PeaceWomen- Working to monitor and advocate for the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325

The Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, 31 October 2000.

For the full text of the resolution, please CLICK HERE

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For past issues of the newsletter, CLICK HERE.

This edition of the PeaceWomen 1325 E-News is the last of 2007 and we take this opportunity to look back over the year and highlight significant issues, events and progress in implementation of Resolution 1325. In some respects 2007 has been an important year for laying the ground work for concrete action in a number of spheres and we look forward to the coming to fruition in 2008 of several efforts. Contributing to this women, peace and security review of 2007 are the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security – of which WILPF is a member – and UNIFEM. Often the thanks and tributes are left to last but our collaboration with other women, peace and security advocates is one of the most important aspects of our work. We would like to thank all those with whom we have worked this year – NGO, UN and government colleagues here in New York and around the world. I would also like to send a special thank you to all the wonderful women who have worked as interns with the PeaceWomen Project this year – we couldn’t do the work we do without your commitment and energy. We pay particular tribute to activists at the local level whose work we feature on our website and in this newsletter and also those efforts which we don’t always hear about. Without your work – often in extremely difficult and dangerous circumstances – real and concrete implementation of Resolution 1325 would be impossible and we would be left with meaningless policy commitments and rhetoric. Thank you.

The PeaceWomen Project has over the past year continued in its efforts, primarily through its website and this newsletter, to act as a clearinghouse for women, peace and security information and as an advocate at the UN for implementation of Resolution 1325. It has also worked as part of the NGO Working Group on women, peace and security – whose activities in 2007 are highlighted in Item 7. A large part of the PeaceWomen Project’s own work in the last year has focused on ensuring the integration of Resolution 1325 and women, peace and security issues in the day-to-day work of the Security Council. We have in 2007 continued to develop the on-line monitoring tool – Resolution Watch as part of our 1325 Security Council Monitor initiative. This tool launched at the end of last year highlights the gender and women, peace and security language in resolutions of the Security Council. We look forward in 2008 to launching a similar tool that looks at reporting to the Security Council on country-specific situations by the Secretary-General.

The Secretary-General’s reports to the Security Council have seen much attention in our advocacy during the course of this year – in particular in relation to monitoring and reporting on sexual and gender-based violence. Throughout the year, including through our recent 16 Days Campaign and most intensively during the October Security Council Open Debate, several NGOs and UN actors have advocated for better monitoring and reporting to the Security Council on this violence. An important part of ensuring that peacekeeeping missions are reporting on this is for this responsibility to be included in their mandate from the Security Council. The upcoming renewal of the mandate for MONUC – the peackeeping operation in the DRC – will be an important test in this regard. We also look forward to the Security Council developing the recommendations in Secretary-General’s latest report on Protection of Civilians – a thematic area of the work of the Security Council that is one of its most crucial in fulfilling its role of maintaining international peace and security.

Many other significant issue areas in this past year are highlighted in this month’s contribution by UNIFEM (Item 8). These range from women’s participation in peace talks to Security Sector Reform – an area in which there have been significant advances in the past year in highlighting gender issues and concerns. We look forward to more work on SSR and hope to see gender concerns featured in the upcoming Secretary-General’s report on the issue.

Increasing work is being done on specific issues in Resolution 1325 and we have also seen an increase in efforts to promote national level implementation efforts. In contributing to these efforts, the PeaceWomen Project continues its 1325 In Translation Initiative and in this month’s Translation Update (Item 6) we feature the recently acquired Khmer translation of the resolution. This month’s Feature Resources (Item 5) also focuses on national efforts – a report on 1325 implementation efforts in Kosovo. National level action plans and policies have become increasingly popular and 2007 has seen the release of these by Switzerland, Austria, Spain and the Netherlands. Significant work is also being done on a policy and Action Plan in the DRC and we look forward to reporting on progress on this in 2008.

2007 has also seen increased attention to the issues of sexual and gender-based violence in conflict. Certainly this has been reflected in the media and in our news items this month (Item 2) and over the past year. This year has, unfortunately, not been without new reports of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN personnel. However, we are pleased to report significant progress on a UN strategy on assistance to victims of this abuse – something for which the PeaceWomen Project has long advocated. This week, more than two years after being raised in the 2005 World Summit Outcome document, Member States in an ad hoc open-ended working group of the General Assembly adopted a Victims Assistance Strategy. It is expected to be formally adopted in the coming days and we will feature more on this in 2008.

