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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UN Women, Women's Empowerment and Arab States

The UN Women's Fund for Gender Equality launches proposals for Women's Empowerment in Arab States. Perhaps everyone could take a page out of Muammar Gaddafi's book in Libya, where women have been given total conditions to foster their careers without regard to gender-based impediments.

Looking at War as if Women Counted

Filmmaker, philanthropist and scholar Abigail Disney reached some surprising conclusions in her studies of war narratives. She shared them with a rapt audience at Stanford's Cemex Auditorium Wednesday evening.

INTERNATIONAL: Nobel Peace Prize to Women Peace Activists

 

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia, Leymah Gbowee, founder of Women in Peacebuilding Program/West African Network for Peacebuilding and Tawakkul Karman, journalist and peace activist from Yemen shares this years Nobel Peace Prize.

INTERNATIONAL: How Many Women Does it take to Win a Nobel Peace Prize?

For a moment last week, the announcement of one of the world's most prestigious awards felt more like a quiz: How many women does it take to win the Nobel Peace Prize? Three, this year.

If there was a quiz, it would have to be about how many years it takes between female laureates for the Nobel committee to notice again that women exist.

INTERNATIONAL: Now is the Time

ALL of us were there, throwing stones, moving dead bodies. We did everything. There was no difference between men and women.” So says Asmaa Mahfouz, an Egyptian activist, remembering the protests that felled Hosni Mubarak at the beginning of the year. Though some men told her to get out of the way, others held up umbrellas to protect her.

LIBERIA: Mixed Reviews for Johnson-Sirleaf's Nobel Peace Prize

As the Norwegian Nobel Committee named Liberian President Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf a joint winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, opposition party supporters were flooding the streets of Monrovia to demand that she be voted out of office in the upcoming election.

AFRICA: Security Sector Reform in African Countries Emerging from Conflict Vital, UN says

The Security Council today debated the need to reform the security sector in African countries emerging from conflict, with the United Nations peacekeeping chief calling it crucial to ensuring stability, reducing poverty and promoting sustainable development.

NIGERIA: Making Peace Can Be a Real Battle

If an American television network were going to be in cahoots with the Nobel committee, it makes sense that it would be PBS. How else to explain the premiere of the mini-series “Women, War & Peace” on Tuesday, just days after one of its major figures, the Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee, shared the Nobel Peace Prize for 2011?

AFGHANISTAN: Women of the World Unite!

In its statement to the world, the Norwegian Nobel Committee honored women warriors battling for peace and said it hoped the Peace Prize would help to ”realise the great potential for democracy and peace that women can represent.” Now comes a test of the world's resolve to achieve that potential. Afghanistan.

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