural shifts in terms of the planning
process, training programmes, and staffng
structures;
C. National action plans;
ANSWER KEY
1D, 2A, 3A, 4C, 5C, 6A, 7B, 8D, 9B, 10D
LESSON 4
WOMEN AND PEACE AND
SECURITY: CHALLENGES
FOR AFRICA
l e s s on 4 : C H A l l e n Ge s f or A f r i C A | 7 1
LESSON
4
4.1 introduction
4.2 Contemporary Armed
Confict in Africa
4.3 impact of
Contemporary Armed
Confict on Women
and Girls
4.4 Peace, transition,
and recovery
Processes
LESSON OBJECTIVES
This lesson addresses the challenges that Africa faces regarding WPS.
It introduces basic information about contemporary armed conficts and
security threats in Africa and their impact on women and girls. The lesson
goes on to discuss womens involvement in formal and informal peace
processes, and how their socio-economic and political rights are protected
in situations of confict and insecurity, in post-confict transitions, and in
recovery processes throughout the region.
Understand the gender dimensions of war and peacemaking in Africa;
Discuss the challenges that the region faces regarding WPS; and
Understand the relevance and importance of SCR 1325 (2000) for
Africa.
4.1 Introduction
Since decolonization, many countries in Africa
have been devastated by armed confict. In Africa,
as elsewhere, the impacts of armed confict are
different for men, women, boys, and girls. Women
and girls face particular challenges during and after
confict situations. They are exposed to increased
levels of sexual and gender-based violence during
confict that may persist for many years even after
the confict has ended. Women and girls who are
displaced by confict are at an even greater risk of
violence, and their needs in camps and settlements
are often overlooked. In addition, armed confict
can have devastating affects on womens health,
education, and livelihoods.
However, women are not simply victims of armed
confict. In Africa, they have also been involved
as active participants in both the conficts
themselves and in the peace processes that
follow. Unfortunately, they have, in many cases,
been excluded from formal negotiations. As a
result, peace agreements often neglect womens
perspectives and needs, thereby missing an
important opportunity to redirect societies towards
greater gender equality, through such techniques
as gender-sensitive constitutions and electoral
reform. The region has also repeatedly seen
the importance of addressing womens needs in
disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration
processes and in post-confict reconstruction and
reconciliation efforts.
These challenges, if not attended to, can
exacerbate existing problems for security and
development in the region, hindering progress
towards sustainable solutions. SCR 1325 (2000)
provides a framework for addressing these
challenges to build more peaceful and equitable
societies.
4.2 Contemporary Armed Confict in
Africa
Africa is made up of 53 countries
1
and is home to
over one billion people.
2
It is a region of enormous
ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity. Nearly the
entire continent was colonized during the 19
th
and
early 20
th
centuries by European powers. The
period since decolonization though stable for
some countries has been marked by confict and
underdevelopment throughout much of the region.
Since decolonization, Africa has experienced some
80 coups dtat, 75 armed conficts, and 40 civil
wars.
3
In the 1990s, national armies intervened in
19 countries worldwide, 15 of which were located
in Sub-Saharan Africa.
4
The latter are: Burundi, the
Central African Republic, Comoros, Cte dIvoire,
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia,
Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Niger, Nigeria,
the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone,
and Somalia. Since the turn of the century, Liberia,
Uganda, and Sudan all torn by civil war can be
included on this list.
1 Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina
Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central
African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Cte dIvoire,
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti,
Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon,
Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya,
Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali,
Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique,
Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, the Republic of the
Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal,
Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa,
Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia,
Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
2 United Nations Department of Economic
and Social Affairs (Population Division), World
Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision, from
http://esa.un.org/unpp/, accessed 20 January 2011
3 Cyprien Tiess, Instabilit en Afrique, Frater-
nit Matin, Abidjan, Cte dIvoire, 16 January 2004.
4 United Nations Development Programme,
Human Development Report 2002: Deepening
Democracy in a Fragmented World, available from
http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2002/,
7 2 | i mP l e me n tAt i on of s C r 1 3 2 5 ( 2 0 0 0 ) i n A f r i C A l e s s on 4 : C H A l l e n Ge s f or A f r i C A | 7 3
In the fnal analysis, approximately 20 of the 53
countries in Africa have experienced civil war in
the last 20 years. Taking into consideration the
size and demographics of the countries involved,
this means that nearly half of the people living in
Sub-Saharan Africa have suffered and many
continue to suffer from the atrocities of war.
While African conficts are often simplistically
described as ethnic or tribal disputes, the truth
is far more complicated than this explanation
suggests. Furthermore, describing conficts as
ethnic, tribal, or religious often serves to cover
up the root causes of confict which are usually
primarily political and economic. While the specifc
conditions and combinations of causal factors differ
in each case, contemporary African conficts on the
whole can be traced largely to the following root
causes:
The colonial legacy, especially the arbitrary
delineation of borders, the break-up of closely-
knit entities belonging to the same ethnic
group, and the destruction of traditional political
regulatory mechanisms;
The divide to conquer policy, deliberately
applied by colonial powers to stife
independence;
Political manipulations following the Cold War;
Geopolitical disruption and foreign infuence;
Economic crisis and poverty;
Predatory exploitation of natural and mineral
resources; and
Dictatorship and democratic defcit.
Despite the stark realities of confict in Africa, the
factors underlying insecurity are not immutable,
and confict is therefore not inevitable. As Africa
continues to work towards the democratization
of its institutions, there are reasons for hope.
Consider that in 1970, more that 30 countries
experienced confict or civil war. In 1998, according
to the UN Secretary-Generals report on the
causes of conficts in Africa, 14 countries were
afficted by armed confict of civil war and 11
were considered as being in a state of serious
political crisis.
5
By 2007, only seven countries were
experiencing civil war or intense armed confict.
5 United Nations General Assembly Report,
Internal and Regional Conficts
While contemporary African conficts have
been mostly internal rather than inter-State,
these internal conficts can also have regional
dimensions. For example, the conficts which
affected the Democratic Republic of the Congo
and Sierra Leone are both internal and regional
conficts. Furthermore, confict-related issues
such as the free circulation of small arms, the
displacement of populations, the traffcking of
natural resources, the strategic alliances between
armed factions and political parties, etc., transcend
national borders and become regional problems.
Since so many of Africas security challenges have
regional dimensions, regional cooperation on these
issues is critical. The Statement of Commitment
to Peace and Security in Africa, Issued by African
Heads of State and Government of the Member
States of the Peace and Security Council calls for
the elimination of the underlying issues that have
contributed to confict, including:
ethnic and religious extremism; corruption;
exclusionary defnitions of citizenship; poverty
and disease, with special attention on the
HIV/AIDS epidemic, which has now become
a security problem on our continent; the
illegal exploitation of Africas renewable and
non-renewable natural resources; mercenarism;
the illicit proliferation, circulation and traffcking
of small arms and light weapons; and the
continuing toll exacted by anti-personnel
landmines.
6

We will learn more about regional cooperation on
WPS issues in Lesson 6 of this course.
Implementation of the recommendations contained
in the report of the Secretary-General on the
causes of confict and the promotion of durable
peace and sustainable development in Africa, 20
August 2004 (A/59/285), para. 3.
6 African Union, Statement of Commitment to
Peace and Security in Africa, Issued by the Heads
of State and Government of Member States of the
Peace and Security Council of the African Union,
25 May 2004, Addis Ababa, available from http://
www.africa-union.org/News_Events/Calendar_
of_%20Events/Lancement% 20PSC/Statement.pdf,
The Changing Nature of Armed Confict in
Africa
The conficts that have emerged in Africa under
these post-colonial conditions have differed
from earlier conficts in a number of ways.
These contemporary wars are characterized
by, among other things, their longevity, modern
technological methods, and massive numbers of
victims. Of particular importance are the following
characteristics that have been noted in many of the
continents recent and ongoing conficts:
Civilians used as human shields;
The internalization and regionalization of
conficts;
Conficts lasting beyond 10 years;
Arms dealing;
The arming of civilians;
The participation of armed groups and non-
regular armies;
Economic decline; and
Social fragmentation.
These changes translate into far more devastating
economic destruction and human cost in injury,
death, lost livelihoods, and displacement. These
costs are discussed later in this lesson.
Peacekeeping Missions in Africa
The African continent currently hosts seven of the
16 UN peacekeeping missions, which makes it the
largest recipient of civil and military contingents
deployed in peace and reconstruction operations.
7

At the beginning of 2005, 85 per cent of UN
peacekeepers deployed worldwide were in Africa.
8

The extent of the UN presence clearly indicates
a shift in terms of the international communitys
commitment to resolving conficts in Africa.
A peace mission takes place at a pivotal time in the
peace process since host countries usually receive
high-level international attention and substantial
technical assistance during that period. The
success of a peace mission is not measured only
by its ability to facilitate a peace agreement and
eventually prepare the country to hold democratic
elections. Its success is also measured by the
democratic benefts and legacy that will ensure just,
equitable, and lasting peace.
In this respect, the United Nations SCR 1325
(2000) asks UN agencies and all Member
States to mainstream a gender perspective in
all stages of the confict and peace process,
including prevention, resolution of confict, and
reconstruction. Only then will the resulting peace
and economic recovery be meaningful for all
sectors of the population. Only then will peace and
recovery be sustained long-term.
A peace mission whose mandate endorses SCR
1325 (2000) is therefore required to refect the
spirit of the resolution in its own practices, and to
assist the host country in laying the groundwork
for new relations between men and women based
on equality, equity, and parity. This means that
missions themselves must make efforts to recruit
appropriate proportions of women, to set up a
Gender Unit with the necessary resources to
7 MINURCAT (Central African Republic and
Chad), UNAMID (Darfur), UNMIS (Sudan), UNOCI
(Cte dIvoire), UNMIL (Liberia), MONUSCO (DRC),
MINURSO (Western Sahara).
8 Centre for Confict Resolution/UNIFEM,
Women and Peacebuilding in Africa, Seminar
Report (2005), p. 16. Available from http://www.ccr.
org.za/images/stories/Vol_9-WPA_Report_Final_
Web-small.pdf, accessed 20 January 2011.
mainstream the gender perspective throughout the
missions programmes, and to ensure that gender
is a priority in all areas of the missions work. This
will be discussed further in the next lesson.
4.3 Impact of Contemporary Armed
Confict on Women and Girls
Violent confict represents a primary threat to
human security in Africa. According to the United
Nations, the war in Darfur has already killed an
estimated 300,000 persons and displaced more
than 2.5 million.
9
The war in Southern Sudan has
displaced 4 million people.
10
The confict in Angola
has resulted in 500,000 deaths, 4 million displaced
persons, and 100,000 disabled persons.
11
In Sierra
Leone, the confict has claimed over 75,000 lives,
created half a million refugees, and displaced
half of the countrys 4.5 million people.
12
At the
beginning of 2000, the Great Lakes Region and the
Horn of Africa gave shelter to more than 12 million
displaced persons and refugees. In these two
regions, the number of deaths attributed to war is
close to 5 million.
Violent conficts are not only a threat to human
security, they also undermine the possibility of
meeting the challenge of development. Annual
economic losses from confict in Africa are
estimated at $18 billion per year.
13
A recent study
has assessed the economic losses resulting from
9 UNAMID website, http://www.un.org/en/
peacekeeping/missions/unamid/background.shtml,
10 United Nations Development Programme, New
Seeds of Justice sown in Southern Sudan, 12
June 2007; UNMIS website, http://www.un.org/en/
peacekeeping/missions/unmis/background.shtml,
11 Jean-Dominique Geslin, Un confit coteux, un
bilan lourd. Jeune Afrique, Lintelligent (410 March
2002).
12 Ian Smillie, Lansana Gberie, Ralph Hazleton,
The Heart of the Matter: Sierra Leone, Diamonds
and Human Security, Report produced by
Partnership Africa Canada (January 2000),
available from http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca/dspace/
bitstream/10625/33311/1/114727.pdf, accessed 20
January 2011.
13 Ibid.
conficts in Africa since 1990 at 300 billion U.S.
dollars.
14
This sum is equivalent to the amount of
international aid received during the same period.
The losses have been calculated based on direct
and indirect consequences of conficts such as
medical costs, military expenditures, destruction
of infrastructure, decline in production, infation,
reduced investments, unemployment, lack of public
services, displaced populations, etc.
African leaders recognize the economic disaster
caused by armed conficts; the Protocol Relating
to the Establishment of the Peace and Security
Council of the African Union (2002) states that
no single internal factor has contributed more to
socioeconomic decline on the Continent and the
suffering of the civilian population than the scourge
of conficts within and between our States.
15
Above and beyond the challenges that confict
presents for all people of Africa, women and girls
often face particular challenges. The impact of
armed confict on women and girls is complex,
varying widely from context to context and from
woman to woman, girl to girl. Nevertheless, some
commonalities have been observed in the ways
that confict impacts women and girls, including:
Increasing the prevalence of sexual and gender-
based violence;
Displacing and separating individuals and
families;
Endangering womens and girls health;
Limiting womens and girls access to education;
Compromising womens and girls livelihoods and
economic development; and
Changing accepted gender roles.
14 International Action Network on Small Arms,
Saferworld, and Oxfam, Africas missing billions:
International arms fows and the Cost of confict,
(October 2007), p. 38. Available from http://www.
oxfam.org/sites/ www.oxfam.org/fles/africas%20
missing%20bils.pdf, accessed 6 May 2011.
15 African Union, Protocol Relating to the
Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of
the African Union, adopted in Durban, 9 July 2002,
available from http://www.au.int/en/sites/default/
fles/Protocol_peace_and_security.pdf, accessed
6 May 2011.
Women weep after their goats were stolen in an early morning raid.
Livestock raiding is a persistent problem which has heightened tension
between the various tribes and led to the loss of many lives, limbs and
livelihoods in Sudan. (UN Photo #143518 by Tim McKulka, April 2007)
Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is an
area of particular concern in confict situations.
Though SGBV is widespread throughout the
world even in times of peace, armed confict tends
to heighten the risk of this violence, which can
impact men and boys, but overwhelmingly affects
women and girls. Even after confict has ended,
high levels of SGBV tend to persist well into the
post-confict period and even beyond, creating
long-term threats to security and to womens and
girls health, livelihoods, and ability to participate in
reconstruction and peacebuilding.
The systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon
of war is an acute open wound for parts of Africa.
In Rwanda, between 250,000 and 500,000 women
were raped during the genocide;
16
in Sierra Leone,
53 per cent of women and girls displaced by the
war have been victims of sexual violence;
17
in
Burundi, approximately 19 per cent of adolescent
girls and women are said to have been victims of
sexual violence;
18
in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, one woman in three living in the confict
zones is said to have been raped;
19
in Darfur,
generalized and systematic rape is used as an
ethnic cleansing method.
20
16 United Nations Economic and Social Council,
Report on the Situation of Human Rights in
Rwanda, 29 January 1996 (E/CN.4/1996/68),
paras. 1622.
17 Physicians for Human Rights, War-Related
Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone: A
Population-Based Assessment, (January 2002),
available from http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/
library/documents/reports/sexual-violence-sierra-
leone.pdf, accessed 20 January 2011.
18 United Nations Offce for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs, Consolidated Appeal
for Burundi 2006, p. 19, available from http://
ochaonline.un.org/humanitarianappeal/webpage.
asp?Page=1379, accessed 20 January 2011.
19 Eli Mechanic, Why Gender Still Matters: Sexual
Violence and the Need to Confront Militarized
Masculinity, Partnership Africa Canada (December
2004), p. 8. Available from http://www.pacweb.
org/Documents/ violence_against_women/why_
gender_still_matters_2004-12-eng.pdf, accessed
20 January 2011.
20 Human Rights Watch, Darfur 2007: Chaos by
This problem is often exacerbated by societal
pressures that discourage victims from seeking
help. For example, in Darfur, womens access
to medical treatment is curtailed by cultural
norms that stigmatize women who have been
raped, discouraging them from seeking medical
care. However, even if women do seek medical
attention, clinics often lack the resources to
provide necessary services, such as rape kits and
emergency contraception. Sudanese law (Article
48) prevents doctors from treating rape victims with
the morning after pill without a referral from the
police department.
21

All too often, in Africa as elsewhere, perpetrators of
SGBV enjoy impunity while victims are denied any
real chance at justice. This is a central challenge
for the region to address.
Design: Peacekeeping Challenges for AMIS and
UNAMID, Human Rights Watch, vol. 19, No. 15(A)
(September 2007), pp. 5153. Available from http://
www.hrw.org/en/reports/2007/09/19/darfur-2007-
chaos-design, accessed 20 January 2011.
21 Christina LaRose, Urgent Humanitarian Aid,
Police Protection Needed for Darfur Women,
National Organization for Women, 1 August 2005,
http://www.now.org/issues/global/080105 darfur.
html, accessed 20 January 2011
Forced Displacement
At the end of 2006, Africa accounted for a quarter
of the worlds refugees.
22
In 2003, there were more
than 15 million refugees and persons displaced by
war in Africa, 80 per cent of which were women
and children.
23
Both in transit and in refugee
and IDP camps, displaced women and girls can
be at heightened risk of human rights abuses
especially SGBV due to the weakening of existing
community and family protection mechanisms, lack
of physical security, and sometimes the need to
rely on armed groups for protection.
In Darfur, rape and sexual violence have
specifcally been used to terrorize and displace
rural communities. After feeing Darfur, women
and girls in the refugee camps are still being raped
and assaulted by civilians or militia members when
collecting water, fuel, or animal fodder. Women
in Uganda and in Sudan were also raped outside
of camps while they were collecting frewood
and grass.
24
These high levels of rape have led
to severe health consequences, including a risk
of increased transmission of HIV/AIDS, physical
injuries, and severe emotional trauma. The need
for investigation of reported cases of sexual abuse
and rape, and for strong actions to be taken against
the perpetrators, is urgent.
25
22 Offce of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, 2006 Global Trends:
Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally
Displaced and Stateless Persons, (June 2007), p.
6. Available from http://www.unhcr.org/4676a71d4.
html, accessed 9 May 2011.
23 Offce of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees, Refugees, vol. 4, No. 133 (2003).
Secretary-General on the Sudan pursuant to
paragraphs 6, 13 and 16 of Security Council
resolution 1556 (2004), paragraph 15 of resolution
1564 (2004) and paragraph 17 of resolution 1574
(2004), 4 March 2005 (S/2005/140), paras. 1 and 7.
Available from http://protection.unsudanig.org/data/
child/ Security_Council_Sudan/SG%20report%20
on%20Darfur%20Feb%2005.pdf, accessed on 20
January 2011.
25 African Union, Report of the Chairperson of the
Commission on the Situation in Darfur (the Sudan),
presented at the 63rd Meeting of the African Union
Displaced persons also often have few or no
opportunities for livelihoods. In Liberia, for example,
although the IDPs return programme was offcially
closed in April 2006, some 28,000 IDPs remained
in former camps over a year later. Those who had
returned as of 2007 faced a lack of basic social
services and livelihood opportunities. There was
also violence stemming from disputes over land
and property ownership as customary Liberian law
does not recognize the right to inherit land for those
women who have been married in a traditional
ceremony.
26
While displaced persons must often rely on relief
agencies for food and other essential goods and
services, corruption or inequitable access to these
goods and services can have a negative effect
on the nutritional status, personal security, and
physical and mental health of displaced women
and girls. When humanitarian assistance is not
based on consultation with women and does not
take their needs into account, food and supplies
are often automatically distributed to men or to the
head of household, meaning that they may not
reach women and girls.
27

Health
The breakdown of the health sector during confict
compromises the health of all members of society,
but women are especially vulnerable because
of their reproductive health needs. In addition
to the need for routine health care, including
family planning and prenatal and maternal
care, heightened SGBV during confict further
exacerbates womens health problems, leading to
increased incidence of HIV/AIDS and other sexually
transmitted infections, as well as trauma-related
Peace and Security Council held in New York on
20 September 2006.
26 Gender is My Agenda Campaign, Civil Society
Shadow Report on the Solemn Declaration
on Gender Equality in Africa, (Addis Ababa,
Femmes Africa Solidarit, January 2007), p. 26.
Available from http://www.fasngo.org/ assets/fles/
publicatons/shadow%20report.pdf, accessed 6
May 2011.
27 United Nations Secretary-General Report,
Women, Peace and Security, Op. cit.
A woman leaves her camp site to collect water in Khor
Abeche, South Darfur. She is part of a community of
almost 2,000 displaced Sudanese who have settled in
the area, near a team site of the African UnionUnited
Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), after
feeing violence in their native Darfur villages in
December 2010. (UN Photo #460893 by Albert Gonzalez
Farran, January 2011)
mental health problems. When the health system
is already overburdened and resources are scarce,
womens health is often relegated to the bottom of
a long priority list.
28

Examples of the toll this takes on women abound:
In Sierra Leone, it is estimated that 70 to 90
per cent of rape survivors contracted sexually-
transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.
Abducted girls were also particularly at risk, due
to the many episodes of sexual violence they
faced.
29

The link between the spread of HIV/AIDS,
confict, and forced migration has been
well documented, with some studies clearly
articulating the link between sexual violence and
the spread of HIV/AIDS.
30

The destruction of hospitals, forced migration,
and rising malnutrition due to confict often have
a devastating affect on maternal health.
31

Travelling to seek health services can place
women at greater risk of SGBV, thereby further
compromising their health and safety.
32

28 Andrew Sherriff and Karen Barnes, Enhancing
EU Response to Women in Armed Confict,
(Maastricht, European Center for Development
Policy Management, 2008), p. 22. Available from
http://www.ecdpm.org/ Web_ECDPM/Web/
Content/Download.nsf/0/6292ACBFE8964535C12
574420037222C/$FILE/Sherriff_WAC%20study_
DP84_April08.pdf, accessed 20 January 2011.
29 International Alert and Women Waging Peace,
Inclusive Security, Sustainable Peace: A Toolkit for
Advocacy and Action (London, Hunt Alternatives
Fund and International Alert, November 2004),
p. 21. Available from http://www.huntalternatives.
org/download/32_foreword_who_we_are_and_
copyright.pdf, accessed 20 January 2011.
30 Sherriff, Op. cit., p. 23.
Op. cit., p. 21; Sherriff, Op. cit., p. 22.
32 Ibid.
Education
33
Education systems are often disrupted during
confict because of general insecurity, destruction
of infrastructure, and/or a lack of resources, and
girls and women are often even less likely to be
able to access education during conficts than men
and boys. For example, the threat or pervasive
fear of SGBV may prevent families from sending
girls to school for fear they will be attacked. Also,
as in most parts of the world, many societies in the
region favor boys over girls to receive education.
In active confict and post-confict settings,
functioning nurseries and schools are rare and
qualifed teachers are few, especially for the
internally displaced and refugees.
34
With the
deliberate bombing of schools and hospitals,
responsibility for education and health is shifted
back into the private sphere and to women.
Women, as providers and caregivers, fnd that their
workloads increase as the availability of resources
and access to public and household goods shrink.
Female enrolment in schools often drops in times
of war because girl children and adolescents
are forced to assume greater responsibilities to
ensure household food security, for example, by
working agricultural lands, carrying out domestic
labour, or undertaking work in the informal sector.
As household resources decrease, adolescent
girls are married off at younger and younger
ages. Seeing few options for survival, adolescent
girls may choose to marry older men. Civil war
compounded by environmental factors most
33 Sherriff, Op. cit., p. 24.
34 Roberta Cohen and Francis M. Deng, Masses
in Flight: The Global Crisis of Internal Displacement
(Washington, DC, Brookings Institution Press,
April 1998); United Nations Economic and
Social Council, Report of the Representative of
the Secretary-General on internally displaced
persons submitted in accordance with Commission
resolution 1999/47, Addendum, 11 January 2000
(E/CN.4/2000/83/Add.1); and United Nations
Economic and Social Council, Report of the
Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr.
Francis Deng, submitted pursuant to Commission
on Human Rights resolution 2000/53, Addendum, 6
November 2000 (E/CN.4/2001/5/Add.3).
notably drought, in Somalia, the Sudan, and
Uganda has resulted in higher levels of child
marriages.
35
Girls may also be sent off to work as
domestics for little or no compensation, where they
are at risk of sexual abuse from their masters.
This impact on girls education is particularly
concerning because education is one of the most
effective strategies to empower girls and women
and transform discriminatory attitudes that can
increase the vulnerability and marginalization of
women. Thus, limiting girls and womens access
to education during or after confict can negatively
impact womens empowerment and gender equality
in the long term.
Economic Development and Livelihoods
36
Confict often has a devastating effect on the
economies of the countries involved. Widows and
female-headed households are often particularly
vulnerable economically as they are left to support
families on their own. Furthermore, these women
often face barriers to property and land ownership
35 Isis-Womens International Cross Cultural
Exchange, Womens experiences of armed confict
in Uganda, Gulu District 19861999 (Kampala,
Isis-WICCE, 2001) and Sue Lautze et al., Coping
with Crisis: A Review of Coping Strategies
throughout Afghanistan, 19992002 (Washington,
DC, USAID, 2002).
36 Sherriff, Op. cit., pp. 2425.
because of discriminatory inheritance, land, and
property laws and customs. This is especially true
for women who are displaced during confict, as
their claims to vacated land and property may not
be recognized. Without access to these assets that
allow for production and economic security, women
are exposed to long-term economic vulnerability.
Legal reforms are often necessary to guarantee
womens equal access to land.
Womens economic insecurity is also closely
related to SGBV, both as cause and consequence.
On the one hand, poverty and lack of economic
independence can make it diffcult for women
to avoid or escape situations in which they are
vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. On the other
hand, the health consequences of SGBV and/or
the fear of being exposed to SGBV can prevent
women from working. It has also been noted that
unemployment in the general population tends to
increase rates of domestic violence, perhaps due
to frustration and feelings of powerlessness on the
part of unemployed men. For example, surveys of
Sudanese refugees in Uganda found high rates of
domestic violence due to inadequate employment
opportunities for men.
37
Changed Gender Roles
38
Gender roles defne what is considered appropriate
for men and women within a given society, and
include social roles as well as labor divisions.
Gender roles are not static; they change over
time. They vary greatly not only across cultures
but also within cultures, among, for example,
different races, classes, religions, ethnicities, and
generations. Sudden crises can radically and
rapidly change gender roles as societies adapt to
unexpected changes.
Situations of armed confict can change gender
roles and gender dynamics in a number of ways.
First, in most confict situations, more men than
women are killed, which changes the demographic
Op. cit., p. 22.
Gender Approaches in Confict and Post-Confict
Situations (New York, UNDP Bureau of Crisis
Prevention and Response, September 2002).
A Somali girl walks to school inside Kharaz Refugee
Camp, 140 km from Yemeni city Aden. (UN Photo #440807
by Philip Behan, December 2009)
profle of the society, resulting in changes such as
an increase in female-headed households. Second,
confict often triggers changes in the division of
labor between men and women. For example, a
societys reliance on men for agricultural work may
become untenable when many men are engaged
as fghters, necessitating womens entrance into
the agricultural sector. These changes can persist
post-confict and may even become permanent.
Finally, confict often sparks an increase in
womens political participation. Whether they
participate as fghters, through other involvement
with armed groups, as peace activists, or in
other roles, womens participation can build their
confdence and lead to the formation of womens
organizations and networks that change the social
and political landscape of the society.
However, this transformation is not necessarily
recognized at the political level, and the
newly-gained power remains confned to the
domestic sphere rather than being used as a point
of entry to change the status of women in society.
To take advantage of the transformation of roles
occurring during a confict is to bring women from
the domestic sphere to the public space where
political discussion takes place. Redefning the
status of women therefore constitutes an act of
justice, protection, and prevention against the
return to the status quo.
For it to be meaningful both for men and women,
the transformative approach to confict resolution
must mainstream the gender perspective in
all of its initiatives. Programmes geared to the
democratization of political institutions, economic
improvement, and peacebuilding must clearly seek
to strengthen the position of women and prevent a
return to the situation of womens subjugation that
existed before and during the confict.
One of the main thrusts of SCR 1325 (2000) is
that women must play a full and equal role in the
struggle for peace and the processes that transition
societies from war to long-term recovery, reform,
and reconstruction.
4.4 Peace, Transition, and Recovery
Processes
Thus far, this lesson has discussed the impact
of confict on the people of Africa, especially
women and girls. However, it would be incorrect
to presume that people merely suffer passively as
victims of armed confict. The people of Africa not
only bear the brunt of the devastation of armed
conficts, they are also the principle actors working
to prevent and resolve them.
Womens participation in confict prevention, confict
resolution, and post-confict reconstruction has
received much-deserved attention over the past
decade. The introduction of a gender perspective
at the international level and in some countries
has led to a better understanding and appreciation
of womens participation in armed confict and
subsequent peace negotiations, as well as their
central role in the reconstruction of post-confict
societies. Several international conferences and
resulting documents have recognized womens
roles and their contributions to matters of peace
and security. Yet, as UN Secretary-General Kof
Annan wrote in his report on WPS in 2006: the
role of women in peace processes generally
continues to be viewed as a side issue rather
than as fundamental to the development of viable
democratic institutions and the establishment of
sustainable peace.
39
It is this reality that needs to
be addressed.
Peace negotiations constitute a crucial entry
point for considerations of gender justice. While
there is no guarantee that women (let alone a
single woman) will be more likely to push for
gender-sensitive terms in a peace agreement,
a more balanced gender composition of the
negotiating teams can be an important initial signal
that the gender dimensions of a confict will be
taken into account during the negotiation process
and that a gender perspective will inform the
ensuing peace agreements. Inclusive negotiating
teams are defnitely not the norm and, overall, few
women participate in formal peace processes.
For example, in the Horn of Africa where every
country except Djibouti has experienced armed
confict at some level in the past decade women
have a limited role in the public sphere due to
traditional cultural norms. Thus far, the lobbying
and advocacy efforts of womens organizations
in this region have not led to their participation in
formal peace processes.
40
The situation is similar throughout the continent. In
Sierra Leone, only two women were included in the
peace talks in Lom in 1999. In Cte dIvoire, only
one woman participated in the peace negotiations
leading up to the LinasMarcoussis Agreement in
2003. Since then, mediation by the AU has moved
the peace process forward, but has not resulted
in the formal inclusion of women in the process.
41

Nevertheless, progress has been made in some
areas, which will be discussed in the next lesson.
39 United Nations, Women, Peace and Security,
Op. cit.
40 Gender is My Agenda Campaign, Op. cit., p.
20.
41 Ibid., p. 23.
Note also that women, though still largely excluded
from formal peace processes, are extremely active
in informal peace processes in Africa. Furthermore,
womens inclusion in formal processes is often
based on pressure generated by civil society in
an informal context. Therefore, informal womens
groups can be a key resource in meeting the critical
challenge of increasing womens participation in
formal peace processes.
DDR Process
UN SCR 1325 (2000) calls on all actors to take
into consideration the special needs of women
and girls during repatriation and resettlement, and
for rehabilitation, reintegration, and post-confict
reconstruction.
Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration
(DDR) programmes are an especially sensitive
area. In many African countries emerging from
confict in Sierra Leone, Mozambique, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and
Northern Uganda ex-combatant girls represent
between 20 and 30 per cent of all child soldiers.
42
For instance, in northern Uganda, the Lords
Resistance Army (LRA) has carried out
large-scale and systematic kidnapping of children.
Child soldiers accounted for 80 per cent of its
combatants and 30 per cent of these children
were girls. Nearly all the girls abducted have been
victims of collective rapes, sexual torture, and
sexual slavery. Exposed to sexual slavery and
forced by the commanders of the LRA to serve as
wives to the soldiers, many have become pregnant
after being raped. These adolescent mothers often
develop sexually transmitted infections, including
HIV/AIDS, and face extreme social stigmatization.
43
42 Susan McKay and Dyan Mazurana, Where
Are the Girls? Girls in Fighting Forces in Northern
Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique: Their
Lives During and After War, Rights and Democracy
(2004), p. 145. Available from <http://www.dd-rd.ca/
site/_PDF/publications/women/girls_whereare.pdf>,
43 Human Rights Watch, Stolen Children,
Abduction and Recruitment in Northern Uganda,
Human Rights Watch, vol. 15, No. 7(A) (March
2003), pp. 1314
A mother and her children at the Village of Hope
Rwanda Womens Network Community Centre. The
centre was completed in 2002 as an initiative to provide
services and emergency housing to women victims of
rape and other violent crimes committed during the
Rwandan genocide. (UN Photo #168515, January 2008)
In addition to HIV and sexually transmitted
infections, combatant women and girls have to
deal with unwanted pregnancies and bearing
children born of rape. These situations radically
increase their vulnerability and underscore the
challenge of developing DDR programmes that
are sensitive to their needs. Despite some efforts,
girls associated with armed groups do not beneft
from DDR programmes in the same way as boys
do. The UN Secretary-Generals 2006 report on
children and armed confict in the DRC shows that
many combatant girls and girls associated with
the confict have chosen not to participate in the
DDR programmes because they fear discrimination
and ostracism on the part of their families and
communities.
44
Secretary-General on children and armed confict
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 13 June
2006 (S/2006/389). Available from http://watchlist.
org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/SG-report-
DRC-2006.pdf, accessed 6 May 2011
Many African countries emerging from confict
have access to the Multi-Country Demobilization
and Reintegration Program (MDRP) managed
by the World Bank, which has issued guidelines
for national DDR programs to follow, including
gender-sensitive approaches.
45
The Cape Town
Principles and Best Practices Adopted at the
Symposium on the Prevention of Recruitment
of Children into the Armed Forces and on
Demobilization and Social Reintegration of Child
Soldiers in Africa developed in 1997 by UNIFEM,
NGOs, and child protection agencies based on
their experiences in Africa also asserts that
particular attention should be paid to the special
needs of girls, and appropriate responses should
be developed to this end.
46
Economic Reintegration of Women and Girls
Another basic question that needs to be addressed
is the socio-economic reintegration of people
affected by the confict, especially refugees and
displaced persons. Women and children form the
overwhelming majority in this group. Statistics by
country reveal that women and girls have not had
the same right to education as men and boys,
and that many trained and educated women do
not have access to economic opportunities and
salaried employment.
Yet, the vast majority of reconstruction projects
propose traditional female activities such as
handicrafts and sewing to women. Projects which
offer women and girls vocational training adapted
to the marketplace and to opportunities opened up
by reconstruction opportunities such as
45 Multi-Country Demobilization and Reintegration
Program, Guidelines for National Program, p.
3. Available from http://www.mdrp.org/PDFs/
nat-programs_guidelines.pdf, accessed 9 May
2011
46 United Nations Childrens Fund, Cape Town
Principles and Best Practices Adopted at the
Symposium on the Prevention of Recruitment
of Children into the Armed Forces and on
Demobilization and Social Reintegration of Child
Soldiers in Africa, available from http://www.unicef.
org/emerg/fles/Cape_Town_Principles(1).pdf,
accessed 20 January 2011
management techniques, computer sciences,
offce support systems, road repair, construction,
etc. are rare.
It is important for governments, in collaboration
with the United Nations system and local NGOs,
to identify appropriate strategies for economic
reintegration of the female population affected
by confict. More visible and better trained for the
job market, these women could make a greater
contribution to the reconstruction of their country
by gaining salaried employment or engaging in
income-generating activities. They could also play
a greater role as agents of social transformation.
Transitional Justice
Over the past 30 years, more than two dozen
truth and fact-fnding commissions have been
established at the international and national level
to investigate human rights abuses that occurred
during confict.
47
It is critical that such commissions
have balanced gender participation to help ensure
that they account for the gendered experiences
of women, men, girls, and boys. Equal access
to proceedings before truth and reconciliation
commissions (TRCs) is also essential. Female
victims are likely to have less access than
male victims because women are economically
disadvantaged and have greater family and
household duties, which restrict their mobility.
48

Many women also do not know their rights and/or
are afraid to denounce their aggressors for fear of
reprisals or social ostracism.
47 Inter-Parliamentary Union and International
IDEA, Making Reconciliation Work: The Role of
Parliaments (Bellegarde, SADAG S.A., 2005),
p. 11. Available from http://www.ipu.org/PDF/
publications/reconciliation_ en.pdf, accessed 20
January 2011
48 Megan Bastick, Ensuring womens
involvement in the full reconciliation process,
presentation to the Regional Seminar on the Role
of Parliamentarians in the National Reconciliation
Process in Africa, Bujumbura, Burundi, 79
November 2005, p. 5
The case of the Central African Republic (CAR)
provides an example of what happens when the
needs of women and girls are not prioritized during
reconciliation processes. Following the coup in
late 2002 and the ensuing confict, rape and other
forms of gender-based violence were committed
against women of CAR, mainly by members of
the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo.
49

