1325 PeaceWomen E-News
Issue #59
26 April 2005

WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM:
90 YEARS OLD AND GOING STRONG

The Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, 31 October 2000. CLICK HERE for the full text of the resolution.

To receive the 1325 PeaceWomen E-Newsletter, send an email to 1325news@peacewomen.org with "subscribe" as the subject heading.

For past issues of the newsletter, CLICK HERE.

THIS ISSUE OF 1325 PEACEWOMEN E-NEWS FEATURES:

1. Women's International League For Peace and Freedom: 90 Years Old and Going Strong
2. Listening to Peacewomen Voices from the Past
3. Women, Peace and Security News
4. Focus on Sudan: Women Demand Inclusion of Gender on the Agenda at the Oslo Donors’ Conference on Sudan
5. Update from the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security: Response to the Secretary-General Report, In Larger Freedom & Summary of SCR 1325 Workshops at CSW 2005
6. A Gender and Peacekeeping Update: Documentation from the 2005 resumed session of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (4-8 April 2005) & More
7. Feature Resources: A Gender Approach - Home Truths For Girls Returning From the Armed Forces and Groups (Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers) & Sexual Violence and its Consequences among Displaced Persons in Darfur and Chad (HRW)
8. Women, Peace and Security Calendar

If you would like to fill out the 1325 PeaceWomen E-News evaluation form in either English or French, please write to 1325news@peacewomen.org and we will send you the questionnaire by email.

The PeaceWomen is a project of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Please visit us at http://www.peacewomen.org.

Anniversary Greetings from WILPF’s International President, Regina Birchem
On 28 April 2005, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom will celebrate its founding 90 years ago at The Hague, Netherlands, in the midst of bloody and brutal World War I.

This is not just a celebration of having become so old. It is a celebration of what the founding members accomplished and intended to accomplish: to make the concept of war impossible. It is a celebration of the heroic and courageous challenge women around the globe present to the world to this day. We believe a just and free world without war is not only possible, but necessary.

To all Peacewomen (and Peacemen) everywhere, we send our greetings and pledge of solidarity to continue the work for peace and freedom.

WILPF International’s website: http://www.wilpf.int.ch/

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

WILPF Celebrates its 90th Anniversary with a Discussion on SCR 1325
23 April 2005, The Hague, Netherlands
Members of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom from eight countries gathered in The Hague on Saturday 22 April 2005 to celebrate the organization’s 90th anniversary. More than 60 women traveled to The Hague from Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Lebanon, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom. The Dutch section of WILPF, who hosted the gathering, organized a day-long seminar on two issues of importance to WILPF members: UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the International Criminal Court (ICC). The seminar was followed by drinks, dinner and dancing.

The seminar began with a brief round of introductions. Applause and cheers greeted the members of each section as they stood, country by country to be recognized. Carolien Stadt from the Netherlands, presented a brief history of WILPF and described its first Congress in 1915 when 1200 women gathered in The Hague. According to Carolien, the women chose The Hague as the location for their first meeting because of its history as a city where successful peace negotiations had taken place. She went on to explain that the zoo was the only site in the city large enough to provide space for the more than 1200 women assembled!

Heidi Meinzholt-Depner from the WILPF Germany National Section, and Susi Snyder, WILPF’s Secretary-General led the workshop on UN Security Resolution 1325. They began the discussion with a review of the work that WILPF has done to-date with SCR 1325, and then opened the floor to hear how other members are using the resolution. The discussion ranged from how to put “teeth” into the resolution, to how to best use the European Women’s Lobby to advocate for strong national action plans on implementing the resolution in the European Union. Best practices were shared, including: the German Section’s participation in the network, the Women’s Security Council, and their 2004 alternative report based on the German government’s progress report to the UN Secretary General on implementation of the resolution*; and the Netherlands Task Force on 1325 which has facilitated better dialogue between women’s organizations and the military.

Samira Khory, one of WILPF’s International Vice Presidents, from Lebanon, spoke of the need to increase understanding in Lebanon of how to actively implement the resolution. One of her proposals for implementing the resolution in Lebanon was to invite WILPF members to come to Lebanon to monitor the upcoming elections.

A more comprehensive summary of the event, accompanied by photographs, will be posted shortly to the WILPF International website at: http://www.wilpf.int.ch/.

