UN Security Council Resolution 1325: Potential Actors and Suggested Actions

1. CURRENT 1325 PEACEWOMEN E-NEWS

International women's conference opens in Kampala
July 28, 2002 - At the Knowhow Conference at Makerere University where the Women's World conference was also taking place there were almost 2250 women in Uganda for both meetings and there were many workshops on women conflict and peace. Isha Dyfan from the International Women's Tribune Center (IWTC) conducted a workshop on Security Council Resolution 1325 focusing on building a network of ICT practitioners and designing a strategy for the dissemination of information on women, peace and security. The IWTC are also holding informal meetings for further partnerships and collaboration to integrate this information into their work. http://peacewomen.org/news/july/kampala.html

Women Call for Neutral Force
July 26, 2002 - Thousands of women under the banner of the Christian Women Initiatives (in Liberia) are calling for a neutral force and the creation of a peaceful and conducive security environment for free and fair elections in 2003. http://www.peacewomen.org/news/july/liberia.html

World Civil Society Forum Conference on Women, War and Peace
July 22, 2002 - Within this Civil Society Conference, WILPF Geneva organized a consultation on on Women and War with links to disarmament. The session was organized because there was nothing within the forum on women in decision-making, conflict resolution etc. In addition, WILPF made a commitment to participants from a March 8th seminar to have a follow-up consultation on Security Council Resolution 1325 and to promote implementation of the resolution. Cora Weiss from the Hague Appeal for Peace and Sheri Gibbings from the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) presented ideas and actions for the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325.

For More News please see: http://www.peacewomen.org/news/newsindex.html

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2. ANALYSIS OF 1325: POTENTIAL ACTORS AND SUGGESTED ACTIONS

This document was developed by the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security to help move Security Council Resolution 1325 forward, and ensure that the commitments made in the resolution are acted upon. The focus of this document is therefore on specific actions that ought to be taken next, and the potential actors who would be most appropriate for these actions. The document is divided into 11 core issues addressed in the resolution. Each issue is located and quoted in the resolution, followed by a list of potential actors who would be most appropriate to act on that issue, and a list of specific suggested actions to be taken. Since this document is a draft document, any feedback would be helpful. Please send comments and suggestions to info@peacewomen.org. The draft was compiled by Sarah Shteir, WILPF-UN Office, July 2002.

This analysis covers the following issues:
1. Women decision-makers
2. Women's Participation in Security Council Missions
3. Women as Special Representatives and Envoys
4. Women in Field-based Operations
5. Gender-based and Sexual-based Violence
6. Gender-Sensitive Training
7. Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective
8. Peacekeeping Operations
9. Women as Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) and Refugees
10. Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR)
11. Consultation with Women's Groups

To see this draft document in its original chart form, go to http://www.peacewomen.org/un/UN1325/draftchart.html

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Issue 1: Women decision-makers

1325 Text:
Para 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;
Para 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;

Potential Actors: Member States, national women's peace organizations, regional women's peace organizations (See PeaceWomen contacts ), women ambassadors, NGOs, all political parties, national offices on women's issues, all relevant UN agencies - Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), Office for the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN Department of Public Information (UNDPI), Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA), United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)

Suggested Actions:
-Encourage women's organizations at all levels to prepare and submit lists of suggested candidates for decision-making positions, especially in conflict zones and including refugee women
-Disseminate information about the resolution directly to national and regional bodies involved in decision-making, especially those in the prevention, management and resolution of conflict
-Develop a lobbying strategy to be adopted specifically by women ambassadors
-Establish a support network, including a listserve, for those advocating for gender balance and gender mainstreaming within the UN system

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Issue 2: Women's Participation in Security Council Missions

1325 Text:
Para 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;

Potential Actors: UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA), Department of Public Information (DPI), Member States, European Union (EU), African Union (AU), political parties, non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

Suggested Actions:
-Create and fund position of gender advisor at DPKO
-Create regular mechanisms for DPKO and DPA to ensure gender mainstreaming
-Disseminate information on the lack of/need for women in senior posts in UN decision-making bodies
-Contribute to database of candidates for high-level UN posts
-Establish standards for promoting women's candidacy in elections
-Ensure gender balance at UN-sponsored peace negotiations
-Create regular mechanism for civil society, especially women's input into Security Council decisions, missions and visits

