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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SIERRA LEONE: Khadarlis to Empower Women and Children

Khadarlis for Sierra Leone is a non-governmental and non-profit making organization determined to improve on the living conditions of vulnerable Sierra Leoneans, who are always faced with numerous challenges in the areas of education, health and sanitation, housing and water facilities, among others, the organisation has said.

PAKISTAN: Inclusion of Ensuring Smooth Funding in Law Demanded

The Advocates for Human Rights has suggested the government of Pakistan to include provision in the Domestic Violence Bill (DVB) that can ensure adequate funding to guarantee effective implementation of the law.

INTERNATIONAL: Wallstrom Making Progress in Fight Against Rape in Conflict

The Libya conflict has also included an element of war that former Commissioner, Margot Wallstrom is dedicated to fighting against; the rape of women as part of conflict. She described the evidence from two Libyan soldiers who had been ordered into a house, where the occupants had been shot in the legs to disable them, and the young women were taken upstairs where an estimated 20 soldiers raped them.

INTERNATIONAL: The Security Sector: An Awkward Space for Engagement

Alongside powerful arguments against militarism, we are hearing an increasingly significant voice from within the security sector, including women in uniform, working on ways to improve the security sector's own understanding and response to issues of women's rights and security. Jessica Horn reports on the debates at the Nobel Women's Initiative conference.
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PAKISTAN: Victims of Acid Attack

When I was a student in Boston, I rode the subway almost every day. There was a woman who I saw more than once on the Red Line; her face was unforgettable, but not because she was a great beauty.

PAKISTAN: Raped Pakistani Activist Awaits Appeal Decision

Almost a decade after Mukhtar Mai was gang-raped, her legacy after years of activism and legal battles that made her Pakistan's most famous champion of women's rights now rests on the fate of her final appeal.

Ms. Mai made front-page headlines when she started her campaign for justice in 2002, challenging not only her attackers but the tribal code of honour that endorses rape as a tool of discipline in rural villages.

PAKISTAN: Pak Minister Seeks Empowerment of Women

Women of Muslim countries should join hands to explore avenues for their empowerment and welfare, said Pakistan's Minister for Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan on Sunday.

“It's encouraging to see Saudi women engaged in economic activities and decision making, while observing the Islamic tenets and values,” she said while addressing a meeting at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI).

IRAN: Islamic Republic has Elevated Status of Women: Leader

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said that Iran's Islamic system has made great efforts to elevate the status of women and allow them to regain their rightful position in society, but there is still much more to do.

INTERNATIONAL: Crime Not Shame: Challenging the Ideology of Rape

When American feminist Susan Brownmiller published ‘Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape' in 1975, thousands of women all around the world who'd been victims of war-time rape were suffering pretty much in silence.

INTERNATIONAL: The Mass Crime of Rape: Ending Impunity

A group of us gasped when one tiny mother of five, who looked no older than my 20-year old daughter, lamented, “When I think about my life here, I often feel I'd rather be back in the bush with the Lord's Resistance Army, at least there I had a community". While we are making some progress in fitful efforts at prosecution, we are failing victims of rape miserably, reports Susannah Sirkin.

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