According to a report conducted by Amnesty
International, by July 2004 no one had been
indicted in connection with the rapes that occurred
in late 2002 and early 2003.
50
Women must be included in transitional justice
processes throughout the continent, and such
processes must be designed and carried out with a
gender perspective in mind. This remains a critical
challenge that must be met if lasting peace is to be
achieved.
Lesson Summary
The general contours of armed confict in
Africa and the impact of confict on women
and girls, including impacts relating to SGBV,
forced migration, health, education, economic
development and livelihoods, and gender roles;
The challenges that the region faces regarding
WPS, including challenges in ensuring womens
full and equal participation in peace processes
and incorporating a gender perspective
into peace agreements, constitutional and
electoral reform, DDR, and reconstruction and
reconciliation; and
The relevance and importance of SCR 1325
(2000) for addressing these challenges in Africa.
49 Gender is My Agenda Campaign, Op. cit., p. 19
50 Amnesty International, Central African
Republic: Five Months of War against Women
(10 November 2004), available from http://www.
amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR19/001/2004/
en/30341d13-d57e-11dd-bb24-1fb85fe8fa05/afr190
012004en.pdf, accessed 20 January 2011
The UN Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration
(DDR) Unit launches its programme in Ed Damazin, Sudan. Fifteen
combatants from the Sudanese north-south war, ended with the 2005
Comprehensive Peace Agreement, are demobilized during an offcial
ceremony attended by senior governmental offcials, donor countries and
UN representatives. During the process the soldiers symbolically handed
over their weapons, registered and received a DDR ID card, cash, non-
food items and a coupon for food rations. (UN Photo #395258 by Johann
Hattingh, May 2009)
End-of-Lesson Quiz
8. Which of the following does NOT explain
why women often lack access to Truth and
Reconciliation Commissions?
A. Poverty and household responsibilities can
make it diffcult for some women to attend
proceedings;
B. War only impacts men, so it is not important for
TRCs to consider womens experiences;
C. Women may not know their rights;
D. Women are often afraid to denounce their
aggressors.
9. Gender roles:
A. Usually stay the same before, during, and after
confict;
B. Are not important to consider during the
post-confict and reconstruction period;
C. Often change during armed confict and remain
impacted after confict has ended;
D. Change during active fghting but then
automatically go back to the way they were
before once fghting stops.
10. According to the UN Secretary Generals
2006 report on children and armed confict
in the DRC, many combatant girls have
chosen not to participate in DDR processes
because:
A. They fear discrimination by their families and
communities;
B. They want the fghting to continue for political
reasons;
C. They do not have the education to understand
how to participate;
D. They think the programs are ineffective.
1. The Africa region:
A. Consists only of post-confict countries;
B. Consists only of countries that are currently in
the midst of armed confict;
C. Has never had any armed confict;
D. Consists of a mix of countries in active confict,
post-confict, and peace.
2. A common root cause of confict in Africa is:
A. Economic crisis and poverty;
B. Dictatorship and democratic defcit;
C. The colonial legacy, especially the arbitrary
delineation of borders, the break-up of
closely-knit entities belonging to the same
ethnic group, and the destruction of traditional
political regulatory mechanisms;
3. Women in confict areas:
A. Are affected by armed violence even if not
participating in combat;
B. Are always passive victims;
C. Are never active as combatants;
D. Tend to suffer less than men from the economic
consequences of armed confict.
4. During armed confict:
A. Sexual and gender-based violence increases
but always goes back down as soon as the
confict ends;
B. Sexual and gender-based violence tends to
increase, and rates of sexual and gender-based
violence often remain elevated post-confict;
C. Perpetrators of sexual and gender-based
violence are usually prosecuted and brought to
justice;
D. Displaced women and girls are at lower risk of
sexual and gender-based violence.
5. Girls education is often likely to be
disrupted during armed confict because:
A. Many societies favour boys over girls to receive
education when resources are scarce;
B. The threat of sexual and gender-based violence
makes it too dangerous for girls to travel to and
from school;
C. Girls are often kept at home to help with
household or agricultural duties;
6. Which of the following statements best
describes the gender aspects of peace
negotiations and agreements in Africa?
A. Most negotiation teams are made up of equal
numbers of men and women;
B. Having a woman involved in formal peace
negotiations will ensure that the resulting peace
agreement incorporates a gender perspective;
C. A more balanced gender composition of the
negotiating teams can be an important initial
signal that the gender dimensions of a confict
will be taken into account during the negotiation
process;
D. Women are usually more involved in formal
peace processes than in informal ones.
7. It is important to incorporate a
gender perspective into disarmament,
demobilization, and reintegration processes
in order to:
A. Privilege men combatants in demobilization
programs;
B. Privilege women combatants in demobilization
programs;
C. Take into account the special needs of women
and girls in demobilization programs;
D. Improve gender equality during the confict.
ANSWER KEY
1D, 2D, 3A, 4B, 5D, 6C, 7C, 8B, 9C, 10A
LESSON 5
WOMEN AND PEACE AND
SECURITY: PRIORITIES
FOR AFRICA
l e s s on 5 : P r i or i t i e s i n A f r i C A | 8 9
LESSON
5
5.1 introduction
5.2 Prevention
5.3 Participation and
representation
5.4 Protection
LESSON OBJECTIVES
This lesson will describe the priorities for Africa as the region addresses
the challenges discussed in the previous lesson. These regional priorities
on WPS will be analysed within the conceptual framework of SCR 1325
(2000), which consists of a three-pronged approach of prevention,
participation, and protection. The lesson provides an analysis of such
urgent priorities as increasing womens participation in decision-making,
preventing and responding to sexual and gender-based violence, and
mainstreaming a gender perspective into security sector reform.
Understand in detail the situation regarding WPS issues in the region
within the conceptual framework of SCR 1325 (2000);
Recognize the importance of national implementation of SCR 1325
(2000); and
Understand the priorities of various countries in Africa regarding the
implementation of SCR 1325 (2000).
5.1 Introduction
The previous lesson introduced a number of
challenges that Africa faces in the realm of WPS.
SCR 1325 (2000) provides a framework for
addressing these challenges. As discussed in
earlier lessons, this 3P framework focuses on three
themes: prevention of confict and of rights abuses
against women and girls, participation of women
and girls in decision-making processes, and
protection of women and girls.
A clear understanding of what the 3Ps mean in
practice is extremely important. More than a mere
slogan or backdrop, they represent three critical
focus areas with specifc issues relating to each
one. This lesson uses the framework of SCR 1325
(2000) to highlight those issues that are a particular
priority for countries in Africa.
5.2 Prevention
In the context of WPS, prevention refers to a
number of interrelated issues:
Ensuring that all confict prevention activities and
strategies integrate a gender perspective and
involve women;
Developing effective gender-sensitive early
warning mechanisms and institutions; and
Strengthening and amplifying efforts to prevent
violence against women, including sexual
and other forms of gender-based violence and
exploitation and abuse.
Early Warning
One reason that womens involvement in confict
prevention is so critical is that many early signs
of violent confict are felt frst at the grassroots
level by women. These signs that confict may be
imminent are known as early warning indicators.
Identifying these indicators as early as possible
is one important way to prevent tensions from
escalating into full-scale armed confict. The
integration of a gender perspective into confict
prevention requires that governments pay attention
to gender-sensitive early warning indicators that
is, signs that refect changing circumstances of
men and women in society as these are often the
earliest signs of impending confict. Examples that
could be indicative of brewing confict include:
1

Increased sexual and gender-based violence,
including rape, domestic violence, and
traffcking;
Hoarding of food and other household goods;
Gender-specifc migration or displacement
patterns;
Gender stereotypes propagated by the mass
media as part of mobilization campaigns, as was
seen in Rwanda before the genocide;
Abrupt changes in gender roles, such as the
imposition of restrictive laws;
Rewards for aggressive behavior and
propaganda emphasizing hyper-masculinity;
Change in number of single female-headed
households; and
Increased prostitution around military bases
at times of greater mobilization of soldiers and
armed groups.
Too often, these gender-sensitive indicators are
ignored by early warning processes and confict
analyses. Most states do not recognize these
signals as potential early warning signs of violent
confict. This inhibits effective confict prevention
efforts, missing what are often critical opportunities
to prevent violence from escalating into full-scale
confict. Civil society organizations, in particular
womens groups, can be effective allies in the
detection and reporting of these important warning
signs. Regional and subregional early warning
efforts will be discussed further in the next lesson.
1 See United Nations International Research
and Training Institute for the Advancement
of Women (INSTRAW), Securing Equality,
Engendering Peace: A guide to policy and planning
on women, peace and security (UN SCR 1325)
(Santo Domingo, INSTRAW, 2006), available
from http://www.responsibilitytoprotect.org/fles/
1325guide-fnalen.pdf, accessed 9 May 2011.
9 0 | i mP l e me n tAt i on of s C r 1 3 2 5 ( 2 0 0 0 ) i n A f r i C A l e s s on 5 : P r i or i t i e s i n A f r i C A | 9 1
Sexual and Gender-based Violence
One of the most critical priorities in confict and
post-confict situations is the prevention of sexual
and gender-based violence. Not only is action on
this issue mandated by SCR 1325 (2000), but it
is also the subject of subsequent resolutions. For
example, SCR 1820 (2008) explicitly links sexual
violence as a tactic of war with the maintenance
of international peace and security, recognizing
sexual violence as a security issue that justifes a
security response. The resolution demands that
parties to armed confict adopt concrete protection/
prevention measures to end sexual violence, and
also deals with issues of ending impunity, collecting
reliable data, and assisting victims of violence.
One notable resource is the Inter-Agency Standing
Committees Guidelines for Gender-based
Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Settings.
2

The guidelines which include Action Sheets
developed for sector areas (protection, water
and sanitation, food security and nutrition,
shelter, planning sites and no-food items, health
and community services, education) and for
cross-cutting functions (coordination, assessment
and monitoring, protection, human resources,
information, education, and communication) are
an invaluable resource for governments seeking to
address SGBV during humanitarian emergencies.
2 Inter-Agency Standing Committee, Guidelines
for Gender-based Violence Interventions in
Humanitarian Settings (September 2005), available
from http://www.unhcr.org/453492294.html,
accessed 9 May 2011.
The Role of Transitional Justice in Preventing
Sexual and Gender-based Violence
In order to prevent SGBV from occurring in the
future, it is critical to end impunity for those
crimes that have been committed in the past.
In post-confict situations, transitional justice
mechanisms can be an important tool in this fght to
end impunity. The two international tribunals sitting
in Africa (Rwanda and Sierra Leone) show mixed
results on this front.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone in an effort to
make the Tribunal a haven of justice with regards
to all the atrocities perpetrated during the civil war,
including sexual violence against women has
included rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution,
and forced pregnancy in its list of crimes against
humanity.
3
In fact, one study shows that with fewer means
and resources, the Special Court for Sierra Leone
has shown good practices and a record number
of convictions for sexual violence crimes, contrary
to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
(ICTR).
4
Although the ICTR was the frst international
tribunal to recognize rape and sexual violence as
a crime of genocide, and although rape has been
used systematically as a weapon of war in Rwanda,
90 per cent of the court decisions rendered by the
end of 2004 contained no convictions for rape.
Acquittals for rape were twice as numerous as
convictions.
3 Rawwida Baksh et al., eds. Gender
Mainstreaming in Confict Transformation: Building
Sustainable Peace (London, Commonwealth
Secretariat, September 2005), pp. 9293. Available
from http://www.the commonwealth.org/shared_
asp_fles/uploadedfles/8C21EB83-8A6E-418D-
8D9C-361E3AFAAC1B_ Gender-and-Confict-
resolution.pdf, accessed 25 January 2011.
4 Binaifer Nowrojee, Your Justice is too slow:
Will the ICTR Fail Rwandas Rape Victims?
(Geneva, United Nations Research for Social
Development, November 2005), p. 28. Available
from http://www.unrisd.org/ unrisd/website/
document.nsf/(httpPublications)/56FE32D5C0
F6DCE9C125710F0045D89F?OpenDocument,
Similarly, the International Criminal Courts August
2006 indictment of Thomas Lubanga the leader
of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and the
frst person to be indicted for war crimes committed
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has
raised much concern about the importance of
sexual violence crimes in the eyes of the Court.
Though Lubanga was arrested for having used
child soldiers, the indictment included no charges
for the numerous rapes and sexual violence crimes
perpetrated by the members of the UPC.
5
This
omission was particularly disappointing in light of the
fact that NGOs and MONUC had gathered reliable
information that should have encouraged the Courts
investigators to investigate and prosecute Lubanga
for these crimes of sexual violence.
Such mixed results from international tribunals
raise questions about the extent of transitional
justice systems willingness to pay attention to
crimes of sexual violence against women and girls
and the political will to deal with these crimes. Also,
victims expectations of justice are not limited to
punishing the guilty, but also to restoring their own
dignity, their physical and psychological health, and
their physical and economic security.
One way of helping survivors of SGBV gain access
to justice and some measure of reparations is
to encourage the active participation of women
in defning and implementing truth and national
reconciliation mechanisms.
As we have learned in earlier lessons, the
consequences of SGBV are grave and far-reaching.
Faced with such serious consequences, justice
must be proportional to the gravity of the crimes
and the harm done to women. States have
the responsibility to respond by taking into
consideration both the urgent need to care for the
victims and the long-term impact of this violence
on women, their families, and communities. The
punishment of sexual violence crimes must take
place in conjunction with the transformation of the
causes and factors that expose women to violence.
5 Coalition for Womens Human Rights in
Confict Situations, Failed DRC Investigations
by ICC Claim NGOs, 6 August 2006, available
from http://www.womensrightscoalition.org/site/
advocacyDossiers/congo/20060806 _en.php,
Naturally, securing justice for victims and ending
impunity for perpetrators is not only a priority for
transitional justice mechanisms, but for the broader
security and justice systems as well. These issues
are discussed in the section on Protection later in
this lesson.
5.3 Participation and Representation
Womens participation is a central theme in SCR
1325 (2000). In the resolutions preamble, the
Council reaffrms the important role of women in
the prevention and resolution of conficts and in
peace-building, and stress[es] the importance of
their equal participation and full involvement in all
efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace
and security, and the need to increase their role in
decision-making with regard to confict prevention
and resolution, and recognizes that womens full
participation in the peace process can signifcantly
contribute to the maintenance and promotion of
6
The resolution
also contains numerous operative paragraphs that
call on the UN and Member States to take steps
to expand womens participation in all aspects of
peace and security matters.
Specifcally, in Africa as elsewhere, there is a need
for governments to increase womens participation
in the following ways:
Promote and support womens active
participation in informal and formal peace
processes;
Increase womens political participation,
including womens election to positions at all
levels of government; and
Enhance efforts to recruit and appoint women to
all levels of police, security and armed forces,
and peacekeeping forces, including military,
police, and civilian personnel.
1325 (2000), see Appendix C.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (centre), and his wife, Yoo Soon-taek
(centre, left), pose for a group photo with the staff of the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). (UN Photo #340781 by Mark Garten)
continents frst female head-of-state. Several key
ministries are also headed by women. Another
recent victory was the passage of an election
regulation requiring 30 per cent representation
of women in selection of candidates for public
offce. Moreover, the Offce of the Gender Adviser
is providing training to build the capacity of
potential women candidates in such skills as public
speaking, advocacy, and resource mobilization.
10
African countries can continue this progress
by prioritizing the adoption of measures that
promote womens full and equal participation and
representation in political processes, including by:
Adopting electoral and constitutional reforms,
including quotas where appropriate, that can
catalyze an increase in womens political
participation;
Encouraging political parties to adopt measures
to attract, support, and promote female
candidates;
Forming caucuses or networks of female elected
offcials to provide mutual support, professional
development, and networking opportunities, as
well as helping to ensure that womens needs
and priorities are addressed through policy; and
Improving womens access to local political
participation, which is often a critical entry point
for women. Specifc measures might include:
Improving capacity-building for womens
groups in villages (literacy, organizational
structures, management skills);
Designing training programmes aimed at
building womens leadership, especially in
rural communities; and
Developing a political framework
encouraging womens participation in
local affairs, especially by sensitizing the
general public and local actors to the role of
women in peace, development, and national
reconciliation.
10 Ibid.
Because peace negotiations represent such an
important opportunity to enhance the protection of
womens rights and to advance womens political
participation, and because women are more likely
to put gender issues on the agenda, it is important
that states in Africa that are emerging from confict
take the necessary steps to ensure that women can
participate fully and equally in peace negotiations.
11
The continents record on including women in
peace processes is mixed. In Cte dIvoire, only
one woman participated in the LinasMarcoussis
Agreement in 2003. Similarly, women have been
largely excluded from the peace negotiations
in Sudan that ended with the signing of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005.
12

Even the better scenarios were far from full and
equal participation by both men and women. In
Burundi, for example, women played an important
role in the Arusha Accords in 2000 and had many
of their recommendations included in the fnal
accord. However, only three of the 29 members of
the Arusha Agreement Implementation Monitoring
Committee are women, and only one woman was
included in the eight-member delegation to negotiate
a ceasefre agreement with the FNL rebel group.
13
11 Tsjeard Bouta, Georg Frerks, and Ian Bannon,
Op. cit., p. 49.
12 Gender is My Agenda Campaign, Op. cit., p. 27.
13 Ibid., p. 28.
Women in Africa continue to be underrepresented
in political offces, peace processes, and military
and security posts. While there has been signifcant
progress in womens participation in these areas, a
wide gender gap persists in most countries. Thus,
the continent must prioritize efforts to increase
womens participation and representation.
Components of Womens Participation
As we can see, Africa as a whole is still far from
reaching a point where women participate at an
equal rate as men in peace processes, politics,
military and police services, and peacekeeping
missions. This is only part of the problem. Numbers
are not enough to ensure womens full and equal
participation as envisioned in SCR 1325 (2000).
Experience around the world has shown that even
when women sit at the decision-making table,
they also need to be able to make substantive
contributions to decision-making processes.
They need to have a voice in setting the agenda,
including an agenda that brings a gender
perspective to confict prevention, resolution, and
reconstruction work.
Participation, then, can be thought of as
including three levels of womens involvement
in decision-making processes: participation,
representation, and leadership. Equal participation
of women and men in decision-making processes
must include the interrelated components of
participation, representation, and leadership.
Participation allows for political agendas to take
shape through women taking part in politics
which can include discussion and debate,
lobbying, and demonstrating in formal and
informal ways.
Representation is the process by which the
articulation of womens political agendas is then
represented in decision-making institutions
such as political parties, defense ministries,
and parliaments. It can also include social
movements and groups as well as state agencies
promoting particular interests, such as national
machineries for the advancement of women.
Leadership cuts across both participation and
representation by shaping political agendas,
taking the lead in articulating these, and
participating in their translation into policy.
So, equal presence of women and men in
decision-making institutions is important, but it is
not enough. Women must also be gender-sensitive
themselves and be able to have an impact on
policy formulation and implementation, including
through leadership in the development of
gender-mainstreaming strategies and specifc
policies to promote gender equality and address
the particular needs of women and girls.
Political Participation
Womens political participation is central to the
goals of SCR 1325 (2000). African women continue
to be underrepresented in most governmental
structures, though remarkable progress has been
seen in certain areas.
The regional average of 18.3 per cent women in
parliaments in Sub-Saharan Africa is just below the
world average of 19.2 per cent,
7
but far below the
recommended 30 per cent needed to reach gender
parity, and even further from the Africa-wide goal of
50 per cent to be achieved by 2015.
Nevertheless, progress has clearly been made in
recent years. For example, as of November 2010,
Rwanda had the highest percentage of female
Lower House parliamentarians in the world, with
56.3 per cent (note also that South Africa ranked
third with 44.5 per cent).
8
This is largely due to
constitutional and electoral reforms instituted in
the wake of the Rwandan Genocide. The 2003
Constitution, for example, requires 30 per cent
quotas for womens representation in political
decision making posts, and also sets aside 30 per
cent of seats in the Lower House for women.
9
Liberia, likewise, saw unprecedented increases
in womens political participation during the
post-confict period, most notably with the election
of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2005 as the
7 Inter-Parliamentary Union, Women in National
Parliaments: World Average, available from http://
www.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htm, accessed 10 May
2011.
8 Inter-Parliamentary Union, Women in National
Parliaments: World Classifcation, available from
http://www. ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm, accessed 10
May 2011
9 Gender is My Agenda Campaign, Op. cit.
Women participate in the 16 days of Activism campaign, launched
by the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) to strengthen the
rights of women and stop gender-based violence. (UN Photo #234116 by
Christopher Herwig, November 2008)
Nevertheless, women in some countries have
found creative ways to be included in formal
peace processes. For example, in the DRC,
the Congolese Womens Caucus succeeded in
including women at the negotiating table not as
delegates, but as experts. In Somalia, where
society is divided along tribal lines, women created
a Sixth Clan, the so-called Somali Womens Clan,
to allow their participation in the peace process.
14

African governments must prioritize the full and
equal participation of women in peace processes.
The most direct way to do this is to include
women in the government delegation at the
talks. A government delegation participating in
peace negotiation that is gender-balanced in its
composition not only has much greater legitimacy
in its claim to represent the interests of society
at large, but also increases the likelihood that
a gender-sensitive agreement is concluded. If
governments fnd that they lack qualifed female
negotiators, it should prioritize the training and
career development of potential female candidates.
And of course, regardless of the number of women
in a given delegation, gender concerns should be
mainstreamed into the negotiations and eventually
the agreement itself.
14 Ibid., pp. 2728.
Womens Participation in Security, Police, and
the Military
As we have learned in previous lessons, confict
scenarios present a unique opportunity for
developments in the area of womens participation
in police, military, and security operations. Since
countries emerging from confict and in transition
often undertake reform of their security sectors,
this opportunity should be seized to increase
womens participation in this realm.
Security, police, and military work is
overwhelmingly performed by men throughout
most of the continent, but again there are signs
that this is changing. With 29 per cent of women
in the National Police Force in South Africa, 25
per cent in Sierra Leone and Liberia, and 12 per
cent in Cte dIvoire, countries emerging from
political crisis and violent conficts are showing that
it is possible to increase womens participation in
these felds.
15
Within Liberia itself, a three-month
educational support programme for women
between 18 and 35 interested in joining the police
force is also underway, with the target of 20 per
cent representation.
16
15 Rachel Mayanja, Assistant Secretary-
General, Special Adviser on Gender Issues and
Advancement of Women, statement made at the
Police/Gendarmerie Women in Peace Operations
Roundtable, co-organized by Canada and
ECOWAS, in Abuja, Nigeria, 28-29 November 2006
16 Megan Bastick, Op. cit.
This is important not only as a critical component
of womens participation and of gender-sensitive
security sector reform domestically, but also as an
important step in improving peacekeeping missions
regionally and internationally.
Worldwide, women represent just 9 per cent of
total police contingents and 2 per cent of military
troops in peacekeeping missions. The special
contribution of African countries to the deployment
of female civil police personnel must however be
highlighted. Of the 15 countries that have played a
role in 2006, six were from Africa:
17
Burkina Faso,
Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. Nigeria
distinguished itself as the largest contributor of
female police offcers in peace operations.
As for the distribution of female contingents in UN
missions in Africa, as of October 2010, 819 civil
police offcers out of 4,729 (17.3 per cent), were
women.
18
With regards to the military component,
sex-disaggregated data for military personnel
deployed in Africa indicate that as of October
2010, women constituted 2.08 per cent of military
contingents (1,326 women compared to 63,804
offcers in total).
19
The distribution is shown in the
following table.
African states must prioritize increasing womens
participation in police, security, and military forces,
which will help to improve gender-sensitive security
responses both domestically and internationally
as a larger pool of qualifed female candidates
become available for secondment to peacekeeping
missions. States should begin by developing a
recruitment plan targeting women and including
gender parity targets. This plan should include:
Conducting targeted campaigns to recruit
women into security, police, and military felds;
17 United Nations, Building Institutional Police
Capacity in Post-Confict Environments, UN
Police Magazine, (December 2006), available from
http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/publications/
unpolmag/unpolmag_ 01.pdf, accessed 25 January
2011.
Operations, Gender Statistics October 2010,
available from http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/
contributors/gender/2010gender/oct10.pdf,
accessed on 12 January 2011.
19 Ibid.
Offering benefts that would attract women, such
as maternity leave, duty adjustments during
pregnancy and breast-feeding, home leave
during deployment, etc.; and
Creating specifc measures aimed at retaining
and promoting women, including professional
development opportunities.
Education and Literacy
A key prerequisite for womens participation is
education and literacy of women and girls. Girls
in Africa are less likely than boys to have access
to education at each level, as the table below
illustrates.
20
Gender-related Development Index and its
Components, Human Development Report 2009,
available from http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR
_2009_EN_Table_J.pdf, accessed 25 January 2011.
Percentage of women part of the
military personnel deployed
Country Total Women Percentage
Sudan (UNMIS) 9,937 170 1.7
Cte dIvoire (UNOCI) 7,764 101 1.3
Liberia (UNMIL) 8,065 189 2.3
DRC (MONUSCO) 17,827 374 2.1
Darfur (UNAMID) 17,314 470 2.7
Western Sahara
(MINURSO)
224 13 17.2
Central African Republic
and Chad (MINURCAT)
1,347 9 0.7
Combined gross enrolment ratio for primary, secondary,
and tertiary schools (%, 2007)
20
Country Women Men
Sudan 37.6 42.2
Uganda 61.6 62.9
Rwanda 52.4 52
Cte dIvoire 31.3 43.7
DRC 40.5 55.9
Burundi 46.2 51.8
Chad 27.5 45.5
Central African Republic 22.9 34.4
Sierra Leone 37.6 51.7
These statistics reveal the disadvantaged position
of girls, but because they do not include the rates
at which boys and girls continue their studies, they
do not show the full picture. In fact, the education
gap widens at the secondary and tertiary school
levels as well as in occupation and skills training.
Overall, it is estimated that twice as many girls
as boys prematurely abandon school because of
poverty and conficts. Girls are often forced to leave
school to help with household duties or to provide
some revenue to the household; family investment
in their schooling is often not considered as
important as it is for boys. Furthermore, when girls
reach puberty, they are often exposed to violence,
exploitation, and sexual harassment.
21

A direct consequence of this education gap is the
gap in adult literacy rates for men and women.
22
21 United Nations General Assembly, Report
of the independent expert for the United Nations
study on violence against children, 29 August 2006
(A/61/299), available from http://www.un.org/en/
ga/62/plenary/children/ bkg.shtml, accessed 25
January 2011.
Gender-related Development Index, Op. cit.
In addition to damaging their economic prospects,
illiteracy and lack of education reduce the
opportunities that women and girls have to
participate equally in society generally, and
specifcally in issues related to WPS. Education
is thus a crucial element in the implementation of
SCR 1325 (2000). Governments should prioritize
education and literacy and consider measures such
as:
Providing academic upgrading for girls forced to
leave school;
Prioritizing girls completion of primary and
secondary schooling;
Improving girls and womens access to quality
technical and occupational training programmes;
Increasing the number of non-formal educational
structures centred on building self-confdence,
literacy, empowerment, entrepreneurship, and
leadership amongst women and girls; and
Including information on sexual and reproductive
health and on HIV/AIDS in formal and informal
education programmes.
5.4 Protection
SCR 1325 (2000) calls on the UN and Member
States alike to take steps to protect civilians during
armed confict and in post-confict situations,
with a special emphasis on women and girls.
The resolutions protection-related provisions
encompass a range of issues, including:
Ensuring the respect for human rights of
women and girls, particularly as they relate to the
constitution, the electoral system, the police
and the judiciary (including security sector
reform), and the special health needs of women
and girls;
Adopting special measures to protect women
and girls from sexual and gender-based
violence, and putting an end to impunity for
such crimes;
Addressing the particular needs of displaced
women and girls both during displacement and
during repatriation and resettlement;
Planning disarmament, demobilization,
and reintegration schemes that consider
the different needs of female and male ex-
combatants and account for the needs of their
dependants; and
Incorporating gender training into national pre-
deployment programmes for military and civilian
police personnel preparing for secondment to
UN peacekeeping missions.
Several of these issues have been covered in
previous lessons, and in this section we will focus
on those protection priorities which are particularly
urgent for Africa, including security sector reform;
institutional, judicial, and legal reforms; and HIV
and maternal health.
Institutional, Legal, and Judicial Reform
To protect women and girls against discrimination
and violence, and to ensure the integration and
advancement of their human rights, African
countries must prioritize the ratifcation of key
international and regional treaties, such as the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, the Protocol to the
African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa,
and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare
of the Child.
In order to bring the promises of these instruments
into reality, governments must also institute legal
and judicial reforms that ensure that womens
human rights are systematically protected. Key
priorities include the following aspects:
Reviewing the Constitution so as to recognize
the principles of gender equality and non-
discrimination;
Reforming electoral legislation to promote
womens equal participation in governance;
Reviewing family codes to ensure that women
and girls enjoy equal protection before the law;
Setting the legal age of majority required for
marriage in accordance with the standards of the
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the
Child (18 years old minimum);
Protecting the right to inheritance, property, and
succession;
Protecting against sexual and gender-based
violence, including domestic violence, before,
during, and after conficts;
Reforming the justice and security systems to
make them more accessible and more receptive
to the needs of girls and teenagers; and
Providing gender-training and capacity-building
in all ministries and State institutions.
For example, particularly relevant in Africa is
the issue of succession and inheritance reform,
especially as it relates to land ownership. In a
number of countries, the right to inherit and to
own land is still based on customary law which, in
general, dictates patrilineal inheritance in other
words, property passes from father to son.
Such laws that recognize only men and boys as
heads of households contribute to the economic
exclusion of women and girls and considerably
limit their access to and control over production
resources. This is particularly problematic in Africa,
where women perform the majority of farm-work,
yet only 7 per cent of women own land.
23
The
post-confict period provides an opportunity to bring
local laws into alignment with international human
rights standards.
Security Sector Reform
After violent conficts, insecurity and violence in
general, and violence against women in particular,
become rampant phenomena that poison
communities and affect a large portion of the
population. During conficts, political institutions
are paralyzed or destroyed, creating a climate of
insecurity and terror. In situations of civil war and
internal conficts, offcials responsible for defence,
security, and civilian protection can themselves
become the main human rights violators.
24
23 Dzodizi Tsikata et al., eds., Demanding
Dignity: Women Confronting Economic Reforms in
Africa, The North-South Institute and Third World
NetworkAfrica (Ottawa, Renouf Publishing Co.,
2000), p. 16.
24 Willy Nindorera and Kristiana Powell,
Delivering on the Responsibility to Protect:
Reforming the Security Sector to Protect the Most
Vulnerable in Burundi, (Pretoria, the Institute for
Security Studies, 2006), p. 9.
Adult Literacy rate (% ages 15 and older, 2007)
22
Country Females Males
Sudan 51.8 71.1
Uganda 65.5 81.8
Rwanda 59.8 71.4
Cte dIvoire 38.6 60.8
DRC 54.1 80.9
Burundi 52.2 67.3
Chad 20.8 43.0
Central African Republic 33.5 64.8
Sierra Leone 26.8 50.0
Criminal behaviours and practices internalized
during the war are reproduced after the war has
theoretically ended. Abuses may no longer be
motivated by political ends but they nevertheless
pose a threat to public and human security. The
use of force, frearms, and edged weapons to
acquire prestige, give orders, or gain respect are
common in both the public and domestic spheres.
In such situations where institutions responsible
for order and security are paralyzed or have seen
their reputations tarnished, women are often
at increased risk of violence and other rights
violations because the perpetrators of these crimes
know that they are unlikely to be reported and
prosecuted.
The peace and reconstruction process represents
an important opportunity to reform police and
security forces so that they become more
democratic and representative of the people they
serve, and more accountable
25
for their mandate to
protect civilians and maintain law and order.
A series of measures are required to ensure that
security sector reform is carried out in a way that
helps protect the human rights of women and girls.
These measures include:
Developing a code of conduct based on
democratic values and principles including
gender equality that are to govern the defence
and security sectors;
Planning and implementing intensive and
sustained training on human rights and the rights
of women;
Specifc training on the prevention of acts of
violence against women and children and the
responsibility of the police in these situations;
Establishing, in collaboration with police
services, special units responsible for lodging
complaints and offering assistance and
protection to women, girls, and children who are
victims of sexual violence;
Operations, Gender Resource Package for
Peacekeeping Operations, (New York, United
Nations, 2004), pp.144153. Available from http://
www.peacekeepingbest practices.unlb.org/pbps/
library/GRP%20Full%20Version.pdf, accessed 25
January 2011.
Adopting appropriate disciplinary measures or
sanctions for cases of misconduct and sexual
harassment;
Creating a section responsible for internal
investigations and the application of disciplinary
measures; and
Developing a recruitment plan targeting women
and including gender parity, as discussed in the
participation section above.
HIV/AIDS
Another WPS priority for the region is preventing
the spread of HIV/AIDS. This is an issue of peace
and security because armed conficts contribute
to the spread of HIV/AIDS, and because refugees
and displaced persons are at an increased risk
of exposure to HIV infection.
26
Indeed, the UN
Security Council has adopted resolution 1308
(2000), which acknowledges that HIV/AIDS is
exacerbated by violence and political instability
and urges states to prepare their troops for
peacekeeping operations by developing strategies
for training, prevention, screening, counselling, and
treatment related to HIV/AIDS.
27
26 United Nations General Assembly Report,
Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, 2 August
2001 (A/RES/S-26/2), available from http://www.
un.org/ga/aids/docs/aress262.pdf, accessed 25
January 2011.
27 United Nations, Security Council resolution
The spread of HIV/AIDS in confict and post-confict
situations is a gendered problem in that women
make up the majority of infected persons in the
region. Women account for 59 per cent of all
people 15 years or older living with HIV/AIDS in
Sub-Saharan Africa. Among 15- to 24-year-olds,
76 per cent of those infected are female.
28
The specifc vulnerability of women, teenage girls,
and girls to AIDS can be explained by a number
of factors. First, sociocultural factors deny them
decision-making power over their own bodies and
therefore considerably limit their ability to exercise
control over their sexuality. Second, numerous
studies conducted in Africa and elsewhere in the
world have demonstrated that the more educated
women are, the better they are able to protect
themselves against AIDS. Since girls are less likely
to be sent to school, and since womens literacy
rates are lower than mens, the gender implications
of this association are clear. In fact, AIDS infects
twice as many women and girls with no formal
schooling.
29
These vulnerabilities of women and girls are further
accentuated by the violence and discrimination
to which they are subjected during a confict or
political crisis, including juvenile prostitution, sexual
exploitation, sexual violence, and exposure to
other sexually transmitted infections that are both
aggravating factors and vectors of AIDS. Thus, in
Rwanda, 75 per cent of the women raped during
the genocide have been infected with HIV.
30
1308 (2000), 17 July 2000 (S/RES/1308),
para. 6. Available from http://www.untj.org/
fles/gender/International_obligations/S-RES-
1308%282000%29.pdf, accessed 11 May 2011.
28 Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS,
At the Crossroads: Accelerating Youth Access to
HIV/AIDS Interventions (Geneva, UNAIDS, 2004),
available from http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/
documents/ aidsunfpa.pdf, accessed 25 January
2011.
29 Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
and World Health Organization, AIDS Epidemic
Update (Geneva, UNAIDS, December 2004), pp.
718. Available from http://data.unaids.org/pub/
Report/2004/2004_ epiupdate_en.pdf, accessed
11 May 2011.
30 Franoise Nduwimana, The Right to Survive:
Sexual Violence, Women and HIV/AIDS (Montreal,
Many combatant girls and girls associated with
armed groups have been exposed to rape and
sexual slavery, which has signifcantly increased
the rate of HIV infection among these girls. In
Sierra Leone, for example, 10 out of 17 female
ex-combatants tested were HIV-positive.
31

