Introduction & Methodology

Acknowledgements

On behalf of the PeaceWomen Project of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), I would like to express our gratitude to the dedicated, passionate and committed team who produced this Handbook. 

I, along with Kristina Mader, Rachel Kean and the support of others, truly broke new ground in writing this Handbook. As the Head of the PeaceWomen Project, I would like to acknowledge the work of colleagues, friends and partners, especially Kristina and Rachel, for their hours of writing, editing and analysis.

Further thanks to Isabelle Cutting for her detailed editing, Rachel LaForgia for her research and drafting, Sarah Taylor (NGOWG) for her continued mentoring and invaluable advice (and the afterword), and to other NGO Working Group members for their content input and partnership. To Sam Cook, thank you for your comments and your enduring positive impact on our small Project.

Sincere thanks to colleagues from UN agencies, NGOs, and Member States, who made time in their busy schedules to provide valuable comments and guidance along the way. Thanks to Renee Black for her thoughtful commentary.

To all PeaceWomen Project interns for their true devotion to our purpose and their contribution. Further thanks to the Secretary-General (Madeleine Rees), members, executive-committee, staff and interns of WILPF for their support. I also want to thank Joseph Martin for designing our cover.

Funding from the Government of the Swiss Confederation and the Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein supported this Handbook.

I would like to specially express gratitude to Pascale Baeriswyl and Swen Dornig for their input, partnership and spirit of cooperation.This is a pioneering endeavour by PeaceWomen and we welcome your comments and feedback as we continue our efforts to monitor the implementation of Women, Peace and Security. In the drafting of this Handbook, we have identified important areas for further research, analysis and development. This document should be updated periodically. It can be read in conjunction with information provided on www.peacewomen.org.

On a personal note, this book is dedicated to my inspiring and wonderful Dad, John (1954-2010) - Thank you for helping me find my path.

Maria Butler
Author and Project Associate, the PeaceWomen Project, WILPF

Foreward

A Chinese proverb says “Women Hold up Half the Sky”, and there is much wisdom in these words. From time immemorial, women have played decisive roles. But it was only ten years ago that the UN Security Council recognised the strong link between Women, Peace and Security. Its adoption of resolution 1325 in October 2000 was groundbreaking, in its combination of prevention, protection and participation.

It is a sad reality that civilians, and women and girls in particular, are increasingly targeted during hostilities. Sexual violence is systematically used as a weapon of warfare and rarely punished. However, women are not just victims. We can only end their victimization if we promote their role as active players. They can and must be decisive actors in the prevention and transformation of conflicts, in post-war reconstruction and in peace consolidation.

Resolution 1325 was made possible by an incredible three-pronged effort of Security Council members, United Nations entities and civil society. In joining together, they produced a text that resonates with women around the world. However, despite the progress made in the normative framework, implementation, action on the ground and accountability, are lagging behind. The participation of women at decision-making levels in conflict resolution and peace processes is far from sufficient and unacceptable levels of impunity for wartime atrocities continue.

The Governments of Switzerland and Liechtenstein hope to support implementation efforts by offering the Security Council this Handbook, highlighting the various obligations that derive from the resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009) and 1889 (2009), with examples of good-practice language. The Handbook is meant as a practical tool for advancing implementation and monitoring of the Women, Peace and Security agenda in the geographic and thematic considerations of the Security Council.

In the PeaceWomen Project of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, we have found an excellent partner that has been involved in competent advocacy and monitoring for the last ten years. All other stakeholders, be it the Security Council, Member States, the UN family and civil society will have to continue to work together to fulfil the obligations under resolution 1325.

The 10th anniversary of resolution 1325 must mark a turning point in the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda from rhetoric to action. We therefore wish the Security Council and all stakeholders a meaningful discussion around the 10th anniversary and to focus on positively impacting the lives of women and girls affected by conflict.