As we have noted in the past, however, dealing with abuse by UN personnel is only a small part of dealing with the overall problem of sexual violence in conflict. Of particular concern in recent months has been the alarming levels of such violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Several NGOs have been highlighting this and 2007 saw the launch of a V-Day Campaign focused on the DRC. The UN itself has also increased its efforts – efforts which have been enhanced by the formation of UN Action Against Sexual Violence. This important development, highlighted by UNIFEM in their update, is a coalition of 12 UN entities formed, in part, to better coordinate the UN’s work on sexual violence in conflict.

Aside from dealing with the critical issue of sexual violence, UN Action is significant in other respects. Its success so far in better coordinating action of UN entities, both at headquarters and at the field level, is an important example of how important coordination is within the UN system in relation to work on women, peace and security and, more broadly, on gender equality and women’s empowerment and human rights. In this regard, advocacy work continued during 2007 to see the reform of the UN’s gender equality architecture. Despite signifcant efforts on the part of NGOs and some governments, the last session of the General Assembly failed to put forward a resolution to drive this much needed reform forward. We hope, however, that this time next year we will be celebrating achievements in this area.

Having just celebrated Human Rights Day we also look forward to the coming year as we approach the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. WILPF’s Human Rights Day Statement (Item 3) highlights this important approaching anniversary and the organization’s conviction that ‘human rights cannot exist without peace and freedom’ and that ‘women have the right, the responsibility, and the sense of solidarity to defend, reclaim and realise human rights for all.’ We also celebrate and encourage the participation of all our readers in this month’s Feature Initiative (Item 4) to reinvigorate the Declaration. The recently launched year-long Every Human Has Rights Campaign calls on individuals to sign up on-line as part of a commitment to live by the principles of the Declaration.

On this positive note of commitment to human rights, the PeaceWomen Project wishes all a peaceful holiday season. We look forward to continuing to working with our colleagues and partners around the world to advance implementation of Resolution 1325 in 2008. Our offices will be closed from 21 December and we’ll be back on the 3rd of January 2008.

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We continue to welcome contributions to the newsletter’s content. Contributions for the January 2008 edition should be sent to enewssubmissions@peacewomen.org by Thursday 18 January 2008.

AFGHAN WOMEN MAKE CALL FOR PEACE
December 12, 2007 – (BBC) Women across Afghanistan have been holding meetings to call for peace in their country.

DRC: PUNISH RAPE AS WEAPON OF WAR
December 11, 2007 - (The Times) Congolese activists have launched an appeal at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute those in their country who use rape as a weapon of war.

SOUTH AFRICA: WOMEN MARCH FOR EQUAL REPRESENTATION IN GOVT
December 5, 2007 – (AllAfrica) Hundreds of women brought traffic in the capital to a standstill on Wednesday as they marched to the Union Buildings to hand over a memorandum demanding an equal gender representation in all state sectors.

NAMIBIA: ACTIVISTS CHALLENGE SWAPO ON WOMEN REPRESENTATION
December 5, 2007 – (AllAfrica) Gender activists have expressed disappointment at the Swapo Party's failure to make their newly elected leadership at least 50 percent women.

WEST AFRICA: UN LAUNCHES REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE
December 4, 2007 - (IRIN) Violence against women, human trafficking and migration are expected to lead the agenda of a new West Africa office of the UN human rights commission, a top UN official says.

IRAN: MORE WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS ARRESTED
December 4, 2007 - (Women living under muslim laws) The latest in a string of arrests, One Million Signatures campaign member Jelveh Javaheri was imprisoned on Saturday, December 1 after undergoing interrogation at the security branch of the Revolutionary Courts.

VIOLENCE MARS ALGERIAN WOMEN'S EQUALITY
December 17, 2007 – (Reuters) The sight of women working as bus and taxi drivers, petrol pump attendants or police officers in Algeria's larger towns can surprise newcomers by suggesting women are emancipated in Algeria. They are not, feminists say.

WEST AFRICA: NGO TRAINS WOMEN FOR PEACE BUILDING
December 13, 2007 - (Daily Trust) The West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP) began a three-day training programme on women's role in peace and security in West Africa on Tuesday.

IRAQ: FREEDOM LOST
December 13, 2007 - (The Guardian) After the invasion of Iraq, the US government claimed that women there had 'new rights and new hopes'. In fact their lives have become immeasurably worse, with rapes, burnings and murders now a daily occurrence.