Women and girls who have been subjected to
sexual violence and exposed to HIV can be
stigmatized if authorities and practitioners do not
put in place special measures adapted to their
situation. Projects relating to health, education,
HIV/AIDS, and income-generating activities must
pay special attention to the needs of women
and girls who are infected or at risk of becoming
infected with HIV/AIDS.
Reproductive Health and Maternal Mortality
In the great majority of countries emerging from
confict, the maternal mortality rate is higher than
the world average, which is 430 deaths for 100,000
births. This is clear from the chart below,
32
which
shows maternal mortality rates for several confict
and post-confict countries in Africa.
Democratic Development, December 2004)
31 Susan McKay and Dyan Mazurana, Op. cit., p.
74
32 World Health Organization et al., Maternal
Mortality in 2008: Estimates developed by
WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, and The World
Bank (Geneva, World Health Organization,
2009), available from http://whqlibdoc.who.int/
publications/2010/9789241500265_eng.pdf,
A woman lecturing to community members in Bangui
about AIDS and how to prevent it. The woman received
her training from the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP). (UN Photo #21099 by Evan Schneider,
November 1998)
Country Estimated Rate of Maternal Mortality
(per 100,000 births, 2008)
Angola 610
Burundi 970
Centreal African Rep. 850
Chad 1200
Cte dIvoire 470
DRC 670
Liberia 990
Rwanda 540
Sierra Leone 970
Somalia 1200
Sudan 750
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Explanations for higher maternal mortality can
include: high fertility rates related to the preference
for large families, poor socioeconomic conditions,
obstetrical complications related to female genital
cutting, high rates of illiteracy among women,
limited access to information, limited access to
health professionals, early pregnancies among
teenagers, and widespread sexual violence.
Political crises aggravate already critical situations.
The absence of obstetrical services in confict
zones, the disruption of transportation networks,
and the lack of midwives pose a threat to maternal
and infant health. Strong measures to restore
health structures and give women access to
maternal health care and services are urgently
needed.
Lesson Summary
Priorities in Africa relating to WPS, within the
framework of SCR 1325 (2000);
Gender-sensitive mechanisms for the prevention
of armed confict, including use of early-warning
indicators and measures to prevent sexual and
gender-based violence;
Priorities and strategies for increasing womens
participation in peace processes, politics, and
in police, security, military, and peacekeeping
forces; and
Methods for enhancing the protection of womens
human rights during and after armed confict.
1. Governments can best strengthen prevention
of armed confict through:
A. Ignoring gender-sensitive early warning
indicators.
B. Partnering with womens civil society groups
that focus on confict prevention.
C. Recognizing that gender is irrelevant to the
prevention of armed confict.
D. Keeping womens civil society groups isolated
from broader prevention efforts.
2. Gender-sensitive early warning indicators
include:
A. Increased incidence of sexual and
gender-based violence.
B. Number of single female-headed households.
C. Abrupt changes in gender roles, such as the
imposition of restrictive laws.
3. The frst international tribunal to recognize
rape and sexual violence as a crime of
genocide was:
A. The International Criminal Court.
B. The Special Court for Sierra Leone.
C. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
D. The International Criminal Tribunal for
Yugoslavia.
4. Womens participation in confict and
post-confict peace and political processes:
A. Means only that women should be represented
in equal numbers.
B. Need not affect the substantive agenda of
these processes.
C. Can be critical to long-term peace and security.
D. Is only important if the armed groups involved
in the confict support it.
5. In Sub-Saharan Africa, as of November
2010, the regional average of women in
parliaments is:
A. 7 per cent
B. 18.3 per cent
C. 30 per cent
D. 50 per cent
6. In Somalia, women were able to participate
in the peace process by:
A. Participating not as delegates, but as experts.
B. Convincing the government that they should be
equally represented.
C. Forcing their way to the negotiating table.
D. Forming a Sixth Clan, the Somali Womens
Clan.
7. In 2006, the largest contributor of female
police offcers in peace operations was:
A. Mali
B. Nigeria
C. South Africa
D. Eritrea
8. A recommended method for increasing
womens participation in peacekeeping
missions is to:
A. Nominate female candidates regardless of their
level of experience.
B. Recruit and train more women in domestic
police, security, and armed forces.
C. Keep women out of the countrys military.
D. Hope that other countries will increase the
number of women they deploy.
End-of-Lesson Quiz
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9. Security Sector Reform:
A. Is not very important for peacebuilding and the
promotion of human rights and the rule of law.
B. Does not need to address gender issues
because women and men have the same
security needs.
C. Is important because the police, judiciary, and
others can have a direct impact on peoples
security in post-confict situations.
D. Has no effect on sexual and gender-based
violence.
10. What can account for the current high
percentage of female parliamentarians in
Rwanda?
A. Large percentage of the population is female.
B. Constitutional and electoral reforms after the
Rwandan genocide.
C. A history of women political leaders.
D. Following regional examples of including
women in positions of power.
ANSWER KEY
1B, 2D, 3C, 4C, 5B, 6D, 7B, 8B, 9C, 10B
LESSON 6
THE ROLE OF REGIONAL AND
SUBREGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
IN SUPPORTING NATIONAL
IMPLEMENTATION OF SCR 1325 (2000)
l e s s on 6 : t H e r ol e of r e Gi on A l & s U b r e Gi on A l or GA n i z At i on s | 1 0 5
LESSON
6
6.1 introduction
6.2 the African Union
and the Commitment
to Gender and Peace
in Africa
6.3 subregional
Commitments for
Gender and Peace
in Africa: the
regional economic
Communities
LESSON OBJECTIVES
The goal of this lesson is to provide an overview of the role played
by regional and subregional organizations in supporting national
implementation of SCR 1325 (2000) and to examine their progress and
challenges. At the end of this lesson, readers will have an understanding
of the purpose and activities of the African Union and the Regional
Economic Communities as they relate to WPS.
Understand the roles of the various bodies working on WPS in Africa;
Discuss the progress that these bodies have made and the challenges
they face; and
Understand how these efforts relate to national implementation of SCR
1325 (2000).
6.1 Introduction
In recent years, regional organizations have
begun to play a much more active role in issues
of peace and security. Nowhere has this been
truer than in Africa, where the African Union and
the Regional Economic Communities have come
to play a prominent role in the achievement and
maintenance of peace and security including how
these issues relate to women and gender.
Thus, as governments and other stakeholders
look towards strengthening the implementation of
SCR 1325 (2000) at the national level, it is critical
that they understand the purpose and functions of
regional organizations that are working towards the
same goal. Regional and subregional organizations
can be important allies in supporting national
implementation of the resolution.
This lesson will look frst at the work of the
African Union, then at the Regional Economic
Communities. In doing so, we will discuss both
the progress and challenges that these institutions
have experienced in their work on WPS.
6.2 The African Union and the
Commitment to Gender and Peace in
Africa
The African Union (AU) is an intergovernmental
organization whose membership includes
53 African states. Headquartered in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, the AU was established on July 9, 2002
as a successor to the Organization of African Unity
(OAU).
Among the AUs main objectives are to accelerate
the political and socio-economic integration of the
continent; to promote and defend African common
positions on issues of interest to the continent and
its peoples; to promote democratic institutions,
good governance, and human rights; and to
achieve peace and security in Africa.
With respect to this latter objective the
achievement of peace and security in Africa
the AU has been much more active than its
predecessor. The AUs frst military intervention
in a member state was the May 2003 deployment
of a peacekeeping force of soldiers from South
Africa, Ethiopia, and Mozambique to Burundi to
oversee the implementation of the various peace
agreements there. AU troops were also deployed
in Sudan for peacekeeping in the Darfur confict,
before the mission was handed over to the United
Nations on 1 January 2008. UNAMID, the UN
mission in Darfur, is, as of May 2011, a joint
operation with the AU. The AU has also sent a
peacekeeping mission to Somalia.
Given the prominent role that the AU plays in peace
and security issues in the region, it is critical that it
be viewed as a partner in the full implementation
of SCR 1325 (2000). What follows is an overview
of the AUs approach to WPS issues, as well as
a discussion of some challenges it faces in this
realm.
Women and girls, including peacekeepers of the African
UnionUnited Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur
(UNAMID), march in El Fasher, Sudan, to celebrate
International Womens Day. (UN Photo #465995 by Olivier
Chassot, March 2011)
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Gender Equality: The Protocol, the Solemn
Declaration, and Other Mechanisms
Section 4(l) of the African Unions Constitutive
Act recognizes the principle of gender equality.
The African Union has also adopted two related
foundational instruments, the Protocol to the
African Charter on Human and Peoples on the
Rights of Women in Africa
1
and the Solemn
Declaration of Gender Equality in Africa.

The Protocol entered into force on 25 November
2005. As of October 2010, 29 countries had ratifed
the Protocol on the rights of women.
2
It is clear,
however, that the majority of countries emerging
from confict have not ratifed the Protocol and,
therefore, cannot be held accountable to its terms.
Nevertheless, it has served a norm-setting function
as well as a legal one, and it is therefore worth
examining the Protocols provisions.
Articles 8, 9, 10, and 11 of the Protocol (which
consists of 31 articles) advocate respectively that
women and girls have rights to:
Access to justice and equal protection before the
law;
Participation in political and decision-making
processes;
Peace, including measures to ensure the
increased participation of women:
In the structures and processes for confict
prevention, management, and resolution
at local, national, regional, continental, and
international levels;
1 African Union, Protocol to the African Charter
on Human and Peoples Rights on Womens
Rights in Africa, adopted 11 July 2003 in Maputo,
Mozambique, available from <http://www.
africaunion.org/root/au/Documents/ Treaties/
Text/Protocol%20on%20the%20Rights%20
of%20Women.pdf>, accessed 25 January 2011.
2 Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde,
Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Djibouti, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya,
Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania,
Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal,
Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda,
Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
In structures to ensure protection of refugees,
returnees, and displaced persons, including
women and girls;
In all aspects of planning, designing, and
implementation of post-confict reconstruction
and rehabilitation programmes;
Protection in armed conficts, including:
Respect for, and ensuring respect for, the
rules of international humanitarian law; and
Protection of all women and girls against all
forms of violence, rape, and other forms of
sexual exploitation, and ensuring that such
acts are considered war crimes, genocide,
and/or crimes against humanity.
Issued in July 2004, the Solemn Declaration
of Gender Equality in Africa commits the
African Union to ensuring the full and effective
participation and representation of women in
peace process including the prevention, resolution,
management of conficts and post-confict
reconstruction in Africa as stipulated in UN SCR
1325 (2000).
3
It should also be noted that the gender parity
principle was offcially ratifed by the Assembly
of Heads of State and Government of the African
Union in July 2002. In accordance with this
principle, half of the members of the African Union
Commission are men and half are women.
The African Union has also established a
permanent mechanism, the Women, Gender and
Development Directorate, responsible for the
implementation of the African Unions policies on
gender parity and gender equality.
All the previously mentioned initiatives refect a
clear difference between the African Union and
its predecessor, the Organization of African Unity.
Gender equality is now part of the goals and
targets of the African Union.
However, many challenges persist with regard to
gender and development, as well as gender and
peace issues. For example, there are no specifc
policies or directives allowing the Women, Gender
3 African Union, Solemn Declaration on Gender
Equality in Africa, adopted 8 July 2004 in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia.
and Development Directorate to serve as adviser
and technical support to the African Unions
Peace and Security Council. Neither are there
any strategies or guidelines to build a partnership
between this Directorate and government or
regional economic communities structures
responsible for the advancement of women.
Challenges Facing the Peace and Security
Council of the African Union in Relation to
Gender and Peace
The African Unions Peace and Security Council
is the decision-making body responsible for
the prevention, management, and resolution of
conficts. The Protocol establishing the Council
was adopted on 9 July 2002 in Durban and came
into force 26 December 2003. As of October 2007,
43 countries have ratifed it, which refects the
commitment of African governments to play a key
role in resolving conficts and promoting peace.
The Protocol that established the Peace and
Security Council stipulates that training on
international humanitarian law and international
human rights law for national contingents of civilian
and military personnel should emphasize the
rights of women and children. It also specifes that
assistance shall be given to vulnerable persons,
including women and girls, and encourages civil
society organizations particularly womens
organizations to participate actively in efforts
to promote peace, security, and stability in
Africa. Despite these promising provisions, many
challenges will need to be met if the Council is to
uphold womens and girls rights in confict and
post-confict situations as stipulated in SCR 1325
(2000). These challenges are discussed in turn
below.
The Need for a Clear Policy on Gender
Mainstreaming
Despite the many commitments that have been
made to ensure that the AU and especially
the Council prioritize gender equality and the
incorporation of a gender perspective in all
peace and security initiatives, translating this
responsibility into action will require a clear policy
on gender mainstreaming. This policy must specify
how these commitments will be incorporated into
all the initiatives and structures of the Council, and
it must include guidelines on both the operation-
alization and evaluation of the policy. Until such a
policy is implemented, the Councils progress on
gender issues is likely to be limited.
What Womens Organizations Recommend
Many civil society organizations, womens
associations, and female politicians have proposed
measures, means, and strategies that can refect
the Peace and Security Councils intention to act in
accordance with the principles of the African Union
and SCR 1325 (2000) on the subject of gender
equity.
4
These proposals include:
The representation of women as members of the
Peace and Security Council and the Committee
of the Wise;
Finding resources for training and capacity-
building in the area of gender equality;
Identifying specifc targets for the training,
recruitment, and deployment of female
contingents in peacekeeping missions;
Establishing a consultation mechanism with
civil society organizations, especially womens
groups;
Creating a partnership between the Peace and
Security Council, the Gender and Development
Directorate of the African Union Commission,
government structures, and gender structures of
the regional economic communities; and
Mainstreaming and systematically taking into
consideration gender-related indicators in the
early warning system.
Taking Advantage of a Political Turning Point to
Implement SCR 1325 (2000)
With the establishment of the Hybrid Mission in
Darfur, the African Union has made a fundamental
shift in its role in peace and security interventions
on the continent. This is because, with the
4 FEMNET, Intgration du genre au sein de
lUnion africaine: Proposition dun cadre daction
(April 2005), pp. 2223; Centre for Confict
Resolution/UNIFEM, Women and Peacebuilding in
Africa, Seminar Report (2006), p. 21.
6.3 Subregional Commitments
for Gender and Peace in Africa: The
Regional Economic Communities
Since it was established in July 2002, the African
Union has differentiated itself from the Organization
of African Unity through a better decentralization
policy and improved strategies for subregional
cooperation and economic integration. Regional
economic communities (RECs) have become
important actors, not only in matters of economic
integration but also on issues of peace, stability,
and security.
Initially, the mandate of the regional economic
communities was economic in nature. However,
geographic proximity, shared cultural space, the
trans-border aspects of conficts, as well as the
close links between peace, political stability, and
economic stability, have led these communities
to develop mechanisms for defence, peace, and
security, and for early warning.
Defence, Peace, and Security: The Southern Africa
Development Community (SADC) has a defence
and security body responsible for improving the
peacekeeping capacities of its Member States.
7

As for the Economic Community of Central African
States (ECCAS), it has set up a Standing Advisory
Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa
which includes special peacekeeping forces.
8
For its part, the Intergovernmental Authority of
Development (IGAD), whose area of infuence
covers East Africa and the Horn of Africa, has
played and continues to play a mediation and good
offces role in conficts currently affecting Eritrea,
Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan.
7 Heidi Hudson, Peacekeeping Trends and Their
Gender Implications for Regional Peacekeeping
Forces in Africa: Progress and Challenges,
Gender, Confict, and Peacekeeping, Eds. Dyan
Mazurana, Angela Raven-Roberts, and Jane
Parpart, (Lanham, Rowman & Littlefeld Publishers,
2005), p.124.
8 Manon Tessier and Thierry Gongora, Une
Afrique bouscule en voie de rorganisation
scuritaire? Le Maintien de la Paix, No. 44
(January 2000), available from http://www.hei.
ulaval.ca/fleadmin/hei/documents/ documents/
Section_Publications/Maintien_de_la_Paix/
bulletin44.pdf, accessed 25 January 2011.
However, the group that has attracted the most
attention is the Economic Community of West
African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), the
multilateral force of the Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS), which played a
role in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Opinions are not unanimous concerning the
regional economic communities interventions in
confict resolution. The main criticisms of initiatives
taken during the 1990s by ECOWAS in Liberia and
Sierra Leone were the lack of political neutrality,
the scarcity of resources, improvisation, the
absence of a code of conduct, and the lack of a
clear mandate.
9
Other critics downplayed the failures and
emphasized the main purpose of ECOMOGs
intervention, which was to act as a deterrent
force and to defend democracy. Supporters
also distinguish between the behaviour of some
participating countries and the merits of the
interventions themselves.
10
Since then, things have changed, especially with
the creation of the African Unions Peace and
Security Council. Before the Councils creation,
the power to deploy troops and the power to
coordinate initiatives undertaken as part of a peace
intervention were not always well balanced. The
role played by the OAU and the African Unity was
limited to good offces, diplomacy, and monitoring,
whereas the regional economic communities
had more room to manoeuvre since they deploy
the troops. In the absence of a framework and
decision-making body duly representing the
African Union, diffculties could more easily arise,
especially in terms of political responsibility and
accountability.
Early Warning: Each REC has developed
mechanisms for addressing issues of peace and
security. Common to these mechanisms is a strong
commitment to confict prevention.
This commitment at the level of the RECs is a
refection of the high priority given to confict
prevention on the agenda of African governments
9 Heidi Hudson, Op. cit., pp. 111133
10 Manon Tessier and Thierry Gongora, Op. cit.
Hybrid Mission in Darfur, the AU is managing a
peace operation whose mandate goes beyond
the monitoring of peace agreements, which was
previously the extent of the AUs involvement.
This is a turning point, not only because of its
implications for Africa, but also because since
developed countries tend to commit fewer, if any,
troops to UN peace missions Africa will likely
be increasingly called upon for peace missions
elsewhere in the world.
It is essential to mobilize political will and resources
to ensure that this mandate is carried out in
keeping with SCR 1325 (2000). It is also essential
that the language used by the Council in its reports
be sensitive to women and children. Not naming
the crimes against women and girls and not
mentioning womens and girls right to protection
and participation are omissions with potentially
profound political implications. They render women
and girls invisible in the assessment of a situation,
and this invisibility can infuence political decisions
relating to confict resolution. The time is now as
the AUs security role expands to ensure that
these changes are made.
Hybrid Diplomatic Initiative of the UN and the
AU: Support of the International Conference on
the Great Lakes Region for SCR 1325 (2000)
A regional forum for political dialogue, confict
resolution, and cooperation jointly sponsored by
the United Nations and the African Union, the
International Conference on the Great Lakes
Region (20042006) has acknowledged the
importance of the rights of women and children.
The Dar es Salaam Declaration, which approved
the organization of the Conference, was followed
by a number of initiatives dedicated to translating
into practice the commitments made by Heads of
State and Government in many areas, especially
with regard to human rights and gender equality.
Three legislative instruments one on the
Protection and Assistance to Internally Displaced
Persons, one on the Prevention and Suppression of
Sexual Violence against Women and Children, and
one on the Property Rights of Returning Persons
were adopted and incorporated into the Pact on
Stability, Security, and Development
5
and were
proposed to the 11 Member States in attendance.
6
These Protocols constitute an important legal
framework for the rights of women and girls since
they are based on international humanitarian law
and major international instruments, including
SCR 1325 (2000). To ensure that the commitments
taken at the International Conference on the Great
Lakes Region do not become empty promises, it is
important that Member States, the AU. and the UN
support implementation of these protocols at the
national level.
5 Pact on Security, Stability and Development in
the Great Lakes Region, International Conference
on the Great Lakes Region, Nairobi, 1415
December 2006, available from http://www.
internal-displacement.org/ 8025708F004BE3B1/
(httpInfoFiles)/60ECE277A8EDA2DDC12572FB0
02BBDA7/$fle/Great%20Lakes%20pact_en.pdf,
6 Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya,
Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania,
Uganda, and Zambia.
Secretary-General Kof Annan (third from right on right side of table)
meets with representatives of the European Union (left side of table)
and the African Union (right side of table). Annan arrived in Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania to attend the International Conference on the Great
Lakes region. (UN Photo #57059 by Eskinder Debebe, November 2004)
SADC Gender Unit has taken notable strides to
ensure that women are included in the security
architecture of the institution.
This has been challenging, however, as SADCs
approach to security has been State-centred
and militaristic, often resulting in gender-blind
policies and activities. In 2005, the Gender
Unit commenced development of an SADC
Gender-based Regional Integration Plan: Strategic
Implementation Framework 20062010, which
is a detailed framework developed to enhance
the involvement of women in peace and security
initiatives carried out by the institution.
Progress in the Area of Gender Equality,
Confict Prevention, and Peace
The African Unions Peace and Security Council
has provided a framework for, as well as moral
and political authority over, the interventions and
operations of African countries.
Regional economic communities have taken
important measures to refect gender equality. Most
have drawn up policies on gender equality. The
RECs have also created advisory positions or units
to operationalize the gender perspective. Such is
the case of IGAD, ECOWAS, and SADC.
IGAD
12
set up a womens division in 1999, whereas
SADC and ECOWAS established gender divisions
in 1997 and 2003, respectively.
It is important to emphasize that, along with these
structures designed to operationalize gender
perspective, some initiatives led by the RECs,
especially IGAD, have sought to promote womens
participation in the peace and confict resolution
processes. In 2002, IGAD endorsed SCR 1325
(2000) by adopting a resolution on the inclusion
of women in the peace processes underway in
Somalia and Sudan. IGAD has also created the
Womens Desk and a resource centre for female
delegates to peace negotiations.
12 United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM),
Support to NEPAD, Period of report: 20032004,
available from http://www.un.org/africa/osaa/
cpcreports/27.UNIFEM_formatted.pdf, accessed
25 January 2011.
Thanks to these efforts, 35 women were able to
participate in the Somali National Reconciliation
Conference. The Charter adopted at the end of the
conference incorporated issues specifcally related
to womens rights and approved the proposal to
reserve 12 per cent of the seats to women in the
National Assembly and 25 per cent in the Regional
Assemblies.
13

Similarly, efforts to translate SCR 1325 (2000) into
action led by IGAD, the Sudan Joint Assessment
Mission (JAM), and Sudanese womens
associations have helped to unite women from the
North and the South around common grievances.
14
With the presentation of a joint platform on behalf
of women from the North and the South at the
Donors Conference on Sudan, the needs of
women with regard to reintegration and other
priorities relative to the advancement of women,
especially affrmative action as a means of
attaining equality, were incorporated into the
Framework for Sustained Peace, Development,
and Poverty Eradication.
Challenges
The numerous and serious violations of the rights
of women and girls briefy examined in this course
are in themselves a clear indication that there is
still much to do in order to free women and girls
from the many forms of tyranny and injustice that
they experience. It is one thing to set up structures
and policies to guarantee gender equality but quite
another to translate these intentions into action.
Like the United Nations and the African Union, the
regional economic communities have meaning only
when Member States, the primary stakeholders,
improve living conditions through cooperation,
mutual agreements, and partnerships. RECs exist
not for themselves, but for the men and women
13 United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM),
Securing the Peace: Guiding the International
Community towards Womens Effective
Participation throughout Peace Processes (New
York, UNIFEM, October 2005), p.10. Available from
http://www.peacewomen.org/assets/fle/Resources/
UN/unifem_securingpeace_ 2005.pdf, accessed
25 January 2011.
14 Ibid., p. 15
at the continental level. Specifcally, steps are
underway to operationalize a Continental Early
Warning System (CEWS) as one of the pillars of
the Peace and Security Council. This continental
system will build on the regional warning systems
operated by RECs.
Presently, however, the RECs are at different
stages of development, and this has affected the
process of developing early warning systems.
Both ECCAS in Central Africa and SADC in
Southern Africa are in the early stages of early
warning systems. ECOWAS and IGAD currently
operate the most advanced warning systems on
the continent.
In 2003, IGAD established its early warning
system, Confict Early Warning and Early Response
Mechanism (CEWARN), designed to serve
the region as a mechanism that systematically
anticipates and responds to violent conficts in a
timely and effective manner.
Since its establishment, the CEWARN, through
its network of feld monitors, country coordinators,
national research institutes, and Confict Early
Warning and Response Units (CEWERUs) at
the national level, has been monitoring and
reporting on pastoralist conficts in two pilot areas:
the Somali cluster (which incorporates parts of
Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia) and the Karamoja
cluster (which incorporates parts of Ethiopia,
Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda).
The CEWARN research and training offcer
participating in this assessment has said that,
though there have been efforts to incorporate a
gender perspective into the peace and confict
indicators monitored within the system, doing so for
the entire mechanism has been slow.
11

11 Thelma Ekiyor and L. Muthoni Wanyeki, National
Implementation of Security Council Resolution
1325 (2000) in Africa: Needs Assessment and Plan
for Action, Needs Assessment Report. Available
from http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/cdrom/
documents/Needs_Assessment_Africa.pdf,
accessed 19 May 2011
CEWARNs frst four years were dedicated to
instating a functional software-based early warning
system and collecting and analysing information
from the feld and standardizing reporting
structures. The indicators used to analyse the
feld reports attempted to assess the level of
vulnerability of women and children in pastoral
conficts. However, this was done in an ad hoc
manner. The fve-year strategic plan (20072011)
tries to address this gap by integrating gender into
its core strategic objectives. Progressive steps are
also on track to mainstream gender analysis into
the Early Warning and Early Response framework.
Specifcally, a Gender and Early Warning Training
Manual is being developed in collaboration with
Gender Affairs.
ECOWASs Early Warning System, ECOWARN,
was also established in 2003. The integration of
gender into ECOWARN has been relatively weak.
Though ECOWAS has gender structures within
the institutions a Gender Unit at the ECOWAS
secretariat and the Gender Development Centre
in Dakar their formal involvement in peace and
security issues has been minimal.
The role of the ECOWAS Gender Development
Centre (EGDC) is to establish, develop, facilitate,
coordinate, and follow up the strategies and
programmes aimed at ensuring that matters related
to the disparities between men and women in the
integration programmes of the community are
incorporated within the framework of the objectives
of the ECOWAS Treaty.
A gender policy has been developed and a section
of the policy is dedicated to Gender-based
violence, confict resolution, and peacebuilding.
Recently the EGDC has been trying to implement
that mandate by organizing several forums to
examine how to enhance the involvement of
women in this area. Partnering with civil society
is integral to the Centres strategy as CSOs
particularly womens groups have more
experience working on peace and security.
SADC does not have an advanced early warning
system; however, there are attempts to incorporate
a gender perspective in the regions confict
resolution and peacebuilding initiatives. The
who are citizens of these States. Yet, in many
countries, national legislation is still discriminatory
against women and it is diffcult in practice to
convince people that constitutional law takes
priority over customary law.
In terms of capacities, structures set up to
operationalize gender equality are often
underfunded or receive only cyclical funding on
a project-by-project basis. This makes it diffcult
to develop a long-term perspective. Because of a
lack of resources, capacities, and political will, the
main gender focal points sometimes play more of a
token role than an active one.
If the gender initiatives undertaken by regional
economic communities are to have a concrete
impact, assistance, cooperation, and follow-up
measures should be put in place to:
Give the regional economic communities a
genuine operational capacity in terms of gender
equality;
Ensure that regional and national policies are
consistent, especially regarding the participation
of women in peace and reconstruction
processes;
Build the capacities of all Member States with
respect to gender equality;
Develop a training partnership on womens and
girls rights, and more specifcally the need for
protection in confict and emergency situations;
and
Design an ambitious plan for recruiting,
training, and deploying a female contingent in
peacekeeping operations.
Womens Organizations and Civil Society
While the focus of this lesson is on
intergovernmental regional and subregional
organizations, it is also important to mention
womens organizations and civil society groups,
which have worked tirelessly to promote
implementation of SCR 1325 (2000) in Africa and
around the world. Indeed, one of the resolutions
greatest achievements in the nine years since its
adoption has been the increased mobilization of
womens organizations at the national, regional,
and international levels for the implementation of
SCR 1325 (2000). To maximize the effectiveness
of efforts to implement the resolution and to
end violent confict and unrest, civil society and
womens organizations must be considered and
treated as critical partners for peace.
Only through the collective action of all of the
parties described in this lesson together with the
efforts of the States will the promises of SCR
1325 (2000) be truly fulflled.
Lesson Summary
Efforts for WPS in Africa being carried out
by the UN, the AU, the RECs, peacekeeping
training initiatives, and womens and civil society
organizations;
The progress that these efforts have resulted in,
as well as the challenges that persist; and
The importance of cooperation and support
from multiple actors for the successful national
implementation of SCR 1325 (2000).
1. In recent years:
A. Regional organizations have expanded their
economic activities but not their military ones;
B. Regional and subregional organizations have
begun to play a much more active role in
issues of peace and security in Africa;
C. Subregional organizations in Africa have not
concerned themselves with confict prevention;
D. The UN, international donors, and national
governments are the only ones working on
peace and security issues in Africa.
2. The AUs frst military intervention in
a member state was the deployment of a
peacekeeping force to:
A. Somalia;
B. Darfur;
C. The DRC;
D. Burundi.
3. In accordance with the gender parity
principle, ratifed by the Assembly of Heads
of State and Government of the African
Union in July 2002:
A. Gender issues must be given priority in all AU
activities;
B. The rules of international humanitarian law are
to be equally applied to women and men;
C. Half of the members of the African Union
Commission are men and half are women;
D. All AU member states must implement electoral
quota systems.
4. The African Unions decision-making body
responsible for the prevention, management,
and resolution of conficts is called:
A. The AU Commission;
B. The Organization of African Unity;
C. The Gender and Development Directorate;
D. The Peace and Security Council.
5. The Women, Gender, and Development
Directorate of the AU:
A. Is a temporary mechanism;
B. Was originally part of the Organization of
African Unity;
C. Is responsible for the implementation of gender
equality policies;
D. Serves as adviser to the Peace and Security
Council.
6. The legislative instruments adopted at the
International Conference on the Great Lakes
Region covered:
A. Protection and Assistance to Internally
Displaced Persons;
B. Prevention and Suppression of Sexual Violence
against Women and Children;
C. Property Rights of Returning Persons;
7. Initially, the mandate of the regional
economic communities was:
A. Economic;
B. Social;
C. Political;
D. Military.
End-of-Lesson Quiz
1 1 4 | i mP l e me n t i n G s C r 1 3 2 5 ( 2 0 0 0 ) i n A f r i C A
8. The early warning efforts of the Regional
Economic Commissions:
A. Are all at the same stage of development;
B. Demonstrate the high priority given to
confict prevention on the agenda of African
governments at the continental level;
C. Have fully mainstreamed gender into their
systems;
D. Have caused all Member States to get rid of
legislation that discriminates against women in
matters of peace and security.
9. Womens and civil society organizations:
A. Have increasingly mobilized at the national,
regional, and international levels since the
adoption of SCR 1325 (2000);
B. Have been critical in promoting implementation
of the resolution;
C. Should be treated as important partners for
peace;
10. Which is NOT an REC?
A. IGAD;
B. ECONAS;
C. SADC;
D. AU.
ANSWER KEY
1B, 2D, 3C, 4D, 5C, 6D, 7A, 8B, 9D, 10D
LESSON 7
GUIDELINES FOR NATIONAL
IMPLEMENTATION OF
SCR 1325 (2000) IN AFRICA
l e s s on 7 : GU i d e l i n e s f or n At i on A l i mP l e me n tAt i on | 1 1 7
LESSON
7
7.1 introduction
7.2 Creating a national
Action Plan for
implementing sCr 1325
(2000)
7.3 Action Plan
Components and
structure
7.4 Content of national
Action Plans: sample
Provisions
7.5 Key issues:
Commitment of
resources and
measuring results
7.6 deciding Upon an
integrated or separate
Approach to Gender
Action Plans
LESSON OBJECTIVES
This lesson will address the main steps that should be taken for national
implementation of SCR 1325 (2000). It will provide information about how
to start planning and programming for implementation of the resolution
at the national level, as well as how to identify main stakeholders and the
key elements of national action plans. The lesson will provide practical
information that should be adjusted to country-specifc realities. The
lesson will also address collaboration with relevant regional organizations
and the United Nations.
Understand how to approach the implementation of SCR 1325 (2000) at
the national level;
Understand the main steps in developing a national action plan and
identify the key elements of that plan; and
Develop a national action plan for the implementation of SCR 1325
(2000).
7.1 Introduction
Ever since it was adopted in October 2000, SCR
1325 (2000) has sparked discussions on how
best to translate its objectives into concrete and
effective action. Without such action, the words
in SCR 1325 (2000) will remain merely symbolic.
National action plans provide a way for states to
implement the resolution in a way that meets the
specifc needs of the national context. The creation
of an action plan provides the space to analyse
the situation, consult with stakeholders, initiate
strategic changes that will have a better chance of
leading to sustainable, lasting peace, and ensure
a comprehensive implementation of all three
dimensions of the resolution that can be relatively
easily monitored and evaluated.
In this lesson, we will learn how the knowledge
gained in earlier lessons can be applied to
implement a strategy at the national level to
address WPS issues. We begin with a basic
how-to, looking at key steps in the process of
creating an action plan. We then discuss the
elements and structure of an action plan, and we
will end by exploring some sample provisions that
might be included in a plans content.
1

