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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CAR: "Command responsibility" Underpins Allegations Against Bemba at ICC

It was systematic rape to assert dominance and shatter resistance. That is how Luis Moreno-Ocampo described the campaign of terror allegedly committed seven years ago by a Congolese militia group against civilians from the Central African Republic (CAR).

SUDAN: Women's Citizenship: Implications of the Southern Sudan Referendum

How will the outcome of the South Sudan referendum affect the prospects for women's participation and activism in the North and South?

INDONESIA: Indonesian Women's Ignorance of MDGs a Huge Setback: Experts

Indonesian women are largely unfamiliar with the Millennium Development Goals despite being a key target demographic, hence hurting the government's chances of achieving the campaign's objectives, experts say.

The MDGs that specifically target women include reducing the maternal and infant mortality rates, ensuring universal primary education for girls and providing decent employment for women and men alike.

ZIMBABWE: FBC Bank Backs Women Empowerment

Zimbabwe Women in Trade and Development, a non-profit making Trust (ZWITAD), has received $50 000 from FBC Bank Limited to empower women.

“On the proposition to give women a chance, we want to empower women. Only a woman will go down to uplift other women and only women are faithful to their families,” said ZWITAD national advisor Gertrude Chikwava.

INDIA: Maternity Care Improves in Indian Trouble Spots

In one of the worst areas of maternal care in the world, a health advocacy is teaching Indian women the three big factors in maternal deaths and how to assert political and community pressure to avoid them.

Payments demanded by doctors for conducting deliveries of babies after 11 at night at a district public health center in Udaipur, a city in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, came down dramatically around August 2009.

PHILIPPINES: Strengthening the rights of women and children in Mindanao

The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has pledged anew to help the new administration conduct programs that uplift the rights of women and children in Mindanao.

A memorandum of agreement was recently signed by Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Secretary Luwalhati Antonino and UNICEF Country representative Vanessa Tobin, witnessed no less than President Benigno Aquino III himself.

AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan National Police Graduate First Female Officers from Police Training Center

Troopers from the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment working alongside their Afghan National Police partners at the Police Training Center in Qalat started the New Year right Monday, Jan. 3, by graduating a class of 134 new recruits. Class 1101 had the distinction of not only being the first class of 2011, but also the first class to include volunteers from the Commerce Stability Program and five female recruits.

TURKMENISTAN: Equality Laws Fail to Ensure Turkmen Women's Rights

In late December, Turkmenistan is due to submit a regular report to the United Nations on how it is meeting its obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW. Experts on women's rights say the reality is a long way from the appearance of equality the country presents.

CAR: Bemba ICC Trial Showcases War-Rape Prosecution

The prosecution of Jean-Pierre Bemba, which resumes Jan. 11 in The Hague, is expected to continue taking testimony about the sexual violence committed by his troops in the Central African Republic between 2002 and 2003.

The trial marks the first major prosecution of rape as a weapon of war and a fulfillment of years of international legal advocacy for female war victims.

PERU: Decades On, Women Remain Last in Line for Justice

Investigations of the raping of women in the 1980s during Peru's counterinsurgency war have ground to a halt, even though the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission filed the respective complaints in 2004. Not one sentence has been handed down for the soldiers alleged to have committed the rapes, while more victims come forward.

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