ZIMBABWE: 'INCREASE BUDGETARY ALLOCATION TOWARDS GENDER PROGRAMMES'
December 11, 2007 – (AllAfrica) A parliamentary committee has urged the Government to increase its budgetary allocation towards gender mainstreaming programmes.

UN RIGHTS EXPERT RAISES ALARM ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN DR CONGO
December 6, 2007 – (UN News Centre) Raising alarm about abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), especially the volatile eastern region, an independent United Nations human rights expert is calling for measures to protect civilians there.

ANGOLAN SOLDIERS ACCUSED OF 'SYSTEMATIC' RAPE
December 6, 2007 - (Mail&Guardian) Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said this week that Angolan soldiers have raped, beaten and tortured illegal Congolese migrant workers before deporting them across the border.

AFGHAN WOMEN'S RIGHTS ACTIVIST RECEIVES 2007 INTERNATIONAL SERVICE AWARD
December 6, 2007 - (Women living under muslim laws) Najia Haneefi is the 2007 winner of the coveted International Service award for women's human rights, awarded at a ceremony on 5 Dec. at the House of Commons, London.

LIBERIA: NEW STUDY SPOTLIGHTS SEXUAL VIOLENCE
December 5, 2007 – (AllAfrica) Preliminary findings of a new study by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Columbia University may have given relief workers the evidence they say they need to focus greater attention on the problem of sexual violence in Liberia.

ZAMBIA: GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE FUELS HIV – SPEAKER
December 4, 2007 – (AllAfrica) SPEAKER of the National Assembly Amusaa Mwanamwambwa says gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS are interlinked as their major cause is mostly unequal gender relations influenced by social and cultural factors.

UN HELPS LAUNCH NATIONWIDE ANTI-RAPE CAMPAIGN IN LIBERIA
December 3, 2007 – The United Nations has teamed up with the Government of Liberia to launch a nationwide campaign to prevent and punish the crime of rape, one of the most serious challenges the West African nation is grappling with as it emerges from years of conflict.

SOUTH AFRICA: VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN UNDERMINES DEMOCRACY
December 2, 2007 – (AllAfrica) Social Development Deputy Minister Dr Jean Swanson-Jacobs says incidences of violence and abuse directed at women and children are a betrayal to the struggle for freedom and democracy.
http://www.peacewomen.org/news/Africa/SouthernAfrica/December07/SAVAW.html

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

WILPF STATEMENT

Human Rights Day, 10 December 2007

The universally recognized Human Rights Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December in 1948 in Paris.

On this coming Human Rights Day, 10 December 2007, the United Nations will launch a one-year intensive programme of activities leading up to the commemoration next year of the 60th anniversary of the Declaration under the slogan: dignity and justice for all of us.

The adoption of the Universal Declaration was followed by the adoption of the Covenants of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and on Civil and Political Rights, and a vast array of human rights conventions and treaties promoting and protecting the rights of children, women, minorities, indigenous peoples, migrants disabled persons; eliminating racial and all other discrimination to name but a few. They have been ratified by the majority of UN Member States and together form a remarkable body of international human rights law.

Implementation of these set standards remains a challenge. While the universal human rights standards and their oversight have been strengthened over the years, forces and trends (by states and private companies) that threaten and undermine these universal human rights continue unabated. Weapons profiteers develop machines that threaten and violate the human right to life and prevent the realisation of other fundamental freedoms. Our planet and its finite resources are threatened by those who choose profit over the right of future generations to exist.

While billions of dollars are wasted extending the arms race to outer space and developing a new generation of nuclear weapons, 1.2 billion people have no access to clean water and are forced to drink filthy, disease-ridden water. Fatal shortages and mismanagement of water resources is already a source of conflict. It is predicted that two thirds of countries will experience severe water shortages by 2025, and if these predictions are accurate, resource wars will increase globally. Water is not a service to be commoditized, but a common good to be protected, and it is a human need, as well as a finite resource on our common globe.

Since its inception in 1915, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has worked for all human rights to be respected. We have equally worked for the prevention of war and the eradication of militarism, believing that these conditions negate human rights. We are convinced that human rights cannot exist without peace and freedom.