It may also be helpful to review the national action
plans that have already been adopted by countries
around the world. The plans of 20 countries can
be accessed online at http://www.un-instraw.org/
peace-and-security/knowledge-management/
unscr-1325-national-action-plan-map.html.
7.2 Creating a National Action Plan
for Implementing SCR 1325 (2000)
This section comprises practical recommendations
for creating action plans. It does not aim to include
all the different approaches to preparing action
plans, but it provides an introduction to the basic
steps. It is important to bear in mind that these
1 Much of the information in this lesson is drawn
from INSTRAWs Securing Equality, Engendering
Peace: A Guide to Policy and Planning on Women,
Peace and Security (UN SCR 1325). The guide
is an excellent resource for those working on the
level.
recommendations must always be adapted
to specifc contexts. The type and number of
actors involved, the specifc regional, national, or
community context, and the available resources
all affect the planning process. There is no
one-size-fts-all planning process or model action
plan.
Six key steps in the process of developing an
action plan are highlighted:
1. Building Political Will: Advocacy and
Awareness-Raising
2. Getting Organized
3. Plan for Planning: Terms of Reference
4. WPS Assessments
5. Planning Meetings or Workshops
6. Drafting the Action Plan
Step 1 Building Political Will: Advocacy and
Awareness-Raising
In many countries, even among politicians and
other infuential leaders, wide-spread awareness
of WPS issues and SCR 1325 (2000) still does
not exist. Some members of an institution or
society, when frst learning of the resolution,
may consider many of its mandates insignifcant
or even threatening. Working to inform both
decision-makers and the general public, while
building strong support for WPS issues, is crucial
in order to build a foundation for the successful
implementation of a future action plan.
Media campaigns, leafets, workshops, discussion
groups, and other methods are effective initiatives
for increasing the level of awareness and support
for WPS issues. This frst step does not have
a strict end-point. Ideally, this process should
continue during and after the formation of the
action plan. For instance, after an assessment has
been conducted, the information gathered can be
used to create advocacy and awareness-raising
materials. Even during the assessment phase
through the data-collection process, especially
through focus group discussions and consultative
meetings, awareness can be promoted and
ownership by involved actors can be stimulated.
1 1 8 | i mP l e me n tAt i on of s C r 1 3 2 5 ( 2 0 0 0 ) i n A f r i C A l e s s on 7 : GU i d e l i n e s f or n At i on A l i mP l e me n tAt i on | 1 1 9
Planning meetings or workshops that take
place later in the process should also include
a component of awareness-raising since the
stakeholders involved in the planning process often
come to the table with different understandings
and assumptions. Finally, in order to help ensure
effective implementation, it is crucial to raise
awareness regarding the WPS action plan itself
and the process of developing it.
Step 2 Getting Organized
Once momentum and political will have been
established through awareness-raising and
advocacy, the key stakeholders can join forces
to begin targeted efforts to plan for the creation
of a WPS action plan. If there remains a lack
of interest or political will on the part of the
government, external groups (most often NGOs)
can join together to continue advocacy initiatives.
If the political will exists, both internal and external
groups can be established to support the process
of creating an action plan. The consolidation of
efforts in offcial committees and teams is a crucial
step towards gaining legitimacy in the eyes of
leaders and decision-makers.
Inter-agency Task Force
If the commitment exists from inside the
government, one of the frst steps should
be the establishment of an inter-agency,
interdepartmental, inter-ministerial task force to
develop an action plan. The task force should
ideally include diverse members policy-makers,
practitioners, and external actors including
representatives from the following:
Various ministries (including those of women and
gender, internal and foreign affairs, justice, and
education);
Public institutions affliated with the government
in the security, health, and education sectors, as
well as statistics and data collection centres;
Minority ethnic groups;
Womens organizations, including organizations
of migrant, indigenous, and IDP or refugee
women;
Academic and research institutions;
United Nations organizations;
Local and national governments; and
Donors and the private sector, where applicable.
To develop a national action plan and implement
it effectively, it is critical for national and local
actors to work in solidarity and partnership with
bilateral, regional, and multilateral agencies. This
helps to generate collective political support for
the application of SCR 1325 (2000) and thus
increases its chances for success. In other words,
the elaboration of any plan has to be based on an
inclusive consultation process. A plan that is not
derived from a broad consensus will likely fail to be
implemented.
As men tend to be underrepresented in the realm
of WPS, steps should be taken to include men and
experts on masculinities as allies and potential
gender champions. In order to ensure that all the
different perspectives and needs are heard within
the task force, it is important that participatory
planning techniques are used. The purpose of
the task force is to make decisions regarding the
content and implementation of the WPS action plan.
It is essential to include powerful process
sponsors, or members of upper-level governing
or administrative bodies, in order to have a
successful inter-agency task force. These
actors serve to legitimize the process and help
facilitate decision-making.
2
The responsibilities
of process sponsors may include procuring
resources, overseeing resource distribution, and
communicating the goals and signifcance of the
action plan to other key leaders. Because of a
process sponsors high position of power, clashes
among different task force members may be more
likely to occur. However, involving and challenging
process sponsors during planning may build a
higher level of awareness about the importance of
WPS issues, as well as an increased commitment
to implementation.
Ultimately, responsibility for defning and
implementing a national action plan rests primarily
with the government, which should consult as
necessary with all key actors and partners and
assess needs for institutional support, human and
fnancial resources, and capacity-building.
In many countries, these tasks are coordinated by
the ministry of foreign affairs, in close collaboration
with the defence and international cooperation
ministries, as well as the ministries of justice,
status of women, and human rights. It also requires
the participation of numerous national structures
dealing with technical issues such as commissions
on the return and repatriation of war refugees
and displaced persons; land redistribution;
demobilization and reintegration; and truth and
reconciliation. It is up to each African country to
determine the governmental body responsible for
coordinating and implementing the national action
plan based on that countrys specifc realities.
2 John M. Bryson and Sharon R. Anderson,
Applying Large-Group Interaction Methods in the
Planning and Implementation of Major Change
Efforts, Public Administration Review, vol. 60, No.
2 (MarchApril 2000), p. 146.
Managerial Working Group and Staff
In some cases, the inter-agency task force can be
too large to effectively manage the development
of the action plan, so creation of a subgroup may
be in order. In other cases, rather than create a
subgroup, the department chairing the task force
takes on managerial responsibilities or appoints
staff or consultants to manage the technical
aspects of the action plan development process
including the organization of meetings and
activities, the preparation of research and analyses,
and the presentation of recommendations to the
task force. The managerial staff ideally comprises
both internal and external experts. Extensive
understanding of WPS issues and organization,
research, training, and facilitation skills are
essential qualities that the staff or group should
possess.
International and Regional Cooperation
At the regional and international level, building
partnerships with bilateral, regional, and
multilateral institutions based on the countrys
specifc needs and on these partners expertise
can substantially increase the chances for
success in implementing SCR 1325 (2000). For
example, a country could propose a training and
capacity-building plan based on the resolution and
subsequently sign partnership agreements with
peacekeeping training centres. Discussions can
also be undertaken with the Regional Economic
Commissions in order to better integrate gender
dimensions into early warning systems using the
resolution as a framework. The High-Level Policy
Dialogue on National Implementation of Security
Council resolution 1325 (2000) in Africa which
was co-sponsored by OSAGI and the Economic
Commission for Africa (ECA), and on which much
of this course is based was an example of such
a regional forum that helped identify and address
region-specifc needs and priorities.
In observance of International Womens Day, participants march from
the centre of Monrovia to the Temple of Justice, home of the Liberian
Supreme Court, where they staged a peaceful sit-in protest against
gender-based violence. (UN Photo #140514 by Eric Kanalstein, March 2007)
Step 3 Plan for Planning: Terms of Reference
The inter-agency task force may begin to take
concrete steps towards developing the action plan
by holding a meeting to create a plan for planning.
It is important that each department involved
commits to the established outputs, timelines,
and budget frame they are affected by, in order to
have a clear understanding of responsibilities and
accountability. The outcome of this meeting should
be terms of reference for the development of a
WPS action plan, including the following:
Rationale: A short paragraph stating why an
action plan is being developed and giving
background on WPS issues.
Objectives: The general objective for creating the
action plan and specifc objectives (for example,
raising awareness of SCR 1325 (2000) among
government policy-makers). The objectives
should be clear and realistic.
Strategy: The specifc steps that will be taken to
develop the action plan (such as an assessment
process), and the responsibilities of all the actors
involved (such as the inter-agency task force,
consultants, and facilitators)
Expected outputs: In addition to a WPS plan
of action, various materials can be developed,
such as an assessment report, capacity-building
and awareness-raising materials, including in
multimedia format.
Timeline: Realistic deadlines should be set for
both the different steps in the process and for the
fnished action plan.
Budget: Among the potential costs to consider
are those for consultants; assessment;
translation, publication, and distribution;
production and distribution of additional capacity-
building and awareness-raising materials;
workshops and meeting costs.
At this stage, the acquisition of funding and the
development of a preliminary budget are essential.
Even before the process formally begins, all
actors should have a clear idea of the budgetary
constraints and resulting limitations. Developing
countries may rely largely on external funding for
the development and implementation of their plans.
With the budget in mind, tentative priorities for
implementation activities may be discussed and
established.
Step 4 WPS Assessments
One of the essential steps in the development of
a WPS action plan is an assessment or audit of
the general context of WPS issues (external) and
the government or institution in question (internal).
The assessment should be designed to provide
a comprehensive overview of WPS issues in the
country, as well as specifc context and a critical
analysis of the success of the initiatives taken thus
far and the remaining gaps.
WPS institutional (internal) audit: This process
involves compiling quantitative and qualitative data
on the existence and effectiveness of institutional
policies and programmes that relate to WPS issues
of the different government departments and
among other stakeholders. This includes evaluating
if and how SCR 1325 (2000) and other mandates
have been implemented by the government and
other organizations. It may also include the content
of performance reviews, reports, disaggregated
statistics, and questionnaires completed by
employees and members of the community. Such
an audit can be conducted either from inside the
institution or by an external expert.
A SWOC (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and challenges) analysis
3
can be carried out
as part of the institutional audit. Highlighting
the responsible actors existing policies and
programmes, as well as weaknesses and
challenges, provides a basis for determining which
areas of future work should be prioritized.
WPS assessment (external): This approach
involves gathering information and analysing the
situation of women and gender in the contexts
of confict, peacebuilding, and reconstruction.
This national-level audit is especially relevant
to countries emerging from armed confict. The
specifc context and peace and security mandates
of the country developing the action plan will
determine the scope and focus of the audit. For
instance, if the country is a UN Member State and
contributes troops to UN peacekeeping missions,
the audit should look at the context of gender
issues and womens participation in peacekeeping
missions. If the country is emerging from armed
confict, detailed information regarding the general
situation of women and girls is necessary. Other
applicable dimensions for review may include
gender-based violence (including domestic
violence); security actors; the extent of armed
violence and organized crime and their gender
implications; and womens presence in the public
sphere, especially within the security sector.
Depending upon the resources and time available,
the audit can range from hiring independent
experts to research and write an in-depth report,
to a brainstorming meeting with members of civil
society organizations. Another approach would be
to conduct a desk review of the materials already
written on the topic in order to identify needs and
priorities. A mapping of actors and their different
responsibilities and scope of work helps to defne
potential involvement and responsibilities with
respect to the action plan.
The INSTRAW guide mentioned at the beginning of
this lesson, Securing Equality, Engendering Peace:
A Guide to Policy and Planning on Women, Peace
and Security (UN SCR 1325), contains information
on the use of assessment methods that would be
3 Another acronym for this process is SWOT
(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats)
helpful during this stage of the planning process,
including disaggregated statistics, practical
and strategic needs assessments, and gender
indicators.
From Assessments to Action Plans
Once the assessment has been conducted, the
results can be compiled and circulated for feedback
and awareness-raising. The key fndings can be
summarized in a clear and concise format in order
to serve as the basis for future workshops and
meetings. To break down the information collected
in the WPS assessments, fve different categories
can be included:
Specifc mandates: the relevant mandates from
SCR 1325 (2000) and other WPS documents;
WPS policies and programmes: the mechanisms
or initiatives already completed or in the process
of implementation by a country or organization
to address issues related to WPS; for example,
a national policy addressing gender-based
violence or an initiative to recruit women to
senior-level positions within the military;
Responsible agency or person: the individuals
or departments that should lead the efforts to
implement a specifc WPS or SCR 1325 (2000)
mandate;
Challenges for implementation: existing and
potential obstacles that might complicate the
implementation of the WPS programmes and
policies, as well as general gaps in the existing
implementation;
Recommendations: ways to improve current
initiatives and additional actions to take.
Once the results of the WPS assessments has
been compiled, the inter-agency task force can
hold a workshop or meeting to discuss them and
start developing the WPS action plan.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ECLAC), headquartered in Santiago, Chile. (UN Photo #160587
by Eskinder Debebe, November 2007)
Step 5 Planning Meetings or Workshops
As mentioned above, participatory planning
methods are essential in creating an action plan
that truly represents and addresses the needs and
interests of all stakeholders. In addition, involving
actors from all different sectors of an institution or
government can help build a sense of collective
ownership, teamwork, and accountability. However,
participatory workshops or meetings may be
diffcult to organize and carry out successfully.
Determining who should be included and what
should be the format and content can involve both
political and technical considerations. Included
below are specifc questions to keep in mind when
organizing participatory planning meetings or
workshops:
1. Workshop or meeting? What type? How many?
Both meetings and workshops can be held
during the action plan development process.
Workshops usually include interaction,
exchange of information, and a training
component, while meetings are generally
focused on discussion. An initial workshop
could be held on WPS issues for the task
force, followed by task force meetings.
Workshops, meetings, or seminars can be
held with civil society and other external
actors. Different approaches are common,
including the following:
Separate planning workshops for each
department or sector, at which action plans
are developed that are later consolidated
into an institution-wide action plan;
A series of planning meetings for the task
force, at the end of which a comprehensive
action plan for the institution is developed;
and
One participatory workshop at which
all stakeholders are invited to give
suggestions, which are then included in a
separate action-plan development process
by the task force.
4

4 Caroline Moser, An Introduction to Gender
Audit Methodology: Its design and implementation
in DFID Malawi (London, Overseas Development
Institute, May 2005), p. 24.
The number of meetings or workshops that
should take place depends on the size and
mandates of the organization or country
in question. Fewer mandates and a small
task force will require fewer meetings or
workshops.
2. Who should be the facilitators? What are their
responsibilities?
The outcomes of participatory planning
meetings
5
depend heavily on the skills and
efforts of the facilitator. Facilitators may
be members of the institution/government,
members of the task force, or outside experts
or consultants. In addition to their facilitation
skills, knowledge, experience, and sensitivity
to WPS issues are important qualifcations for
this role.
3. What should be the criteria for selecting
participants?
Meeting participation will often be limited
to members of the task force. However,
when determining how many participants
to include on the task force or how many
external stakeholders to invite to meetings, it
is important to keep in mind that involving a
large number of participants can help build
wide-spread consensus and support for the
plan. However, this approach also requires
more time and resources.
6
4. How much time should be allowed for each
meeting?
The amount of time needed can easily be
underestimated, as the meetings may involve
signifcant disagreements and drawn-out
discussions. Once again, good facilitation
is key to successful and succinct meetings.
Documentation and follow-up may also be
more time-consuming than anticipated.
Therefore, it is important to be generous when
calculating the time needed for each activity.
5 For the sake of simplicity, the term meeting
will henceforth be used to refer both to meetings
and to other formats such as workshops and
seminars. Its use is not intended to signify a
preference over these formats.
6 John M. Bryson and Sharon R. Anderson, Op.
cit., p. 144.
5. Should senior administrators and
decision-makers be involved?
The effectiveness of planning activities and
implementation efforts can ultimately depend
on the existence of political will and the
commitment of leaders, specifcally those
included in the planning meetings. Developing
a strategy in advance to ensure the effective
integration of decision-makers into the
discussions and the implementation is crucial
for the success of the action planning process.
6. What activities can be included in the meeting?
It is helpful to include a variety of carefully
selected participatory activities that can
help to bring out the diverse perspectives of
participants. These can include the following
topics:
Introduction to WPS;
WPS assessment review;
SWOC analysis;
Articulating and prioritizing short- and
long-term objectives;
Developing strategies and initiatives; and
Cost-beneft analysis of suggested
initiatives.
The INSTRAW guide Securing Equality,
Engendering Peace provides in-depth
recommendations for each of these activities,
including specifc questions to ask, as well
as what challenges to expect in carrying out
the activities and suggestions for overcoming
them.
Step 6 Drafting the Action Plan
After establishing the general contents of the WPS
action plan, the drafting can begin.
7
As with most
writing projects, the fewer the authors, the faster
the process. One or two, but no more than three,
people should ideally be involved in writing the frst
draft. Allowing for suffcient time to broadly circulate
the frst draft, and perhaps a second, is essential to
obtaining feedback and building consensus.
7 Section 7.4 of this lesson also offers sample
plan content
General Recommendations for Drafting
The following steps, drawn from Gender Equality
Actions Plans: A Think Piece,
8
can help facilitate
the drafting of an action plan:
Develop realistic implementation strategies.
Planned actions should be frmly rooted in
the organisational culture of the institution.
For example: An action plan that involves
the integration of gender considerations into
performance appraisals holds little possibility
for success in an institution that does not have a
functioning system of regular staff evaluations.
Include measurable targets. Measurable
and realistically achievable goals are crucial
components of an action plan, as they are
needed to focus attention and to provide a basis
for monitoring, reporting and accountability. A
reporting system can be devised to measure
progress and to evaluate the performance of
actors responsible for implementation.
Defne the responsibilities of senior
management and offcials. The involvement
of institutional and community leaders in
implementing SCR 1325 (2000) is essential:
It is senior management action that signals
the relative priorities of the organisation and
provides the impetus for staff efforts.
Specify a budget and a time frame. These
basic components should be established from
the very beginning. In the fnal stages of action
plan development, they should only need
clarifcation and perhaps some revision.
8 Beth Woroniuk et al., Gender Equality Action
Plans: A Think Piece (Stockholm, Swedish
International Development Cooperation Agency,
January 1996).
7.3 Action Plan Components and
Structure
Depending upon the country developing the
action plan, the components and length will vary.
However, certain basic parts are often included in
action plans and help create a clear and concise
document:
1. Introduction
This section can provide a short introduction to
WPS issues and a description of how the plan
was developed.
2. Rationale
Often combined with the introduction, this
section refers to WPS mandates such as SCR
1325 (2000), the importance of WPS issues,
and how they relate to the institution or state
in question. It can also discuss why the action
plan was developed and what it is intended to
accomplish.
3. Long- and Short-Term Objectives
This component is straightforward and has
been discussed in the previous section.
4. Specifc Initiatives
Initiatives should be directly linked to the
objectives or specifc mandates from SCR
1325 (2000) and also to relevant international
agreements and laws. The specifc actor
responsible for implementing each initiative
should be clearly stated. In addition, deadlines,
resources (human, material, and fnancial), and
indicators of successful implementation can be
specifed for each initiative. In addition to SCR
1325 (2000), additional relevant documents
might be referenced and integrated for
example, the Beijing Declaration and Plan of
Action, the Windhoek Declaration and Namibia
Plan of Action, and CEDAW.
5. Time Frame
In order to effectively implement the plan of
action, it is vital to include a time frame for the
completion of the entire plan, as well as a time
frame for each specifc initiative, or at the very
least for how often the implementation of the
plan will be evaluated.
6. Monitoring and Evaluation
The time frame and indicators can serve as
monitoring and evaluation tools. However,
additional mechanisms such as a yearly
reporting system or a committee to monitor the
implementation can also be included in the
action plan. According to one extensive study
on SCR 1325 (2000) implementation: Present
monitoring and evaluation of the implementation
process conducted by Member States is often
very poor and therefore the plan must include
detailed goals and indicators.
9

7. Budget
Including a budget depends on how concrete
the action plan is and whether or not specifc
funding has been established or fund-raising
processes initiated. However, a dedicated
budget is essential to ensuring the concrete
and sustainable implementation of even the
most modest action plan. One of the primary
challenges to implementing action plans in
general, and gender equality action plans in
particular, has been lack of funding.
Different WPS action plans not only have different
components but also different structures, ranging
from matrix format to comprehensive documents.
Structuring the action plan around specifc WPS
mandates creates a clear format, as is shown in the
example of Norways action plan in Appendix J.
9 Gunilla de Vries Lindestam, UN Security
Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women,
Peace and Security: Making It Work, Experience
in Canada, the Netherlands and the United
Kingdom with Recommendations for Swedens
Implementation (Uppsala, Collegium for
Development Studies, 2005).
7.4 Content of National Action
Plans: Sample Provisions
As we have seen throughout this training course,
countries in Africa are not a homogeneous group.
They have different histories of confict and
peace. As we have also seen, crises can have
very different impacts on women and girls from
one country to another, and these impacts can
be felt more or less strongly. Socio-economic
infrastructure, key institutions of democratic
governance, and the rule of law can be in very
different stages of development or destruction.
However, regardless of the context, gender equality
and womens and girls empowerment should be
at the very centre of peace, reconciliation, and
reconstruction issues. Therefore, it is essential that
the three main components of SCR 1325 (2000)
prevention, participation, and protection are
included in the objectives and strategies of every
project, programme, and policy connected to
peace, reconciliation, and reconstruction.
Prevention should include the following aspects:
Justice and reparation, including transitional
justice;
Security sector reform, with gender-specifc
requirements;
Justice reform, with gender-specifc
requirements;
A new peace culture based on womens
contributions and built on gender equality;
eGender-sensitive early warning systems;
fEducation programmes in schools and other
institutions on gender issues, peacebuilding and
confict resolution; and
Awareness-raising among the general public on
gendered security issues.
Participation and representation should be
guaranteed through the following:
Humanitarian programmes;
Negotiations and peace agreements;
Peace operations;
The electoral process;
Power structures put in place in the post-confict
transition period;
The rule of law and democratic governance
institutions;
Reintegration and reconstruction programmes,
including DDR; and
Security sector reform programmes.
Protection of the rights of women and girls should
be achieved through concrete measures and
reforms relating to the following:
The legislative, judiciary, and constitutional
systems;
Security and physical protection;
Socio-economic rights (land, property,
education, literacy, economic security, and
health);
The fght against sexual and gender-based
violence;
Maternal health and reproductive health; and
The fght against HIV/AIDS.
Within the 3P framework of prevention,
participation, and protection, several key thematic
issues emerge that should be addressed in WPS
action plans. These issues are discussed below,
along with sample provisions that might be included
in action plans.
Confict Prevention
Paragraph 1 of SCR 1325 (2000):
Urges Member States to ensure increased
representation of women at all decision-making
levels in national, regional and international
institutions and mechanisms for the prevention,
management, and resolution of confict.
The signifcant role women play in the prevention
of confict suggests that governments take the
following actions:
Provide support to non-governmental
organizations, including womens organizations
that are active in confict prevention; and
Direct security forces to look for and act on early
warning signs of confict, for example, a rise in
gender-based violence.
Peace Negotiations and Peace Agreements
Encourages the Secretary-General to implement
his strategic plan of action (A/49/587) calling
for an increase in the participation of women at
decision-making levels in confict resolution and
peace processes.
Calls on all actors involved, when negotiating
and implementing peace agreements, to adopt
a gender perspective, including, inter alia:
(b) Measures that support local womens peace
initiatives and indigenous processes for confict
resolution, and that involve women in all of
the implementation mechanisms of the peace
agreements.
In order to ensure womens equal participation in
formal peace negotiations in the drafting and
implementation of an accord and to recognize
their contributions to informal peace processes,
governments can take actions such as:
Fully including women in any delegation to formal
peace negotiations;
Insisting that all parties at the peace table
include women in their negotiating delegations;
Incorporating into constitutional reforms
international treaties, conventions, and other
documents that protect womens rights, such as
CEDAW;
Providing public attention and support to informal
peace initiatives emanating from civil society;
Supporting indigenous efforts to resolve confict;
and
Monitoring the implementation of peace
agreements to ensure that gender provisions
are fully carried out. For example, parliament
might hold debates on gender dimensions in
the accords and discuss them in appropriate
committees.
Constitutional and Electoral Reform
Calls on all actors involved, when negotiating
and implementing peace agreements, to adopt
a gender perspective, including, inter alia:
(c) Measures that ensure the protection of and
respect for human rights of women and girls,
particularly as they relate to the constitution, the
electoral system, the police and the judiciary.
Post-confict peace processes often provide
opportunities for constitutional and electoral reform,
including through:
Fully including women in any constitution-writing
process;
Incorporating international treaties and
conventions that protect womens and girls
rights, such CEDAW, into constitutional reforms;
and
Considering the potential beneft of electoral
gender quotas to strengthen the equal
participation of women and men.
Disarmament, Demobilization, and
Reintegration of Combatants
Encourages all those involved in the planning for
disarmament, demobilization and reintegration
to consider the different needs of female and
male ex-combatants and to take into account the
needs of their dependants.
DDR processes need to consider the gendered
needs of the combatant forces. For example:
During a demobilization process, women and
girls who are part of the irregular forces should
receive special attention. For example, female
fghters should be eligible to be demobilized as
regular combatants, and the needs of all women
that are associated with combatant forces
regardless of their offcial status will be
recognized; and
Government agencies responsible for the
implementation of reintegration programmes
should focus on the gendered needs and family
considerations of the ex-combatants and ensure
that women are not being discriminated against.
For example, female ex-combatants should
qualify to receive the same benefts as their male
counterparts.
Humanitarian Response Protecting Refugees
and Internally Displaced Persons
Calls upon all parties to armed confict to respect
the civilian and humanitarian character of
refugee camps and settlements, and to take into
account the particular needs of women and girls,
including in their design.
Government agencies involved in relief efforts need
to mainstream gender into their assistance efforts,
including in the following ways:
Involving refugee and displaced women in the
planning and implementation of assistance
programmes; and
Directing security forces to pay special attention
to the protection and assistance needs of women
and girls.
Preventing and Responding to Gender-Based
Violence
Calls on all parties to armed confict to take
special measures to protect women and girls
from gender-based violence, particularly rape
and other forms of sexual abuse, and all other
forms of violence in situations of armed confict.
Security institutions and personnel play a central
role in combating gender-based violence.
They need to be trained appropriately and held
accountable, including through:
Prioritizing the implementation of international,
regional, and national commitments concerning
the elimination of gender-based violence;
Adopting clear legislation and codes of conduct
on the responsibility of security sector personnel
for human rights violations;
Closely monitoring complaints, performing
investigations, and seeking punishment for
human rights violations by security sector
personnel, with the aim of ending impunity for
gender-based violence; and
Providing training for offcials in the police forces
and the judicial system to help them better
recognize the implications of gender-based
violence and more effectively combat it.
Three civil affairs offcers of the joint African Union/United Nations
Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) meet with a group of IDPs at a
Women Community Centre in the Abu-Shouk Camp to hear about their
security and health situation in the camp. (UN Photo #397932 by Olivier
Chassot, February 2009)
Conducting a gender audit of proposed and
existing security policies with the help of
gender experts, and ensuring gender-sensitive
monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in all
institutions; and
Considering the benefts of an ombudsperson,
with special powers to oversee the integration of
gender issues within defence and other security
sector institutions.
Gender Balance Involving Women in
Decision-Making
Urges Member States to ensure increased
representation of women at all decision-making
levels in national, regional and international
institutions and mechanisms for the prevention,
management, and resolution of confict.
A necessary though on its own insuffcient
condition for successful implementation of SCR
1325 (2000) is more equal representation of
women and men in decision-making. Measures to
this end might include the following:
Placing increased emphasis on the
implementation of international, regional, and
national commitments in regard to the full and
equal participation of women;
Conducting an evaluation of the gender
implications of the electoral system;
Considering the benefts of adopting voluntary
gender quotas by political parties; and
Considering measures (including quotas) to help
achieve gender-balance in committees dealing
with security issues.
7.5 Key Issues: Commitment of
Resources and Measuring Results
One of the major problems encountered when
evaluating the true impact of gender policies
is the gap between intention and action. SCR
1325 (2000) is no exception. To avoid failure, it
is essential that governments identify a specifc
budget for implementation when developing an
action plan. Without appropriate resources, the
action plan is likely to remain an interesting political
document rather than the framework for action that
it ought to be.
The development of national action plans should
also be accompanied by capacity-building activities
to enhance the human and institutional resources
needed to implement the resolution at the national
level. These activities include training; the design
and implementation of guidelines; and other
initiatives that build capacity for the implementation
of SCR 1325 (2000). Capacity-building initiatives
can be internal to a particular ministry or
cross-cutting through all ministries involved in
policy design, planning, and programming in the
area of WPS.
The establishment of systematic and
comprehensive monitoring and evaluation
procedures is another crucial factor contributing
to the successful implementation of the action
plan. Such procedures will allow for reporting on
the success of initiatives and the identifcation of
challenges, and can also hold actors responsible
for implementation and provide incentives.
Monitoring and evaluation are not limited to
sex-disaggregated data and statistics. They
must also examine the direct causal link between
implemented reforms, developed capacities,
and adopted measures and changes in gender
equality and womens empowerment. In-depth
analysis about the gender dimensions of security
threats and responses, as well as gender-sensitive
indicators, are equally important.
In order to evaluate the true impact of the action
plan, ongoing monitoring of both activities and
outcomes is critical, as is holistic evaluation of
the progress towards implementing the plan and
Post-Confict Rehabilitation Truth and
Reconciliation Commissions
Emphasizes the responsibility of all States
to put an end to impunity and to prosecute
those responsible for genocide, crimes against
humanity, war crimes including those relating
to sexual and other violence against women
and girls, and in this regard stresses the need
to exclude these crimes, where feasible from
amnesty provisions.
Successful post-confict reconstruction and
rehabilitation require a full accounting of all crimes
committed during confict. Therefore:
The government should ensure that the
composition of truth commissions and special
courts is gender-balanced and will monitor their
operations. For example, parliament can pass
enabling legislations for the creation of such
bodies and can demand a gender-sensitive
process; and
Steps should be taken to ensure that a gender
perspective informs all proceedings.
Peacekeeping Operations
Requests the Secretary-General to provide to
Member States training guidelines and materials
on the protection, rights and the particular
needs of women, as well as on the importance
of involving women in all peacekeeping and
peace-building measures, invites Member States
to incorporate these elements as well as HIV/
AIDS awareness training into their national
training programmes for military and civilian
police personnel in preparation for deployment,
and further requests the Secretary-General to
ensure that civilian personnel of peacekeeping
operations receive similar training.
Peacekeeping missions are more effective when
their members have received gender training and
the force itself includes women in the command
structure, as well as in the actual force itself. Thus,
appropriate provisions might include:
Directing the armed forces to provide women
equal access to service in peacekeeping
missions;
The full application of codes of conduct and
zero-tolerance policies with respect to sexual
exploitation and abuse (SEA); and
Providing training to all personnel on the rights
and protection of women including on issues
related to HIV/AIDS before being deployed on
a mission.
Security Sector Reform
The full implementation of SCR 1325 (2000)
requires a reform of the security sector informed
by a gender perspective. A gender lens is essential
in helping the security services including police,
armed forces, and the intelligence services to
develop inclusive, needs-based policies that take
into account the different security needs of women
and men, boys and girls, including through the
following steps:
Strengthening oversight of the human resources,
recruitment, policies, training, and management
of security sector institutions in order to ensure
that they promote the full and equal participation
of women and men, operate effectively, are
non-discriminatory, and address gender-based
insecurities;
Encouraging civil society oversight mechanisms
that monitor the security sector such as public
hearings to give a voice to womens groups
and others that tend to be excluded from security
discussions;
Providing all security sector personnel
including security policy-makers such as
parliamentarians and defence and security
ministries with training on gender issues;
the impact thereof. This review is best conducted
by the inter-agency task force or government-
coordinating body, in close collaboration with civil
society and UN partners. Independent studies by
womens organizations are often also helpful in
assessing progress, identifying obstacles, updating
targets, and proposing new strategies.
7.6 Deciding on an Integrated or
Separate Approach to Action Plans
Many African countries already have action
plans and policies on gender equality, based
especially on CEDAW and the Beijing Platform.
In accordance with the commitments that nations
make relative to these documents, evaluation and
progress reports are submitted to the UN. African
countries have also committed to gender equality
at the continental level within the African Union.
By signing the Solemn Declaration on Gender
Equality in Africa, governments have committed to
submitting annual reports on the implementation of
this declaration to the African Union Commission.
Because of these existing commitments, some
countries around the globe have argued that
because many components of the resolution
overlap with sections of their gender-equality plans,
as well as with broader peace and security policies,
separate action plans on WPS are unnecessary.
Instead, these institutions and countries have
attempted to integrate WPS issues into their
initiatives, laws, policies, and plans on peace and
security. Though it is essential to mainstream
WPS issues, this approach has had mixed results.
Rather than either a separate action plan or an
integrated approach, a combination of both might
be most successful. It is up to each country to fnd
the best way of implementing SCR 1325 (2000).
Many arguments have been made that a separate
action plan on WPS is an essential tool in order to
effectively and holistically implement SCR 1325
(2000). In a study exploring the implementation of
the resolution by Canada, the Netherlands, and
the United Kingdom, one researcher found that
interviewees in all three countries felt that the
implementation processes for SCR 1325 (2000)
would be improved by creating a comprehensive
action plan.
10
The box on the next page lists some of the pros
and cons of each approach, compiled from
interviews and documents on action plans and
gender policies.
Though it is important to take into consideration
both the pros and cons when weighing these
two approaches, a third option is available. By
both creating a separate WPS action plan and
integrating WPS issues into other laws, policies,
and plans, the implementation of SCR 1325 (2000)
can be enhanced, and some of the drawbacks of
the frst two options can be avoided.
Lesson Summary
The importance of developing a national action
plan for the implementation of SCR 1325 (2000);
The key steps involved in the development of
such a plan; and
Some possible substantive provisions to include
in the plan.
10 Ibid., p. 31.
INTEGRATED APPROACH
Pros Cons
May require fewer resources.
11

Ensures that WPS issues are mainstreamed and
not isolated or marginalized.
WPS issues may be reduced to a brief token
statement.
Resources may be diverted from WPS issues to
other programmes that receive more attention.
12

SEPARATE WPS ACTION PLAN
Pros Cons
Easier to monitor and evaluate SCR 1325 (2000)
implementation and the implementation of WPS
issues in general.
Would bring more thorough attention to all the
components of SCR 1325 (2000).
Facilitates better interdepartmental coordination
and helps to avoid duplication.
13

Clarifes the specifc steps for SCR 1325 (2000)
implementation, since the action plan may
include separate goals, timelines, monitoring,
and evaluation mechanisms.
14

A participatory planning process that involves all
stakeholders can build:
Awareness of the issues
Dialogue among diverse groups of people
Support and accountability for
implementation
A sense of teamwork and collective
ownership
Requires more time and resources.
Might be easier to push to the side.
Might result in the duplication or undermining of
existing national gender action plans.
Might be regarded as simply emblematic and
not be implemented.
1