* Alternative Report on Germany’s Implementation of Resolution 1325, Women’s Security Council, Germany, October 2004: http://un1325.de/fsr.htm

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Celebrate the 90th Anniversary of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in New York
6 May 2005, 6:30-9:30pm, Church Center for the UN*, 2nd floor
Jointly sponsored by WILPF International, WILPF USA, and WILPF New York Metro, this anniversary reception will include performances highlighting the major campaigns of WILPF, a display from WILPF's archives, and a performance by the Raging Grannies. For more information, contact wilpfun@igc.org.

*The Church Center for the UN is located at 777 UN Plaza (44th Street and 1st Avenue).

Back to Top

Since WILPF was established in 1915, its members have met at 28 triennial congresses passing resolutions at each on issues as diverse as women political prisoners in Germany (1934) and a new international economic order (1986). Many of these resolutions, the oldest from the original 1915 Congress, are as relevant today as when they were first drafted. To honor these WILPF peacewomen voices, and to explore the continued relevance of their analyses and discussions, the PeaceWomen Project has decided to launch a new item in 1325 PeaceWomen E-News entitled “Listening to PeaceWomen Voices from the Past,” featuring women, peace and security excerpts from the resolutions adopted by WILPF since 1915.

First Congress of Women, The Hague, 1915

…This International Congress of Women urges, that in the interests of lasting peace and civilization the Conference which shall frame the peace settlement after the war should pass a resolution affirming the need in all countries of extending the parliamentary franchise to women.

This International Congress of Women urges that the representatives of the people should take part in the Conference that shall frame the peace settlement after the war, and claims that amongst them women should be included.

This International Congress of Women resolves that an international meeting of women shall be held in the same place and at the same time as the Conference of the Powers which shall frame the terms of the peace settlement after the war for the purpose of presenting practical proposals to that Conference.

In order to urge the Governments of the world to put an end to this bloodshed and to establish a just and lasting peace, this International Congress of Women delegates envoys to carry the message expressed in the Congress Resolutions to the rulers of the belligerent and neutral nations of Europe and to the President of the United States.*

These Envoys shall be women of both neutral and belligerent nations, appointed by the International Committee of this Congress. They shall report the result of their missions to the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace as a basis for further action.

*WILPF delegations visited 14 countries during May and June l915. Jane Addams, elected President of the Congress and of the International Women's Committee (beginning of WILPF) the Congress established, met with US President Wilson who, according to the records, said that the Congress' resolutions were by far the best formations for peace which had been put forward until then. Again, according to the records, Wilson 'borrowed' some of their ideas for his own peace proposals he later made.

For more WILPF history, visit: http://www.wilpf.int.ch/history/hindex.htm

Seventh Congress, Grenoble, 1932

Principles of the W.I.L.P.F

In the anxious days when the fate of the world seems to hang in the balance and violence is growing in many directions throughout the world, this VIIth Congress assembled in Grenoble desires to re--affirm the stand of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and all its National Groups and Sections, against violence and oppression of every kind; whether employed between different nations, classes or individuals and whether under the influence of Fascism or Communism or any other system of government. It declares the League to have no financial affiliation with nor to be under the domination of any political party, national or international or any government whatsoever.

The W.I.L.P.F aims at uniting women in all countries who are opposed to every kind of war, exploitation and oppression and who work for universal disarmament and for the solution of conflicts by the recognition of human solidarity, by conciliation and arbitration, by world co-operation, and by the establishment of social, political and economic justice for all, without distinction of sex, race, class or creed.

For a comprehensive index of WILPF’s resolutions from its triennial Congresses since 1915, visit: http://www.wilpf.int.ch/statements/resindex.html.

Back to Top

GIRL SOLDIERS: THE FORGOTTEN VICTIMS OF WAR
April 25, 2005 - (The Independent) Girls make up almost half of the 300,000 children involved in wars, according to a report which says they are abducted, raped and often used as currency among fighters.

UGANDA: GOV'T SOLDIERS CHARGED WITH RAPE OF IDPS
April 22, 2005 - (IRIN) Three Ugandan soldiers have been arrested in connection with the rape of two internally displaced persons (IDPs), including a 12-year-old girl, in the war-torn northern district of Kitgum, an army spokesman told IRIN on Thursday.