As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights enters its 60th year, and as the new Human Rights Council struggles to monitor and implement the universal standards for justice and human rights developed through exhaustive debate by governments and civil society, women have the right, the responsibility, and the sense of solidarity to defend, reclaim and realise human rights for all, as they have done, and continue to do for themselves.

The sad reality is that too often under the false pretext to protect women, women are denied the right to education, mobility, the right to their own body and the free choice to plan their own future. All over the world, women have to struggle for basic human rights on many levels.

Exercising the right to have an equal voice in international policy-making and the questions of war and peace, The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom calls for:

- the right of peoples to exercise political and economic sovereignty over their land and its resources;
- the right of peoples to live without fear of violence, occupation or military rule;
- the right of people to sustain themselves from their environment, to practice self-sufficiency and to be independent from companies, governments, and states who may try to coerce them into exploitative policies;
- the right of women to receive equal pay for equal work;
- the right of all people to be free from sexual slavery, other forms of bonded labour and exploitative conditions of work;
- the right of all people to have an equal and informed say in their government’s policy creation and implementation.

In December 2008 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will be 60 years old. To celebrate its anniversary The Elders (Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Mary Robinson, Ela R. Bhatt, Graça Machel, Gro Brundtland, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Kofi Ananan and others) have launched a year-long campaign to reinvigorate the Declaration, to remind everyone that it remains just as important a document today as it was in 1948, and to encourage people across the globe to live by its principles.

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Ending Sexual Violence in Darfur: An Advocacy Agenda
Refugees International, December 2007

Sexual violence defines the conflict in Darfur, but international efforts to prevent and respond to the issue have been insufficient. While this report critiques the international response, the primary obstacles to preventing rape and assisting survivors are the perpetrators and the Sudanese government officials who actively block the work of international agencies. From police officers who arrest raped women to the harassment of humanitarian organizations, the Sudanese government has shown itself unwilling to treat the issue of sexual violence seriously. Nevertheless, the international community has also failed to do everything within its power to meet the needs of survivors of sexual violence in Darfur.

After years of denying the rapes, Sudanese officials claim they are actively trying to prevent them and help rape survivors. These claims are false. The government of Sudan bears the primary responsibility to provide protection for the women of Darfur, and it is their responsibility to provide assistance to its citizens. But, they are failing to do so and are often the perpetrators of the violence. Refugees International believes that the government of Sudan lacks the political will to stop the violence or respond effectively. Instead of protecting the women of Darfur, the government of Sudan actually oppresses them, punishing those who bring cases forward.

Sudanese forces have used intimidation to threaten local civil society and local staff who work for international agencies, and have stepped up their attacks on international personnel. In addition to arresting or deporting international staff who dare to speak out, the government of Sudan is widely believed to have infiltrated most humanitarian agencies in Darfur, leading to suspicion and distrust. As the security situation deteriorates, many aid agencies have had to suspend operations and many threaten to withdraw completely. This will make it even more difficult to provide services to rape survivors and to build the needed trust within communities that would allow more survivors to come forward.

This report summarizes Refugees International’s work on sexual violence in Darfur through 2006 and includes recommendations for improvement in the international community’s response.

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Monitoring Implementation of UN SCR 1325 in Kosovo
Kosova Women’s Network, 2007

The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 was passed on 31st October 2000. It was seen widely as an historic achievement in promoting and supporting the public role of women and women’s organizations in war zones and post-conflict situations. The UNSCR1325 defines the actions that need to be taken in order to protect women and to ensure that women may participate at all levels of peacemaking, peace building and peacekeeping.

Kosovar women were busy working towards increasing women’s participation in decision-making in Kosovo prior to the promulgation of UNSCR1325 in October 2000. They use UNSCR1325 both directly and indirectly to address gender equality in Kosovar society. The monitoring project for Kosovo 2007 was undertaken by the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) in close liaison with its constituent groups and was funded by UNIFEM. It assesses the implementation of the UNSCR1325 in Kosovo, with the aim of ensuring successful ongoing advocacy of gender issues at the national level.

All member states are obliged to implement the recommendations of the UNSCR1325, which covers four inter-related areas:

• Inclusion of women at all decision-making levels;
• Gender perspective and training of police and military personnel;
• Protection and respect of human rights of women and girls;
• Inclusion of gender perspective in UN reports.

Non-state actors, national defense forces, humanitarian agencies, and civil society sectors are obliged to contribute to the articulation of UNSCR1325 and related human rights treaties into domestic legislation, policy and practice. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR1325) Article 17 specifies that the Secretary-General should report to the Security Council about “progress on gender mainstreaming throughout peacekeeping missions and all other aspects relating to women and girls.”