2

3

4

11 Caroline Moser, Gender Planning and
Development: Theory, Practice and Training
(London, Routledge, 1993), p. 151.
12 Ibid., p. 150.
13 The Gender and Peacebuilding Working
Group, A Canadian Civil Society Response to
the Offcial Government of Canada Report on the
Implementation of United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and
Security (Ottawa: The Canadian Peacebuilding
Coordinating Committee, October 2004). Available
from http://action.web.ca/home/cpcc/attach/
GPWGresponse.pdf, accessed 12 May 2009.
14 Ibid.
End-of-Lesson Quiz
9. Budgets for implementing national action
plans on women and peace and security:
A. Are not really necessary as long as there is
suffcient political will to implement the plan;
B. Are critical to ensuring that the plan is
implemented;
C. Do not need to be specifcally allocated for this
purpose;
D. Are only important in countries emerging from
confict.
10. One advantage to having a separate action
plan on women and peace and security is
that:
A. It brings thorough attention to all aspects of
SCR 1325 (2000);
B. It requires more resources than integrating
these issues into a general gender action plan;
C. It requires fewer resources than integrating
these issues into a general gender action plan;
D. There are no advantages to having a separate
action plan.
1. The frst step in creating a national action
plan on women and peace and security is:
A. Awareness-raising and advocacy;
B. Drafting the action plan;
C. Planning meetings or workshops;
D. Writing the terms of reference.
2. A national action plan that is not derived
from broad consensus will likely:
A. Be very successful;
B. Take into account the needs of all stakeholders;
C. Be adequately accepted;
D. Fail to be implemented.
3. Management of the technical aspects of the
national action plan development process
including the organization of meetings
and activities, the preparation of research
and analyses, and the presentation of
recommendations to the task force is best
carried out by:
A. The United Nations;
B. A managerial working group or ministry staff;
C. Regional organizations;
D. The head of state.
4. Who is best suited to perform an audit of the
internal and external context of women and
peace and security issues?
A. A professional research expert;
B. UN bodies;
C. A meeting of civil society organizations;
D. Varies depending on the resources, time, and
scope of each situation.
5. Terms of reference for the creation of a
national action plan typically includes:
A. Rationale;
B. Objectives;
C. Budget;
6. The elements and content of a national action
plan on women and peace and security:
A. Should be copied directly from this lesson;
B. Are best decided by one or two people instead
of a broad coalition of stakeholders;
C. Will vary from country to country depending on
context;
D. Should be the same for all countries in Africa.
7. A plan for monitoring and evaluation:
A. Should not be included in the action plan itself;
B. Should be developed only after implementation
is underway;
C. Should be used to track results and progress
and create accountability for implementation;
D. Should only be included in the action plan if
extra funding is available.
8. In order to ensure womens equal
participation in formal peace negotiations
in the drafting and implementation of an
accord and to recognize their contributions
to informal peace processes, governments
can take actions such as:
A. Fully including women in any delegation to
formal peace negotiations;
B. Insisting that all parties at the peace table
include women in their negotiating delegations;
C. Highlighting the importance of bringing a
gender perspective into the peace process
through parliament and other fora;
ANSWER KEY
1A, 2D, 3B, 4D, 5D, 6C, 7C, 8D, 9B, 10A
1 3 4 | P e A C e oP e r At i on s t r A i n i n G i n s t i t U t e i mP l e me n tAt i on of s C r 1 3 2 5 ( 2 0 0 0 ) i n A f r i C A | 1 3 5
Appendix A: List of Acronyms
Acronym Meaning
AU African Union
CAR Central African Republic
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
CEWARN Confict Early Warning and Response Mechanism
CEWERUs Confict Early Warning and Response Units
CEWS Continental Early Warning System
CSOs Civil society organizations
CSW Commission on the Status of Women
DDR Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration
DPKO Department of Peacekeeping Operations
DRC Democratic Republic of the Congo
ECA Economic Commission for Africa
ECCAS Economic Community of Central African States
ECOMOG Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group
ECOWARN ECOWAS Warning and Response Network
ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States
EGDC ECOWAS Gender Development Centre
FNL Forces nationales de libration
ICTR International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
IDEA Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
IDP Internally displaced person
IGAD Intergovernmental Authority of Development
INSTRAW International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women
JAM Joint Assessment Mission
LRA Lords Resistance Army
MDRP Multi-country Demobilization and Reintegration Program
NGO Non-governmental Organization
OAU Organization of African Unity
OSAGI Offce of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women
RECs Regional Economic Communities
SADC Southern Africa Development Community
SC Security Council
SCR Security Council resolution
SEA Sexual exploitation and abuse
SGBV Sexual and gender-based violence
SRSG Special Representative of the Secretary-General
SSR Security Sector Reform
SWOC Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges
TRCs Truth and Reconciliation Commissions
UN United Nations
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women
UPC Union of Congolese Patriots
WPS Women and Peace and Security
UNGOMAP United Nations Good Offces Mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan
UNIFIL* United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
UNIIMOG United Nations Iran-Iraq Military Observer Group
UNIKOM United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission
UNIPOM United Nations India-Pakistan Observation Mission
UNISFA* United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei
UNMEE United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea
UNMIBH United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina
UNMIH United Nations Mission in Haiti
UNMIK* United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
UNMIL* United Nations Mission in Liberia
UNMIS United Nations Mission in the Sudan
UNMISS* United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan
UNMISET United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor
UNMIT* United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste
UNMOGIP* United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan
UNMOP United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka
UNMOT United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan
UNOCI* United Nations Operation in Cte dIvoire
UNOGIL United Nations Observation Group in Lebanon
UNOMIG United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia
UNOMIL United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia
UNOMSIL United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone
UNOMUR United Nations Observer Mission Uganda-Rwanda
UNOSOM United Nations Operation in Somalia
UNPREDEP United Nations Preventive Deployment Force
UNPROFOR United Nations Protection Force
UNPSG United Nations Civilian Police Support Group
BINUB United Nations Integrated Offce in Burundi
DOMREP Mission of the Representative of the Secretary-General in the Dominican Republic
MINUGUA United Nations Verifcation Mission in Guatemala
MINURCA United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic
MINURCAT United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad
MINURSO* United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara
MINUSTAH* United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti
MIPONUH United Nations Civilian Police Mission in Haiti
MONUA United Nations Observer Mission in Angola
MONUC United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
MONUSCO* United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo
ONUB United Nations Operation in Burundi
ONUC United Nations Operation in the Congo
ONUCA United Nations Observer Group in Central America
ONUMOZ United Nations Operation in Mozambique
ONUSAL United Nations Observer Mission in El Salvador
UNAMA* United Nations Mission in Afghanistan
UNAMIC United Nations Advance Mission in Cambodia
UNAMID* African Union/United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur
UNAMIR United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda
UNAMSIL United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone
UNASOG United Nations Aouzou Strip Observer Group
UNAVEM United Nations Angola Verifcation Mission
UNCRO United Nations Confdence Restoration Operation
UNDOF* United Nations Disengagement Observer Force
UNEF United Nations Emergency Force
UNFICYP* United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus
Appendix B: List of UN Peackeeeping Operations
UNSF United Nations Security Force in West New Guinea (West Irian)
UNSMIH United Nations Support Mission in Haiti
UNSMIS* UN Supervision Mission in Syria
UNTAC United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia
UNTAES United Nations Transitional Authority in Eastern Slavonia, Baranja, and Western Sirmium
UNTAET United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor
UNTAG United Nations Transition Assistance Group
UNTMIH United Nations Transition Mission in Haiti
UNTSO* United Nations Truce Supervision Organization
UNYOM United Nations Yemen Observation Mission
* Ongoing operations, as of May 2012.
For more information on these operations, visit UN DPKOs Web site at
http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/
Appendix C: Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000)
United Nations S/RES/1325 (2000)
Security Council Distr.: General
31 October 2000
00-72018 (E)
`````````
Resolution 1325 (2000)
Adopted by the Security Council at its 4213th meeting, on
31 October 2000
The Security Council,
Recalling its resolutions 1261 (1999) of 25 August 1999, 1265 (1999) of 17
September 1999, 1296 (2000) of 19 April 2000 and 1314 (2000) of 11 August 2000,
as well as relevant statements of its President, and recalling also the statement of its
President to the press on the occasion of the United Nations Day for Womens
Rights and International Peace (International Womens Day) of 8 March 2000
(SC/6816),
Recalling also the commitments of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action (A/52/231) as well as those contained in the outcome document of the
twenty-third Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly entitled
Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First
Century (A/S-23/10/Rev.1), in particular those concerning women and armed
conflict,
Bearing in mind the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United
Nations and the primary responsibility of the Security Council under the Charter for
the maintenance of international peace and security,
Expressing concern that civilians, particularly women and children, account
for the vast majority of those adversely affected by armed conflict, including as
refugees and internally displaced persons, and increasingly are targeted by
combatants and armed elements, and recognizing the consequent impact this has on
durable peace and reconciliation,
Reaffirming the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of
conflicts and in peace-building, and stressing the importance of their equal
participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion
of peace and security, and the need to increase their role in decision-making with
regard to conflict prevention and resolution,
Reaffirming also the need to implement fully international humanitarian and
human rights law that protects the rights of women and girls during and after
conflicts,
3
S/RES/1325 (2000)
8. Calls on all actors involved, when negotiating and implementing peace
agreements, to adopt a gender perspective, including, inter alia:
(a) The special needs of women and girls during repatriation and
resettlement and for rehabilitation, reintegration and post-conflict reconstruction;
(b) Measures that support local womens peace initiatives and indigenous
processes for conflict resolution, and that involve women in all of the
implementation mechanisms of the peace agreements;
(c) Measures that ensure the protection of and respect for human rights of
women and girls, particularly as they relate to the constitution, the electoral system,
the police and the judiciary;
9. Calls upon all parties to armed conflict to respect fully international law
applicable to the rights and protection of women and girls, especially as civilians, in
particular the obligations applicable to them under the Geneva Conventions of 1949
and the Additional Protocols thereto of 1977, the Refugee Convention of 1951 and
the Protocol thereto of 1967, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women of 1979 and the Optional Protocol thereto of 1999
and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 and the two
Optional Protocols thereto of 25 May 2000, and to bear in mind the relevant
provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;
10. Calls on all parties to armed conflict to take special measures to protect
women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of
sexual abuse, and all other forms of violence in situations of armed conflict;
11. Emphasizes the responsibility of all States to put an end to impunity and
to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war
crimes including those relating to sexual and other violence against women and
girls, and in this regard stresses the need to exclude these crimes, where feasible
from amnesty provisions;
12. Calls upon all parties to armed conflict to respect the civilian and
humanitarian character of refugee camps and settlements, and to take into account
the particular needs of women and girls, including in their design, and recalls its
resolutions 1208 (1998) of 19 November 1998 and 1296 (2000) of 19 April 2000;
13. Encourages all those involved in the planning for disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration to consider the different needs of female and male
ex-combatants and to take into account the needs of their dependants;
14. Reaffirms its readiness, whenever measures are adopted under Article 41
of the Charter of the United Nations, to give consideration to their potential impact
on the civilian population, bearing in mind the special needs of women and girls, in
order to consider appropriate humanitarian exemptions;
15. Expresses its willingness to ensure that Security Council missions take
into account gender considerations and the rights of women, including through
consultation with local and international womens groups;
16. Invites the Secretary-General to carry out a study on the impact of armed
conflict on women and girls, the role of women in peace-building and the gender
dimensions of peace processes and conflict resolution, and further invites him to
2
S/RES/1325 (2000)
Emphasizing the need for all parties to ensure that mine clearance and mine
awareness programmes take into account the special needs of women and girls,
Recognizing the urgent need to mainstream a gender perspective into
peacekeeping operations, and in this regard noting the Windhoek Declaration and
the Namibia Plan of Action on Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in
Multidimensional Peace Support Operations (S/2000/693),
Recognizing also the importance of the recommendation contained in the
statement of its President to the press of 8 March 2000 for specialized training for
all peacekeeping personnel on the protection, special needs and human rights of
women and children in conflict situations,
Recognizing that an understanding of the impact of armed conflict on women
and girls, effective institutional arrangements to guarantee their protection and full
participation in the peace process can significantly contribute to the maintenance
and promotion of international peace and security,
Noting the need to consolidate data on the impact of armed conflict on women
and girls,
1. Urges Member States to ensure increased representation of women at all
decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and
mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict;
2. Encourages the Secretary-General to implement his strategic plan of
action (A/49/587) calling for an increase in the participation of women at decision-
making levels in conflict resolution and peace processes;
3. Urges the Secretary-General to appoint more women as special
representatives and envoys to pursue good offices on his behalf, and in this regard
calls on Member States to provide candidates to the Secretary-General, for inclusion
in a regularly updated centralized roster;
4. Further urges the Secretary-General to seek to expand the role and
contribution of women in United Nations field-based operations, and especially
among military observers, civilian police, human rights and humanitarian personnel;
5. Expresses its willingness to incorporate a gender perspective into
peacekeeping operations, and urges the Secretary-General to ensure that, where
appropriate, field operations include a gender component;
6. Requests the Secretary-General to provide to Member States training
guidelines and materials on the protection, rights and the particular needs of women,
as well as on the importance of involving women in all peacekeeping and peace-
building measures, invites Member States to incorporate these elements as well as
HIV/AIDS awareness training into their national training programmes for military
and civilian police personnel in preparation for deployment, and further requests the
Secretary-General to ensure that civilian personnel of peacekeeping operations
receive similar training;
7. Urges Member States to increase their voluntary financial, technical and
logistical support for gender-sensitive training efforts, including those undertaken
by relevant funds and programmes, inter alia, the United Nations Fund for Women
and United Nations Childrens Fund, and by the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees and other relevant bodies;
19 June 2008
08-39144 (E)
*0839144*
19 June 2008
Reaffirming its commitment to the continuing and full implementation of
resolution 1325 (2000), 1612 (2005) and 1674 (2006) and recalling the Statements
of its president of 31 October 2001 (Security Council/PRST/2001/31), 31 October
2002 (Security Council/PRST/2002/32), 28 October 2004 (Security
Council/PRST/2004/40), 27 October 2005 (Security Council/PRST/2005/52),
8 November 2006 (Security Council/PRST/2006/42), 7 March 2007 (Security
Council/PRST/2007/5), and 24 October 2007 (Security Council/PRST/2007/40);
Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
Reaffirming also the resolve expressed in the 2005 World Summit Outcome
Document to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, including by
ending impunity and by ensuring the protection of civilians, in particular women
and girls, during and after armed conflicts, in accordance with the obligations States
have undertaken under international humanitarian law and international human
rights law;
Recalling the commitments of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
(A/52/231) as well as those contained in the outcome document of the twenty-third
Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly entitled Women 2000:
Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century
(A/S-23/10/Rev.1), in particular those concerning sexual violence and women in
situations of armed conflict;
Reaffirming also the obligations of States Parties to the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Optional Protocol
thereto, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocols
thereto, and urging states that have not yet done so to consider ratifying or acceding
to them,
Noting that civilians account for the vast majority of those adversely affected
by armed conflict; that women and girls are particularly targeted by the use of
sexual violence, including as a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instil fear in,
disperse and/or forcibly relocate civilian members of a community or ethnic group;
4
S/RES/1325 (2000)
submit a report to the Security Council on the results of this study and to make this
available to all Member States of the United Nations;
17. Requests the Secretary-General, where appropriate, to include in his
reporting to the Security Council progress on gender mainstreaming throughout
peacekeeping missions and all other aspects relating to women and girls;
18. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.
Appendix D: Security Council Resolution 1820 (2008)
S/RES/1820 (2008)
3 08-39144
3. Demands that all parties to armed conflict immediately take appropriate
measures to protect civilians, including women and girls, from all forms of sexual
violence, which could include, inter alia, enforcing appropriate military disciplinary
measures and upholding the principle of command responsibility, training troops on
the categorical prohibition of all forms of sexual violence against civilians,
debunking myths that fuel sexual violence, vetting armed and security forces to take
into account past actions of rape and other forms of sexual violence, and evacuation
of women and children under imminent threat of sexual violence to safety; and
requests the Secretary-General, where appropriate, to encourage dialogue to address
this issue in the context of broader discussions of conflict resolution between
appropriate UN officials and the parties to the conflict, taking into account, inter
alia, the views expressed by women of affected local communities;
4. Notes that rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute a war
crime, a crime against humanity, or a constitutive act with respect to genocide,
stresses the need for the exclusion of sexual violence crimes from amnesty
provisions in the context of conflict resolution processes, and calls upon Member
States to comply with their obligations for prosecuting persons responsible for such
acts, to ensure that all victims of sexual violence, particularly women and girls, have
equal protection under the law and equal access to justice, and stresses the
importance of ending impunity for such acts as part of a comprehensive approach to
seeking sustainable peace, justice, truth, and national reconciliation;
5. Affirms its intention, when establishing and renewing state-specific
sanctions regimes, to take into consideration the appropriateness of targeted and
graduated measures against parties to situations of armed conflict who commit rape
and other forms of sexual violence against women and girls in situations of armed
conflict;
6. Requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Security
Council, the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations and its Working Group
and relevant States, as appropriate, to develop and implement appropriate training
programs for all peacekeeping and humanitarian personnel deployed by the United
Nations in the context of missions as mandated by the Council to help them better
prevent, recognize and respond to sexual violence and other forms of violence
against civilians;
7. Requests the Secretary-General to continue and strengthen efforts to
implement the policy of zero tolerance of sexual exploitation and abuse in United
Nations peacekeeping operations; and urges troop and police contributing countries
to take appropriate preventative action, including pre-deployment and in-theater
awareness training, and other action to ensure full accountability in cases of such
conduct involving their personnel;
8. Encourages troop and police contributing countries, in consultation with
the Secretary-General, to consider steps they could take to heighten awareness and
the responsiveness of their personnel participating in UN peacekeeping operations
to protect civilians, including women and children, and prevent sexual violence
against women and girls in conflict and post-conflict situations, including wherever
possible the deployment of a higher percentage of women peacekeepers or police;
9. Requests the Secretary-General to develop effective guidelines and
strategies to enhance the ability of relevant UN peacekeeping operations, consistent
S/RES/1820 (2008)
08-39144 2
and that sexual violence perpetrated in this manner may in some instances persist
after the cessation of hostilities;
Recalling its condemnation in the strongest terms of all sexual and other forms
of violence committed against civilians in armed conflict, in particular women and
children;
Reiterating deep concern that, despite its repeated condemnation of violence
against women and children in situations of armed conflict, including sexual
violence in situations of armed conflict, and despite its calls addressed to all parties
to armed conflict for the cessation of such acts with immediate effect, such acts
continue to occur, and in some situations have become systematic and widespread,
reaching appalling levels of brutality,
Recalling the inclusion of a range of sexual violence offences in the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court and the statutes of the ad hoc
international criminal tribunals,
conflicts and in peacebuilding, and stressing the importance of their equal
Deeply concerned also about the persistent obstacles and challenges to
womens participation and full involvement in the prevention and resolution of
conflicts as a result of violence, intimidation and discrimination, which erode
womens capacity and legitimacy to participate in post-conflict public life, and
acknowledging the negative impact this has on durable peace, security and
reconciliation, including post-conflict peacebuilding,
Recognizing that States bear primary responsibility to respect and ensure the
human rights of their citizens, as well as all individuals within their territory as
provided for by relevant international law,
Reaffirming that parties to armed conflict bear the primary responsibility to
take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of affected civilians,
Welcoming the ongoing coordination of efforts within the United Nations
system, marked by the inter-agency initiative United Nations Action against Sexual
Violence in Conflict, to create awareness about sexual violence in armed conflicts
and post-conflict situations and, ultimately, to put an end to it,
1. Stresses that sexual violence, when used or commissioned as a tactic of
war in order to deliberately target civilians or as a part of a widespread or
systematic attack against civilian populations, can significantly exacerbate
situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of international peace
and security, affirms in this regard that effective steps to prevent and respond to
such acts of sexual violence can significantly contribute to the maintenance of
international peace and security, and expresses its readiness, when considering
situations on the agenda of the Council, to, where necessary, adopt appropriate steps
to address widespread or systematic sexual violence;
2. Demands the immediate and complete cessation by all parties to armed
conflict of all acts of sexual violence against civilians with immediate effect;
S/RES/1820 (2008)
5 08-39144
completely ceasing all acts of sexual violence and in taking appropriate measures to
protect women and girls from all forms of sexual violence;
S/RES/1820 (2008)
08-39144 4
with their mandates, to protect civilians, including women and girls, from all forms
of sexual violence and to systematically include in his written reports to the Council
on conflict situations his observations concerning the protection of women and girls
and recommendations in this regard;
10. Requests the Secretary-General and relevant United Nations agencies,
inter alia, through consultation with women and women-led organizations as
appropriate, to develop effective mechanisms for providing protection from
violence, including in particular sexual violence, to women and girls in and around
UN managed refugee and internally displaced persons camps, as well as in all
disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration processes, and in justice and
security sector reform efforts assisted by the United Nations;
11. Stresses the important role the Peacebuilding Commission can play by
including in its advice and recommendations for post-conflict peacebuilding
strategies, where appropriate, ways to address sexual violence committed during and
in the aftermath of armed conflict, and in ensuring consultation and effective
representation of womens civil society in its country-specific configurations, as
part of its wider approach to gender issues;
12. Urges the Secretary-General and his Special Envoys to invite women to
participate in discussions pertinent to the prevention and resolution of conflict, the
maintenance of peace and security, and post-conflict peacebuilding, and encourages
all parties to such talks to facilitate the equal and full participation of women at
decision-making levels;
13. Urges all parties concerned, including Member States, United Nations
entities and financial institutions, to support the development and strengthening of
the capacities of national institutions, in particular of judicial and health systems,
and of local civil society networks in order to provide sustainable assistance to
victims of sexual violence in armed conflict and post-conflict situations;
14. Urges appropriate regional and sub-regional bodies in particular to
consider developing and implementing policies, activities, and advocacy for the
benefit of women and girls affected by sexual violence in armed conflict;
15. Also requests the Secretary-General to submit a report to the Council by
30 June 2009 on the implementation of this resolution in the context of situations
which are on the agenda of the Council, utilizing information from available United
Nations sources, including country teams, peacekeeping operations, and other
United Nations personnel, which would include, inter alia, information on situations
of armed conflict in which sexual violence has been widely or systematically
employed against civilians; analysis of the prevalence and trends of sexual violence
in situations of armed conflict; proposals for strategies to minimize the
susceptibility of women and girls to such violence; benchmarks for measuring
progress in preventing and addressing sexual violence; appropriate input from
United Nations implementing partners in the field; information on his plans for
facilitating the collection of timely, objective, accurate, and reliable information on
the use of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict, including through
improved coordination of UN activities on the ground and at Headquarters; and
information on actions taken by parties to armed conflict to implement their
responsibilities as described in this resolution, in particular by immediately and
S/RES/1889 (2009)

09-54255 2

involvement in the development and implementation of post-conflict strategies in
order to take into account their perspectives and needs,
Expressing deep concern about the under-representation of women at all stages
of peace processes, particularly the very low numbers of women in formal roles in
mediation processes and stressing the need to ensure that women are appropriately
appointed at decision-making levels, as high level mediators, and within the
composition of the mediators teams,
Remaining deeply concerned about the persistent obstacles to womens full
involvement in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and participation in post-
conflict public life, as a result of violence and intimidation, lack of security and lack
of rule of law, cultural discrimination and stigmatization, including the rise of
extremist or fanatical views on women, and socio-economic factors including the
lack of access to education, and in this respect, recognizing that the marginalization
of women can delay or undermine the achievement of durable peace, security and
reconciliation,
Recognizing the particular needs of women and girls in post-conflict
situations, including, inter alia, physical security, health services including
reproductive and mental health, ways to ensure their livelihoods, land and property
rights, employment, as well as their participation in decision-making and post-
conflict planning, particularly at early stages of post-conflict peacebuilding,
Noting that despite progress, obstacles to strengthening womens participation
in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding remain, expressing
concern that womens capacity to engage in public decision making and economic
recovery often does not receive adequate recognition or financing in post-conflict
situations, and underlining that funding for womens early recovery needs is vital to
increase womens empowerment, which can contribute to effective post-conflict
peacebuilding,
Noting that women in situations of armed conflict and post-conflict situations
continue to be often considered as victims and not as actors in addressing and
resolving situations of armed conflict and stressing the need to focus not only on
protection of women but also on their empowerment in peacebuilding,
Recognizing that an understanding of the impact of situations of armed conflict
on women and girls, including as refugees and internally displaced persons,
adequate and rapid response to their particular needs, and effective institutional
arrangements to guarantee their protection and full participation in the peace
process, particularly at early stages of post-conflict peacebuilding, can significantly
contribute to the maintenance and promotion of international peace and security,
Welcoming the United Nations initiative to develop a system similar to that
pioneered by the United Nations Development Programme to allow decision-makers
to track gender-related allocations in United Nations Development Group
Multi-Donor Trust Funds,
Welcoming the efforts of the Secretary-General to appoint more women to
senior United Nations positions, particularly in field missions, as a tangible step
towards providing United Nations leadership on implementation of its resolution
1325 (2000),
United Nations S/RES/1888 (2009)*
30 September 2009
09-53446* (E)
*0953446*
Adopted by the Security Council at its 6195th meeting,
on 30 September 2009
Reaffirming its commitment to the continuing and full implementation of
resolutions 1325 (2000), 1612 (2005), 1674 (2006), 1820 (2008) and 1882 (2009)
and all relevant statements of its President,
Welcoming the report of the Secretary-General of 16 July 2009 (S/2009/362),
but remaining deeply concerned over the lack of progress on the issue of sexual
violence in situations of armed conflict in particular against women and children,
notably against girls, and noting as documented in the Secretary-Generals report
that sexual violence occurs in armed conflicts throughout the world,
Reiterating deep concern that, despite its repeated condemnation of violence
against women and children including all forms of sexual violence in situations of
armed conflict, and despite its calls addressed to all parties to armed conflict for the
cessation of such acts with immediate effect, such acts continue to occur, and in
some situations have become systematic or widespread,
Recalling the commitments of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
(A/52/231) as well as those contained in the outcome document of the twenty-third
Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly entitled Women 2000:
Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First Century
(A/S-23/10/Rev.1), in particular those concerning women and armed conflict,
Reaffirming the obligations of States Parties to the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Optional Protocol
thereto, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocols
thereto, and urging states that have not yet done so to consider ratifying or acceding
to them,
Recalling that international humanitarian law affords general protection to
women and children as part of the civilian population during armed conflicts and
special protection due to the fact that they can be placed particularly at risk,
* Reissued for technical reasons on 22 June 2010.
Appendix E: Security Council Resolution 1888 (2009)
S/RES/1888 (2009)
09-53446 4
3. Demands that all parties to armed conflict immediately take appropriate
measures to protect civilians, including women and children, from all forms of
sexual violence, including measures such as, inter alia, enforcing appropriate
military disciplinary measures and upholding the principle of command
responsibility, training troops on the categorical prohibition of all forms of sexual
violence against civilians, debunking myths that fuel sexual violence and vetting
candidates for national armies and security forces to ensure the exclusion of those
associated with serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights
law, including sexual violence;
4. Requests that the United Nations Secretary-General appoint a Special
Representative to provide coherent and strategic leadership, to work effectively to
strengthen existing United Nations coordination mechanisms, and to engage in
advocacy efforts, inter alia with governments, including military and judicial
representatives, as well as with all parties to armed conflict and civil society, in
order to address, at both headquarters and country level, sexual violence in armed
conflict, while promoting cooperation and coordination of efforts among all relevant
stakeholders, primarily through the inter-agency initiative United Nations Action
Against Sexual Violence in Conflict;
5. Encourages the entities comprising UN Action Against Sexual Violence
in Conflict, as well as other relevant parts of the United Nations system, to support
the work of the aforementioned Special Representative of the Secretary-General and
to continue and enhance cooperation and information sharing among all relevant
stakeholders in order to reinforce coordination and avoid overlap at the headquarters
and country levels and improve system-wide response;
6. Urges States to undertake comprehensive legal and judicial reforms, as
appropriate, in conformity with international law, without delay and with a view to
bringing perpetrators of sexual violence in conflicts to justice and to ensuring that
survivors have access to justice, are treated with dignity throughout the justice
process and are protected and receive redress for their suffering;
7. Urges all parties to a conflict to ensure that all reports of sexual violence
committed by civilians or by military personnel are thoroughly investigated and the
alleged perpetrators brought to justice, and that civilian superiors and military
commanders, in accordance with international humanitarian law, use their authority
and powers to prevent sexual violence, including by combating impunity;
8. Calls upon the Secretary-General to identify and take the appropriate
measures to deploy rapidly a team of experts to situations of particular concern with
respect to sexual violence in armed conflict, working through the United Nations
presence on the ground and with the consent of the host government, to assist
national authorities to strengthen the rule of law, and recommends making use of
existing human resources within the United Nations system and voluntary
contributions, drawing upon requisite expertise, as appropriate, in the rule of law,
civilian and military judicial systems, mediation, criminal investigation, security
sector reform, witness protection, fair trial standards, and public outreach; to,
inter alia:
(a) Work closely with national legal and judicial officials and other
personnel in the relevant governments civilian and military justice systems to
S/RES/1888 (2009)
3 09-53446
thereby helping to build a security sector that is accessible and responsive to all,
especially women,
Welcoming the efforts of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations to
develop gender guidelines for military personnel in peacekeeping operations to
facilitate the implementation of resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008), and
operational guidance to assist civilian, military and police components of
peacekeeping missions to effectively implement resolution 1820 (2008),
Having considered the report of the Secretary-General of 16 July 2009
(S/2009/362) and stressing that the present resolution does not seek to make any
legal determination as to whether situations that are referred to in the Secretary-
Generals report are or are not armed conflicts within the context of the Geneva
Conventions and the Additional Protocols thereto, nor does it prejudge the legal
status of the non-State parties involved in these situations,
Recalling the Councils decision in resolution 1882 of 4 August 2009
(S/RES/1882) to expand the Annexed list in the Secretary Generals annual report
on Children and Armed Conflict of parties in situations of armed conflict engaged in
the recruitment or use of children in violation of international law to also include
those parties to armed conflict that engage, in contravention of applicable
international law, in patterns of killing and maiming of children and/or rape and
other sexual violence against children, in situations of armed conflict,
Noting the role currently assigned to the Office of the Special Adviser on
Gender Issues to monitor implementation of resolution 1325 and to promote gender
mainstreaming within the United Nations system, womens empowerment and
gender equality, and expressing the importance of effective coordination within the
United Nations system in these areas,
Recognizing that States bear the primary responsibility to respect and ensure
the human rights of their citizens, as well as all individuals within their territory as
provided for by relevant international law,
take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of affected civilians,
Reiterating its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international
peace and security and, in this connection, its commitment to continue to address
the widespread impact of armed conflict on civilians, including with regard to
sexual violence,
1. Reaffirms that sexual violence, when used or commissioned as a tactic of
war in order to deliberately target civilians or as a part of a widespread or
systematic attack against civilian populations, can significantly exacerbate
situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of international peace
and security; affirms in this regard that effective steps to prevent and respond to
such acts of sexual violence can significantly contribute to the maintenance of
international peace and security; and expresses its readiness, when considering
situations on the agenda of the Council, to take, where necessary, appropriate steps
to address widespread or systematic sexual violence in situations of armed conflict;
2. Reiterates its demand for the complete cessation by all parties to armed
conflict of all acts of sexual violence with immediate effect;
S/RES/1888 (2009)
09-53446 6
sensitizing communities on sexual violence to avoid marginalization and
stigmatization of victims, to assist with their social reintegration, and to combat a
culture of impunity for these crimes;
16. Urges the Secretary General, Member States and the heads of regional
organizations to take measures to increase the representation of women in mediation
processes and decision-making processes with regard to conflict resolution and
peacebuilding;
17. Urges that issues of sexual violence be included in all United Nations-
sponsored peace negotiation agendas, and also urges inclusion of sexual violence
issues from the outset of peace processes in such situations, in particular in the areas
of pre-ceasefires, humanitarian access and human rights agreements, ceasefires and
ceasefire monitoring, DDR and SSR arrangements, vetting of armed and security
forces, justice, reparations, and recovery/development;
18. Reaffirms the role of the Peacebuilding Commission in promoting
inclusive gender-based approaches to reducing instability in post-conflict situations,
noting the important role of women in rebuilding society, and urges the
Peacebuilding Commission to encourage all parties in the countries on its agenda to
incorporate and implement measures to reduce sexual violence in post-conflict
strategies;
19. Encourages Member States to deploy greater numbers of female military
and police personnel to United Nations peacekeeping operations, and to provide all
military and police personnel with adequate training to carry out their
responsibilities;
20. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that technical support is
provided to troop and police contributing countries, in order to include guidance for
military and police personnel on addressing sexual violence in predeployment and
induction training;
implement the policy of zero tolerance of sexual exploitation and abuse in United
Nations peacekeeping operations; and urges troop and police contributing countries
to take appropriate preventative action, including predeployment and in-theater
awareness training, and other action to ensure full accountability in cases of such
conduct involving their personnel;
22. Requests that the Secretary-General continue to direct all relevant United
Nations entities to take specific measures to ensure systematic mainstreaming of
gender issues within their respective institutions, including by ensuring allocation of
adequate financial and human resources within all relevant offices and departments
and on the ground, as well as to strengthen, within their respective mandates, their
cooperation and coordination when addressing the issue of sexual violence in armed
conflict;
23. Urges relevant Special Representatives and the Emergency Relief
Coordinator of the Secretary-General, with strategic and technical support from the
UN Action network, to work with Member States to develop joint Government-
United Nations Comprehensive Strategies to Combat Sexual Violence, in
consultation with all relevant stakeholders, and to regularly provide updates on this
in their standard reporting to Headquarters;
S/RES/1888 (2009)
5 09-53446
address impunity, including by the strengthening of national capacity, and drawing
attention to the full range of justice mechanisms to be considered;
(b) Identify gaps in national response and encourage a holistic national
approach to address sexual violence in armed conflict, including by enhancing
criminal accountability, responsiveness to victims, and judicial capacity;
(c) Make recommendations to coordinate domestic and international efforts
and resources to reinforce the governments ability to address sexual violence in
armed conflict;
(d) Work with the United Nations Mission, Country Team, and the
aforementioned Special Representative of the Secretary-General as appropriate
towards the full implementation of the measures called for by resolution
1820 (2008);
9. Encourages States, relevant United Nations entities and civil society, as
appropriate, to provide assistance in close cooperation with national authorities to
build national capacity in the judicial and law enforcement systems in situations of
particular concern with respect to sexual violence in armed conflict;
10. Reiterates its intention, when adopting or renewing targeted sanctions in
situations of armed conflict, to consider including, where appropriate, designation
criteria pertaining to acts of rape and other forms of sexual violence; and calls upon
all peacekeeping and other relevant United Nations missions and United Nations
bodies, in particular the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, to share
with relevant United Nations Security Council sanctions committees, including
through relevant United Nations Security Council Sanction Committees monitoring
groups and groups of experts, all pertinent information about sexual violence;
11. Expresses its intention to ensure that resolutions to establish or renew
peacekeeping mandates contain provisions, as appropriate, on the prevention of, and
response to, sexual violence, with corresponding reporting requirements to the
Council;
12. Decides to include specific provisions, as appropriate, for the protection
of women and children from rape and other sexual violence in the mandates of
United Nations peacekeeping operations, including, on a case-by-case basis, the
identification of womens protection advisers (WPAs) among gender advisers and
human rights protection units, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the
need for, and the number and roles of WPAs are systematically assessed during the
preparation of each United Nations peacekeeping operation;
13. Encourages States, with the support of the international community, to
increase access to health care, psychosocial support, legal assistance and socio
economic reintegration services for victims of sexual violence, in particular in rural
areas;
14. Expresses its intention to make better usage of periodical field visits to
conflict areas, through the organization of interactive meetings with the local
women and womens organizations in the field about the concerns and needs of
women in areas of armed conflict;
15. Encourages leaders at the national and local level, including traditional
leaders where they exist and religious leaders, to play a more active role in

Security Council

Distr.: General
5 October 2009

09-54255 (E)
*0954255*


5 October 2009

Reaffirming its commitment to the continuing and full implementation, in a
mutually reinforcing manner, of resolutions 1325 (2000), 1612 (2005), 1674 (2006),
1820 (2008), 1882 (2009), 1888 (2009) and all relevant Statements of its Presidents,
Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
and bearing in mind the primary responsibility of the Security Council under the
Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security,
Recalling the resolve expressed in the 2005 United Nations General Assembly
World Summit Outcome Document (A/RES/60/1) to eliminate all forms of violence
against women and girls, the obligations of States Parties to the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Optional
Protocol thereto, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional
Protocols thereto, recalling also the commitments contained in the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action as well as those contained in the outcome
document of the twenty-third Special Session of the United Nations General
Assembly entitled Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the
Twenty-First Century (A/S-23/10/Rev.1), in particular those concerning women
and armed conflict,
Having considered the report of the Secretary General (S/2009/465) of
16 September 2009 and stressing that the present resolution does not seek to make
any legal determination as to whether situations that are referred to in the Secretary-
status of the non-State parties involved in these situations,
Welcoming the efforts of Member States in implementing its resolution 1325
(2000) at the national level, including the development of national action plans, and
encouraging Member States to continue to pursue such implementation,
Reiterating the need for the full, equal and effective participation of women at
all stages of peace processes given their vital role in the prevention and resolution of
conflict and peacebuilding, reaffirming the key role women can play in
re-establishing the fabric of recovering society and stressing the need for their
S/RES/1888 (2009)
7 09-53446
24. Requests that the Secretary-General ensure more systematic reporting on
incidents of trends, emerging patterns of attack, and early warning indicators of the
use of sexual violence in armed conflict in all relevant reports to the Council, and
encourages the Special Representatives of the Secretary-General, the Emergency
Relief Coordinator, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special
Rapporteur on Violence against Women, and the Chairperson(s) of UN Action to
provide, in coordination with the aforementioned Special Representative, additional
briefings and documentation on sexual violence in armed conflict to the Council;
25. Requests the Secretary-General to include, where appropriate, in his
regular reports on individual peacekeeping operations, information on steps taken to
implement measures to protect civilians, particularly women and children, against
sexual violence;
26. Requests the Secretary-General, taking into account the proposals
contained in his report as well as any other relevant elements, to devise urgently and
preferably within three months, specific proposals on ways to ensure monitoring and
reporting in a more effective and efficient way within the existing United Nations
system on the protection of women and children from rape and other sexual violence
in armed conflict and post-conflict situations, utilizing expertise from the United
Nations system and the contributions of national Governments, regional
organizations, non-governmental organizations in their advisory capacity and
various civil society actors, in order to provide timely, objective, accurate and
reliable information on gaps in United Nations entities response, for consideration
in taking appropriate action;
27. Requests that the Secretary-General continue to submit annual reports to
the Council on the implementation of Resolution 1820 (2008) and to submit his next
report by September of 2010 on the implementation of this resolution and
Resolution 1820 (2008) to include, inter alia:
(a) a detailed coordination and strategy plan on the timely and ethical
collection of information;
(b) updates on efforts by United Nations Mission focal points on sexual
violence to work closely with the Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator
(RC/HC), the United Nations Country Team, and, where appropriate, the
aforementioned Special Representative and/or the Team of Experts, to address
sexual violence;
(c) information regarding parties to armed conflict that are credibly
suspected of committing patterns of rape or other forms of sexual violence, in
situations that are on the Councils agenda;
28. Decides to review, taking into account the process established by General
Assembly resolution 63/311 regarding a United Nations composite gender entity, the
mandates of the Special Representative requested in operative paragraph 4 and the
Team of Experts in operative paragraph 8 within two years, and as appropriate
thereafter;
Appendix F: Security Council Resolution 1889 (2009)

S/RES/1889 (2009)

3 09-54255

Welcoming the upcoming establishment of a United Nations Steering
Committee to enhance visibility and strengthen coordination within the United
Nations system regarding the preparations for the 10th anniversary of resolution
1325 (2000),
Encouraging relevant actors to organize events during 2009-2010 at the
global, regional and national levels to increase awareness about resolution 1325
(2000), including ministerial events, to renew commitments to Women and peace
and security, and to identify ways to address remaining and new challenges in
implementing resolution 1325 (2000) in the future,
1. Urges Member States, international and regional organisations to take
further measures to improve womens participation during all stages of peace
processes, particularly in conflict resolution, post-conflict planning and
peacebuilding, including by enhancing their engagement in political and economic
decision-making at early stages of recovery processes, through inter alia promoting
womens leadership and capacity to engage in aid management and planning,
supporting womens organizations, and countering negative societal attitudes about
womens capacity to participate equally;
2. Reiterates its call for all parties in armed conflicts to respect fully
international law applicable to the rights and protection of women and girls;
3. Strongly condemns all violations of applicable international law
committed against women and girls in situations of armed conflicts and
post-conflict situations, demands all parties to conflicts to cease such acts with
immediate effect, and emphasizes the responsibility of all States to put an end to
impunity and to prosecute those responsible for all forms of violence committed
against women and girls in armed conflicts, including rape and other sexual
violence;
4. Calls upon the Secretary-General to develop a strategy, including through
appropriate training, to increase the number of women appointed to pursue good
offices on his behalf, particularly as Special Representatives and Special Envoys,
and to take measures to increase womens participation in United Nations political,
peacebuilding and peacekeeping missions;
5. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that all country reports to the
Security Council provide information on the impact of situations of armed conflict
on women and girls, their particular needs in post-conflict situations and obstacles
to attaining those needs;
6. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that relevant United Nations
bodies, in cooperation with Member States and civil society, collect data on, analyze
and systematically assess particular needs of women and girls in post-conflict
situations, including, inter alia, information on their needs for physical security and
participation in decision-making and post-conflict planning, in order to improve
system-wide response to those needs;
7. Expresses its intention, when establishing and renewing the mandates of
United Nations missions, to include provisions on the promotion of gender equality
and the empowerment of women in post-conflict situations, and requests the
Secretary-General to continue, as appropriate, to appoint gender advisors and/or
women-protection advisors to United Nations missions and asks them, in
S/RES/1889 (2009)

09-54255 2

involvement in the development and implementation of post-conflict strategies in
order to take into account their perspectives and needs,
Expressing deep concern about the under-representation of women at all stages
of peace processes, particularly the very low numbers of women in formal roles in
mediation processes and stressing the need to ensure that women are appropriately
appointed at decision-making levels, as high level mediators, and within the
composition of the mediators teams,
Remaining deeply concerned about the persistent obstacles to womens full
involvement in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and participation in post-
conflict public life, as a result of violence and intimidation, lack of security and lack
of rule of law, cultural discrimination and stigmatization, including the rise of
extremist or fanatical views on women, and socio-economic factors including the
lack of access to education, and in this respect, recognizing that the marginalization
of women can delay or undermine the achievement of durable peace, security and
reconciliation,
Recognizing the particular needs of women and girls in post-conflict
situations, including, inter alia, physical security, health services including
reproductive and mental health, ways to ensure their livelihoods, land and property
rights, employment, as well as their participation in decision-making and post-
conflict planning, particularly at early stages of post-conflict peacebuilding,
Noting that despite progress, obstacles to strengthening womens participation
in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding remain, expressing
concern that womens capacity to engage in public decision making and economic
recovery often does not receive adequate recognition or financing in post-conflict
situations, and underlining that funding for womens early recovery needs is vital to
increase womens empowerment, which can contribute to effective post-conflict
peacebuilding,
Noting that women in situations of armed conflict and post-conflict situations
continue to be often considered as victims and not as actors in addressing and
resolving situations of armed conflict and stressing the need to focus not only on
protection of women but also on their empowerment in peacebuilding,
Recognizing that an understanding of the impact of situations of armed conflict
on women and girls, including as refugees and internally displaced persons,
adequate and rapid response to their particular needs, and effective institutional
arrangements to guarantee their protection and full participation in the peace
process, particularly at early stages of post-conflict peacebuilding, can significantly
contribute to the maintenance and promotion of international peace and security,
Welcoming the United Nations initiative to develop a system similar to that
pioneered by the United Nations Development Programme to allow decision-makers
to track gender-related allocations in United Nations Development Group
Multi-Donor Trust Funds,
Welcoming the efforts of the Secretary-General to appoint more women to
senior United Nations positions, particularly in field missions, as a tangible step
towards providing United Nations leadership on implementation of its resolution
1325 (2000),

S/RES/1889 (2009)

5 09-54255

Secretary General on sexual violence and armed conflict whose appointment has
been requested by its resolution 1888 (2009);
17. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Security Council within
6 months, for consideration, a set of indicators for use at the global level to track
implementation of its resolution 1325 (2000), which could serve as a common basis
for reporting by relevant United Nations entities, other international and regional
organizations, and Member States, on the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000)
in 2010 and beyond;
18. Requests the Secretary-General, within the report requested in
S/PRST/2007/40, to also include a review of progress in the implementation of its
resolution 1325 (2000), an assessment of the processes by which the Security
Council receives, analyses and takes action on information pertinent to resolution
1325 (2000), recommendations on further measures to improve coordination across
the United Nations system, and with Member States and civil society to deliver
implementation, and data on womens participation in United Nations missions;
19. Requests the Secretary-General to submit a report to the Security Council
within 12 months on addressing womens participation and inclusion in
peacebuilding and planning in the aftermath of conflict, taking into consideration
the views of the Peacebuilding Commission and to include, inter alia:
a. Analysis on the particular needs of women and girls in post-conflict
situations,
b. Challenges to womens participation in conflict resolution and
peacebuilding and gender mainstreaming in all early post-conflict planning,
financing and recovery processes,
c. Measures to support national capacity in planning for and financing
responses to the needs of women and girls in post-conflict situations,
d. Recommendations for improving international and national responses to
the needs of women and girls in post-conflict situations, including the
development of effective financial and institutional arrangements to guarantee
womens full and equal participation in the peacebuilding process,

S/RES/1889 (2009)

09-54255 4

cooperation with United Nations Country Teams, to render technical assistance and
improved coordination efforts to address recovery needs of women and girls in post-
conflict situations;
8. Urges Member States to ensure gender mainstreaming in all post-conflict
peacebuilding and recovery processes and sectors;
9. Urges Member States, United Nations bodies, donors and civil society to
ensure that womens empowerment is taken into account during post-conflict needs
assessments and planning, and factored into subsequent funding disbursements and
programme activities, including through developing transparent analysis and
tracking of funds allocated for addressing womens needs in the post-conflict phase;
10. Encourages Member States in post-conflict situations, in consultation
with civil society, including womens organizations, to specify in detail women and
girls needs and priorities and design concrete strategies, in accordance with their
legal systems, to address those needs and priorities, which cover inter alia support
for greater physical security and better socio-economic conditions, through
education, income generating activities, access to basic services, in particular health
services, including sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights and
mental health, gender-responsive law enforcement and access to justice, as well as
enhancing capacity to engage in public decision-making at all levels;
11. Urges Member States, United Nations bodies and civil society, including
non-governmental organizations, to take all feasible measures to ensure women and
girls equal access to education in post-conflict situations, given the vital role of
education in the promotion of womens participation in post-conflict decision-
making;
12. Calls upon all parties to armed conflicts to respect the civilian and
humanitarian character of refugee camps and settlements, and ensure the protection
of all civilians inhabiting such camps, in particular women and girls, from all forms
of violence, including rape and other sexual violence, and to ensure full, unimpeded
and secure humanitarian access to them;
13. Calls upon all those involved in the planning for disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration to take into account particular needs of women and
girls associated with armed forces and armed groups and their children, and provide
for their full access to these programmes;
14. Encourages the Peacebuilding Commission and Peacebuilding Support
Office to continue to ensure systematic attention to and mobilisation of resources for
advancing gender equality and womens empowerment as an integral part of post-
conflict peacebuilding, and to encourage the full participation of women in this
process;
15. Request the Secretary-General, in his agenda for action to improve the
United Nations peacebuilding efforts, to take account of the need to improve the
participation of women in political and economic decision-making from the earliest
stages of the peacebuilding process;
16. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure full transparency, cooperation
and coordination of efforts between the Special Representative of the Secretary-
General on Children and Armed Conflict and the Special Representative of the
S/RES/1960 (2010)
10-69834 2
Welcoming the progress made in rendering operational the team of experts to
assist national authorities to strengthen the rule of law in accordance with resolution
1888 (2009); reaffirming the importance of deploying it rapidly to situations of
particular concern with respect to sexual violence in armed conflict, working
through the United Nations presence on the ground and with the consent of the host
government and in this regard, appreciating the voluntary contributions to support
its work,
Recognizing that States bear the primary responsibility to respect and ensure
the human rights of all persons within their territory and subject to their jurisdiction
as provided for by international law,
take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of civilians,
Recalling that international humanitarian law affords general protection to