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Issue 3: Special Representatives and Envoys

1325 Text:
Para 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;

Potential Actors: All relevant UN agencies and departments, and member states

Suggested Actions:
-UN departments and agencies in headquarters (HQ) and field offices should prepare lists of candidates to submit to the Secretary-General for a centralized database
-Prioritize gender balance for open positions

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Issue 4: Women in field-based operations

1325 Text:
Para 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;

Actions for relevant UN bodies- Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), Office for the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO):
-UN departments and agencies in headquarters (HQ) and in the field should prepare lists of female candidates to submit to the Secretary-General for centralized roster
-Collect gender disaggregated data and analysis on personnel in field-based operations

Actions for Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), National military training bodies, and Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) in particular:
-Appoint high-level gender advisors in all peace support operations (PSOs)
-Fund a gender unit at DPKO to offer support and collaboration to field operations
-Compile a list of gender specialists, gender-trained personnel and other qualified female personnel for candidacy at all levels in peace support operations (PSOs) + maintain an updated database of these names
-Develop and disseminate training best practices
- Develop mechanism for inclusion of more women in senior military positions in DPKO
-Urge contributing states to provide more women civilian police officers and military observers to serve in UN peacekeeping operations

Actions for UN humanitarian agencies in particular:
-Prioritize gender balance for open positions

Actions for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), and UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), in particular:
-Lobby for mandatory gender-sensitive/awareness training for all peacekeepers
-Encourage dialogue on importance of women's presence as personnel in peacekeeping operations through media
-Urge contributing states to provide more women civilian police officers and military observers to serve in UN peacekeeping operations

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Issue 5: Gender-based and Sexual-based Violence

1325 Text:
Para 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;
Para 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;
Para 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;

Actions for Relevant non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UN Department of Public Information (UNDPI), UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM):
-Increase pubic awareness of women's different experiences of conflict, particularly of sexual and gender-based violence and the gender specific needs of women in armed conflict through TV programs, press conferences, radio interviews, exhibitions, media coverage of women's events.
-Encourage governments to exclude from peace agreements amnesty provisions for sexual crimes and other crimes against women and girls
-Lobby for fair gender balance and mainstreaming in International Criminal Court (ICC)

Actions for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
-Establish specialist positions in areas of sexual, gender-based and domestic violence
-Develop gender-sensitive guidelines for reporting and documenting gender-based violence and for interviewing victims of sexual-based violence
-Carry out vulnerability analyses of women in conflict situations to improve efforts to protect women from gender-based violence

Actions for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in particular:
-Lobby for an end to impunity for war crimes, especially violence against women and girls
-Document and report violence against women and girls
-Include issues of violence against women and girls in peace negotiations

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Issue 6: Gender-Sensitive Training

1325 Text:
Para 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 peacebuilding 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;
Para 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, UNIFEM, UNICEF, UNHCR and other relevant bodies;

Potential Actors: Office of the Secretary-General, Office of the Assistant Secretary-General on Gender Issues, Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), UN Department of Public Information (DPI), UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and relevant non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

Suggested Actions:
-Disseminate information on the importance of gender-sensitive training specifically to military and police branches of member states
-Make gender-sensitive training materials available to all member states
-Strengthen efforts to motivate member states, in particular the police and military branches, to adopt gender-sensitive training materials and promote training materials
-Disseminate best practices in gender-sensitive training
-Include women from civil society in training sessions for peacekeepers

Actions for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), in particular:
-Create and fund positions for high-level gender advisors at DPKO
-Create a gender unit at DPKO HQ
-Create mechanism for integration of gender-sensitive training into preparation procedures for all peace support operations (PSOs) and humanitarian field operations

Actions for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), World Health Organization (WHO), World Food Programme (WFP), Office for the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA, in particular:
-Establish mandatory gender-sensitive/awareness training for all peacekeepers and humanitarian field personnel
-Establish training for DPKO personnel
-Ensure that all peacekeeping and humanitarian operations have access to contextual information from conflict zones in order that gender-sensitive training is context specific

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Issue 7: Mainstreaming A Gender Perspective

1325 Text:
Para 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;
Para 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 women's 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;
Para 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;

