Reconstruction and Peacebuilding

The Reconstruction and Peacebuilding theme focuses on the application of a gender perspective to peacebuilding. The response of local, national, and international systems to women’s priorities in post-conflict situations can significantly impact stability and development.

The realisation of women’s right to full participation in preventing, resolving and recovering from conflict, is critical to building sustainable peace and the fulfilment of human security. Furthermore, the response of local, national and international systems to women’s priorities in post-conflict situations, can significantly impacts the stability and development of communities.

The engagement of women in early stages of peacemaking can increase gender analysis in post-conflict planning, lead to improved outcomes for women, and enhance their capacity to participate in longer-term peacebuilding. However, women’s rights and concerns should not be dependent on the presence of women in peace processes. Systems must be in place to ensure their inclusion is standard operating procedure.

In SCR 1325, the Security Council recognises that addressing the unique needs of women and girls during post-conflict reconstruction requires integrating a gender perspective at all stages (1325,OP8). The Security Council acknowledges the need to counter negative societal attitudes regarding women’s equal capacity for involvement, and calls for the promotion of women’s leadership and support for women’s organizations (1889,OP1). In addition, the Security Council requests training on the protection, rights and needs of women in all peacebuilding measures (1325,OP6).

To achieve this, the Security Council tasks the Secretary-General to report on challenges and make recommendations relevant to the participation of women and gender mainstreaming in peacebuilding and recovery efforts (1888,OP19). In response, the Secretary-General issued a report on women’s participation in peacebuilding in 2010. The report details the challenges obstacles women must confront in participating in recovery and peacebuilding efforts, and advocates for a Seven-Point Action Plan to respond to these challenges.


First, the plan calls to increase women’s engagement in peace processes and to address gender issues in the context of peace agreements. Secondly, the plan urges for the inclusion of gender expertise at senior levels in the UN’s mediation support activities. Thirdly, the plan notes that, while the international community cannot control the gender composition of the negotiating parties, it must investigate strategies for the inclusion of more women. Fourthly, the plan calls for the establishment of mechanisms to ensure that negotiating parties engage with women’s civil society organisations. The Action Plan’s fifth commitment involves increasing the proportion of women decision makers in post-conflict governance institutions. The sixth point addresses rule of law, emphasising the importance of issues such as women’s access to justice and a gender perspective to legal reform. The Action Plan’s seventh commitment is concerned with women’s economic empowerment. The Action Plan’s implementation remains the challenge.

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UGANDA: Ugandan Parliament adopts Resolution to Address Needs of War-Affected Women

Years of advocacy by women's rights groups including those monitoring justice for women with disabilities in northern Uganda pays off.

LIBERIA: Women CSOs Join Security Sector Reform

Several women organizations and groups have been motivated to assist the security sector in consolidating the peace as the United Nations Missions draws down its troops from the country.

AFGHANISTAN: Citizens Expect Nothing If Not Peace

For more than 30 years, Afghans have been living in a state of war and yearn for stability and peace. With the presidential elections on 5th April, the number of attacks on government institutions has increased. After calling for a boycott of the elections, the Taliban have warned that they would do anything to prevent them from being carried out and block the arrival of international observers.

SOUTH SUDAN: UN Event Spotlights Women of South Sudan as Partners of Peace

The women of South Sudan played an instrumental role in the country's liberation struggle and will continue to make sure their voices ring loud and clear as the world's youngest nation seeks to restore peace and stability amid the recent conflict, women leaders stressed today at the United Nations in New York.

SOUTH AFRICA: Addressing Slow Pace of Gender Equality

During the National Assembly debate on the State of the Nation Address this year, the Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, spoke passionately about the advancement of women.

She said the country had made great strides in addressing gender discrimination, and in creating institutions and mechanisms for women's empowerment and gender equality.

HAITI: The Safety of Haitian Girls and Women Should Be Our Goal

This past Saturday marked three years since Haiti was stuck by a devastating earthquake. There is a place in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, called Cité Soleil. It means Sun City, and it is the poorest place, most dangerous place to live in this hemisphere.

HAITI: Haiti's Women Need More Than a Trickle of Aid Money

It's been four years since Port-au-Prince collapsed, and Haiti's women are still working through the damage—both physical and mental—left by the catastrophic 2010 earthquake and its aftermath. The cameras and reporters have gone, but the twinned scourges of violence and exploitation continue to haunt Haiti's ruins.

SOUTH SUDAN: Calls for Women to Engage in S. Sudan Peace Building Efforts

The minister of social development in South Sudan's Eastern Equatoria state, Paska Hifita, has called on women across the region's eight counties to engage in peace building efforts as a way of unifying the nation.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Bougainville Women Say They Were Excluded From The Reconciliation Ceremony

The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea Peter O'Neil has completed his historic state visit to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

And while Mr O'Neil has extended the olive branch, the women of Bougainville are angry they weren't included in the reconciliation ceremony involving the Prime Minister and local leaders.

CAMBODIA: Pictured: Cambodian Land Mine Victims Wounded by One of the 6 Million Hidden Devices Waiting to be Detonated are Nursed Back to Health

They are victims of a conflict which ended decades ago.
But daily suffering is still a fact of life for tens of thousands of wounded men and women in Cambodia, struck down by the countless land mines which lay dormant under its soil.

These images, taken this week in a rehabilitation centre in Kampong Cham, one of the largest cities in the country, show some of the nation's 25,000 amputees being helped through their injuries.

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