women and children as part of the civilian population during armed conflicts and
special protection due to the fact that they can be placed particularly at risk,
Reaffirming that ending impunity is essential if a society in conflict or
recovering from conflict is to come to terms with past abuses committed against
civilians affected by armed conflict and to prevent future such abuses, drawing
attention to the full range of justice and reconciliation mechanisms to be considered,
including national, international and mixed criminal courts and tribunals and truth
and reconciliation commissions, and noting that such mechanisms can promote not
only individual responsibility for serious crimes, but also peace, truth, reconciliation
and the rights of the victims,
Recalling the inclusion of a range of sexual violence offences in the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court and the statutes of the ad hoc
international criminal tribunals,
Reaffirming the importance for States, with the support of the international
community, to increase access to health care, psychosocial support, legal assistance,
and socio-economic reintegration services for victims of sexual violence, in
particular in rural areas, and taking into account the specific needs of persons with
disabilities,
Welcoming the proposals, conclusions and recommendations included in the
report of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (A/64/19) on the need
for adequate capabilities and clear and appropriate guidelines to enable
peacekeeping missions to carry out all their mandated tasks, including prevention of
and response to sexual violence; stressing the importance of ensuring engagement
by senior mission leadership on protection of civilians, including the prevention of
and response to instances of sexual violence in armed conflict, with a view to
ensuring that all mission components and all levels of the chain of command are
properly informed of and involved in the missions mandate and their relevant
responsibilities; welcoming progress made by the Secretary-General in developing
operational tools for the implementation of protection of civilians mandates; and
encouraging troop- and police-contributing countries to make full use of and
provide feedback on these important materials,
Recognizing the efforts of the Secretary-General to address the
underrepresentation of women in formal peace processes, the lack of mediators and
16 December 2010
10-69834 (E)
*1069834*
Adopted by the Security Council at its 6453rd meeting, on
16 December 2010
Reaffirming its commitment to the continuing and full implementation, in a
mutually reinforcing manner, of resolutions 1325 (2000), 1612 (2005), 1674 (2006),
1820 (2008), 1882 (2009), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009) and 1894 (2009), and all
relevant statements of its President,
Welcoming the report of the Secretary-General of 24 November 2010
(S/2010/604), but remaining deeply concerned over the slow progress on the issue
of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict in particular against women and
children, and noting as documented in the Secretary-Generals report that sexual
violence occurs in armed conflicts throughout the world,
Reiterating deep concern that despite its repeated condemnation of violence
against women and children in situations of armed conflict, including sexual
violence in situations of armed conflict, and despite its calls addressed to all parties
to armed conflict for the cessation of such acts with immediate effect, such acts
continue to occur, and in some situations have become systematic and widespread,
reaching appalling levels of brutality,
Reiterating the necessity for all States and non-State parties to conflicts to
comply fully with their obligations under applicable international law, including the
prohibition on all forms of sexual violence,
Reiterating the need for civilian and military leaders, consistent with the
principle of command responsibility, to demonstrate commitment and political will
to prevent sexual violence and to combat impunity and enforce accountability, and
that inaction can send a message that the incidence of sexual violence in conflicts is
tolerated,
Recalling the responsibilities of States to end impunity and to prosecute those
responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and other egregious
crimes perpetrated against civilians and, in this regard, noting with concern that
only limited numbers of perpetrators of sexual violence have been brought to
justice, while recognizing that in conflict and in post-conflict situations national
justice systems may be significantly weakened,
Appendix G: Security Council Resolution 1960 (2010)
S/RES/1960 (2010)
10-69834 4
that engage in patterns of rape and other sexual violence, and regularly update the
Council in relevant reports and briefings;
7. Reiterates its intention, when adopting or renewing targeted sanctions in
situations of armed conflict, to consider including, where appropriate, designation
criteria pertaining to acts of rape and other forms of sexual violence; and calls upon
all peacekeeping and other relevant United Nations missions and United Nations
entities, in particular the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, the
Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict,
and the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in
Conflict, to share with relevant United Nations Security Council Sanctions
Committees, including through relevant United Nations Security Council Sanction
Committees monitoring groups and groups of experts, all pertinent information
about sexual violence;
8. Requests the Secretary General to establish monitoring, analysis and
reporting arrangements on conflict-related sexual violence, including rape in
situations of armed conflict and post-conflict and other situations relevant to the
implementation of resolution 1888 (2009), as appropriate, and taking into account
the specificity of each country, that ensure a coherent and coordinated approach at
the field-level, and encourages the Secretary-General to engage with United Nations
actors, national institutions, civil society organizations, health-care service
providers, and womens groups to enhance data collection and analysis of incidents,
trends, and patterns of rape and other forms of sexual violence to assist the
Councils consideration of appropriate actions, including targeted and graduated
measures, while respecting fully the integrity and specificity of the monitoring and
reporting mechanism implemented under Security Council resolutions 1612 (2005)
and 1882 (2009) on children and armed conflict;
9. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to ensure full transparency,
cooperation and coordination of efforts between the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and the Special Representative
of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict;
10. Welcomes the work of gender advisers; looks forward to the appointment
of more women protection advisers to peacekeeping missions, in accordance with
resolution 1888 (2009); notes their potential contribution in the framework of the
monitoring, analysis, and reporting arrangements to be established pursuant to OP8
of the present resolution;
11. Welcomes the elaboration by the Secretary-General of scenario-based
training materials on combating sexual violence for peacekeepers and encourages
Member States to use them as a reference for the preparation and deployment of
United Nations peacekeeping operations;
12. Underlines that, in order to carry out their mandate, missions must
communicate effectively with local communities; and encourages the Secretary-
General to improve their capacity to do so;
13. Expresses its intention to give due consideration to sexual violence in
mandate authorizations and renewals and to request the Secretary-General to
include, as appropriate, gender expertise in technical assessment missions;
S/RES/1960 (2010)
3 10-69834
ceasefire monitors with proper training in dealing with sexual violence, and the lack
of women as Chief or Lead peace mediators in United Nations-sponsored peace
talks; and encouraging further such efforts,
Welcoming the inclusion of women in peacekeeping missions in civil, military
and police functions, recognizing that their presence may encourage women from
local communities to report acts of sexual violence,
Having considered the report of the Secretary-General of 24 November 2010
(S/2010/604) and stressing that the present resolution does not seek to make any
legal determination as to whether situations that are referred to in the Secretary-
status of non-State parties involved in these situations,
1. Reaffirms that sexual violence, when used or commissioned as a tactic of
war or as a part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilian populations,
can significantly exacerbate and prolong situations of armed conflict and may
impede the restoration of international peace and security; affirms in this regard that
effective steps to prevent and respond to such acts of sexual violence can
significantly contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security; and
expresses its readiness, when considering situations on the agenda of the Council, to
take, where necessary, appropriate steps to address widespread or systematic sexual
violence in situations of armed conflict;
2. Reiterates its demand for the complete cessation with immediate effect
by all parties to armed conflict of all acts of sexual violence;
3. Encourages the Secretary-General to include in his annual reports
submitted pursuant to resolutions 1820 (2008) and 1888 (2009) detailed information
on parties to armed conflict that are credibly suspected of committing or being
responsible for acts of rape or other forms of sexual violence, and to list in an annex
to these annual reports the parties that are credibly suspected of committing or being
responsible for patterns of rape and other forms of sexual violence in situations of
armed conflict on the Security Council agenda; expresses its intention to use this list
as a basis for more focused United Nations engagement with those parties,
including, as appropriate, measures in accordance with the procedures of the
relevant sanctions committees;
4. Requests the Secretary-General, in accordance with the present resolution
and taking into account its specificity, to apply the listing and de-listing criteria for
parties listed in his annual report on sexual violence in armed conflict consistent
with paragraphs 175, 176, 178, and 180 of his report A/64/742-S/2010/181;
5. Calls upon parties to armed conflict to make and implement specific and
time-bound commitments to combat sexual violence, which should include, inter
alia, issuance of clear orders through chains of command prohibiting sexual
violence and the prohibition of sexual violence in Codes of Conduct, military field
manuals, or equivalent; and further calls upon those parties to make and implement
specific commitments on timely investigation of alleged abuses in order to hold
perpetrators accountable;
6. Requests the Secretary-General to track and monitor implementation of
these commitments by parties to armed conflict on the Security Councils agenda
United Nations S/PRST/2001/31

31 October 2001
Original: English
01-61225 (E) 311001
*0161225*
Statement by the President of the Security Council
At the 4402nd meeting of the Security Council, held on 31 October 2001, in
connection with the first anniversary of the Councils adoption of its resolution 1325
(2000) of 31 October 2000 on the item entitled Women and peace and security, the
President of the Security Council made the following statement on behalf of the
Council:
The Security Council reaffirms its commitment to the implementation of
its resolution 1325 (2000) of 31 October 2000 and welcomes the efforts by the
United Nations system, Member States, civil society organizations and other
relevant actors in promoting the equal participation and full involvement of
women in the maintenance and promotion of peace and security and in
implementing the provisions of resolution 1325 (2000).
The Council further reaffirms its strong support for increasing the role
of women in decision-making with regard to conflict prevention and resolution
and renews its call on States to include women in the negotiations and
implementation of peace accords, constitutions and strategies for resettlement
and rebuilding and to take measures to support local womens groups and
indigenous processes for conflict resolution. In this regard it recognizes the
efforts of the Mano River Womens Peace Network in facilitating peace and
dialogue in the Mano River Union region. It is also encouraged by the
inclusion of women in the political decision-making bodies in Burundi,
Somalia and in East Timor.
The Security Council underscores the importance of promoting an active
and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective in all policies and
programmes while addressing armed conflicts, in particular peacekeeping
operations in keeping with the statement of the President of the Security
Council on 8 March 2000.
The Council therefore reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to
include, where appropriate, in his reporting to the Security Council, progress
in gender mainstreaming throughout United Nations peacekeeping missions
and on other aspects relating to women and girls. It expresses its intention to
give full consideration to these reports and to take appropriate action. The
Council also reaffirms its call for the inclusion of gender components as
appropriate, in peacekeeping operations.
S/RES/1960 (2010)
5 10-69834
14. Encourages the entities comprising United Nations Action Against
Sexual Violence in Conflict, as well as other relevant parts of the United Nations
system, to continue to support the work of the aforementioned Special
Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict and to
enhance cooperation and information-sharing among all relevant stakeholders in
order to reinforce coordination and avoid overlap at the headquarters and country
levels and improve system-wide response;
15. Encourages Member States to deploy greater numbers of female military
and police personnel to United Nations peacekeeping operations, and to provide all
military and police personnel with adequate training on sexual and gender-based
violence, inter alia, to carry out their responsibilities;
implement the policy of zero tolerance on sexual exploitation and abuse by United
Nations peacekeeping and humanitarian personnel, and further requests the
Secretary-General to continue to provide and deploy guidance on addressing sexual
violence for predeployment and inductive training of military and police personnel,
and to assist missions in developing situation-specific procedures to address sexual
violence at the field level and to ensure that technical support is provided to troop
and police contributing countries in order to include guidance for military and
police personnel on addressing sexual violence in predeployment and induction
training;
17. Invites the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict to
continue to provide briefings on sexual violence, in accordance with resolution 1888
(2009);
18. Requests that the Secretary-General continue to submit annual reports to
the Council on the implementation of Resolutions 1820 (2008) and 1888 (2009) and
to submit his next report by December 2011 on the implementation of Resolutions
1820 (2008) and 1888 (2009) and the present resolution to include, inter alia:
(a) a detailed coordination and strategy plan on the timely and ethical
collection of information;
(b) information on progress made in the implementation of the monitoring,
analysis, and reporting arrangements mentioned in paragraph 8;
(c) detailed information on parties to armed conflict that are credibly
suspected of committing or being responsible for acts of rape or other forms of
sexual violence, and an annex with a list of parties that are credibly suspected of
committing or being responsible for patterns of rape and other forms of sexual
violence in situations of armed conflict on the Security Council agenda;
(d) updates on efforts by United Nations Mission focal points on sexual
violence to work closely with Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator
(RC/HC), the United Nations Country Team, and, where appropriate, the Special
Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and the
Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict
and/or the Team of Experts, to address sexual violence;
Appendix H: Presidential Statements
on Women and Peace and Security
31 October 2002
Original: English
02-67180 (E) 311002

At the 4641st meeting of the Security Council, held on 31 October 2002 in
connection with the 2nd anniversary of the Security Councils adoption of its
resolution 1325 (2000) of 31 October 2000 on the item entitled Women, Peace and
Security, the President of the Security Council made the following statement on
behalf of the Council:
The Security Council reaffirms its commitment to the continuing and
full implementation of resolution 1325 (2000), and welcomes the increasing
focus over the last two years on the situation of women and girls in armed
conflict, and recalls the Statement by its President of 31 October 2001
(S/PRST/2001/31) and the meetings held on 25 July 2002 and 28 October 2002
as expressions of that commitment.
The Security Council welcomes the Report of the Secretary-General on
women, peace and security (S/2002/1154) and expresses its intention to study
the recommendations contained therein. The Council also welcomes the efforts
of the United Nations system, Member States, civil society and other relevant
actors, to promote equal participation of women in peace and security.
The Security Council remains concerned about the slow progress in the
appointment of women as special representatives and envoys of the Secretary-
General, and urges the Secretary-General to increase the number of women
serving as high-level representatives to achieve the overall goal of gender
balance. The Council also urges Member States to continue to provide
candidates to the Secretary-General for inclusion in a database.
The Security Council, reaffirming the importance of gender
mainstreaming in peacekeeping operations and post-conflict reconstruction,
undertakes to integrate gender perspectives into the mandates of all
peacekeeping missions, and reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to
ensure that all reports submitted to the Security Council in accordance with
such mandates systematically address gender perspectives. The Council also
requests the Secretary-General to provide systematic training of all staff in
peacekeeping operations on gender perspectives, and to integrate gender
perspectives into all standard operating procedures, manuals and other
guidance materials for peacekeeping operations.
The Security Council considers that the appointment of gender advisers
at sufficiently senior levels at Headquarters is necessary. The Council notes
2
S/PRST/2001/31
The Security Council renews its support for gender-sensitive training
guidelines and material on the protection, rights and the particular needs of
women, as well as on the importance of involving women in all peacekeeping
and peace-building measures. The Council calls upon all troop-contributing
countries to include these elements in their national training programmes for
peacekeepers.
The Council welcomes the specific proposals made by the Secretary-
General aimed at strengthening the Best Practices Unit of the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations with the appointment of gender advisers at
sufficiently senior levels.
It also welcomes the practical efforts including the preparation of
complementary reports, already made by the United Nations and its agencies,
funds, programmes and regional bodies, in particular those participating in the
Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) Inter-agency Task Force on
Women, Peace and Security to implement all aspects of resolution 1325
(2000), as well as the timely issuance of the publication Gender Perspective in
Disarmament, which gives a clear indication of ways in which women can be
fully involved and the benefits to the parties concerned.
The Security Council notes with satisfaction that the Secretary-
Generals study requested under paragraph 16 of its resolution 1325 (2000) on
the impact of armed conflict on women and girls, the role of women in peace-
building and the gender dimensions of peace processes and conflict resolution
is under way and welcomes the coordinated comprehensive input of the United
Nations and all the relevant agencies, funds and programmes of the United
Nations system and looks forward to its review.
The Security Council is concerned that there are still no women
appointed as Special Representatives or Special Envoys of the Secretary-
General to peace missions, and urges Member States to redouble their efforts
to nominate women candidates to the Secretary-General. The Council also
urges the Secretary-General to appoint women as Special Representatives and
Envoys to pursue good offices on his behalf in accordance with his strategic
plan of action (A/49/587, para. 2).
The Security Council recognizes the need to implement fully
international humanitarian and human rights law that protects the rights of
civilians including women and girls during and after conflicts and calls on all
parties to armed conflicts to take special measures to protect women and girls
from gender-based violence, and all other forms of violence.
The Security Council remains actively seized of the matter and
expresses its willingness to consider as appropriate, the gender dimensions of
armed conflict in carrying out its responsibility of maintaining international
peace and security under the Charter of the United Nations.
28 October 2004
Original: English
04-57809 (E) 281004
* 0 4 5 7 8 0 9 *
At the 5066th (resumed) meeting of the Security Council, held on 28 October
2004, in connection with the Councils consideration of the item entitled Women
and peace and security, the President of the Security Council made the following
statement on behalf of the Council:
full implementation of resolution 1325 (2000), and welcomes the increasing
focus on the situation of women and girls in armed conflict since the adoption
of resolution 1325 (2000) in October 2000. The Council recalls the Statement
by its President of 31 October 2002 (S/PRST/2002/32) and the meeting held
on 29 October 2003 as valuable demonstrations of that commitment.
The Security Council also recalls the Beijing Declaration and Platform
for Action (A/52/231) and the outcome document of the twenty-third Special
Session of the United Nations General Assembly entitled Women 2000:
Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First Century (A/S-
23/10/Rev.1), in particular the commitments concerning women and armed
conflict.
The Security Council welcomes the Report of the Secretary-General on
women, peace and security (S/2004/814) and expresses its intention to study
its recommendations. The Council welcomes the efforts of the United Nations
system, Member States, civil society and other relevant actors, to promote the
equal participation of women in efforts to build sustainable peace and security.
The Security Council strongly condemns the continued acts of gender-
based violence in situations of armed conflict. The Council also condemns all
violations of the human rights of women and girls in situations of armed
conflict and the use of sexual exploitation, violence and abuse. The Council
urges the complete cessation by all parties of such acts with immediate effect.
The Council stresses the need to end impunity for such acts as part of a
comprehensive approach to seeking peace, justice, truth and national
reconciliation. The Council welcomes the efforts of the United Nations system
to establish and implement strategies and programmes to prevent and report on
gender-based violence, and urges the Secretary-General to further his efforts in
this regard. The Council requests the Secretary-General to ensure that human
rights monitors and members of commissions of inquiry have the necessary
expertise and training in gender-based crimes and in the conduct of
investigations, including in a culturally sensitive manner favourable to the
2
S/PRST/2002/32
that some progress has been made in gender mainstreaming at mission level,
specifically through the establishment of gender units and gender advisers, but
that more remains to be done in order to ensure that gender mainstreaming in
peacekeeping operations and post-conflict reconstruction is thorough and
effective, and applied systematically.
The Security Council undertakes to integrate gender perspectives into
the terms of reference of its visits and Missions to countries and regions in
conflict. To that end, the Council requests the Secretary-General to establish a
database of gender specialists as well as womens groups and networks in
countries and regions in conflict, and to include gender specialists in the teams
where relevant.
The Security Council recognizes the vital role of women in promoting
peace, particularly in preserving social order and educating for peace. The
Council encourages its Member States and the Secretary-General to establish
regular contacts with local womens group and networks in order to utilize
their knowledge of both the impact of armed conflict on women and girls,
including as victims and ex-combatants, and of peacekeeping operations, to
ensure that those groups are actively involved in reconstruction processes,
particularly at decision-making levels.
The Security Council, recalling its resolutions 1265 (1999), 1296
(2000), 1324 (2000) and 1379 (2001), encourages Member States, the entities
of the United Nations system, civil society and other relevant actors, to
develop clear strategies and action plans with goals and timetables, on the
integration of gender perspectives in humanitarian operations, rehabilitation
and reconstruction programmes, including monitoring mechanisms, and also to
develop targeted activities, focused on the specific constraints facing women
and girls in post-conflict situations, such as their lack of land and property
rights and access to and control over economic resources.
The Security Council deplores the continuing occurrence of sexual
exploitation, including trafficking, of women and girls in the context of
peacekeeping operations and humanitarian activities, and calls for the further
development and full implementation of codes of conduct and of disciplinary
procedures to prevent such exploitation. The Council encourages all actors, in
particular troop-contributing countries, to enhance monitoring mechanisms,
and to investigate and prosecute effectively cases of alleged misconduct.
The Security Council condemns all violations of the human rights of
women and girls in situations of armed conflict, and the use of sexual
violence, including as a strategic and tactical weapon of war, which, inter alia,
places women and girls at increased risk of contracting sexually-transmitted
infections and HIV/AIDS.
The Security Council decides to remain actively seized of this matter
and requests the Secretary-General to prepare a follow-up report on the full
implementation of resolution 1325 to be presented to the Security Council in
October 2004.
3
S/PRST/2004/40
reform, including truth and reconciliation and electoral processes, promote the
full participation of women, gender equality and womens human rights.
The Security Council recognizes the important contribution of civil
society to the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) and encourages
Member States to continue to collaborate with civil society, in particular with
local womens networks and organizations, in order to strengthen
implementation. To that end, the Council welcomes the efforts of Member
States in implementing resolution 1325 (2000) at the national level, including
the development of national action plans, and encourages Member States to
continue to pursue such implementation.
The Security Council recognizes that significant progress has been
made in the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) in certain areas of the
United Nations peace and security work. The Council expresses its readiness
to further promote the implementation of this resolution, and in particular
through active cooperation with the Economic and Social Council and the
General Assembly. In order to further consolidate this progress, the Council
requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Security Council in October
2005 an action plan, with time lines, for implementing resolution 1325 (2000)
across the United Nations system, with a view to strengthening commitment
and accountability at the highest levels, as well as to allow for improved
accountability, monitoring and reporting on progress on implementation within
the United Nations system.
2
S/PRST/2004/40
needs, dignity and rights of the victims. The Council urges all international
and national courts specifically established to prosecute war-related crimes to
provide gender expertise, gender training for all staff and gender-sensitive
programmes for victims and witness protection. The Council emphasizes the
urgent need for programmes that provide support to survivors of gender-based
violence. The Council further requests that appropriate attention is given to the
issue of gender-based violence in all future reports to the Council.
The Security Council reaffirms the important role of women in the
prevention of conflict and supports the Secretary-Generals intention to
develop a comprehensive system-wide strategy and action plan for increasing
attention to gender perspectives in conflict prevention. The Council urges all
relevant actors to work collaboratively, including through strengthened
interaction with womens organizations, to ensure the full participation of
women and the incorporation of a gender perspective in all conflict prevention
work.
The Security Council also welcomes the Secretary-Generals intention
to develop a comprehensive strategy and action plan for mainstreaming a
gender perspective into all peacekeeping activities and operations and to
incorporate gender perspectives in each thematic and country report to the
Council. In support of this process, the Council reaffirms its commitment to
integrate fully gender perspectives into the mandates of all peacekeeping
missions. The Council recognizes the contribution of the gender adviser within
the Department of Peacekeeping Operations to advancing the implementation
of resolution 1325 (2000), and requests the Secretary-General to consider an
equivalent arrangement within the Department of Political Affairs to further
support such implementation.
The Security Council considers that an increase in the representation of
women in all aspects of conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peace-building
operations and humanitarian response is urgently needed. To that end, the
Council urges the Secretary-General to strengthen his efforts to identify
suitable female candidates, including, as appropriate, from troop-contributing
countries, in conformity with Article 101 of the Charter of the United Nations
and taking into account the principle of equitable geographical balance. Such
efforts should include the implementation of targeted recruitment strategies
and also seek to identify candidates for senior level positions, including in the
military and civilian police services.
The Security Council recognizes the vital contribution of women in
promoting peace and their role in reconstruction processes. The Council
welcomes the Secretary-Generals intention to develop strategies to encourage
womens full participation in all stages of the peace process. The Council also
requests the Secretary-General to encourage gender mainstreaming in
disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes by developing
guidelines to increase attention to the needs of women and girls in such
programmes. The Council further requests the Secretary-General to
mainstream a gender perspective in all aspects of post-conflict reconstruction
programmes, including through the strengthening of gender theme groups in
countries emerging from conflict, and to ensure that all policies and
programmes in support of post-conflict constitutional, judicial and legislative
2
S/PRST/2005/52
reconciliation efforts and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration
processes.
The Security Council recognizes the constant underrepresentation of
women in formal peace processes and is deeply concerned about persistent
obstacles and challenges resulting from situations such as violence against
women, shattered economies and social structures, lack of rule of law, poverty,
limited access to education and resources, various forms of discrimination and
stereotypes. The Security Council believes that more must be done in order to
achieve the greater participation and effective contribution of women at the
negotiating table and in developing and implementing post-conflict strategies
and programmes.
The Security Council encourages Member States and the Secretary-
General to maintain regular contacts with local women organizations and
networks, to utilize their knowledge, expertise and resources and to ensure
their involvement in reconstruction processes, particularly at the decision-
making level.
The Security Council also encourages Member States, donors and civil
society to provide financial, political and technical support, as well as
adequate training for womens peacebuilding initiatives and networks.
The Security Council welcomes the United Nations System-wide Action
Plan for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) across
the United Nations system, contained in the report of the Secretary-General on
women and peace and security (S/2005/636), and requests the Secretary-
General to update, monitor and review its implementation and integration on
an annual basis, and report to the Security Council, starting in October 2006.
In this context, the Security Council urges the Secretary-General to proceed
with the appointment of a gender adviser within the Department of Political
Affairs and to continue to identify women candidates for senior level positions
within the United Nations system, including as Special Representatives. In this
regard, the Council invites the Member States to provide the Secretary-General
with candidates, as appropriate.
The Security Council reiterates its call to Member States to continue to
implement resolution 1325 (2000), including through the development of
national action plans or other national level strategies.
The Security Council welcomes the decision taken in the 2005 World
Summit Outcome (General Assembly resolution 60/1) to establish the
Peacebuilding Commission and looks forward to its contribution to the full
implementation of resolution 1325 (2000), inviting the Commission to pay
particular attention to the knowledge and understanding women can bring,
through their participation and empowerment, in peacebuilding processes.
The Security Council requests the Secretary-General to ensure that all
peace accords concluded with United Nations assistance address the specific
effects of armed conflict on women and girls, as well as their specific needs
and priorities in the post-conflict context. Within this framework, the Security
Council underlines the importance of a broad and inclusive political
consultation with various components of civil society, in particular womens
organizations and groups.
27 October 2005
Original: English
05-57555 (E) 271005
* 0 5 5 7 5 5 5 *
At the 5294th meeting of the Security Council, held on 27 October 2005, in
connection with the Councils consideration of the item entitled Women and peace
and security, the President of the Security Council made the following statement
on behalf of the Council:
full implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) and recalls the Statements of its
President of 31 October 2001 (S/PRST/2001/31), 31 October 2002
(S/PRST/2002/32) and 28 October 2004 (S/PRST/2004/40), as reiterating that
commitment.
The Security Council recalls the 2005 World Summit Outcome (General
Assembly resolution 60/1), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
(A/52/31), the outcomes of the Conference and of the twenty-third special
session of the General Assembly, entitled Women 2000: gender equality,
development and peace for the twenty-first century and the Declaration of the
forty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women on the occasion
of the tenth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women
(E/CN.6/2005/1).
While welcoming the progress achieved so far, the Security Council
stresses the importance and urgency for accelerating the full and effective
implementation of resolution 1325 (2000).
The Security Council reaffirms the importance of full and equal
participation of women in peace processes at all levels and urges Member
States, regional and subregional organizations and the United Nations system
to enhance the role of women in decision-making with regard to all peace
processes and post-conflict reconstruction and rebuilding of societies.
The Security Council welcomes the various initiatives and actions
undertaken by Member States, the United Nations entities, civil society
organizations and other relevant actors, focused on supporting and increasing
the representation of women in peace negotiations and mainstreaming gender
perspectives into peace agreements.
The Security Council recognizes and welcomes the roles of, and
contributions made by women as mediators, educators, peacemakers,
peacebuilders and advocates for peace, as well as their active contribution to
United Nations
S/PRST/2006/42*
8 November 2006
Original: English
06-58865* (E) 081106
*0658865*
The Security Council reaffirms its commitment to the full and effective
implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) and recalls the Statements by its
President of 31 October 2001 (S/PRST/2001/31), 31 October 2002
(S/PRST/2002/32), 28 October 2004 (S/PRST/2004/40), and 27 October 2005
(S/PRST/2005/52), as reiterating that commitment.
The Security Council recalls the 2005 World Summit Outcome
(A/RES/60/1), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
(A/CONF/177/20/Rev.1), the outcomes of the Conference and of the twenty-
third special session of the General Assembly, and the Declaration of the forty-
ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women on the occasion of
the tenth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women
(E/CN.6/2005/11).
The Security Council recognizes the vital roles of, and contributions by
women in consolidating peace. The Council welcomes the progress made in
increasing participation of women in decision-making in several countries
emerging from conflict and requests the Secretary-General to collect and
compile good practices, lessons learned and identify remaining gaps and
challenges in order to further promote the efficient and effective
implementation of resolution 1325.
The Security Council recognizes that the protection and empowerment
of women and support for their networks and initiatives are essential in the
consolidation of peace to promote the equal and full participation of women
and to improve their human security and, encourages Member States, donors,
and civil society to provide support in this respect.
The Security Council recognizes the importance of integrating gender
perspectives into institutional reform in post-conflict countries at both the
national and local levels. The Security Council encourages Member States in
post conflict situations to ensure that gender perspectives are mainstreamed in
its institutional reform, ensuring that the reforms, in particular of the security
* Reissued for technical reasons.
3
S/PRST/2005/52
The Security Council reaffirms its commitment to integrate gender
perspectives into the terms of reference of Security Council visits and missions
and to include gender specialists in its teams wherever possible.
The Security Council condemns sexual and other forms of violence
against women, including trafficking in persons, and calls upon all parties to
armed conflict to ensure full and effective protection of women and
emphasizes the necessity to end impunity of those responsible for gender-
based violence.
The Security Council reiterates its condemnation, in the strongest terms,
of all acts of sexual misconduct by all categories of personnel in United
Nations Peacekeeping Missions. The Council welcomes the comprehensive
report on sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations Peacekeeping
Personnel (A/59/710). The Council also welcomes the report of the resumed
session of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping (A/59/19/Add.1) and,
taking into account resolution 59/300 of the General Assembly, urges the
Secretary-General and troop-contributing countries to ensure that the
recommendations of the Special Committee, which fall within their respective
responsibilities, are implemented without delay. In this connection, the
Council expresses its support to the efforts of the United Nations to fully
implement codes of conduct and disciplinary procedures to prevent and
respond to sexual exploitation and enhance monitoring and enforcement
mechanisms, and notes the strategies and actions included in the System-wide
Action Plan to fully implement those codes of conduct and disciplinary
procedures. The Security Council urges troop-contributing countries to take
appropriate preventive action, including the conduct of predeployment
awareness training, and to take disciplinary action and other action to ensure
full accountability in cases of misconduct involving their personnel.
S/PRST/2006/42
3 06-58865
local womens networks and organizations, in order to strengthen
implementation.
The Security Council looks forward to the report of the High-Level
Panel on the United Nations System-wide Coherence in the Areas of
Development, Humanitarian Assistance and the Environment and hopes this
will play a role in ensuring a coordinated UN approach to Women and Peace
and Security.
The Security Council welcomes the first follow-up report of the
Secretary-General (S/2006/770) on the United Nations System-wide Action
Plan for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) across
the United Nations system. The Council requests the Secretary-General to
continue to update, monitor and review the implementation and integration of
the Action Plan and report to the Security Council as stipulated in the
Statement by the President of the Security Council of 27 October 2005
(S/PRST/2005/52).
S/PRST/2006/42
06-58865 2
sector, justice institutions and restoration of the rule of law, provide for the
protection of womens rights and safety. The Council also requests the
Secretary-General to ensure that United Nations assistance in this context
appropriately addresses the needs and priorities of women in the post-conflict
process.
The Security Council requests the Secretary-General to ensure that
disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes take specific
account of the situation of women ex-combatants and women associated with
combatants, as well as their children, and provide for their full access to these
programmes.
The Security Council welcomes the role that the Peacebuilding
Commission can play in mainstreaming gender perspectives into the peace
consolidation process. In this context, the Council welcomes in particular the
Chairmans summaries at its country-specific meetings on Sierra Leone and
Burundi on 12 and 13 October 2006.
The Security Council remains deeply concerned by the pervasiveness of
all forms of violence against women in armed conflict, including killing,
maiming, grave sexual violence, abductions and trafficking in persons. The
Council reiterates its utmost condemnation of such practices and calls upon all
parties to armed conflict to ensure full and effective protection of women, and
emphasizes the necessity to end impunity of those responsible for gender-
based violence.
The Security Council reiterates its condemnation, in the strongest terms,
of all acts of sexual misconduct by all categories of personnel in United
Nations Peacekeeping Missions. The Council urges the Secretary-General and
troop-contributing countries to ensure the full implementation of the
recommendations of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping operations
(A/60/19). In this connection, the Council expresses its support for further
efforts by the United Nations to fully implement codes of conduct and
disciplinary procedures to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and
abuse, and enhance monitoring and enforcement mechanisms based on a zero-
tolerance policy.
The Security Council requests the Secretary-General to include in his
reporting to the Security Council, progress in gender mainstreaming
throughout United Nations peacekeeping missions as well as on other aspects
relating specifically to women and girls. The Council emphasizes the need for
the inclusion of gender components in peacekeeping operations. The Council
further encourages Member States and the Secretary-General to increase, the
participation of women in all areas and all levels of peacekeeping operations,
civilian, police and military, where possible.
The Security Council reiterates its call to Member States to continue to
implement resolution 1325 (2000), including through the development and
implementation of national action plans or other national level strategies.
The Security Council recognizes the important contribution of civil
society to the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) and encourages
Member States to continue to collaborate with civil society, in particular with
S/PRST/2007/40
07-56022 2
deep concern that civilians, particularly women and children, continue to
account for the vast majority of victims of acts of violence committed by
parties to armed conflicts, including as a result of deliberate targeting,
indiscriminate and excessive use of force. The Council condemns these acts
and demands that those parties immediately put an end to such practices.
The Security Council reaffirms in this regard that parties to armed
conflict bear the primary responsibility to take all feasible steps to ensure the
protection of affected civilians, in particular, giving attention to the specific
needs of women and girls.
The Security Council recognizes the constant underrepresentation of
women in formal peace processes and is deeply concerned about persistent
obstacles and challenges resulting from situations such as violence against
women, shattered economies and social structures, lack of rule of law, poverty,
limited access to education and other resources, various forms of
discrimination and stereotypes.
The Security Council remains concerned about the low number of
women appointed as Special Representatives or Special Envoys of the
Secretary-General to peace missions. The Council urges the Secretary-General
to appoint, taking into account the principle of equitable geographical
representation, more women to pursue good offices on his behalf. The Council
urges Member States to redouble their efforts to nominate women candidates
to the Secretary-General, for inclusion in a regularly updated centralized
roster. In turn, the Council calls on the Secretary-General to increase the
profile and transparency of this procedure, and issue guidelines to Member
States on the process of nomination to senior posts. In addition, the Council
reaffirms its call for broader gender mainstreaming in all peacekeeping
operations, and welcomes United Nations peacekeeping operations policies to
promote and protect the rights of women and to take into account a gender
perspective as set out in resolution 1325 (2000).
The Security Council takes note of the second follow-up report of the
Secretary-General on women, peace and security (S/2007/567), and the various
initiatives and actions undertaken by the United Nations entities in the context
of the United Nations System-wide Action Plan on implementation of Security
Council resolution 1325 (2000); calls on the Secretary-General to update,
monitor and review the implementation and integration of the Plan; conduct a
system-wide evaluation in 2010 of progress achieved in implementing the Plan
in 2008-2009, and report thereon to the Council.
While welcoming the progress achieved so far, the Security Council
recognizes the need for full and more effective implementation of resolution
1325 (2000).
In this regard, the Security Council reiterates its call on Member States
to continue to fully and effectively implement resolution 1325 (2000),
including, where appropriate, through the development and strengthening of
national efforts and capacities, as well as the implementation of national action
plans or other relevant national level strategies.
The Security Council calls on the international community to provide,
where needed, financial and technical support, as well as adequate training, for
United Nations S/PRST/2007/40*
24 October 2007
Original: English
07-56022* (E) 241007
*0756022*
implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) on women and peace and security
and recalls the relevant statements of its President as reiterating that
commitment.
The Security Council reaffirms the purposes and principles of the
Charter of the United Nations and the primary responsibility of the Security
Council under the Charter for the maintenance of international peace and
security.
The Security Council recalls the 2005 World Summit Outcome (General
Assembly resolution 60/1), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
(A/CONF.177/20/Rev.1), the outcome document of the twenty-third special
session of the General Assembly entitled Women 2000: gender equality,
development and peace for the twenty-first century (A/S-23/10/Rev.1), in
particular the statements in these documents concerning women and peace and
security and the Declaration of the forty-ninth session of the Commission on
the Status of Women on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Fourth
World Conference on Women (E/CN.6/2005/11).
The Security Council recognizes the importance of ensuring the respect
for the equal rights of women and, in this regard, reaffirms the importance of
the equal role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in
peacebuilding, and stresses the need for their full and equal participation in
peace processes at all levels. The Council urges Member States, regional and
subregional organizations and the United Nations system to enhance the role
of women in decision-making with regard to all peace processes and post-
conflict reconstruction and rebuilding of societies as vital in all efforts towards
the maintenance and promotion of sustainable peace and security.
The Security Council is concerned that armed and other types of
conflicts still persist in many parts of the world and are an ongoing reality
affecting women in nearly every region. In this regard, the Council expresses
S/PRST/2007/40
07-56022 4
violence, abductions and trafficking in persons, committed by the parties to
armed conflict; special measures proposed and taken to protect women and
girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape, and other forms of sexual
abuse, and all other forms of violence in situations of armed conflict, in order
to end impunity, ensure accountability and uphold a zero tolerance policy for
violence against women and girls.
The Security Council requests the Secretary-General to prepare a
follow-up report on the full implementation of resolution 1325 (2000),
incorporating information on the impact of armed conflicts on women and
girls in situations that are on the agenda of the Council, and also information
on their protection and on the enhancement of their role in peace processes, to
be submitted to the Security Council in October 2008, and may request the
Secretary-General to give an oral briefing on the progress of the report.
The Security Council decides to remain actively seized of this matter.
S/PRST/2007/40
3 07-56022
national implementation of resolution 1325 (2000), and on the United Nations
system, civil society and other relevant actors to collaborate and provide
assistance in line with national priorities to Member States, particularly those
affected by armed conflict, in the rapid development of national action plans,
and work closely with national mechanisms responsible for the implementation
of the resolution, including, where appropriate, through the United Nations
country teams. To this end, requests the Secretary-General to include in his
annual report to the Council, information on progress on measures taken to
improve, where appropriate, the capacity of relevant Member States, to
implement resolution 1325 (2000), including information on best practices.
The Council emphasizes the importance of strengthening cooperation
between Member States as well as the United Nations entities and regional
organizations in adopting and promoting regional approaches to the full
implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) in all its aspects.
The Security Council strongly condemns all violations of international
law, including international humanitarian law, human rights law and refugee
law, committed against women and girls in situations of armed conflict,
including killing, maiming, sexual violence, exploitation and abuse. In this
regard, the Council urges the complete cessation by all parties of such acts
with immediate effect.
The Security Council is deeply concerned that despite its repeated
condemnation of all acts of violence, including killing, maiming, sexual
violence, exploitation and abuse in situations of armed conflict, and despite its
calls addressed to all parties to armed conflict for the cessation of such acts
with immediate effect, and for the adoption of specific measures to protect
women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape, and other
forms of sexual abuse, as well as all other forms of violence, such acts remain
pervasive, and in some situations have become systematic, and have reached
appalling levels of atrocity. The Council stresses the need to end impunity for
such acts as part of a comprehensive approach to seeking peace, justice, truth
and national reconciliation.
In this context, the Council reiterates paragraph 9 of resolution
1325 (2000) and calls on all parties to armed conflict to respect fully
international law applicable to the rights and protection of women and girls,
especially as civilians, in particular the obligations applicable to them under
the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols thereto of 1977,
the refugee Convention of 1951 and the Protocols thereto of 1967, the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
of 1979 and the Optional Protocols thereto of 1999 and the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 and the two Optional Protocols
thereto of 25 May 2000, and to bear in mind relevant provisions of the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The Security Council requests the Secretary-General to include in his
reporting to the Council on situations of armed conflict, information on:
progress in gender mainstreaming throughout the United Nations
peacebuilding and peacekeeping missions; data on the impact of armed
conflicts on women and girls, including account of instances of all forms of
violence against women and girls, including killing, maiming, grave sexual
United Nations S/PRST/2010/22*
26 October 2010
Original: English
10-60352* (E) 101110
*1060352*
connection with the Councils consideration of the item entitled Women and peace and
security, the President of the Security Council made the following statement on behalf of
the Council:
The Security Council, meeting on the tenth Anniversary of the adoption of its
resolution 1325 (2000), reaffirms its commitment to the continuing and full
implementation, in a mutually reinforcing manner, of resolutions 1325 (2000), 1612
(2005), 1674 (2006), 1820 (2008), 1882 (2009), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1894
(2009) and all relevant Statements of its Presidents.
The Security Council welcomes the report of the Secretary-General on
Women and Peace and Security (S/2010/498), and the analysis it contains on
progress in implementing resolution 1325 (2000).
The Security Council welcomes General Assembly resolution A/RES/64/289
establishing the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
(UN Women) that will be fully operational in January 2011. The Council invites UN
Women to regularly contribute to its work on women and peace and security and
notes the valuable role it will play in supporting womens roles in peacebuilding and
the prevention of sexual violence in conflict, including through coordination and
coherence in policy and programming for women and girls. It welcomes the
appointment of Ms. Michele Bachelet as its head.
The Security Council reiterates its strong condemnation of all violations of
applicable international law committed against women and girls in situations of
armed conflict and post-conflict situations, including rape, other forms of sexual and
gender-based violence and killing and maiming that contravene international law.
The Council urges the complete cessation by all parties of such acts with immediate
effect and also urges Member States to bring to justice those responsible for crimes
of this nature. Their efforts to combat impunity must be matched with assistance and
redress to victims. In this regard, it reiterates its support for the mandates of the
Special Representatives of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict and
for Children and Armed Conflict and encourages them to continue to ensure full
transparency, cooperation and coordination of their efforts.
The Security Council notes that the fight against impunity for the most
serious crimes of international concern committed against women and girls has been
29 October 2008
Original: English
08-57639 (E) 291008
*0857639*
implementation of resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008) on Women and
peace and security and recalls the relevant statements of its President.
The Security Council takes note of the report of the Secretary-General
on Women and peace and security (S/2008/622).
The Security Council remains concerned about the under-representation
of women at all stages of a peace process and in peacebuilding, and recognises
the need to facilitate the full and effective participation of women in these
areas, given the vital role of women in the prevention and resolution of
conflicts and in peacebuilding.
The Security Council urges Member States, international, regional and
sub-regional organisations to take measures to increase the participation of
women in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding and to
strengthen the role of women as decision-makers in these areas. The Council
calls upon the Secretary-General to appoint more women to pursue good
offices on his behalf, particularly as Special Representatives and Special
Envoys.
The Security Council strongly condemns all violations of international
law committed against women and girls during and after armed conflicts; urges
the complete cessation by all parties of such acts with immediate effect, and
also urges Member States to bring to justice those responsible for crimes of
this nature.
The Security Council requests the Secretary-General to provide a report
on the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) over the coming year,
including information on the impact of armed conflict on women and girls in
situations of which the Council is seized; on the obstacles and challenges to
strengthening womens participation in conflict prevention, conflict resolution
and peacebuilding, and recommendations to address those issues, to be
submitted to the Security Council by October 2009.
S/PRST/2010/22
3 10-60352
and on the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) using this set of indicators, as
appropriate.
The Security Council encourages Member States to take into account the set
of indicators contained in the Annex of the Report of the Secretary-General on
Women and Peace and Security (S/2010/498), as appropriate, in implementing
Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and subsequent resolutions on women and
peace and security.
The Security Council reiterates its demand to all parties to armed conflict to
immediately and completely cease all forms of violence against women and girls,
including acts of sexual violence.
The Security Council encourages Member States to deploy greater numbers
of female military and police personnel to United Nations peacekeeping operations,
and to provide all military and police personnel with adequate training to carry out
their responsibilities. The Council requests the Secretary-General to continue and
strengthen efforts to implement the policy of zero tolerance on sexual exploitation
and abuse by United Nations peacekeeping and humanitarian personnel. The
Council requests the Secretary-General to continue to provide and deploy guidance
on addressing sexual violence for predeployment and inductive training of military
and police personnel, and to assist missions in developing situation-specific
procedures to address sexual violence at the field level and to ensure that technical
support is provided to troop and police contributing countries in order to include
guidance for military and police personnel on addressing sexual violence in
predeployment and induction training. The Security Council welcomes the work of
gender and women protection advisers appointed to peacekeeping missions. The
Council looks forward to considering the annual report of the Secretary-General on
the implementation of its resolution 1820 (2008).
The Security Council requests the Secretary-General to continue to submit an
annual report to it on the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000). The Council
further requests the Secretary-General to propose in his next annual report a
strategic framework to guide the UNs implementation of the resolution in the next
decade, which includes targets and indicators and takes account of relevant
processes within the Secretariat. In this context, the Council requests the Secretary-
General to include recommendations for policy and institutional reforms in the UN
that will facilitate improved response by the Organization to women and peace and
security issues.
The Security Council reiterates its request to Member States, international,
regional and subregional organizations to take measures to increase the participation
of women in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding, including in
decision-making roles in post-conflict governance institutions, appointed and
elected. The Council urges the Secretary-General to appoint more women as
mediators and special representatives and envoys to pursue good offices on his
behalf.
The Security Council expresses its intention to convene a High-level Review
in five years to assess progress at the global, regional and national levels in
implementing resolution 1325, renew commitments and address obstacles and
constraints that have emerged in the implementation of resolution 1325.
S/PRST/2010/22
10-60352 2
strengthened through the work of the International Criminal Court, ad hoc and
mixed tribunals, as well as specialized chambers in national tribunals and takes note
of the stocktaking of international criminal justice undertaken by the first Review
Conference of the Rome Statute held in Kampala, Uganda from 31 May to 11 June
2010. The Council intends to enhance its efforts to fight impunity and uphold
accountability for serious crimes against women and girls with appropriate means
and draws attention to the full range of justice and reconciliation mechanisms to be
considered, including national, international and mixed criminal courts and
tribunals, truth and reconciliation commissions as well as national reparation
programs for victims, institutional reforms and traditional dispute resolution
mechanisms.
The Security Council recognizes the continued challenges and welcomes the
many efforts to implement resolution 1325 (2000) detailed in the Secretary-
Generals report, in particular positive examples of efforts to engage with womens
civil society groups in conflict resolution and peacebuilding, and to protect women
and girls from sexual and gender-based violence.
The Security Council notes with grave concern that women and girls are
disproportionately affected by conflict, and that womens participation at all stages
of peace processes and in the implementation of peace accords remains too low,
despite the vital role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in
rebuilding their societies. The Council recognizes the need to facilitate the full and
effective participation of women in these areas and stresses that the full and
effective participation of women is very important for sustainability of peace
processes.
The Security Council welcomes the efforts of Member States to implement
its resolution 1325 (2000) at the national level, including the increase in the number
of States that have formulated or revised national action plans and strategies, and
encourages Member States to continue to pursue such implementation.
The Security Council welcomes the concrete commitments made by a
number of Member States at the present Ministerial Open Debate on 26 October
2010 to increase their efforts to implement its resolution 1325 (2000) and invites
those Member States and any other Member States that wish to do so to regularly
review implementation of this resolution and to report to the Security Council on
progress made as appropriate.
The Security Council supports taking forward, including by relevant UN
entities, the set of indicators contained in the report of the Secretary-General
(S/2010/498) for use as an initial framework to track implementation of its
resolution 1325 in situations of armed conflict and post-conflict and other situations
relevant to the implementation of resolution 1325, as appropriate, and taking into
account the specificity of each country.
The Security Council recognizes the need for consistent implementation of
resolution 1325 (2000) in its own work and for monitoring progress in
implementation. In this regard the Security Council underlines the need for timely
and systematic reporting on women and peace and security issues and urges the
Secretary-General to ensure that country-specific and relevant thematic issues
reports and briefings, provide information on women and peace and security issues
Appendix I: Excerpt from the Report of the Secretary-General
on Women and Peace and Security (S/2007/567)
Report of the Secretary-General on women and peace and security
B. Policy framework
39. The updated System-wide Action Plan for 2008-2009 is rooted, as was its predecessor, in
intergovernmental mandates contained in resolution 1325 (2000) and the related presidential
statements.
14
The resolution and the statements provide the overall policy framework for
identifying goals, results and implementation strategies in thematic areas of the updated
Action Plan. The Plan for 2008-2009 was developed as a results-based framework. The
updated Action Plan has the potential to produce concrete and replicable results, generate
knowledge and enhance capacity at many levels within the United Nations system and in