CANADA RELEASES INTERNATIONAL POLICY STATEMENT
April 2005 – In the last issue of the 1325 PeaceWomen E-Newsletter, we featured a statement submitted by the Gender and Peacebuilding Working Group (GPWG) of the Canadian Peacebuilding Coordinating Committee regarding the integration of gender issues into the development of Canada’s International Policy Statement. The Policy Statement has since been finalized and released. Excerpted here is the most substantive reference to gender issues found in the report, in relation to Canada’s contribution to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), of which Canada is focusing on five areas - governance, private sector development, health, basic education and environmental sustainability: “Gender equality will be a crosscutting theme. Empowering women to participate fully in the political and economic activities of their communities is an MDG in its own right and is essential to achieving poverty reduction. Canada has been a leader among donors in promoting gender equality, both as a global issue and as a practical matter in implementing programs and projects. Across all five sectors, gender equality will be systematically integrated into programming. The focus will be on equal participation of women as decision makers, on their full human rights, and on their equal access to and control over community and household assets.”
English version: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/cip-pic/IPS/IPS-Overview.pdf
Version Français http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/cip-pic/IPS/EPI-Survol.pdf
For the GPWG statement, visit: http://action.web.ca/home/cpcc/en_whatsnew.shtml

U.N. INVESTIGATES ALLEGED SEXUAL ABUSE BY PEACEKEEPERS IN ERITREA
April 14, 2005 - (Deutsche Presse Agentur) The U.N. Mission monitoring the disputed border between Ethiopia and Eritrea disclosed Thursday that it has set up a committee to investigate allegations of sexual abuse which Eritrean women have made against Mission peacekeepers and civilian staff.

KOSOVO: SCHOOL'S OUT FOR GIRLS
April 14, 2005 – (IWPR’s Balkan Crisis Report, No. 551) Tradition, poverty and parental apathy mean that most Roma girls do not get even a basic education.

AFGHANISTAN: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INTOLERABLE, SAY BATTERED WOMEN AND GIRLS
April 13, 2005 - (IRIN) The story of Zaynab, (a name adopted to conceal her identity) an 18-year-old mother of five who has taken refuge in a new women's shelter in the capital Kabul, illustrates how routinely women continue to suffer rights violations in conservative, patriarchal Afghanistan.

IN JEANS OR VEILS, IRAQI WOMEN ARE SPLIT ON NEW POLITICAL POWER
April 13, 2005 – (NYT) One morning last week, three dozen women in Western-style business suits crowded into the office of the man who would soon be Iraq's prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Most were members of the newly elected National Assembly, and they had a list of demands.

For more country-specific women, peace and security news, CLICK HERE

For more international women, peace and security news, CLICK HERE

Back to Top

Sudanese Women’s Priorities and Recommendations to the Oslo Donors’ Conference on Sudan*
11-12 April 2005
“We, the Sudanese women delegates from all regions, comprising representatives from the Government of Sudan, the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), civil society and academic institutions, met in Oslo on 10 April 2005 with the objectives of defining our priorities in advocating for donor support for gender equality and women’s rights in post-conflict Sudan. We met under the auspices of the Government of Norway, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). This effort was also supported by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the African Union, South African Women in Dialogue, the UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador for Africa and other United Nations agencies.

Guided by UN Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), the Beijing Platform for Action, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals, the African Union Protocol on Women’s Human Rights, the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa, the IGAD Gender Policy, as well as other existing commitments, principles, goals and actions set out in the various national, regional, continental and international instruments on women’s human rights

Cognizant of the huge impact of war on women and women’s human rights, the erosion of capacities of women and the fundamental divisions that war creates;

Deeply concerned by the continued existence of conflict in some parts of Sudan, especially the Darfurs, and its impact on women and children;
Recognizing women’s role in peace-building, peacemaking, reconstruction and sustaining families and communities amidst the ravages of war, poverty and HIV/AIDS and women’s fundamental human right to be full and equal partners in all sectors and at all levels, from local through national, but bearing in mind the different status of women in the different areas of Sudan;

And lauding the effort made to mainstream gender throughout the JAM, while underlining the importance of women-specific programmes and projects;

We the women delegates do recommend the following minimum urgent priorities and actions for reconstruction during the interim period…”

The priorities and actions that follow address a variety of issues: governance and rule of law; gender-based violence; capacity building and institutional development; economic policy and management; livelihoods and productive sectors; basic social services; and education.

In addition, the Sudanese women delegates call on the donor community to “provide financial support towards the hosting of an all inclusive Sudanese Women’s Conference that would define a coherent, long-term agenda and strategy for accelerating women’s empowerment and gender equality/equity.”

For the full document, CLICK HERE.