Acknowledging previous reports and monitoring of UNSCR1325 in Kosovo, the 2007 project in Kosovo surveyed each of the sectors with specific responsibilities to implement the UNSCR1325: international organizations; governmental institutions at all levels and civil society. The summary that follows surveys the actors responsible for the implementation of UNSCR1325 and then summarizes the findings of the monitoring exercise in sections defined by the UNSCR1325 as key areas of obligation.

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For more women, peace and security resources, please click HERE

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Khmer is the official language of Cambodia. It is a member of the Mon-Khmer group of Austro-Asiatic languages, and is spoken by approximately 8 million people in Cambodia. Khmer is also spoken in Viet Nam, Laos, Thailand, China, France, Canada and the USA. As a result of centuries of linguistic and cultural interaction, Khmer language shares many features and much vocabulary with the Thai language.

Khmer translation was completed by Mr. Ran Roeun, the President of a local voluntary NGO called "Youth Service Cambodia", a part-time English Teacher at Singapore International School, an owner of InterCare Co., Ltd, and a professional translator.

Khmer is among the languages identified as a priority for translation by women, peace and security advocates. Other languages currently on this priority list are:

Achehnese (Indonesia)
Acholi/Luo (Northern Uganda, W. Kenya, South Sudan)
Aymara (Bolivia, Peru)
Embera (Colombia)
Hmong (spoken in Laos, Thailand, Burma, Vietnam, and Southern China)
Luganda (Uganda)
Malayalam (South Indian)
Mongolian
Oshiwambo (Namibia)
Paez (Colombia)
Pashto (Afghanistan)
Quechua (Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Northern Chile, Argentina, Southern Colombia)
Sangho (Central African Republic)
Wayu (Venezuela)
Wayunaiki (Colombia)
Xhosa (S. Africa)
Zande (Sudan)
Zulu (S. Africa)

If you know of existing translations of 1325 which are not among the 80 on the PeaceWomen website, or would like to volunteer as a translator, suggest potential translators or add languages to the list for priority translation, please contact sam@peacewomen.org

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As part of its 1325 Translation Initiative, PeaceWomen is soliciting information on how translations of Resolution 1325 are being used and the impact of these translations on the work of women peace and security advocates.

We invite anyone who has used translations of 1325 for outreach, advocacy or other purposes, or who may know how translations of the resolution are being used, to provide us with information detailing among other things:

• Which particular translation(s) of 1325 you have used or know are being used

• Who carried out the translation (if known) or how the translation(s) was accessed

• The types of activities for which this translation(s) has been used (e.g. workshops, radio programs) and your views about the impact of such activities in promoting resolution 1325

• What you believe to be the importance of translating Resolution 1325 into local languages

Kindly contribute to the “Using 1325 in Translation” effort by responding to these questions or submitting any other information on translating UNSCR 1325 to info@peacewomen.org

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For more information on the “using 1325 in translation” initiative, please click HERE

During 2007, the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, continued to press for the full and effective implementation of Security Council resolution 1325. The NGOWG is based in New York and is a coalition of international civil society organizations formed in May 2000 which promotes a gender perspective and respect for human rights in all peace and security, conflict prevention, conflict management and peace-building initiatives of the United Nations.

United Nations Peacebuilding Commission: Advocacy and Awareness-raising
Following the release of the 6 Years on Report on SCR 1325 and the Peacebuilding Commission in October 2006, this year saw the adoption of several of the report’s key recommendations by the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC). An NGOWG roundtable discussion in June addressed how gender could be better integrated into the security and rule of law-related work of the Commission, and PBC members and other key stakeholders convened to focus on the gender dimension of peacebuilding in Sierra Leone and Burundi. Participants heard directly from leading Burundian and Sierra Leonean women peacebuilders as part of a wider effort to enhance communication between local women’s organisations and decision-makers. For the full report see www.international-alert.org

Connecting Women Peacebuilders and decision-makers at the United Nations
During the Commission on the Status of Women, the NGOWG invited Ms. Goretti Ndacayisiba from Burundian women’s network Dushirehamwe to New York in March 2007 to speak at a civil society roundtable on the PBC, specifically the absence of women’s representation from the PBC National Steering Committee in Burundi. As a result of Dushirehamwe’s advocacy along with NGOWG member organizations at UN headquarters, and country-level follow-up, particularly by the Chair of the PBC Burundi Country-Specific Committee (Norway), women’s representatives from both government and civil society are now an active part of the PBC National Steering Committee in Burundi.

