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.

For more resources on this Critical Issue, visit PeaceWomen Resource Center >>

INTERNATIONAL: Designation for Sanctions of an Armed Leader in the DRC

The Permanent Missions to the United Nations of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States submitted to the Security Council's Committee established pursuant to Resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the name of Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, to be added to the list of individuals and entities subject to a worldwide travel ban and asset freeze.

SOUTH SUDAN: "Claim your rights", Gender Minister Urges Women

The deputy minister for Gender, Child and Social Welfare Dr. Priscilla Nyanyang Joseph has called on women to learn and claim their human rights as enshrined in the constitution.

“When women know they have rights in the constitution, they will be able to stand up and claim their rights; because rights are claimed, they are not given”, said Dr. Nyanyang.

DRC: Wanted Congo Rebel Holds Campaign Rally

A national assembly candidate charged with organising the mass rape of 387 people has staged a campaign rally in the eastern Congolese town of Walikale.

Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, running for one of two seats in the Walikale district of the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), held the rally on Thursday in full view of police, the Congolese army and within three kilometres of a UN peacekeeping base.

INTERNATIONAL/AFGHANISTAN: Why Women Matter in Peacebuilding

On October 31, 2000, the UN Security Council (UNSC) unanimously passed resolution 1325. The resolution marked the first time that the body recognized the unique impact of armed conflict on women—and women's undervalued role in peacebuilding. As Sanam-Naraghi Anderlini, who was a civil society drafter of the resolution, described, the resolution was spurred by the wars of the 1990s.

PAKISTAN: Pakistan passes law to stop 'anti-women practices' - paper

Pakistan's parliament has passed a landmark law aimed at strengthening protection for women facing economic and social discrimination through practices such as forced marriage, the Express Tribune reported on Wednesday.

CONGO: An Unruly Election Campaign Mirrors Congo's Lingering Political Instability

First, Cmdr. Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka ordered his militia to join an attack on a group of villages in eastern Congo, where the fighters gang-raped at least 387 women, men, girls and boys, according to a United Nations report of the atrocities.

INTERNATIONAL: Women in War, Women in Peace

As wars become less about states and more about societies, women can play a greater role in shaping or ending conflicts. So why do we still think of war as inherently male?

INTERNATIONAL: Women in War, Women in Peace

Asked to describe war, most Americans would probably throw out words like troops, tanks, guns, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Our historical and cultural understanding of war is shaped by our focus on the men who fight -- and it is still overwhelmingly men who fight -- and the tools they use, and this has become the prism through which we understand war and its consequences.

YEMEN: Yemen uprising binds women from many walks of life

Early in Yemen's uprising, about 20 women with banners demanding equal rights marched into the heart of the capital, joining the thousands who were calling for the ouster of the president. They were greeted with cheers. The women settled into a spot below the stage in the middle of Change Square. But as the days passed, "the women's section" became off-limits to men. A fence went up around it.

LIBYA: Women in Libya and the Arab Spring

On November 2, the Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy, and Global Women's Issues and the Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Central Asian Affairs organized a testimony for the Senate Foreign Relations committee on the role of women in the Arab Spring.

Pages