*These recommendations are an outcome of a consultative process culminating in a Symposium on Women’s Rights and Leadership in Post-Conflict Sudan, held in Oslo 10 April 2005, under the auspices of Government of Norway, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Statement Delivered by Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), to the Oslo Donors' Conference on Sudan
12 April 2005
…In recent months, UNIFEM has consulted extensively with women in the Sudan to understand their priorities and needs and to reflect these in the JAM [UN-World Bank Joint Assessment Mission] process. The consultations have also culminated in the Gender Symposium organized with the Government of Norway and the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, just two days ago. A powerful agenda for action has emerged and has just been shared with you by the Sudanese women themselves. So I would like to highlight three key priorities for UNIFEM in supporting women's leadership and participation in Sudan's peace-building and reconstruction process.

The first is security: Security does not just mean the end of war. It must mean the ability to go about your life knowing that you and your family will be safe. However, we know that gender-based violence still continues and atrocities are still taking place, especially in Darfur. We will work and advocate on issues of gender justice for a security sector reform that includes women's human rights, protection and the link between HIV/AIDS and violence, and the prevention of HIV/AIDS based on gender equality and partnership with men. We will engage with DDR [disarmament, demobilization and reintegration] from a gender perspective to include women combatants and non-combatants in fighting forces, and wives, widows and other dependents of ex-fighters.

The second priority is governance and the rule of law: Country after country where we have assisted women, we have seen how women's participation in legal reform, in rule of law institutions, in the drafting of the Constitution, in elections, as leaders and as voters, are so important for sustainable peace and accountability. Support to women cannot wait. The capacities of Ministries and women's organizations at the community level must be strengthened; a women's coalition must be built and nationwide networks fostered; information must be shared with rural and urban women alike through media and other means; and experience-sharing and exchanges with many African women from different countries on peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction must be supported.

The third priority is economic security and rights: This is where the peace dividend comes. Swift implementation of livelihood programmes and of inclusive economic policies and strategies would move people from engaging in the economies of war to the economies of peace. An urgent step must be to support women's land rights and to deliver development assistance in partnership with women's organizations and businesses. Of immediate importance is access to basic services. Rural women and girls spend most of their time collecting water, firewood, and caring for other household members. Because of this, they may never make it to school or benefit from new opportunities, even if given a chance. That is why water, energy, feeder roads, health and education are fundamentally gender issues…

For the full statement, CLICK HERE.

For the statement on UNIFEM’s website, visit: http://www.unifem.org/speeches.php?f_page_pid=77&f_pritem_pid=190

For UNIFEM's Women, Peace and Security Web Portal profile of Sudan, which includes a slideshow, visit: http://www.womenwarpeace.org/sudan/sudan.htm

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

A sampling of recent media coverage:

WE ARE TERRIFIED TO GO HOME, DARFUR WOMEN TELL CHAMBERLIN
April 19, 2005 - (UNHCR Press Release) Darfur women who said they were chased from their villages by Janjaweed militia told visiting Acting High Commissioner Wendy Chamberlin on Tuesday that they were terrified to go home anytime soon.

AU PROTECTS WOMEN FROM ATTACKS IN NORTH DARFUR CAMP
April 14, 2005 - (IRIN) African Union (AU) personnel in the western Sudanese state of North Darfur have started providing armed escorts for displaced women and girls to protect them from attacks, an AU official told IRIN on Wednesday.

SUDANESE WOMEN REQUEST 80 PER CENT OF DONOR RESOURCES TO ADDRESS WOMEN'S ISSUES AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
April 13, 2005 – (UNIFEM) Women from North and South Sudan yesterday presented their recommendations agreed upon during a gender symposium on Sunday to the Oslo International Donors' Conference urging donors to reflect strong gender-responsive principles in the allocation of resources for Sudan's reconstruction and recovery efforts.

For news, resources, a database of organizations, and initiatives on women, peace and security issues in Sudan, visit PeaceWomen’s Sudan Index page: http://www.peacewomen.org/WPS/Sudan.html

Back to ToP

Response to the Secretary-General's Report, In Larger Freedom: Integrating Gender Equality into National-level Priorities for September Summit
April 2005
The NGO Working Group on Women Peace and Security (NGOWG) welcomes the report of the Secretary-General “In Larger Freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all” as a key contribution to the preparations for the World Leaders’ Summit in September 2005 (September Summit). We share the view of the Secretary-General that development, peace and human rights are inextricably linked and that their realization should be underpinned by the rule of law. Furthermore, we support his call for a new security consensus based on the recognition that all threats are interconnected and that “in today’s world no state, however powerful, can protect itself on its own.”

