Upcoming Security Council Missions to Africa: Will there be a Gender Perspective?

May 30, 2003 – (PeaceWomen) In June, the Security Council members will travel to Central and West Africa to witness the current armed conflict and post-conflict situations in countries in the respective regions. On June 7, the Council members- led by the French- will depart for the Great Lakes region, where they will spend a week visiting six countries, including Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. Later in the month, on June 28, the British will lead a Council mission to West Africa, where the Council members will spend six days visiting Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone.

In order to support the Council's compliance with paragraph 15 of the UNSC Resolution 1325, the Inter-Agency Taskforce on Women, Peace and Security, led by the Office for the Special Advisor on Gender Issues, has submitted the names of local and national women's organizations that should be contacted by the Council members and has provided a list of gender issues and concerns that should be taken into consideration by the Council in each country. Based on past practices of the Security Council members on mission, there is a concern among advocates for women's participation in peace and security matters that the quality of and quantity of time allotted to consultation with women's organizations while on mission is insubstantial and inconsistent with the Security Council's mandate in UNSC Resolution 1325.

One such example is the Security Council Mission to Kosovo in December 2002. Kosovar women were very outspoken in response to the Security Council mission, sending the delegation a memo concerning their failure to acknowledge women's organizations:

"Last year in June, when the Delegation of the Security Council visited Kosovo, UNMIK didn’t plan for the delegation to meet with women’s groups, which reflected that all the UN’s resolutions about the role of women in peace and post-conflict decision-making, are nothing more than lip service. If it wasn’t for the Ambassador Chowdury's persistence to meet with us, which we highly appreciate, we would have no chance to give any of our views face to face."

For the full memo, click here.

PeaceWomen will report on the Security Council missions to the Great Lakes and West Africa as soon as information becomes available.

Open Security Council Meeting

In preparation for the June missions, Pakistan, the current President of the Council, held an open meeting today, 30 May, entitled "Conflicts in Africa: Security Council Missions and United Nations mechanisms to promote peace and security." The open meeting allowed for UN-member nation-states that are not currently members of the Security Council, such as South Africa, Brazil, DRC, Tanzania, Japan and Greece, to join the Council members in speaking to the thematic issue at hand.

The discussion topics included the potentiality of future joint missions of and other work between the Security Council and the African Union; disarmament, demobilization and reintegration throughout the continent; the goals of the up-coming fact-finding missions; "underdevelopment and the scramble for natural resources" (South Africa); intra-regional fomentation of conflict by militaristic players and weapons movement across nation-state borders; the movement from conflict management to conflict prevention; the positive strengthening of the relationship between the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council; and the protocol for a Peace and Security Council of the African Union.