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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HAITI: Haitian Women Learn to Read, Write and Speak Out

The levels of literacy in Haiti are low, but among the most vulnerable groups living in camps they are even lower. It is estimated that 80 per cent of residents of La Piste camp in Port-au-Prince – home to around 45,000 people displaced by the earthquake on 12 January 2010 – cannot read or write. The British Red Cross has been working in La Piste camp since the earthquake.

NIGERIA: First Lady Consults With Governers' Wives on Security

The First Lady, Patience Jonathan, on Monday in Abuja consulted with the wives of state governors on ways of facilitating peace in their domains.

Mrs Jonathan intimated the governors' wives on how she became the President of the African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM) and informed them that they would be inaugurated as ambassadors for peace in their respective states.

SIERRA LEONE: UN Security Council Releases Report on Integrated Peacebuilding in Sierra Leone

The Executive Representative of the UN Secretary General and head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL) today delivered his Seventh Report on the progress of the work in Sierra Leone to the UN Security Council.

SOMALIA: Scarred Somali Women Take Stock After Al-Shabaab Withdrawal

The day seems to be getting brighter in Somalia districts that bore the brunt of fanaticism under the al-Shaabab militants as former residents return to savour the new feeling of freedom.

GHANA: Gender Women Peace

Women in the country particularly those in Buipe in the Central Gonja District have been urged to use their natural endowments and resources to solve chieftaincy disputes to promote unity and development.

Women have also been identified as key actors in peace building and conflict resolution hence the need to give them full and equal access and participation in the peace activities and processes.

ISRAEL/OPT: Palestinian-Israeli Women Lose a Voice for Peace

The tri-lateral women's group, consisting of Palestinian women, Israeli women and female political leaders from around the world, was founded in 2005 under the auspices of UNIFEM in New York. Its mission was to implement and strengthen U.N.

SUDAN: Workshop on Gender Issues Begins Today

A workshop on post referendum gender issues commences today. The workshop is organized by Gender and Development Unit at Development Studies and Research Institute of University of Khartoum in collaboration with German based Friedrich Ebert Organization, and will focus on constitution and laws.

AFGHANISTAN: What Went Wrong for Afghanistan's Women?

Women's rights have been central to the war in Afghanistan. Remember when Cherie Blair and Laura Bush joined forces to bolster the rationale for invasion back in 2001? Suddenly, the west developed a passionate concern for the position of women in the country; there were films, books and documentaries about the high rates of maternal mortality, girls being married off young and low levels of female literacy.

MIDDLE EAST: The Word on Women -

Today, like every other Friday since February, Iraqi citizens will gather in Tahrir Square – in Baghdad, not Cairo – to protest corruption, poor government, lack of basic services, high unemployment rates and constraints on freedom of expression.

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