While the NGOWG agrees with many of the recommendations proposed by the Secretary-General, we are deeply concerned by the lack of gender analysis and gender perspectives in the report. Gender equality is mentioned only as an aspect of development and is absent from the sections on security, human rights and institutional reform. Furthermore, only one recommendation (5j) incorporates women-specific and gender-specific language...

For the full position paper, CLICK HERE.

For a printer-friendly version of this document on NGOWG letterhead, please email Cora True-Frost, Coordinator, at:
coratruefrost@peacewomen.org.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Summary of SCR 1325 Workshops at CSW 2005
April 2005
The NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security (NGOWG) facilitated two interactive workshops on Security Council Resolution (SCR) 1325 on women, peace and security during the 49th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women at UN headquarters in New York (28 February - 11 March 2005). The first session, co-hosted by the Permanent Mission of the United Republic of Tanzania to the UN on 4 March 2005, featured panelists Sharon Bhagwan Rolls of femLINKpacific: Media Initiatives for Women (Fiji), Khin Ohmar of the Women's League of Burma (WLB), Marie Leigh Parker of the Mano River Women’s Peace Network (MARWOPNET), and Ana Maria Jimenez of the Colombian Commission of Jurists.

The second session was held on 7 March 2005, and featured panelists Solange Habonamina, President of Collectif des Associations et ONGs Feminines du Burundi (CAFOB), Kate McCullough, Chairwoman and former employee of the Northern Ireland Women’s European Platform (NIWEP), and Dana Myrtenbaum, an Israeli lawyer and human rights activist who works for the promotion of women’s rights and peace in Israel at Isha L’Isha. The NGOWG was pleased to facilitate the participation of over 56 representatives from 49 different global NGOs. A list of the participants and their contact information is annexed hereto.

During both sessions, participants engaged in lively discussion regarding the impact of SCR 1325 on their work and the obstacles to its full implementation. More importantly, several women’s organizations’ representatives from around the globe shared their initiatives and successes in bringing SCR 1325 to their own communities...

For the full workshop summary, CLICK HERE.

The NGOWG’s action alerts and updates are posted on the NGOWG website at: http://www.peacewomen.org/un/ngo/actionalerts.html

For more information about the NGOWG, CLICK HERE.

Back to TOP

Report of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C-34) and its Working Group on the 2005 resumed session (A/59/19/Add.1)
15 April 2005
The Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C-34) met in a 2005 resumed session (4-8 April 2005) to review the report “A comprehensive strategy to eliminate future sexual exploitation and abuse in United Nations peacekeeping operations” (A/59/710), prepared by H.R.H. Prince Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein, the Permanent Representative of Jordan to the UN and the Secretary-General’s Advisor on sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeeping personnel. This report is the outcome document of the resumed session and outlines those recommendations introduced by Prince Zeid which the C-34 has adopted, as well as the C-34's own proposals and recommendations in response to the actions proposed in Prince Zeid's report.

The C-34’s report provides recommendations and proposals regarding the following issues: uniform standard; training; participation of women in peacekeeping missions; planning; organizational, management and command responsibility; welfare and recreation; data management; capacity to address misconduct; investigations; public information and communications; victim assistance; individual disciplinary, financial and criminal accountability; memorandum of understanding; and group of legal experts.

The section on victim assistance (K) is featured below:

“34. The Special Committee recommends that the Secretary-General provide to the Committee at its next session a comprehensive strategy for assistance to victims of sexual exploitation and abuse, including means for financial compensation.

35. The Special Committee recommends that until such a comprehensive strategy for assistance to victims of sexual exploitation and abuse has been implemented missions should provide emergency assistance to victims of sexual exploitation and abuse within current mission budgets…”

For the full report in all 6 official UN languages, visit: http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/59/19/Add.1

Next Steps
While the recommendations in the report include a range of actions– those that can be undertaken immediately as well as more long-term efforts- the C-34 envisions the overall plan for the implementation of the recommendations as beginning with the 2005 resumed session (4-8 April 2005) and ending “at the earliest opportunity, preferably by 1 June 2007.” Since many of the recommendations have budgetary implications (see link below), they will be submitted to the General Assembly’s 5th Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) in May, and prior to that to the 4th Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) and the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Question (ACABQ), to enable “appropriate action” by the General Assembly at its 59th session.