Overall Actions for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), humanitarian agencies, Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) in particular:
-Intensify efforts to create position of gender advisor at DPKO
-Lobby for establishment of Gender Affairs units or gender focal points in all peace operations and humanitarian operations
-Strengthen efforts to establish gender specialists in offices of humanitarian agencies
-Strengthen efforts to encourage governments and other relevant political bodies to include local women's organizations in both formal and informal peace talks

Actions for Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), in particular, and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), humanitarian agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs):
-Include gender considerations at the planning stage of field missions through consultation and dialogue with gender specialists and women's groups on the ground
-Create a regular mechanism to ensure gender mainstreaming through the establishment of direct links to local women's NGOs
-Ensure systematic collection and analysis of gender disaggregated data on women in armed conflict situations
-Establish specialist positions in peace support operations (PSOs) in areas of sexual, gender-based and domestic violence
-Examine the Gender Affairs Offices in East Timor, Kosovo and Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC's) missions as models and for potential guidelines for action in future PSOs

Actions specifically for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO), and Office for the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
-Establish a mechanism in humanitarian operations to provide special support to female-headed households
-Ensure, through evaluation and monitoring, that all humanitarian operations - health services, food delivery and provision of shelter and sanitation - are gender sensitive

Actions for UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in particular:
-Provide a gender perspective in peace education programs in refugee camps

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Issue 8: Peacekeeping Operations

1325 Text:
Para 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;
Para 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;
Para 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 peacebuilding 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;

Actions for the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Department of Public Information (DPI), and Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) in particular:
-Lobby for inclusion of more women in senior DPKO positions
-Lobby for the establishment of Gender Affairs Units and/or senior gender advisors in all peace support operations (PSOs)
-Disseminate information about the importance of women's presence as personnel in peacekeeping operations and other PSOs

Actions for Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) in particular:
-Compile a list of gender specialists, gender-trained personnel and other qualified female personnel for candidacy at all levels in peace support operations (PSOs) + maintain an updated database of these names
-Create a mechanism within DPKO for analysis and awareness of gender-specific areas of need in conflict situations
-Create a mechanism for regular and direct consultation and dialogue between PSOs and local women's groups
-Establish specialist positions in areas of sexual, gender-based and domestic violence
-Develop a strategy for the active recruitment of women
-Develop a strategy for urging contributing states to provide more women civilian police officers and military observers to serve in UN peacekeeping operations
-Institutionalization of/Establish mandatory gender-sensitive training for all peacekeepers
-Examine East Timor, Kosovo and the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) PSOs for successful gender mainstreaming as models for further action
-Establish a mechanism for access to contextual information from conflict zones in order that gender-sensitive training is context specific
-Establish a mechanism for the exchange of information and experience between gender units in
PSOs

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Issue 9: Women Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) and Refugees

1325 Text:
Para 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 their design, and recalls its resolutions 1208 (1998) of 19 November 1998 and 1296 (2000) of 19 April 2000;

Potential Actors: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), UN Population Fund (UNFPA), Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

Suggested Actions
-Continue dissemination of information about women's different experiences of conflict, particularly of sexual and gender-based violence
-Establish a mechanism for analysis and awareness of gender specific areas of need in conflict situations
-Establish a mechanism for regular consultation and dialogue between PSOs, other involved UN bodies, and refugee women
-Ensure that women refugees and internally displaced peoples (IDPs) are in decision-making positions
-Ensure provision of gender sensitive health services
-Ensure provision of treatment and counseling for victims of sexual violence
-Ensure a gender balance among humanitarian personnel
-Provide gender sensitive training for all humanitarian personnel

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Issue 10: Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR)

1325 Text:
Para 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;

Potential Actors: World Health Organization (WHO), Department of Political Affairs (DPA), Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA), Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), and World Bank (WB)

Suggested Actions:
-Disseminate information on the gender specific physical and mental health needs of female ex-combatants
-Ensure that programs to address disarmament and demobilization be gender sensitive and include
consultation with women, girls and men at every stage

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Issue 11: Consultation with women's groups

1325 Text:
Para 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 women's groups;

Potential Actors: Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), Department of Political Affairs (DPA), and Security Council members