The NGOWG successfully advocated for and brokered a meeting between the UN Fact-Finding Mission to Fiji in April 2007 and women peacebuilders. As a result, the Mission met twice with a group of leading civil society women peacebuilders identified by the NGOWG who were then able to make recommendations to the Mission and continue, to date, to follow-up with the UN team. Without the intervention of the NGOWG, the meeting with women peacebuilders would have otherwise been absent from the DPA-led mission schedule.

United Nations Security Council – Focus on Accountability
In an issue brief on Accountability released in October and a statement delivered by the NGOWG Coordinator at the October 2007 Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security, the NGOWG urged the Council to consider how it could provide more effective monitoring and reporting on the implementation of 1325. This includes through measures such as the establishment of a focal point and an expert-level working group with appropriate leadership to ensure its active engagement with all aspects of the work of the Council.

Despite progress since 2000, the integration of SCR 1325 into the work of the United Nations Security Council remains inconsistent. Data and trends regarding many violations, such as sexual violence, are still lacking. Reports to the Security Council from the field must begin to provide a picture of the security situation in regard to women, especially the violence that affects their everyday lives. Strong accountability mechanisms and systems are imperative to drive and support effective, timely and systematic implementation. Such a mechanism would help address inconsistency in invoking resolution 1325 in the directives from the Council to the field, and inadequate monitoring and reporting on implementation by field missions – particularly on violations of human rights, such as sexual violence.

SCR 1325 Workshops
In collaboration with the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations the NGOWG conducted 1325 training workshops with Security Council Members.

Building on a regional roundtable on 1325 in Central Asia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in conjunction with the NGOWG, also organized a series of workshops in Central Asia focusing on national-level implementation of SCR 1325. This included awareness-raising of SCR 1325 provisions for government and civil society actors, as well as elaboration on how the respective governments could enhance implementation. As a result of the workshops, working groups on gender, peace and security were formed in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan to advance work on national gender and security priorities. In Kyrgyzstan, reference to SCR 1325 and links to gender and security were integrated into the revised Gender Action Plan in as a result of the efforts undertaken by government and civil society members of the Kyrgyzstan Working Group on Gender, Peace and Security in August 2007.

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8. UNIfem Update

UNIFEM Support to the Implementation of SCR 1325 – 2007 in Review

Seven years after the adoption of SCR 1325 UNIFEM remains committed to its full and effective implementation. In the last several years, significant progress has been made in meeting the standards set forth by the Resolution: Gender advisors have been placed in most integrated missions; mission mandates are designed to secure women’s participation and address violations against women and girls; and gender-sensitive action plans have been formulated in security and humanitarian areas of UN work. Security Council members now regularly meet with women’s groups and networks on their trips to conflict-affected countries. Yet in spite of this we have a long way to go: in our advocacy with the Security Council, in our work within and with international organizations, and with our partners at the country and regional level. As a core priority area for the organization, UNIFEM continues to support implementation of SCR 1325 in over 30 countries, building on a vast range of partnerships with Member States, UN entities, NGOs and women’s networks.

In 2007, UNIFEM’s work focused on three pillars of engagement in addition to headquarters-based advocacy initiatives: supporting women’s participation in peacebuilding, gender-sensitive security sector reform and combating sexual and gender-based violence in conflict and crisis.

In broad support of SCR 1325 implementation and tracking, UNIFEM undertook two significant activities both aimed at deepening awareness on the impact of armed conflict on women, women’s rights and gender equality in the peace and security debate: briefing Member States on SCR 1325 and a technological redevelopment of the WomenWarPeace Portal.

UNIFEM and the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security (NGOWG) continued to partner on activities related to Security Council Resolution 1325. UNIFEM and the NGOWG held intensive briefing sessions for new Security Council members as a way of extending advocacy on women, peace and security beyond the period of the Open Debate, which primarily concentrates activities in October. These briefing sessions are intended to provide an overall orientation to SCR1325 and also support member states to more fully integrate SCR1325 and its related themes into their work at the United Nations. We hope that this collaboration will continue in 2008, and become a regular part of engagement with members of the Security Council.