Aurelia Frick	Micheline Calmy-Rey
Foreign Minister	Foreign Minister
Liechtenstein	Switzerland

 

Introduction

 

The 10th anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security (hereafter SCR 1325) provides a timely opportunity to assess the implementation of this landmark resolution over the past 10 years (2000-2010). With this in mind, the PeaceWomen Project of the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has prepared this Handbook: a compilation and gender analysis of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The Handbook examines the degree to which the Security Council has internalised the thematic agenda, Women, Peace and Security over this 10-year period. This analysis specifically assesses the consistency with which the Council’s geographic work – i.e. the country-specific resolutions - reflect the language and intent of SCR 1325.[1] Good practice extracts from these resolutions are presented and critical recommendations are made. This Handbook, like the 10th anniversary itself, is a call to action and a sincere effort to enhance the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. The recommendations call for the incorporation of more comprehensive language on women and gender in Council’s resolutions.

The Handbook is the result of PeaceWomen’s Security Council Monitor: Resolution Watch initiative, a project that tracks  the implementation of SCR 1325 within the Council. PeaceWomen has been a pioneer in monitoring the Council’s resolutions for gender references, and this has enabled us to identify trends in the data from 2000 to present. While the incorporation of gender language into resolutions is not the end goal for PeaceWomen, we believe it is a necessary step for full and effective implementation of SCR 1325. The presence of gender language in a resolution is not, in itself, sufficient to avoid the gaps and ensure that the rights and concerns of women are effectively addressed. Yet, the presence of language is indicative of the attention and concern the Council is granting to the agenda. In addition, the inclusion of gender-sensitive language in mandate resolutions impacts how peace support operations engage Women, Peace and Security issues in their ongoing, daily work. This includes being technically mandated to take certain actions, and further indicates the seriousness with which the issues are taken, at the highest levels of international security.

For example, the incorporation of language on sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) has been important in mandates such as Darfur (UNAMID) where Darfur’s Gender Advisory Unit is one of the core substantive units and actively undertakes trainings, capacity-building, and technical assistance on gender mainstreaming, and specifically SEA. The peacekeeping mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) represents another interesting example. Due to the call for gender mainstreaming in UNMIT’s mandate, we saw the subsequent incorporation of gender units from the inception of the mission. Relating to women's participation in the electoral process, language in Haiti’s (MINUSTAH) resolutions lead to ground-level, “long-term training initiatives aimed at developing leadership skills of women throughout the country who wished to serve as candidates for office”.[i] This Handbook does not evaluate how the language has, or has not, been implemented on the ground. Such analysis is warranted but beyond the scope of this publication.

The overall trends show that the Council has increasingly incorporated language on women and gender into country-specific resolutions over the past 10 years. This progress must be acknowledged and encouraged. Over 80% of monitored resolutions referenced women, gender or SCR 1325 in 2009,in contrast to less than 5% of resolutions mentioning women, girls or gender in the period 1998-2000.[ii] However, the trends do not present a full depiction of the Council’s work. Therefore, this Handbook aims to present a more in-depth analysis of the progress, or lack thereof, made in the Council’s internalisation of Women, Peace and Security vis-à-vis country-specific resolutions.

Under the United Nations Charter (1945), the Security Council has the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. In SCR 1325, the Security Council first recognised and addressed the different impact of conflict on women, and acknowledged the need to fully engage women in conflict resolution, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. The Council “Recognizing that an understanding of the impact of armed conflict on women and girls, effective institutional arrangements to guarantee their protection and full participation in the peace process can significantly contribute to the maintenance and promotion of international peace and security” (SCR 1325, preambular).

The Council acknowledges the importance of implementing SCR 1325, and by virtue of the Council’s decision “to remain actively seized of the matter [of Women, Peace and Security]” (SCR 1325, OP18), the issue remains on the Council’s agenda in the interest of international peace and security. Since 2000, the Council has adopted three subsequent resolutions on the Women, Peace and Security agenda: 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), and 1889 (2009). These four resolutions form the basis of the United Nations policy framework on Women, Peace and Security, and guide Member States, UN entities and civil society.

However, three predominant challenges hinder the progress of the Women, Peace and Security agenda: the accountability gap, the information and analytical gap, and the implementation gap. The accountability gap manifests itself in the Security Council’s lack of systematic and comprehensive approach to the incorporation of Women, Peace and Security obligations into its reports, missions, briefings, presidential statement, and its resolutions. The palpable information and analytical gap is highlighted by a lack of reliable data coming to the Council from the field within both briefings and reports, despite the Council requesting the information in it’s resolutions.[iii] The implementation gap is highlighted by the disparity between words and actions, and is exacerbated by challenges of leadership and resources. This Handbook aims to help address aspects of these challenges, through analysis focused on one procedure: the country-specific resolutions of the Council.