Suggested Actions:
-Continue to exert pressure on SC to uphold their commitments in 1325
-Promote more Arria Formula meetings
-Develop a mechanism to integrate women in Security Council visits
-Develop a comprehensive strategy among NGOs to lobby governments and other political bodies to include local women's groups in informal and formal peace talks

Previous Analysis done on the 1325 PeaceWomen E-news can be found on-line at http://www.peacewomen.org/news/1325News/1325ENewsindex.html

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3. PEACEWOMEN FEATURE REPORT: LICENSE TO RAPE

A new report produced by Shan human rights groups reveals extensive use of sexual violence, mostly by Burmese military officers, in Shan State over the past five years.
The report "Licence to Rape," by the Shan Human Rights Foundation and the Shan Women's Action Network, documents how over 600 girls and women were raped or sexually assaulted by the Burmese military officers, usually in front of their own troops.
Most of the rapes took place in Central Shan State, where over 300,000 villagers have been forcibly relocated from their homes since 1996 as part of an anti-insurgency campaign. The release of the report coincides with the birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose release from house arrest last May gained world attention. "We want to remind the international community to look beyond Rangoon, and not to ignore the abuses being committed by the regime against women in Burma's ethnic states," said Nang Mo Hom of the Shan Human Rights Foundation. The reports urges the regime to engage the ethnic nationalities in political dialogue to bring an end to the civil war. It also calls on the Royal Thai government to give protection to Shan refugees fleeing into Thailand. For more information on the Burma Rape Report please visit: http://www.peacewomen.org/campaigns/featured/burma/burma.html

For further details contact: kenneri@loxinfo.co.th
The report can be viewed at: http://www.shanland.org/shrf/License_to_Rape/license_to_rape.htm
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4. 1325 PEACEWOMEN RESOURCE

Gender Mainstreaming in Peace Support Operations: Moving Beyond Rhetoric to Practice: This paper discusses the need, rationale, mandates and mechanisms for mainstreaming gender throughout peace support operations. It raises some of the challenges and suggests recommendations for assisting effective implementation. The article can be found at: http://www.international-alert.org/women/GM%20in%20PSO.pdf
A recent UN Security Council meeting on Gender and Peacekeeping, held on 25th July 2002 under the UK presidency of the Security Council, heard numerous statements from representatives of member states, and UN agencies and departments supporting the systematic participation of women in peacekeeping operations and gender mainstreaming. (More information can be found at: http://www.peacewomen.org/un/sc/genderandpeackeeping2002/genderconflictp...). At this critical time in the development of gender mainstreaming debate and actions within peace support operations, this paper aims to respond to the question 'how' gender can be mainstreamed in policy, and translated and entrenched in practice.

The pdf file is quite large and does not include a cover (due to size), so if you would like to be sent a paper copy or have any questions about our work please do not hesitate to contact Bethan at International Alert: bcobley@international-alert.org.

For a comprehensive annotated bibliography of books, articles and analyses on women's peace theory and activities, as well as NGO position papers, reports, speeches, statements and tools for organisational building, please go to: http://www.peacewomen.org/resources/resindex.html
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5. PEACEWOMEN CALENDAR

Women: War, Peace and Revolution: Women's Studies Conference at SUNY New Paltz
Saturday, October 19, 2002, New Paltz, NY, USA
What can we learn from the similarities and differences among women's experiences in war, peace and revolution historically, cross culturally and inter-generationally? This will be a
multi-generational, international investigation aimed at helping us create new and more informed strategies for thought and action. For further information call Pat Clarke at
(845)257-2978 or clarkep@newpaltz.edu.

For more calendar events please visit: http://www.peacewomen.org/frame/calendar/calendar.html
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6. PEACEWOMEN FEATURE CONTACT

Women's Foundation
Issues: practical education; skills training; and legal and human rights education; empowerment of women. In Kathmandu, they run a shelter which is a safe haven for women and children who are the survivors of violence. Also gives counseling, medical care, and skills training.
GPO Box 8669, Kathmandu, Nepal
Ph #: 011 977 1 423 257
Email: tara@tara.wlink.com.np

For an extensive database of organizations worldwide working on women and peace issues, go to: http://www.peacewomen.org/contacts/conindex.html
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Questions, concerns and comments can be sent to 1325news@peacewomen.org. 1325 news and other submissions should be directed to 1325news@peacewomen.org