support of Member States.
1
40. A key lesson learned from the frst and second implementation reviews of the Action
Plan is that the 12 areas of action contained in the 2005-2007 Action Plan are too broad
and need to be sharpened in the updated Action Plan. Accordingly, all activities of United
Nations entities under the updated 2008-2009 Action Plan would be consolidated into the
following fve thematic areas: prevention; participation; protection; relief and recovery; and
normative. In January and July 2004, two Security Council working round-table discussions
addressing the integration of the thematic resolutions of the Council into the country-specifc
work of the Council, identifed prevention, participation and protection as thematic areas
common to the implementation frameworks of core thematic resolutions of the Council,
namely resolutions 1265 (1999) and 1296 (2000) on the protection of civilians in armed
confict, resolution 1366 (2001) on the role of the Security Council in the prevention of armed
confict, resolution 1460 (2003) on children in armed confict and resolution 1325 (2000) on
women and peace and security, and core themes for preventing confict and building and
maintaining peace and security. They are cross-cutting and interlinked, and provide Member
States, the United Nations system and other stakeholders with the basis for cross-theme
synergies to effectively implement and monitor activities under resolution 1325 (2000).
41. In addition to the three thematic areas of prevention, participation and protection, two
additional thematic areas relief and recovery, and normative were included in response
to the intergovernmental mandates contained in resolution 1325 (2000) and the subsequent
presidential statements of the Security Council. It is important to ensure that the needs
and concerns of women are addressed in a sustainable manner both in relief and recovery
operations, as well as in policy and programme development. Moreover, those areas were
identifed as priorities for many United Nations entities in the Action Plan for 2005-2007.
14 S/PRST/2001/31, S/PRST/2002/32, S/PRST/2004/40, S/PRST/2005/52, S/PRST/2006/42
and S/PRST/2007/5.
42. The goals of the updated Action Plan in the fve thematic areas are as follows:
(a) Prevention: mainstream a gender perspective into all confict prevention
activities and strategies, develop effective gender-sensitive early warning mechanisms
and institutions, and strengthen efforts to prevent violence against women, including
various forms of gender-based violence;
(b) Participation: promote and support womens active and meaningful participation
in all peace processes as well as their representation in formal and informal
decision-making at all levels; improve partnership and networking with local and
international womens rights groups and organizations; recruit and appoint women
to senior positions in the United Nations, including Special Representatives of the
Secretary-General, and in peacekeeping forces, including military, police and civilian
personnel;
(c) Protection: strengthen and amplify efforts to secure the safety, physical or
mental health, well-being, economic security and/or dignity of women and girls;
promote and safeguard human rights of women and mainstream a gender perspective
into the legal and institutional reforms;
(d) Relief and recovery: promote womens equal access to aid distribution
mechanisms and services, including those dealing with the specifc needs of women
and girls in all relief recovery efforts;
(e) Normative: develop policy frameworks; ensure effective coordination and
awareness-raising to advance the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000).
43. Planning and reporting on resolution 1325 (2000) under the consolidated fve thematic
areas have been placed at the programme level, rather than at the level of individual activity,
as it was in the 2005-2007 Action Plan. This will allow aggregation at the United Nations
system-wide level and facilitate analysis of gaps and overlaps.
C. Implementation strategies
44. Within these thematic areas and based on resolution 1325 (2000), the following strategies
by United Nations entities will guide the operationalization of the 2008-2009 Action Plan:
(a) Policy development: to develop policy directives, norms and standards,
including for project design, reporting, monitoring and evaluation;
(b) Advocacy: through partnerships with Member States, civil society and other
actors, to raise awareness, including through training, media and outreach and
information campaigns about the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000);
(c) Capacity-building: to support national capacities to implement the resolution and
provide related technical assistance, provide training, develop and update guidelines
for gender analysis and mainstreaming and build individual and/or institutional
capacity for implementation of the resolution;
(d) Partnership and networking: to develop and strengthen partnerships or networks
with Governments, civil society and regional and international organizations for the
implementation of the resolution;
(e) Provision of goods and services: to ensure equal access by women and their
associations and networks to goods and services.
D. Results-based management framework
45. The results-based management framework of the 2008-2009 System-wide Action
Plan is predicated on delivering concrete and measurable results at both the national and
international levels for the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000). The framework
has been designed to enable the United Nations system to effectively deliver the planned
outputs through better system-wide coherence and inter-agency coordination. It is intended
to strengthen the United Nations systems ability to effectively use planning, monitoring,
reporting and evaluation tools and to improve accountability for the results. The new
framework of the Action Plan will provide information on
Progress achieved in the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) at the level of the
Action Plan by measuring progress made in achieving the goals under each of the fve
thematic areas (prevention, protection, participation, relief and recovery, and normative)
Expected accomplishments or results for each activity planned by United Nations
entities and how this activity would contribute to advancing one of the fve thematic
areas
Qualitative or quantitative indicators of output/expected achievement to determine the
changes produced by the activity
Baseline data against which progress can be measured
Resources available for implementation of the activities under the Action Plan to
allow for an improved analysis of actual resources available for the implementation of
resolution 1325 (2000).
E. Accountability, monitoring and reporting
46. Enhanced accountability is the cornerstone of the United Nations systems efforts in
implementing the 2008-2009 Action Plan. The Action Plan is posted online and serves
as the basis for accountability within the United Nations system to major stakeholders,
especially Member States. The goals and outcomes set in the Action Plan represent a shared
accountability of the system to the Security Council, other Member States and, through
them, to women whom all United Nations entities ultimately serve. Each entity will be held
accountable for its contributions to the Action Plan. This translates into the accountability
of the head of each entity, programme managers and the staff. The links to national
implementation plans on resolution 1325 (2000) would provide additional accountability
dimensions to women in focus countries and tailor United Nations actions to national
gender-equality priorities and realities.
47. The results-based management framework would improve monitoring of the outcomes
of the Action Plan. Each United Nations entity will continue to monitor and evaluate the
outcomes for which it is responsible under the Action Plan, using the goals, indicators
and outcomes, as planned. In consultation with all participating United Nations entities, a
mechanism to oversee the implementation of the 2008-2009 Action Plan will be developed
for the United Nations Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) through its subsidiary
bodies.
48. The United Nations system will seek to improve inter-agency coordination through the
High-level Committee on Programmes of CEB, as suggested in the original report of the
Secretary-General outlining the 2005-2007 Action Plan.
15
Inter-agency coordination is one
2

of the core elements of the system-wide policy on gender equality and empowerment of
women and the strategy on gender mainstreaming approved by CEB in December 2006.
16

The implementation of the system-wide policy and strategy would improve the overall
inter-agency coordination and coherence of the United Nations system.
3
49. The United Nations system will also further seek improved reporting on results of
the implementation of the resolution. Using the set of common indicators, the system will
report on the progress in achieving results under the Action Plan. The annual frequency
of reporting and the related extensive consultations have proved not to be cost-effective.
Moreover, with its reporting period being out of step with the biennial budget cycles of
the United Nations system entities, it does not allow for proper planning of resources and
activities under the Action Plan. Thus, it does not contribute to enhanced effectiveness
in reporting and ensuring accountability for results. Accordingly, the Secretary-General
reiterates his recommendation, contained in paragraph 26 of document S/2005/636, to
report on the overall implementation of the System-wide Action Plan on a biennial basis.
Such reporting would improve effciency in terms of staff time and costs and provide more
comprehensive information to Member States.

15 See S/2005/636, para. 25 (b).
16 See CEB/2006/2, annex.
Introduction
In October 2000, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on
women, peace and security (hereinafter Resolution 1325). This was
the rst time in the UNs history that the Security Council adopted
a resolution on issues concerning womens roles and experiences in
armed conicts. A characteristic of most of todays conicts is that the
civilian population is the object of widespread and systematic attacks.
Women and children constitute a majority of the civilian population,
and are therefore particularly affected. At the same time, an increasing
number of women and girls are participating as combatants, either vol-
untarily or involuntarily. Despite this, womens experiences in conict
situations are marginalised to an unacceptable degree, and their roles
and contributions to conict resolution overlooked. Today, women are
often not included in forums where decisions concerning peace and
security are made, whether at local, national or international level.
The mandates of peace operations have expanded and changed.
Conict prevention, crisis management and post-conict reconstruc-
tion, as well as the establishment of rights-based governance and
implementation of humanitarian and human rights norms are all
elements of most peace operations today. Resolution 1325 deals with
these elements from a gender perspective. War and conict affect
women, men, boys and girls in different ways. A gender perspective
must be applied in order to recognise the equal rights and human
dignity of all people. Peace, democracy and development can only
be sustained if peoples experience, knowledge and resources are
utilised and their needs are safeguarded, regardless of gender.
As womens participation is necessary for securing lasting peace,
Resolution 1325 recognises the need for women to participate on
equal terms with men, at all levels and in all roles, to promote peace
and security.
The responsibility for implementing Resolution 1325 rests largely
with UN Member States, through measures at national level,
through contributions to the UNs efforts to promote peace and
security, and through bilateral peace initiatives in countries affected
by conict. Through this action plan we will strengthen, coordinate
and systematise Norwegian efforts to promote international peace,
Policy declaration
In its policy platform, the Government has committed itself to
intensifying Norways efforts to promote a more just world. The
implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000)
on women, peace and security is part of this commitment. This
action plan has been drawn up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Justice and the Police and
the Ministry of Children and Equality. It is part of our endeavour
to promote global security, peace and justice. The Government
will intensify its efforts both to increase womens participation
in civil and military peace operations, peacemaking and peace-
building, and to enhance the protection of the human rights of
women in conict areas. Norway will pursue a policy that pro-
motes gender equality at home and in a global context.
Jonas Gahr Stre
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Karita Bekkemellem
Minister of Children and Equality
Anne-Grete Strm-Erichsen
Minister of Defence
Knut Storberget
Minister of Justice and the Police
Erik Solheim
Minister of International Development
Action Plan
March 2006
The Norwegian Governments Action Plan
for the Implementation of UN Security Council
on Women, Peace and Security
Appendix J: Example of a National Action Plan - Norway
security and democracy. We will work for the increased participa-
tion and representation of women in local and international peace-
building processes. We will seek to increase the recruitment of
women to peace operations run by international organisations such
as the UN, NATO, the EU and the OSCE. We will intensify our ef-
forts to safeguard womens right to protection in conict situations.
The Government will cooperate with national and international
NGOs in implementing these important objectives.
The action plan will be a living document. It marks the beginning of
a process, and will be revised regularly in cooperation with relevant
national authorities and other interested actors.
International efforts and peace operations
Resolution 1325 urges Member States to ensure increased representa-
tion of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and
international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, manage-
ment and resolution of conict. Member States are also requested to
incorporate training guidelines and materials on the protection, rights
and the particular needs of women, as well as on the importance of involv-
ing women in all peacekeeping and peacebuilding measures into their
national training programmes for military and civilian police personnel
in preparation for deployment.
In these areas, the Government will give priority to the following
measures:
National measures
Representation, participation and recruitment
Norway will, in cooperation with other countries, work actively
to ensure that Resolution 1325 is followed up in all relevant inter-
national forums, including the UN, NATO, the Organisation for
Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the European Union
(EU) and the African Union (AU).
The proportion of women in the armed forces and the police will be
increased. The responsibility for this lies with the leaders directly
responsible for recruitment.
At least 25 per cent of the students attending military ofcer train-
ing schools will be women.
From 2006, women will be invited to enlist for national service on a
voluntary basis.
More women will be recruited for civilian positions in peace operations.
The Norwegian Police University College will continue its suc-
cessful efforts to recruit more women students for basic training
(women students made up 37 per cent of the autumn 2005 intake).
The Ministry of Justice and the Police has a particular responsibili-
ty for recruiting women to the Crisis Response Pool, which includes
personnel from the entire judicial system.
Measures to promote Norwegian women leaders as candidates for
international military and civilian positions will be implemented in
relevant ministries.
Norway will compile a list of potential Norwegian women candi-
dates for positions in international organisations.
Training and education
The Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Justice and the Police
will give the Norwegian Police University College and Norwegian
military schools and training institutions the task of integrating
Left: Norwegian soldiers preparing for a transport operation in Kabul. There is an urgent need to recruit
more women peacekeepers, for example in order to facilitate dialogue with the civilian population.
Right: A group of Afghan women with their school books. Norway will support measures that safeguard
womens rights, needs and priorities in post-conict situations.
Photos: Torgeir Haugaard (left) and Bente Bjercke (right).
04
05
Introduction
In October 2000, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on
women, peace and security (hereinafter Resolution 1325). This was
the rst time in the UNs history that the Security Council adopted
a resolution on issues concerning womens roles and experiences in
armed conicts. A characteristic of most of todays conicts is that the
civilian population is the object of widespread and systematic attacks.
Women and children constitute a majority of the civilian population,
and are therefore particularly affected. At the same time, an increasing
number of women and girls are participating as combatants, either vol-
untarily or involuntarily. Despite this, womens experiences in conict
situations are marginalised to an unacceptable degree, and their roles
and contributions to conict resolution overlooked. Today, women are
often not included in forums where decisions concerning peace and
security are made, whether at local, national or international level.
The mandates of peace operations have expanded and changed.
Conict prevention, crisis management and post-conict reconstruc-
tion, as well as the establishment of rights-based governance and
implementation of humanitarian and human rights norms are all
elements of most peace operations today. Resolution 1325 deals with
these elements from a gender perspective. War and conict affect
women, men, boys and girls in different ways. A gender perspective
must be applied in order to recognise the equal rights and human
dignity of all people. Peace, democracy and development can only
be sustained if peoples experience, knowledge and resources are
utilised and their needs are safeguarded, regardless of gender.
As womens participation is necessary for securing lasting peace,
Resolution 1325 recognises the need for women to participate on
equal terms with men, at all levels and in all roles, to promote peace
and security.
The responsibility for implementing Resolution 1325 rests largely
with UN Member States, through measures at national level,
through contributions to the UNs efforts to promote peace and
security, and through bilateral peace initiatives in countries affected
by conict. Through this action plan we will strengthen, coordinate
and systematise Norwegian efforts to promote international peace,
Policy declaration
In its policy platform, the Government has committed itself to
intensifying Norways efforts to promote a more just world. The
implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000)
on women, peace and security is part of this commitment. This
action plan has been drawn up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Justice and the Police and
the Ministry of Children and Equality. It is part of our endeavour
to promote global security, peace and justice. The Government
will intensify its efforts both to increase womens participation
in civil and military peace operations, peacemaking and peace-
building, and to enhance the protection of the human rights of
women in conict areas. Norway will pursue a policy that pro-
motes gender equality at home and in a global context.
Jonas Gahr Stre
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Karita Bekkemellem
Minister of Children and Equality
Anne-Grete Strm-Erichsen
Minister of Defence
Knut Storberget
Minister of Justice and the Police
Erik Solheim
Minister of International Development
issues related to women, peace and security into basic and special-
ised training programmes.
Before deployment on international operations, Norwegian person-
nel will be trained to deal with mission-specic situations. The
Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Justice and the Police will
be responsible for ensuring that personnel receive such training.
Training will include an introduction to the UN Codes of Conduct
and the NATO Policy on Combating Trafcking in Human Beings.
All Norwegian personnel will also receive instruction in inter-
national law, particularly in international humanitarian law and
international human rights, including those related to gender-
based violence, sexual violence and trafcking in human beings.
Personnel in the Crisis Response Pool, the Emergency Prepared-
ness Forces (NORSTAFF) and the Norwegian Resource Bank for
Democracy and Human Rights (NORDEM) will also be included
in training and awareness-raising on gender issues and Resolution
1325. The Ministry of Justice and the Police and the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs have a particular responsibility for implementation
in this area.
The quality and content of existing training materials are to be re-
viewed to ensure that they are in accordance with Resolution 1325.
Gender perspectives must be integrated into all exercises for
international missions.
The Ministry of Defence and the Norwegian armed forces must
integrate gender perspectives into the planning of all international
activities, including all operational plans for international operations.
NGOs
NGOs will be required, where relevant, to integrate gender perspec-
tives into their projects, programme applications and reporting in
order to be eligible for funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs/
the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). This
can be done, for example, by reporting on cooperation with local
womens networks and organisations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Norad will attach particular impor-
tance to NGOs efforts to recruit more women to international posi-
tions, and to training of the NGOs own personnel on issues relevant
to Resolution 1325.
NGOs working on projects funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs/
Norad should develop their own codes of conduct for their employees.
Multilateral cooperation (the UN system, NATO, OSCE, EU and AU)

The UN
Norway will, as a member of the governing bodies of the UN
and other multilateral organisations, seek to ensure that the
organisations themselves integrate a more comprehensive and
active approach to gender justice and gender equality into all their
activities and allocate resources for this purpose.
Norway will seek to ensure that all relevant Security Council
resolutions and mandates for peace operations clearly specify how
the various measures affect both women and men. Norway will
also seek to ensure that women participate in all of the Security
Councils missions, and that these missions establish a dialogue
with local women and locally-based womens organisations.
Reports of Security Council missions must include a gender
perspective.
Norway will seek to ensure that gender issues are incorporated
more thoroughly and consistently into the Secretary-Generals
reports to the Security Council.
Norway will support UN recruitment processes to ensure that
more women are appointed to higher positions in peace op-
erations, and will actively promote strong candidates for such
positions. It is particularly important to appoint more women as
Special Representatives of the Secretary-General (SRSG).
Norway will continue to support the gender advisers at the UN
Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and seek to
ensure that issues relating to gender and conict are better inte-
grated into the DPKOs working routines, training programmes
and recruitment efforts.
Norway will work to increase the number of gender advisers,
and to ensure stronger and more integrated gender units in UN
eld operations, including in management positions. Norway
will seek to ensure that these positions are nanced through the
regular budgets.
Norway will seek to ensure that a gender perspective is taken into
account in the UNs integrated missions.
Norway will actively support the DPKOs efforts to mobilise
police resources for peace operations. There is a particular
06
07
security and democracy. We will work for the increased participa-
tion and representation of women in local and international peace-
building processes. We will seek to increase the recruitment of
women to peace operations run by international organisations such
as the UN, NATO, the EU and the OSCE. We will intensify our ef-
forts to safeguard womens right to protection in conict situations.
The Government will cooperate with national and international
NGOs in implementing these important objectives.
The action plan will be a living document. It marks the beginning of
a process, and will be revised regularly in cooperation with relevant
national authorities and other interested actors.
International efforts and peace operations
Resolution 1325 urges Member States to ensure increased representa-
tion of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and
international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, manage-
ment and resolution of conict. Member States are also requested to
incorporate training guidelines and materials on the protection, rights
and the particular needs of women, as well as on the importance of involv-
ing women in all peacekeeping and peacebuilding measures into their
national training programmes for military and civilian police personnel
in preparation for deployment.
In these areas, the Government will give priority to the following
measures:
National measures
Norway will, in cooperation with other countries, work actively
to ensure that Resolution 1325 is followed up in all relevant inter-
national forums, including the UN, NATO, the Organisation for
Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the European Union
(EU) and the African Union (AU).
The proportion of women in the armed forces and the police will be
increased. The responsibility for this lies with the leaders directly
responsible for recruitment.
At least 25 per cent of the students attending military ofcer train-
ing schools will be women.
From 2006, women will be invited to enlist for national service on a
voluntary basis.
More women will be recruited for civilian positions in peace operations.
The Norwegian Police University College will continue its suc-
cessful efforts to recruit more women students for basic training
(women students made up 37 per cent of the autumn 2005 intake).
The Ministry of Justice and the Police has a particular responsibili-
ty for recruiting women to the Crisis Response Pool, which includes
personnel from the entire judicial system.
Measures to promote Norwegian women leaders as candidates for
international military and civilian positions will be implemented in
relevant ministries.
Norway will compile a list of potential Norwegian women candi-
dates for positions in international organisations.
The Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Justice and the Police
will give the Norwegian Police University College and Norwegian
military schools and training institutions the task of integrating
Left: Norwegian soldiers preparing for a transport operation in Kabul. There is an urgent need to recruit
more women peacekeepers, for example in order to facilitate dialogue with the civilian population.
Right: A group of Afghan women with their school books. Norway will support measures that safeguard
womens rights, needs and priorities in post-conict situations.
Photos: Torgeir Haugaard (left) and Bente Bjercke (right).
04
05
need for women police investigators who are trained to handle
sensitive information about sexual abuse. There is also a need
for personnel who have experience in investigating sexual abuse
and gender-based violence in war and armed conict.
NATO
Norway will seek to increase the proportion of women partici-
pating in NATO-led peace-support operations, particularly in
areas where this is important because of local religious and
cultural factors.
Norway will seek to ensure that the NATO Policy on Combating
Trafcking in Human Beings is fully implemented in all Member
States and Partner States.
The OSCE
Norway will seek to increase the number of women participating
in missions of the OSCE.
Norway will maintain its strong engagement in efforts to inte-
grate a gender perspective into the work of the OSCE.
Norway will seek to ensure that the Member States follow up the
resolution adopted at the Ministerial Council in Ljubljana in 2005,
which prohibits OSCE personnel from becoming involved in
activities that could promote trafcking in human beings.
The EU
Norway will, in its relations with the EU Presidency and the
individual EU Member States, stress the importance of integrat-
ing a gender perspective into all aspects of crisis management
operations.
Norway will seek to ensure that Norwegian participation in
crisis management operations led by the EU contributes to the
implementation of Resolution 1325.
The AU
Norway will support the AU Secretariat in building its compe-
tence as regards the implementation of Resolution 1325. In coop-
eration with the AUs security policy mechanisms, Norway will
support the integration of gender perspectives into all measures
and documents. This will be particularly important in the efforts
to establish the African Standby Force (ASF).

Dialogue with women in conict areas is essential for gaining a complete picture of the situation.
UN Secretary-General Ko Annan in conversation with internally displaced persons in a camp in Sudan.
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issues related to women, peace and security into basic and special-
ised training programmes.
Before deployment on international operations, Norwegian person-
nel will be trained to deal with mission-specic situations. The
Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Justice and the Police will
be responsible for ensuring that personnel receive such training.
Training will include an introduction to the UN Codes of Conduct
and the NATO Policy on Combating Trafcking in Human Beings.
All Norwegian personnel will also receive instruction in inter-
national law, particularly in international humanitarian law and
international human rights, including those related to gender-
based violence, sexual violence and trafcking in human beings.
Personnel in the Crisis Response Pool, the Emergency Prepared-
ness Forces (NORSTAFF) and the Norwegian Resource Bank for
Democracy and Human Rights (NORDEM) will also be included
in training and awareness-raising on gender issues and Resolution
1325. The Ministry of Justice and the Police and the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs have a particular responsibility for implementation
in this area.
The quality and content of existing training materials are to be re-
viewed to ensure that they are in accordance with Resolution 1325.
Gender perspectives must be integrated into all exercises for
international missions.
The Ministry of Defence and the Norwegian armed forces must
integrate gender perspectives into the planning of all international
activities, including all operational plans for international operations.
NGOs
NGOs will be required, where relevant, to integrate gender perspec-
tives into their projects, programme applications and reporting in
order to be eligible for funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs/
the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). This
can be done, for example, by reporting on cooperation with local
womens networks and organisations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Norad will attach particular impor-
tance to NGOs efforts to recruit more women to international posi-
tions, and to training of the NGOs own personnel on issues relevant
to Resolution 1325.
NGOs working on projects funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs/
Norad should develop their own codes of conduct for their employees.
Multilateral cooperation (the UN system, NATO, OSCE, EU and AU)

The UN
Norway will, as a member of the governing bodies of the UN
and other multilateral organisations, seek to ensure that the
organisations themselves integrate a more comprehensive and
active approach to gender justice and gender equality into all their
activities and allocate resources for this purpose.
Norway will seek to ensure that all relevant Security Council
resolutions and mandates for peace operations clearly specify how
the various measures affect both women and men. Norway will
also seek to ensure that women participate in all of the Security
Councils missions, and that these missions establish a dialogue
with local women and locally-based womens organisations.
Reports of Security Council missions must include a gender
perspective.
Norway will seek to ensure that gender issues are incorporated
more thoroughly and consistently into the Secretary-Generals
reports to the Security Council.
Norway will support UN recruitment processes to ensure that
more women are appointed to higher positions in peace op-
erations, and will actively promote strong candidates for such
positions. It is particularly important to appoint more women as
Special Representatives of the Secretary-General (SRSG).
Norway will continue to support the gender advisers at the UN
Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and seek to
ensure that issues relating to gender and conict are better inte-
grated into the DPKOs working routines, training programmes
and recruitment efforts.
Norway will work to increase the number of gender advisers,
and to ensure stronger and more integrated gender units in UN
eld operations, including in management positions. Norway
will seek to ensure that these positions are nanced through the
regular budgets.
Norway will seek to ensure that a gender perspective is taken into
account in the UNs integrated missions.
Norway will actively support the DPKOs efforts to mobilise
police resources for peace operations. There is a particular
06
07
The UN
Norway will promote the integration of womens legal rights
into the criminal justice system through the training of judges,
prosecutors, lawyers and other judicial personnel involved in
UN operations.
NATO:
Norway will seek to ensure that NATOs efforts to combat
trafcking in human beings are continued and intensied, with
particular emphasis on operational measures in the eld. This
will be important in relation to Member States and Partner
States that have insufcient national legislation on trafcking in
human beings.
Norway will actively follow up NATOs decision that all person-
nel (civil and military) in NATO-led operations must have com-
pleted relevant training and an awareness-raising programme
on the subject of trafcking in human beings. This applies
particularly to the Alliances training modules on combating
trafcking in human beings.
The OSCE
Through the Ofce for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE missions, Norway will promote
projects in countries in the OSCE area to improve womens
competence and enhance their opportunities to participate in
peace efforts. Norway has particular expertise in institution
building within the judicial sector.
The AU
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will strengthen the integration of
a gender perspective into the activities of the Training for Peace
programme relating to the training of African civilian personnel
and police for deployment in AU peace operations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will seek to ensure that more
women complete training through the Training for Peace
programme with a view to ensuring a better recruitment basis
among African women for AU peace operations.
Conict prevention, mediation, peacebuilding

Resolution 1325 reafrms the important role of women in the preven-
tion and resolution of conicts and in peace-building, and [stresses]
the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all
ef forts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, and
the need to increase their role in decision-making with regard to conict
prevention and resolution.
Integration of a gender perspective into peace processes will
strengthen womens political, economic and social participation
and give them more control over their own lives. At the same
time, womens participation will enhance the prospects of building
a lasting, stable peace within a democratic framework.
Norway will seek to enhance womens opportunities for political
participation and to ensure gender balance in the creation of state
institutions, including in the justice and security sectors.

National measures
Norway will implement measures designed to encourage more
women to be facilitators and mediators in peace and reconcili-
ation processes, and will promote a more even gender balance
among its own participants in peace and reconciliation processes.
A gender perspective will be integrated into all instructions that
are drawn up for delegations and committees.
Norwegian personnel in peacekeeping contingents, eld trips
and other delegations that are involved before, during or after
conicts will comprise both women and men. A larger proportion
of women is necessary, for example, in order to cooperate with
and consult larger numbers of local women.
Norway will ensure womens participation and integration of
gender perspectives into measures and processes for religious
dialogue at the national and the international level.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will intensify its cooperation
with research institutions that integrate gender perspectives
into their work on peace and conict resolution. Research
institutions will be encouraged to give priority to gender in their
programmes and projects.
10
11
need for women police investigators who are trained to handle
sensitive information about sexual abuse. There is also a need
for personnel who have experience in investigating sexual abuse
and gender-based violence in war and armed conict.
NATO
Norway will seek to increase the proportion of women partici-
pating in NATO-led peace-support operations, particularly in
areas where this is important because of local religious and
cultural factors.
Norway will seek to ensure that the NATO Policy on Combating
Trafcking in Human Beings is fully implemented in all Member
States and Partner States.
The OSCE
Norway will seek to increase the number of women participating
in missions of the OSCE.
Norway will maintain its strong engagement in efforts to inte-
grate a gender perspective into the work of the OSCE.
Norway will seek to ensure that the Member States follow up the
resolution adopted at the Ministerial Council in Ljubljana in 2005,
which prohibits OSCE personnel from becoming involved in
activities that could promote trafcking in human beings.
The EU
Norway will, in its relations with the EU Presidency and the
individual EU Member States, stress the importance of integrat-
ing a gender perspective into all aspects of crisis management
operations.
Norway will seek to ensure that Norwegian participation in
crisis management operations led by the EU contributes to the
implementation of Resolution 1325.
The AU
Norway will support the AU Secretariat in building its compe-
tence as regards the implementation of Resolution 1325. In coop-
eration with the AUs security policy mechanisms, Norway will
support the integration of gender perspectives into all measures
and documents. This will be particularly important in the efforts
to establish the African Standby Force (ASF).

Dialogue with women in conict areas is essential for gaining a complete picture of the situation.
UN Secretary-General Ko Annan in conversation with internally displaced persons in a camp in Sudan.
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Bilateral cooperation in peace and reconciliation processes
In cases where Norway is involved as a facilitator in negotiations,
or is directly involved in peace processes, efforts will be made to
increase the proportion of women in negotiating delegations and
other activities in connection with such negotiations.
Norway will give nancial support to measures aimed at ensuring
womens participation and representation in specic peace proc-
esses. In cases where women do not participate directly in peace
negotiations, Norway will support special measures to ensure
that womens rights, needs and priorities are safeguarded.
Priority will be given to womens role as political actors in peace-
building and democratisation efforts. Training will be provided on
ways to secure womens democratic rights, including voting rights
and equal opportunities to stand as candidates for public ofce.
Measures will be implemented to involve local women, womens
organisations and networks and any other groups where there
is a high proportion of women, in all areas of conict prevention,

conict resolution and peacebuilding.
Norway will maintain regular contact with locally-based womens
groups and will support formal and informal meetings for women
and their networks in conict areas.
Norway will put gender issues on the agenda when peace
agreements are being drawn up, and will play an active role in
ensuring that womens rights are specically and effectively
safeguarded in the implementation of these agreements.
Norway will seek to ensure that women are represented in the
monitoring mechanisms that are established in connection with
various peace agreements.
Norway will help to strengthen and build up the judicial sector
in countries undergoing post-conict reconstruction. In this
context, priority will be given to measures to ensure that women
have real, non-discriminatory access to the judicial system.
Multilateral cooperation
The UN system
Norway will seek to ensure that a gender perspective is integrat-
ed into all aspects of the UN Peacebuilding Commissions work,
and that the need for continuity in the transition from military to
political operations is met.
Norway will propose a review of the organisation of gender and
gender-equality issues in the UN, and suggest that this review
should become part of the discussion on reform of the UNs
operational activities.
Norway will support UN efforts to develop a more systematic
method of consulting local women leaders and local womens
networks and organisations at an early stage of peace processes.
Norway will support local UN measures to increase womens
representation in nomination processes for elections at all levels.
Norway will work actively to strengthen implementation of Reso-
lution 1325 in UN special agencies, funds and programmes, for
example by supporting training and awareness-raising measures.
Norway will establish a close dialogue with the UN Develop-
ment Programme (UNDP) on Resolution 1325, both bilaterally
and through the donor group Friends of the Bureau for Conict
Prevention and Recovery (BCPR).
Voting in Afghanistan. Womens participation in political decision-making processes is an essential

basis for democratic development. Photo: Lana Slezic/Panos Pictures
12
13
The UN
Norway will promote the integration of womens legal rights
into the criminal justice system through the training of judges,
prosecutors, lawyers and other judicial personnel involved in
UN operations.
NATO:
Norway will seek to ensure that NATOs efforts to combat
trafcking in human beings are continued and intensied, with
particular emphasis on operational measures in the eld. This
will be important in relation to Member States and Partner
States that have insufcient national legislation on trafcking in
human beings.
Norway will actively follow up NATOs decision that all person-
nel (civil and military) in NATO-led operations must have com-
pleted relevant training and an awareness-raising programme
on the subject of trafcking in human beings. This applies
particularly to the Alliances training modules on combating
trafcking in human beings.
The OSCE
Through the Ofce for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE missions, Norway will promote
projects in countries in the OSCE area to improve womens
competence and enhance their opportunities to participate in
peace efforts. Norway has particular expertise in institution
building within the judicial sector.
The AU
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will strengthen the integration of
a gender perspective into the activities of the Training for Peace
programme relating to the training of African civilian personnel
and police for deployment in AU peace operations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will seek to ensure that more
women complete training through the Training for Peace
programme with a view to ensuring a better recruitment basis
among African women for AU peace operations.
Conict prevention, mediation, peacebuilding

Resolution 1325 reafrms the important role of women in the preven-
tion and resolution of conicts and in peace-building, and [stresses]
the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all
ef forts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, and
the need to increase their role in decision-making with regard to conict
prevention and resolution.
Integration of a gender perspective into peace processes will
strengthen womens political, economic and social participation
and give them more control over their own lives. At the same
time, womens participation will enhance the prospects of building
a lasting, stable peace within a democratic framework.
Norway will seek to enhance womens opportunities for political
participation and to ensure gender balance in the creation of state
institutions, including in the justice and security sectors.

National measures
Norway will implement measures designed to encourage more
women to be facilitators and mediators in peace and reconcili-
ation processes, and will promote a more even gender balance
among its own participants in peace and reconciliation processes.
A gender perspective will be integrated into all instructions that
are drawn up for delegations and committees.
Norwegian personnel in peacekeeping contingents, eld trips
and other delegations that are involved before, during or after
conicts will comprise both women and men. A larger proportion
of women is necessary, for example, in order to cooperate with
and consult larger numbers of local women.
Norway will ensure womens participation and integration of
gender perspectives into measures and processes for religious
dialogue at the national and the international level.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will intensify its cooperation
with research institutions that integrate gender perspectives
into their work on peace and conict resolution. Research
institutions will be encouraged to give priority to gender in their
programmes and projects.
10
11
Norway will work actively through boards and trust funds to en-
sure that the World Bank gives higher priority to issues relating
to gender and peacebuilding.
Norway will seek to strengthen the position of the Group of
Friends of Resolution 1325 and its work for more proactive and
result-oriented measures.
A gender perspective must be included in all disarmament, demo-
bilisation and reintegration (DDR) measures that Norway is con-
tributing to in countries emerging from conict. This is to include
cooperation with local womens networks and other local organisa-
tions in which women are represented. Such DDR measures must
target both women who are combatants or former combatants and
women who are otherwise afliated with combatant groups. The
position of women as next-of-kin and the closest social network of
combatants must also be taken into consideration.
Where Norway is involved in security sector reform and arms
control measures, the difference between women and men in
terms of vulnerability must be taken into consideration.
NATO
Norway will seek to ensure that the Alliances support for
security sector reform underpins the development of stable civil
societies and safeguards the political, economic, and social rights
of women and children.
Norway will seek to ensure a clearer focus on gender issues in its
dialogue with NATO Member States and Partner States.
The OSCE
Norway will continue to actively promote the implementation
of the OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality,
which at the last Ministerial Council was extended to include
Resolution 1325.
Norway will seek to ensure that women are included in the
peace processes that are under way in a number of OSCE
Member States in the Balkans and the Commonwealth of Inde-
pendent States (CIS).
A UN representative in conversation with colleagues in the eld. There are very few women in high-
level positions in UN peace operations. Photo: Sven Tornn/Panos Pictures
Left: Norway will help to strengthen and build up the judicial sector in countries undergoing post-conict
reconstruction. It is particularly important to ensure that women have access to the judicial system.
Right: Combatants in Liberia. More and more women and girls are participating as combatants, either
voluntarily or involuntarily.
Photos: Giacomo Pirozzi/Panos Pictures (left) and Teun Voeten/Panos Pictures (right)
14
15
Bilateral cooperation in peace and reconciliation processes
In cases where Norway is involved as a facilitator in negotiations,
or is directly involved in peace processes, efforts will be made to
increase the proportion of women in negotiating delegations and
other activities in connection with such negotiations.
Norway will give nancial support to measures aimed at ensuring
womens participation and representation in specic peace proc-
esses. In cases where women do not participate directly in peace
negotiations, Norway will support special measures to ensure
that womens rights, needs and priorities are safeguarded.
Priority will be given to womens role as political actors in peace-
building and democratisation efforts. Training will be provided on
ways to secure womens democratic rights, including voting rights
and equal opportunities to stand as candidates for public ofce.
Measures will be implemented to involve local women, womens
organisations and networks and any other groups where there
is a high proportion of women, in all areas of conict prevention,

conict resolution and peacebuilding.
Norway will maintain regular contact with locally-based womens
groups and will support formal and informal meetings for women
and their networks in conict areas.
Norway will put gender issues on the agenda when peace
agreements are being drawn up, and will play an active role in
ensuring that womens rights are specically and effectively
safeguarded in the implementation of these agreements.
Norway will seek to ensure that women are represented in the
monitoring mechanisms that are established in connection with
various peace agreements.
Norway will help to strengthen and build up the judicial sector
in countries undergoing post-conict reconstruction. In this
context, priority will be given to measures to ensure that women
have real, non-discriminatory access to the judicial system.
The UN system
Norway will seek to ensure that a gender perspective is integrat-
ed into all aspects of the UN Peacebuilding Commissions work,
and that the need for continuity in the transition from military to
political operations is met.
Norway will propose a review of the organisation of gender and
gender-equality issues in the UN, and suggest that this review
should become part of the discussion on reform of the UNs
operational activities.
Norway will support UN efforts to develop a more systematic
method of consulting local women leaders and local womens
networks and organisations at an early stage of peace processes.
Norway will support local UN measures to increase womens
representation in nomination processes for elections at all levels.
Norway will work actively to strengthen implementation of Reso-
lution 1325 in UN special agencies, funds and programmes, for
example by supporting training and awareness-raising measures.
Norway will establish a close dialogue with the UN Develop-
ment Programme (UNDP) on Resolution 1325, both bilaterally
and through the donor group Friends of the Bureau for Conict
Prevention and Recovery (BCPR).
Voting in Afghanistan. Womens participation in political decision-making processes is an essential

basis for democratic development. Photo: Lana Slezic/Panos Pictures
12
13
Protection and human rights
Resolution 1325 requests all parties to armed conict to respect fully
international law applicable to the rights and protection of women and
girls, especially as civilians. The resolution further requests all
parties to armed conict to take special measures to protect women
and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms
of sexual abuse, and all other forms of violence in situations of armed
conict. The resolution emphasises the responsibility of all States to
put an end to impunity and to prosecute those responsible for genocide,
crimes against humanity, and war crimes including those relating to
sexual and other violence against women and girls.
Norway will seek to strengthen the focus on human rights protec-
tion in conict and post-conict situations and in peace processes.
This applies particularly to protection of women and efforts to
enhance their opportunities to participate actively in conict preven-
tion and peace processes.
National measures
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the
Ministry of Justice and the Police will strengthen their organisa-
tional competence in regard to gender perspectives on human
rights and armed conict.
The Government will continue its strict enforcement of guidelines
and codes of conduct intended to prevent sexual exploitation and
abuse by Norwegian personnel engaged in operations abroad.
Norway will provide more training on the NATO Policy on
Combating Trafcking in Human Beings and the UNs zero toler-
ance policy for sexual exploitation and abuse before personnel
are deployed on international operations. Any breaches will be
reported and those responsible will be liable to prosecution and
punishment under national legislation.
Norway will seek to ensure that the international community
intervenes to prevent genocide, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes
against humanity. International implementation of the principle

of responsibility to protect requires special efforts to combat
gender-based and sexual violence. Norway will therefore combat
impunity for international crimes such as rape and other forms of
gender-based and sexual violence.
Norway will seek to safeguard womens right to participation
and their right to equal and non-discriminatory protection under
the law. This will be done, for example, by supporting efforts to
establish local, national and international mechanisms for human
rights monitoring and protection.
The rebuilding of judicial systems requires active efforts to
promote womens participation and to ensure that they in reality
enjoy the same protection under the law as men. Norway will
seek to ensure that gender perspectives are incorporated into
rule of law initiatives during post-conict reconstruction, and will
intensify efforts to ensure the genuine implementation of the
Women and children queuing for water. There is an urgent need to strengthen protection of refugees and
internally displaced persons against abuse and violence. Photo: Betty Press/Panos Pictures
16
17
Norway will work actively through boards and trust funds to en-
sure that the World Bank gives higher priority to issues relating
to gender and peacebuilding.
Norway will seek to strengthen the position of the Group of
Friends of Resolution 1325 and its work for more proactive and
result-oriented measures.
A gender perspective must be included in all disarmament, demo-
bilisation and reintegration (DDR) measures that Norway is con-
tributing to in countries emerging from conict. This is to include
cooperation with local womens networks and other local organisa-
tions in which women are represented. Such DDR measures must
target both women who are combatants or former combatants and
women who are otherwise afliated with combatant groups. The
position of women as next-of-kin and the closest social network of
combatants must also be taken into consideration.
Where Norway is involved in security sector reform and arms
control measures, the difference between women and men in
terms of vulnerability must be taken into consideration.
NATO
Norway will seek to ensure that the Alliances support for
security sector reform underpins the development of stable civil
societies and safeguards the political, economic, and social rights
of women and children.
Norway will seek to ensure a clearer focus on gender issues in its
dialogue with NATO Member States and Partner States.
The OSCE
Norway will continue to actively promote the implementation
of the OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality,
which at the last Ministerial Council was extended to include
Resolution 1325.
Norway will seek to ensure that women are included in the
peace processes that are under way in a number of OSCE
Member States in the Balkans and the Commonwealth of Inde-
pendent States (CIS).
A UN representative in conversation with colleagues in the eld. There are very few women in high-
level positions in UN peace operations. Photo: Sven Tornn/Panos Pictures
Left: Norway will help to strengthen and build up the judicial sector in countries undergoing post-conict
reconstruction. It is particularly important to ensure that women have access to the judicial system.
Right: Combatants in Liberia. More and more women and girls are participating as combatants, either
voluntarily or involuntarily.
Photos: Giacomo Pirozzi/Panos Pictures (left) and Teun Voeten/Panos Pictures (right)
14
15
principle of non-discrimination in such situations. Strengthening
the willingness and capacity of the police and the judicial system
to protect women is an important aspect of this work.
Non-discrimination, womens rights and genuine participation
are also central principles of transitional justice efforts, including
post-conict criminal justice accountability, vetting programmes
and reconciliation initiatives. Norway will support initiatives that
strengthen the position of women in transition phases and processes.
Norway will support the zero tolerance policy of the UN Secretary-
General in relation to sexual abuse committed by UN personnel,
and will help to establish better internal controls with a view to de-
veloping more effective prevention measures, better investigation
capacity and greater capacity for penal measures. This will include
improving the UNs internal auditing in this area as well as work-
ing to ensure that troop-contributing countries commit themselves
to prosecuting offenders.
Norway will promote the implementation of the international rules
for combating trafcking in human beings (the UN Palermo Proto-
col) both by troop-contributing countries and by countries hosting
Norway will work internationally to ensure that a gender perspec-
tive, efforts to combat abuse and efforts to combat trafcking in
human beings are integrated into all operational plans for peace-
keeping operations and peace agreements (cf. the NATO Policy on
Combating Trafcking in Human Beings).
Norway will actively follow up NATOs decision that all personnel
(civilian and military) in NATO-led operations must have com-
pleted relevant training and an awareness-raising programme on
the subject of trafcking in human beings.
Norway will support projects in conict areas that are designed
to protect women and girls against sexual violence, including traf-
cking in human beings, and that assist in the rehabilitation and
reintegration of victims of such violence.
Norway will continue to support the work of the UN High Com-
missioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with refugees and internally
displaced persons, especially measures to ensure that they are
protected in camps, both from external threats and from internal vio-
lence in the camps, including domestic violence. Particular attention
must be paid to measures to support traumatised women and girls.
The ministries will strengthen their cooperation with research

institutions that work on womens human rights and need for
protection, and will encourage these institutions to give priority to
gender perspectives in their programmes and projects.
Follow-up, revision and cooperation
The authorities work on the action plan will be carried out by the
relevant ministries and directorates, which will develop their own
guidelines for implementation and reporting.
Each ministry and each responsible unit will appoint a person to
coordinate the follow-up of the plan. The overall responsibility lies
with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A consultative body will be set up consisting of an inter-ministerial
working group, relevant directorates, research institutions and
NGOs. This body will meet twice a year to exchange information,
knowledge and experience of ongoing projects.
All training materials will be evaluated regularly.
The action plan will be evaluated once a year in connection with the
UN anniversary of Resolution 1325 in October. The evaluation will
be drawn up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and will be based
on reports from the relevant ministries, which must be completed
by 15 September. The annual evaluation will provide an oppor-
tunity for revisions, changes and additions. The action plan and
the annual evaluations will be published. Standard criteria for the
ministries reports will be developed.
18
19
Protection and human rights
Resolution 1325 requests all parties to armed conict to respect fully
international law applicable to the rights and protection of women and
girls, especially as civilians. The resolution further requests all
parties to armed conict to take special measures to protect women
and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms
of sexual abuse, and all other forms of violence in situations of armed
conict. The resolution emphasises the responsibility of all States to
put an end to impunity and to prosecute those responsible for genocide,
crimes against humanity, and war crimes including those relating to
sexual and other violence against women and girls.
Norway will seek to strengthen the focus on human rights protec-
tion in conict and post-conict situations and in peace processes.
This applies particularly to protection of women and efforts to
enhance their opportunities to participate actively in conict preven-
tion and peace processes.
National measures
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the
Ministry of Justice and the Police will strengthen their organisa-
tional competence in regard to gender perspectives on human
rights and armed conict.
The Government will continue its strict enforcement of guidelines
and codes of conduct intended to prevent sexual exploitation and
abuse by Norwegian personnel engaged in operations abroad.
Norway will provide more training on the NATO Policy on
Combating Trafcking in Human Beings and the UNs zero toler-
ance policy for sexual exploitation and abuse before personnel
are deployed on international operations. Any breaches will be
reported and those responsible will be liable to prosecution and
punishment under national legislation.
Norway will seek to ensure that the international community
intervenes to prevent genocide, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes
against humanity. International implementation of the principle

of responsibility to protect requires special efforts to combat
gender-based and sexual violence. Norway will therefore combat
impunity for international crimes such as rape and other forms of
gender-based and sexual violence.
Norway will seek to safeguard womens right to participation
and their right to equal and non-discriminatory protection under
the law. This will be done, for example, by supporting efforts to
establish local, national and international mechanisms for human
rights monitoring and protection.
The rebuilding of judicial systems requires active efforts to
promote womens participation and to ensure that they in reality
enjoy the same protection under the law as men. Norway will
seek to ensure that gender perspectives are incorporated into
rule of law initiatives during post-conict reconstruction, and will
intensify efforts to ensure the genuine implementation of the
Women and children queuing for water. There is an urgent need to strengthen protection of refugees and
internally displaced persons against abuse and violence. Photo: Betty Press/Panos Pictures
16
17
31 October 2000
00-72018 (E)
`````````
31 October 2000
(SC/6816),
conflict,
conflicts,
2
S/RES/1325 (2000)
and girls,
2
S/RES/1325 (2000)
and girls,
2
S/RES/1325 (2000)
and girls,
3
S/RES/1325 (2000)
20
21
principle of non-discrimination in such situations. Strengthening
the willingness and capacity of the police and the judicial system
to protect women is an important aspect of this work.
Non-discrimination, womens rights and genuine participation
are also central principles of transitional justice efforts, including
post-conict criminal justice accountability, vetting programmes
and reconciliation initiatives. Norway will support initiatives that
strengthen the position of women in transition phases and processes.
Norway will support the zero tolerance policy of the UN Secretary-
General in relation to sexual abuse committed by UN personnel,
and will help to establish better internal controls with a view to de-
veloping more effective prevention measures, better investigation
capacity and greater capacity for penal measures. This will include
improving the UNs internal auditing in this area as well as work-
ing to ensure that troop-contributing countries commit themselves
to prosecuting offenders.
Norway will promote the implementation of the international rules
for combating trafcking in human beings (the UN Palermo Proto-
col) both by troop-contributing countries and by countries hosting
Norway will work internationally to ensure that a gender perspec-
tive, efforts to combat abuse and efforts to combat trafcking in
human beings are integrated into all operational plans for peace-
keeping operations and peace agreements (cf. the NATO Policy on
Combating Trafcking in Human Beings).
Norway will actively follow up NATOs decision that all personnel
(civilian and military) in NATO-led operations must have com-
pleted relevant training and an awareness-raising programme on
the subject of trafcking in human beings.
Norway will support projects in conict areas that are designed
to protect women and girls against sexual violence, including traf-
cking in human beings, and that assist in the rehabilitation and
reintegration of victims of such violence.
Norway will continue to support the work of the UN High Com-
missioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with refugees and internally
displaced persons, especially measures to ensure that they are
protected in camps, both from external threats and from internal vio-
lence in the camps, including domestic violence. Particular attention
must be paid to measures to support traumatised women and girls.
The ministries will strengthen their cooperation with research