Despite the progress in policy, political recognition and a general increase in gender references, there remains a need for more systematic, consistent and comprehensive implementation by the Security Council. The 10th anniversary of SCR 1325 is a time to focus on the responsibility to implement real action on the ground for women in conflict situations, and to do this effectively, all actors must use the tools available. This Handbook provides information, analysis and recommendations for the Security Council, and for Member States, United Nations missions, bodies and entities, and civil society in implementing their respective Women, Peace and Security obligations. The 10th anniversary must be a catalyst for action and we trust that this Handbook will facilitate action by the Council by presenting a content analysis of the Council’s integration of Women, Peace and Security obligations in its geographic work.

 

 

Framing the Analysis and Methodology

 

The Structure and Thematic Analysis

In terms of composition, the Handbook is structured in 13 thematic chapters.

Each theme chapter includes:

• Thematic overview linking to the Women, Peace and Security resolutions;
• Chart with relevant operative paragraphs of SCR 1325; 1820; 1888; and 1889;
• Summary of the country-specific resolutions language trends (and graph);
• Examples of good practice extracts from country-specific resolutions;
• Suggested Security Council action regarding country-specific resolutions.

The 13 themes utilised by the PeaceWomen Project for this Handbook are a reference framework to examine the Women, Peace and Security agenda. They are based on the core paragraphs of SCR 1325 (summarized in the Women, Peace and Security chart of each chapter), and used by practitioners in the area.

Table: The 13 Handbook Themes (number of resolutions with reference):
1. Peacekeeping (108) 2. Conflict Prevention (7) 3. Protection (36) 4. Participation (34) 5. Peace Processes (23) 6. Sexual & Gender-Based Violence (64) 7. Human Rights and IHL (72)	8. Sexual Exploitation & Abuse (SEA) (80) 9. Reconstruction and Peacebuilding (30) 10. Justice and Security Sector Reform (22) 11. Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) (14) 12. Displacement (8) 13. Humanitarian Assistance (7)

 

This thematic framework facilitates a deeper examination of the subject area and of the language extracts but the themes should not be seen as mutually exclusive categories as they inevitably interrelate and overlap. Several themes are crosscutting; for example, sexual violence arises in various stages of conflict and post-conflict and thus is addressed in multiple thematic chapters. The Participation theme goes far beyond participating in peace processes, and the Peace Process theme includes both issues of participation and the inclusion of the rights and issues of women in peace agreements.

Extracts are analysed and classified by theme. Extracts are often included in more than one theme, when appropriate. For instance, in the UN Mission of Afghanistan 2010 mandate renewal, the Security Council recognised the critical importance of monitoring and coordination of efforts to protect civilians and support wider human rights, in particular the rights of women and children. [i] This specific reference is included under Reconstruction & Peacebuilding, Peacekeeping, and the Human Rights and IHL themes.

Out of the 174 resolutions that reference women and/or gender, the themes which are addressed most frequently within the most number of resolutions are: Peacekeeping (108 resolutions), Sexual Exploitation & Abuse (80 resolutions), Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (72 resolutions), and Sexual & Gender-Based Violence (64 resolutions).

It is important to note the further links between Women, Peace and Security and the other thematic agenda items. In the country-specific resolutions, the Council increasingly links Women, Peace and Security to the protection of humanitarian and United Nations personnel; to the protection of civilians in armed conflict and to children in armed conflict. These agenda items must not be put in silos as they all share the same goal of alleviating human suffering and they are part of a mutually reinforcing system of protection which are synergetic and must be viewed holistically.

Analysis: Security Council Country-Specific Resolutions

This Handbook covers Security Council resolutions on country situations that have been tracked by PeaceWomen for the period November 2000 - August 2010.[1] PeaceWomen monitored and analysed 432 out of 612 resolutions adopted on relevant country situations, which accounts for approximately 71% of resolutions adopted by the Council for the period.