In addition, the C-34 has requested the Secretary-General to provide a progress report on the implementation of the recommendations in its report A/59/19/Add.1 as part of his annual report to the Special Committee, submitted prior to its next regular session in 2006.

For the draft General Assembly resolution on a "Comprehensive review on a strategy to eliminate future sexual exploitation and abuse in UN peacekeeping operations" (A/C.4/59/L.20), visit: http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/C.4/59/L.20

For the Programme budget implications of the draft resolution A/C.4/59/L.20 (A/C.4/59/L.21), visit: http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/C.4/59/L.21

For more information about the C-34, CLICK HERE.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Key Statements made during the 2005 resumed session of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations
4-8 April 2005

Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations
4 April 2005
Mr. Guehnno’s statement focused on the range of actions which the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) has already undertaken to address sexual exploitation and abuse, as well as a number of ongoing initiatives:

“…Over the past year, missions have put in place a wide array of measures to prevent misconduct and to enforce UN standards of conduct. For instance, on the prevention side, missions in Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Liberia provide basic induction training on UN standards of conduct relating to sexual exploitation and abuse. Earlier this year, awareness-raising posters and brochures on sexual exploitation and abuse have been distributed to all missions.

With regard to enforcement of UN standards of conduct, missions in Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, the Congo, Ethiopia, Kosovo and Timor-Leste have established lists of premises and areas frequented by prostitutes which are now out-of-bounds to all personnel. We have a network of focal points on sexual exploitation and abuse in all mission headquarters to facilitate receipt of allegations as well as telephone hotlines in Sierra Leone and Liberia. In the DRC, our mission has put in place a number of mission-specific measures such as a requirement for contingent members to wear their uniform at all times. Our Congo mission also required regional heads of offices to come up with concrete workplans on how they will prevent sexual exploitation and abuse.

…At DPKO Headquarters, DPKO has established a task force which is aimed at developing guidance and tools for peacekeeping operations to address sexual exploitation and abuse effectively. For instance, we are designing a database to track and monitor allegations and investigations involving sexual exploitation and abuse as well as follow-up action. DPKO is also developing internal communications messages to remind peacekeeping personnel of our duty of care and why we serve.

In addition, DPKO is co-chairing with OCHA [the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs] a broader initiative under the auspices of Joint Executive Committee (ECHA-ECPS) [Executive Committee on Humanitarian Affairs-Executive Committee on Peace and Security]. This joint initiative aims at creating an organizational culture throughout the UN system that prevents sexual exploitation and abuse. It is also developing common policies and guidance, for instance on victim assistance…”

For the full statement, CLICK HERE.

H.R.H. Prince Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein, Permanent Representative of Jordan to the UN and the Secretary-General's Advisor on sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeeping personnel.
4 April 2005
Prince Zeid’s presentation to the C-34 provided an overview of his report “A comprehensive strategy to eliminate future sexual exploitation and abuse in United Nations peacekeeping operations” (A/59/710). He described the report as “an attempt to explain why the current disciplinary system in peacekeeping operations is broken and allows sexual exploitation and abuse to take root.”

As we feature the C-34’s recommendations regarding victim assistance above, we feature below Prince Zeid’s discussion of the need for assistance to victims to support his recommendations on this issue:

“Peacekeeping operations have a duty to provide basic, emergency assistance to victims of sexual exploitation and abuse by their personnel. One of the young girls I spoke to in the DRC who alleged to have been violated by peacekeeping personnel complained of medical problems, another appeared to be deeply traumatized and one girl had to drop out of school as her family cut off all support when they found out about her relationship with a civilian peacekeeper. I am proposing that the UN establish a voluntary trust fund for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeeping personnel. This trust fund would in part be paid for through fines levied against civilian and uniformed personnel who have been found, after investigation, to have engaged in sexual exploitation and abuse….”

For the full statement, CLICK HERE.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) Launches a Website with a Webpage on the Office of the Gender Advisor
http://www.unmil.org/content.asp?cat=gender

The UNMIL website, launched on 20 April 2005, includes a webpage on the Office of the Gender Advisor. This webpage provides an overview of the mandate of the Gender Office as well as a brief review of some of its past and ongoing activities in the areas of DDR, rule of law, the electoral process, and combating gender-based violence, among others.

UNMIL homepage: http://www.unmil.org/index.asp

In addition to UNMIL’s web page on its Gender Office, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) have web pages devoted to their gender advisory capacities. In addition to these three missions, the Gender Advisor at UN Headquarters, based in the Peacekeeping Best Practices Unit of DPKO has a web page explaining her mandate and work.

