National Action Plans: 2015 in Review
By: Marta Bautista
As part of our monitoring work to strengthen accountability, PeaceWomen continues to monitor and analyse Member States National Action Plans (National Action Plans) on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325.
Afghanistan, Japan, New Zealand, Palestine and Paraguay released a new National Action Plan this year. With them, as of December 2015, 55 nations have created a National Action Plan on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, which accounts for about 28.5% of the countries worldwide. While there is still much work to do, it is a positive step forward to have 10 new countries commit to developing a new National Action Plan in 2016. These countries are: Algeria, Angola, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Portugal, Thailand, Ukraine and the United Republic of Tanzania.
In October, the Security Council organised a High Level Review to assess progress at the global, regional and national levels in implementing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), renew commitments, and address obstacles that have emerged. Within the 2015 commitments on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, there was a notable increase in language and commitment towards increasing women’s participation, however, much of the language focused on the role of women’s participation in countering violent extremism. Further, the language on this remains quite vague and often times solely emphasized women’s inclusion in security sector roles.
During the Open Debate, countries such as Australia and Jordan, claimed that they are in the process of reviewing their National Action Plans; Croatia informed that it is developing its second National Action Plan; Finland and the Netherlands are developing their third; and Spain committed to revise their National Action Plan. Finally, the United Kingdom stated that it will continue to provide technical and operational support to help other governments, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, implement their action plans.
All in all, these new commitments are seen as positive steps, however, implementation remains a critical gap. We encourage civil society organizations to advocate for inclusive development of National Action Plans. It is now time to move from commitments towards action!
PeaceWomen is currently working on the analysis of all new National Action Plans. Please, stay tuned for upcoming new National Action Plan analyses here.
Tools You Can Use in 2016:
PeaceWomen: Women, Peace and Security Advocacy Toolkit
PeaceWomen: 2015 Social Media Packet
2015 Call to Action: Member State Commitments to Women, Peace and Security