PeaceWomen monitors three types of resolutions, which are referred to collectively as country-specific resolutions for the purposes of this Handbook (as opposed to thematic resolutions).The three types of resolutions are:

1) Mandate renewals for Peacekeeping/Political missions [2]
Of the monitored mandate renewals resolutions (291), 51.2% (149) contain women and/or gender references.

2)  Sanctions [3]
Of the monitored sanctions resolutions (76), 15.8% (12) contain women and/or gender references.

3) General country situations [4]
Of the monitored country situation resolutions (65), 20% (13) contain women and/or gender references.

Of the 432 resolutions monitored, 40.3% (174 resolutions out of 432) have references to women and/or gender.  There has been a gradual increase over the years with a peak in 2009, when 87% of resolutions monitored referenced women and/or gender. 2010 is on par with 2009 at the time of printing (October 2010).

Although direct references to SCR 1325 do not measure the overall strength of a resolution in terms of its implementation of SCR 1325, it is indicative of a certain level of awareness on the obligation the Security Council has to mainstream gender within the mandates of peacekeeping missions and across other areas of its work. With this said, 57% (or 94) of 174 resolutions with references to women and/or gender, contain direct reference to SCR 1325. The first resolution to reference SCR 1325 was adopted in 2002.[ii] The trend for referencing SCR 1325 has been largely upward – although most references in the early part of the decade are found in the preambular clauses. In 2008, the highest number of references to SCR 1325 were found, at 75%. 2010 is on par with 2009 at the time of printing (October 2010). Thus if the trend continues, SCR 1325 might be referred to more in 2010 than any year prior.

The 432 resolutions tracked and analysed by PeaceWomen cover 20 country-specific situations on the Council’s agenda. These situations are monitoredbased on the presence of a peacekeeping or political mission, the regular consideration of the situation, and the adoption of resolutions.

Table: The 20 country situations analysed in this Handbook (number of references)
1.       Afghanistan (39) 2.       Burundi (28) 3.       Chad &the Central African Republic (6) 4.       Côte d’Ivoire (79) 5.       Cyprus (18) 6.       Darfur[7] (20) 7.       Democratic Republic of the Congo (54) 8.       Eritrea and Ethiopia (2) 9.       Georgia (10) 10.    Golan Heights[8] (22)	11.    Haiti (35) 12.    Iraq (10) 13.    Lebanon[9] (10) 14.    Liberia (27) 15.    Nepal (10) 16.    Sierra Leone (45) 17.    Somalia (9) 18.    Sudan (43) 19.    Timor-Leste (24) 20.    Western Sahara (14)

Of current operations, the highest percentage of resolutions with references to women and/or genderacross all years, are: Darfur (100%), Nepal (100%), Chad & CAR (67%) and Lebanon (59%). Of these, Darfur, and Chad & CAR are most likely to contain strong references. Nepal and Lebanon are most likely to contain basic references.[10] The lowest percentage of resolutions with references to women and/or gender overall across all years are: Liberia (28%), Somalia (23%), Iraq (13%), Eritrea & Ethiopia (5%).

From the 174 resolutions containing language on women and/or gender, we have selected and presented extracts that illustrate ‘good practice’ under each thematic chapter.[11] For each extract, we have indicated the focus of the reference. For example, under the sexual and gender-based violence theme, the following extract is included:

In each chapter a final box titled: “Suggested Security Council Action for Country-Specific Resolutions” summarises the example extracts and adds further recommendations to guide the Security Council in its incorporation of the language and advancement of intent of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. These suggestions have been drawn from the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security’s Checklist (2003). The recommendations included in the boxes are not exhaustive but provide a general guide for each theme.

Finally, it is important to underline the limitations of this publication. We note that the resolutions pertaining to country situations and peacekeeping mandates analysed herein vary widely in context and over time. Additionally, although the thematic classification of the extracts is systematic, it is not absolute. Despite the constraints of the study, it is our intention that this work will open the door to further analysis and strengthen the incorporation of gender language and the inclusion of the intent of Women, Peace and Security into the geographic work of the Security Council.