UNAMA: http://www.unama-afg.org/about/_gender/Gender.htm
MONUC: http://www.monuc.org/Gender/
Gender Advisor at DPKO Headquarters: http://pbpu.unlb.org/pbpu/genderadv.aspx

For PeaceWomen’s Gender and Peacekeeping index, CLICK HERE.

Back to TOP

A Gender Approach - Home Truths For Girls Returning From the Armed Forces and Groups
By Katy Barnett, The Child Soldiers Newsletter*, Spring 2005
Coming home is what we want for all children who are displaced, separated from their families, abducted or recruited by armed groups or armed forces. Children who have been with armed groups and forces tell us that they look forward to the moment when they can go home with hope and longing. But the idea of coming home can also generate fear, anxiety, and trepidation, especially if you are a girl…

SALAYMATU’S STORY

Salaymatu is a 17 year old girl in Sierra Leone. Towards the beginning of the war, her village was attacked by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a rebel armed group. During the fighting she became separated from her parents who fled to Liberia. Her mother was killed and her father captured by a Liberian rebel group; he is still missing. Aged around five or six years old, Salaymatu stayed in her village and was captured by a commander who she lives with to this day. Her commander sexually abused her from the start and Salaymatu felt refusal would put her life at risk. Now she does occasionally say no, but this results in a beating and being driven from the house. Salaymatu has relatives still living in the village who all refuse to allow her to stay with them. The village chief has not responded to Salaymatu’s requests to stop her commander from abusing her. Others in the community have been sympathetic but have not offered any substantial help. Salaymatu has received some training in embroidery, but now that she has run out of threads and cloth to make use of this training, she feels that the only way for her to escape from her ex-commander is to become a prostitute.

Some aspects of Salaymatu’s story are common for girls: she has no access to education, and no real livelihood options. Salaymatu is alienated from her community. Communities often exclude, harass and discriminate against children who have been associated with armed groups. And Salaymatu is forced by her circumstances to stay in an abusive relationship with her abductor, even though the conflict is over.

For many girls, the question of how to separate safely from and survive independently of commanders to whom they have been forcibly married is not a simple one. In fact, only one aspect of Salaymatu’s story is very unusual: we know it. Thousands of other girls are invisible to us, and have stories which will never be known…

For the full article, visit: http://www.child-soldiers.org/resources/newletters?root_id=173&category_id=189

The Child Soldiers newsletter is produced by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers: http://www.child-soldiers.org/

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Sexual Violence and its Consequences among Displaced Persons in Darfur and Chad
A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper, 12 April 2005
Women and girls who have fled ethnic cleansing in Darfur are being raped and subjected to sexual violence around the camps where they have sought refuge. The Human Rights Watch briefing paper documents how the Sudanese security forces, including police deployed to protect displaced persons, and allied Janjaweed militias continue to commit rape and sexual violence on daily basis. Even as refugees in Chad, women and girls fleeing the violence in Darfur continued to face the risk of rape and assault by civilians or militia members when collecting water, fuel or animal fodder near the border.

This report is based on personal accounts collected during a series of missions over the past 14 months.

The Briefing Paper is available at: http://hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/darfur0505/

For a related news article by Human Rights Watch, CLICK HERE.

For NGO and civil society reports, papers and statements, UN and government reports, and books, journals and articles on women, peace and security issues, CLICK HERE.

Back to TOP

The Beauty Inside
A play by Catherine Filloux, directed by Kay Matschullat, co-produced with InterAct Theatre Company, Philadelphia
19 April-7 May 2005, The Culture Project, New York City, USA
“Somewhere in rural Turkey, a girl is thrown in a canal; floating downstream, she grabs a pole and holds on tight. Across the Bosporus in cosmopolitan Istanbul, a young Turkish-American lawyer prepares to leave her country for a high-powered life in New York. But the last case she takes is not an ordinary one: a peasant girl has survived an honor killing, and must be defended against her family. And so begins a battle of wills between girl and lawyer, east and west, old and new, a battle that challenges Western assumptions about progress even as it binds their two stories together.” For information about tickets and performance times, visit: http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showCode=BEA3.