institutions that work on womens human rights and need for
protection, and will encourage these institutions to give priority to
gender perspectives in their programmes and projects.
Follow-up, revision and cooperation
The authorities work on the action plan will be carried out by the
relevant ministries and directorates, which will develop their own
guidelines for implementation and reporting.
Each ministry and each responsible unit will appoint a person to
coordinate the follow-up of the plan. The overall responsibility lies
with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A consultative body will be set up consisting of an inter-ministerial
working group, relevant directorates, research institutions and
NGOs. This body will meet twice a year to exchange information,
knowledge and experience of ongoing projects.
All training materials will be evaluated regularly.
The action plan will be evaluated once a year in connection with the
UN anniversary of Resolution 1325 in October. The evaluation will
be drawn up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and will be based
on reports from the relevant ministries, which must be completed
by 15 September. The annual evaluation will provide an oppor-
tunity for revisions, changes and additions. The action plan and
the annual evaluations will be published. Standard criteria for the
ministries reports will be developed.
18
19
4
S/RES/1325 (2000)
3
S/RES/1325 (2000)
3
S/RES/1325 (2000)
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf celebrates her victory in Liberias presidential election in January 2006.
Photo: Seyllou/AFP
22
23
This action plan was drawn up by the Ministry of Foreign Af-
fairs in cooperation with the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry
of Justice and the Police and the Ministry of Children and
Equality.
Cover photos:
Front cover: A woman voting in the presidential election in Liberia.
Womens participation in peace processes enhances the prospects of build-
ing a lasting and stable peace. Photo: Tim A Hetherington/Panos Pictures
Back cover: UN peacekeeper in Burundi. Resolution 1325 is based
on the need for women to participate on an equal footing with men at
all levels to secure lasting peace. The photo is from the UNs mission in
Burundi. Photo: UN archives
31 October 2000
00-72018 (E)
`````````
31 October 2000
(SC/6816),
conflict,
conflicts,
2
S/RES/1325 (2000)
and girls,
2
S/RES/1325 (2000)
and girls,
2
S/RES/1325 (2000)
and girls,
3
S/RES/1325 (2000)
20
21
Published by:
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Additional copies may be ordered from:
Government Administration Services
Kopi- og distribusjonsservice
www.publikasjoner.dep.no
E-mail: publikasjonsbestilling@dss.dep.no
Fax: + 47 22 24 27 86
Publication number: E-799 E
Printed by: Grafia Kommunikasjon as 05/2006
Impression 5000
4
S/RES/1325 (2000)
3
S/RES/1325 (2000)
3
S/RES/1325 (2000)
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf celebrates her victory in Liberias presidential election in January 2006.
Photo: Seyllou/AFP
22
23
This action plan was drawn up by the Ministry of Foreign Af-
fairs in cooperation with the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry
of Justice and the Police and the Ministry of Children and
Equality.
Cover photos:
Front cover: A woman voting in the presidential election in Liberia.
Womens participation in peace processes enhances the prospects of build-
ing a lasting and stable peace. Photo: Tim A Hetherington/Panos Pictures
Back cover: UN peacekeeper in Burundi. Resolution 1325 is based
on the need for women to participate on an equal footing with men at
all levels to secure lasting peace. The photo is from the UNs mission in
Burundi. Photo: UN archives
2 1 4 | P e A C e oP e r At i on s t r A i n i n G i n s t i t U t e
Courses at the Peace Operations Training Institute
Course Name English French Spanish
An Introduction to the UN System
CivilMilitary Coordination (CIMIC)
Commanding UN Peacekeeping Operations
The Conduct of Humanitarian Relief Operations
Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR)
Ethics in Peacekeeping
Gender Perspectives in UN Peacekeeping Operations
The History of UN Peacekeeping 19451987
Human Rights
Implementation of SCR 1325 (2000) in Africa
Implementation of SCR 1325 (2000) in LAC
International Humanitarian Law and the Law of Armed Confict
Logistical Support to UN Peacekeeping Operations
Operational Logistical Support
Advanced Topics in UN Logistics
Mine Action
Peacekeeping and International Confict Resolution
Preventing Violence Against Women
Principles and Guidelines
United Nations Military Observers
United Nations Police
The Peace Operations Training Institute is committed to bringing essential, practical knowledge
to students, and is always working to expand its curriculum with the most up-to-date and relevant
information possible. POTIs latest course list can be found at www.peaceopstraining.org, which
includes the courses increasing availability in Portuguese and Arabic. Visit the website regularly
to keep abreast of the latest changes to POTIs curriculum.
End-of-Course Exam Instructions
General Information
The End-of-Course Exam is provided as a separate component of this course. It covers the material in
all the lessons of this course, including any material found in the courses annexes and appendices. The
exam may be found in your Student Classroom at https://www.peaceopstraining.org/users/user_index.
Format of Questions
The exam consists of 50 multiple-choice questions. Each question gives the student a choice of four
answers marked A, B, C, and D, with only one of these being the correct answer.
Time Limit
There is no time limit for the exam. This allows the student to read and study the questions carefully, and
to consult the course text. Furthermore, if the student cannot complete the exam in one sitting, he or she
may save the exam and come back to it without being graded. The Save button is located at the bottom
of the exam, next to the Submit my answers button. Clicking on the Submit my answers button will end
the exam.
Passing Grade
To pass the exam, a score of 75 per cent or better is required. An electronic Certifcate of Completion
will be awarded to those who have passed the exam. A score of less than 75 per cent is a failing grade,
and students who have received a failing grade will be provided with a second, alternate version of the
exam, which can likewise be completed without a time limit. Students who pass the second exam will be
awarded a Certifcate of Completion. Those who fail the second exam will be disenrolled from the course.
SCR1325AFRICA_EN.120531
220 East 42nd Street
New York, New York 10017, USA
Tel: 212-906-6400
Fax: 212-906-6705
www.unwomen.org
www.facebook.com/unwomen
www.twitter.com/un_women
www.youtube.com/unwomen
www.fickr.com/unwomen

SCR1325 Africa EN.120925

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SCR1325 Africa EN.120925

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ImplementatIon of

SecurIty councIl reSolutIon 1325 (2000)

Multilateral cooperation (the UN system, NATO, OSCE, EU and AU)

Multilateral cooperation (the UN system, NATO, OSCE, EU and AU)

Conict prevention, mediation, peacebuilding

is a high proportion of women, in all areas of conict prevention,

Voting in Afghanistan. Womens participation in political decision-making processes is an essential

Conict prevention, mediation, peacebuilding

is a high proportion of women, in all areas of conict prevention,

Voting in Afghanistan. Womens participation in political decision-making processes is an essential

against humanity. International implementation of the principle

The ministries will strengthen their cooperation with research

against humanity. International implementation of the principle

The ministries will strengthen their cooperation with research

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