Four years after it first came online, UNIFEM’s web portal on women, peace and security (www.womenwarpeace.org) was relaunched in late 2007 following a significant technological redevelopment to keep step with the ever changing environment and demands of web-based information and knowledge sharing. The completion of this redesign and restructuring process was particularly timely given the 7th anniversary of SCR1325, and the 5th anniversary of the Independent Experts’ Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women’s Role in Peace-Building (Progress of the World’s Women 2002, Vol. 1).

Women in Peacebuilding

Having learned from a range of experiences in supporting women’s participation in peacebuilding, in 2007 UNIFEM focused on supporting peace-building through practical programming interventions at the community level as well as through high-profile efforts to support women’s priority-setting Some of the highlights include multi-country innovative programming for peacebuilding and combating sexual violence in conflict-affected countries, engagement with the Peace-Building Commission and the Peace-Building Fund, the placement of a gender advisor in the office of the facilitator to the Juba peace talks, and supporting women’s priorities for peace in Sudan and Darfur.

UNIFEM began working with the UN Peace-Building Commission (PBC) in late 2006, and this work continued into 2007 with strategic support to Sierra Leone and Burundi. Following consultation workshops in Burundi in 2006 and the subsequent identification of key priorities for women in peacebuilding, funding was made available through the Peace-Building Trust Fund to implement a project aimed at enhancing women's economic autonomy, supporting reconciliation initiatives by women's organizations and increasing their protection from sexual and gender-based violence, in order to promote their free and active participation in the peace consolidation process. In January 2007, UNIFEM partnered with the Peacebuilding Support Office to hold a series of consultations with women in Sierra Leone to bring a gender-perspective to the peacebuilding plan.

In Uganda, UNIFEM supported the placement of a Gender Advisor in the office of the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)-affected regions, former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano. The Gender Advisor’s primary responsibility will be to “provide technical support and advice to the UN Special Envoy to ensure that gender equality principles and women’s human rights are fully mainstreamed in all aspects of the peace negotiations and processes, in full compliance with international human rights norms and principles.” Her work will take parallel tracks: supporting the SGSE to include women’s rights and gender equality measures in the work of his office, and actively gathering women’s perspectives of the conflict in order to inform the process. This is a tremendous opportunity and challenge for UNIFEM and the women’s rights community, and we hope to draw on lessons learned from previous similar engagements, and develop good practice for future opportunities of this kind.

UNIFEM has continued to support peacebuilding in Sudan, both in the context of the North-South dialogues and now in the context of the Darfur Peace Process. In early 2007, UNIFEM supported the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) to hold a Gender Justice workshop for South Sudan to familiarize the participants with the concept of gender justice in the context of Southern Sudan as well as create a space for women and men to discuss openly the most pressing gender justice issues facing women in Sudan. Most recently, the Darfur Peace Process has entered a critical stage with the re-start of negotiations in Sirte, Libya. In light of these developments, UNIFEM has been advocating for the full participation of women representatives in delegations to the talks, as well as within civil society representation. Close civil society collaboration will remain critical to the success of these initiatives, and we hope to continue in this positive vein to support women’s effective participation in the Sirte talks.

UNIFEM is continuing to build the evidence base necessary to advocate for women’s participation in peacebuilding through innovative programming in conflict-affected countries. In early 2007 we launched a two-year programme, "Supporting Women's Engagement in Peacebuilding and Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict: Community-Led Approaches.” The focus on community-level initiatives in UNIFEM's programme is intended to ensure that national commitments to women's rights and needs are experienced in the form of changed attitudes as well as increased security on the ground. A major constraint on women's capacity to engage in peacebuilding is the experience of sexual and gender-based violence, which often continues at heightened levels after a conflict or crisis. Partnerships and strategies will target multiple levels of engagement, from women's inclusion in formal peace processes to co-policing strategies in neighborhoods, work with customary or traditional authorities, and support for services for survivors.

Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Conflict

Since its establishment UNIFEM has worked to end violence against women, particularly in conflict-affected settings. We know that conflicts raise new challenges for conflict resolution, recovery, and above all, effective protection of civilians who are increasingly becoming primary targets of fighting forces. Violence against women, especially sexual violence, represents one such example of a tactic used not only as a means of prosecuting warfare but also of perpetuating profound insecurity beyond the formal end of conflict. The recent media attention given to sexual violence in Darfur, DRC, Timor-Leste and many other places has contributed to broader awareness and outrage on the issue. In 2007 UNIFEM has taken steps to raise the profile of this systematic tragedy, including global advocacy efforts and the inception of a 6-country programme "Supporting Women's Engagement in Peacebuilding and Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict: Community-Led Approaches.”