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference – NGO Events
2-27 May 2005, UN Headquarters, New York, USA
NGOs have become significant, visible, and important players at the NPT conferences; at the upcoming Review Conference, 1,752 NGO representatives are expected to participate. Reaching Critical Will (RCW), a project of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom UN Office, was created in 1999 in order to increase the quality and quantity of civil society participation at international disarmament fora, including the NPT. Since then, WILPF’s RCW Project has become the NGO liaison to the NPT, coordinating NGO side events, NGO presentations to the conference, publishing a daily newsletter (the News In Review) and more.

Below is a small sampling of the events taking place around the NPT:

Massive demonstration demanding Nuclear Abolition Now!
Where: Central Park –Assemble on 1st Avenue, above 50th Street
When: 1 May, 11am
Contact: Jackie Cabasso, Abolition Now! US Coordinator at: wslfweb@earthlink.net
Website: http://www.abolitionnow.org/ and http://www.unitedforpeace.org/

Women's Strategy Session for the NPT
Where: the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 1199th Branch Hall at 310 West 43rd St
When: 2 May, 2-4 PM
Contact: Emiko Hirano, New Japan Women's Association, at: hiraemi@concerto.plala.or.jp

Challenging and Changing Dangerous Nuclear Weapons Policies in the USA
Part I: Beyond nuclear warheads: Challenging U.S. plans for high tech global military dominance
Part II: Changing U.S. Nuclear Policies with Congress and Civil Society
Where: UN, Conference Room E
When: 5 May, 3- 6 PM
Contact: Carol Reilley Urner, WILPF-US, at: curner@qwest.net
Website: www.wilpf.org

For the NGO calendar of events for the NPT, visit: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/RevConEvents.html

For more information about the NPT, visit: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/nptindex1.html

The News in Review is the only daily publication from civil society that offers analysis on the official proceedings, summaries of NGO side events, announcements, calendars of events, interviews with diplomats and NGO representatives, artwork, puzzlers and much, much more. To subscribe, simply send a message to: NIRsubscribe@reachingcriticalwill.org.

Roundtable with a delegation of women peacebuilders from Iraq
12 May 2005, 1-3pm, Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Canada
RSVP by 9 May 2005
In partnership with the British Women’s National Commission (WNC), the Department of Foreign Affairs of Canada (FAC) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) are organizing a visit by two delegations of Iraqi women for a two-week program on human rights and gender equality, following a five-week stay in England. The first group, a delegation of six, will be in Canada from May 1 to 14. Due to security and space restrictions participants must RSVP to: Jodie McGrath, coordinator of the Canadian Committee on Women, Peace and Security at 613-996-4298 or mcgraj@sen.parl.gc..ca before Monday May 9, 2005.

Call for Papers - New Voices, New Perspectives
INSTRAW
15 May 2005: Submission of abstracts (and CVs)
1 June 2005: Notification to authors of selected abstracts
1 August 2005: Final papers due
In order to create a space for new voices in the spheres of academia, policy-making and practice, INSTRAW is launching a research-paper series entitled New Voices, New Perspectives. Directed towards post-graduate students worldwide, this paper series will be an opportunity for students enrolled in gender-related programmes to contribute to global debates and to our communal sphere of knowledge on women's and gender issues. This year's call for papers focuses on some of INSTRAW's priority research areas, which include:
• Gender and Security Sector Reform - exploring the gender dimensions of security sector reform processes, focusing either on SSR as a whole or specific institutions (e.g. military, police, etc.), and emphasizing the inclusion of women and the mainstreaming of gender issues (including masculinities) into the design and implementation of reforms.
• Gender and Political Participation at the Local Level - focusing on good practices for increasing women's political participation and representation at the local level (in community-based or municipal government) and for fomenting dialogue between local women's groups and national governments. For more information, visit INSTRAW’s website at: http://www.un-instraw.org/en/index.html.

For the complete calendar, CLICK HERE.

Back to Top

The PeaceWomen is a project of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).

Previous issues of 1325 PeaceWomen E-News can be found at: http://www.peacewomen.org/news/1325News/1325ENewsindex.html.

At this time 1325 PeaceWomen E-News is only available in English. The PeaceWomen Team hopes to translate the newsletter into French and Spanish in the future. If you would not like to receive the English newsletter but would like to be placed on a list when translation is possible, please write to: 1325news@peacewomen.org.

To unsubscribe from the 1325 PeaceWomen News, send an email to 1325news@peacewomen.org with "unsubscribe" as the subject heading.

Questions, concerns and comments can be sent to 1325news@peacewomen.org. 1325 E-News and other submissions should be directed to 1325news@peacewomen.org.