As many of our partners are aware, over the course of the last year UNIFEM spearheaded the formation of a coalition of twelve UN entities - DPA, DPKO, OCHA, OHCHR, UNDP, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNHCHR, UNICEF, UNIFEM, WFP, and WHO - to advocate for and to facilitate better communication and coordination of the UN’s policy and programmatic work to respond to and end sexual violence in conflict. Since the launch of this ‘UN Action against Sexual Violence’ initiative, a number of country-level activities have taken place to enhance coordination within the UN, including country-level missions. An informative website has also been developed to build public support for UN Action and the work of our partners: http://www.stoprapenow.org/

Gender and Security Sector Reform

Late last year the Secretary General’s Policy Committee requested a review of the UN’s approach to Security Sector Reform. UNIFEM was invited to join the Working Group on SSR whose objective is to support a coherent system-wide approach to SSR, via policies, standards and guidance on SSR, as well as mechanisms to facilitate coordination with UN and non-UN partners. Additionally, as an outcome of the Open Debate on 20 February 2007, the Secretary General was requested to submit a report on SSR. UNIFEM is a part of the drafting process, providing an important entry point to ensuring that gender equality is brought into security processes and is an outcome of SSR.

To complement this engagement and UNIFEM’s work at the country-level in the area of SSR, UNIFEM participated in a series of conversations with a range of actors on the linkages between SSR and SCR 1325. In March of 2007, the Permanent Mission of Canada, UNIFEM, and International Crisis Group (ICG) invited the governmental Friends of 1325 group, Security Council Members, and UN and NGO representatives who work in the field of security sector reform to participate in a roundtable discussion on the inter-linkages between SSR processes and women, peace, and security issues. The co-hosts organized the roundtable discussion with a view to provide an opportunity to draw the conceptual and operational connections between the two areas of the UN’s work and to inform the formulation of the forthcoming Secretary-General’s (SG) report on UN approaches to SSR.

Subsequently in August, UNIFEM participated in an expert meeting in Geneva on gender and Security Sector Reform, organized by DCAF (Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces) in collaboration with OSCE-ODIHR and UN-INSTRAW. The objective of the workshop was to review and discuss twelve draft tools on gender & security sector reform, which form part of a toolkit to be finalized in early 2008. The completed tools will be made available to key stakeholders, including civil society organizations as a resource for training, SSR planning and policy development.

Focusing on a particular area of SSR, UNIFEM partnered with UNDP to produce a briefing paper on ‘Gender Sensitive Police Reform in Post Conflict Societies.’ The paper reviews UNIFEM and UNDP experiences in building the capacity of police services to respond to women’s security needs. The paper distinguishes between internal reforms to facilitate recruitment of larger numbers of women, and reforms to police operational and accountability systems. The latter enable the police to address gender-based violence more effectively, and to develop other services that protect women and children from abuses of their rights. They include a complex range of reforms to incentive systems, performance measures, practical infrastructural arrangements, and information and communication systems. The paper concludes by stressing the importance of women’s engagement in accountability mechanisms to review police performance and support efforts to correct for poor practice. A copy of the brief can be found here:
http://womenwarpeace.org/docs/Gender+Sensitive+Police+Reform_Policy+Brief+2007.pdf

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CEDAW: 40th Session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
January 14 - February 1, 2008, United Nations Office at Geneva

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women will hold its fortieth session from 14 January - 1 February 2008. It will examine the country reports from the following States Parties: Saudi Arabia, Bolivia, Burundi, France, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Morocco, Sweden.

Africa Regional Workshop: Women's Leadership in HIV/AIDS
January 28-February 15, 2008, Nairobi, Kenya

The Africa Women’s Leadership in HIV/AIDS workshop is the first regional workshop conducted under the Advancing Women's Leadership and Advocacy for AIDS Action initiative. It follows a global workshop conducted on July 16, August 10, 2007 in Washington, DC for 23 women leaders from 20 countries. The goal of the regional workshop is to build the leadership, advocacy and technical expertise of women, particularly HIV positive women who are working on the frontlines in the fight against AIDS in Africa.

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