The Commission on the Status of Women, Agreed Outcomes on Women and Armed Conflict: Report on the forty-second session (2-13 March 1998), Economic and Social Council Official Records, 1998, Supplement No. 7:

II. WOMEN AND ARMED CONFLICT

Proposes the following,

A. Ensuring gender-sensitive justice Actions to be taken by Governments:

- Ensure that national legal systems provide accessible and gender-sensitive avenues of redress for victims of armed conflict;
- Ensure that a gender-sensitive perspective is integrated in the drafting and interpretation of international law and domestic legislation, including for the protection of women and girls in armed conflict;
- Support efforts to create an international criminal court that integrates a gender perspective in its statute and functioning, enabling a gender-sensitive interpretation and application of the statute;
- Promote a gender balance and gender expertise in all relevant international bodies, at all times, including the International Law Commission, the ad hoc war crimes tribunals and the human rights treaty bodies, having due regard for the principle of equitable geographical distribution;
- Examine and consider modifying existing legal definitions and standards to ensure that they encompass concerns of all women and girls affected by armed conflict, and, in particular, reaffirm that rape, systematic rape and sexual slavery in armed conflict constitute war crimes;

B. Specific needs of women affected by armed conflict Actions to be taken by Governments and international organizations:

- Take account of the impact of armed conflict on the health of all women and introduce measures to address the full range of women's health needs, including those of women with disabilities, and the psychological needs arising from trauma stemming from sexual abuses and the effects of violations of their rights;
- Address the specific needs and concerns of women refugees and displaced persons and ensure appropriate training for relevant bodies to address the specific needs and concerns of women refugees, who should receive special protection, including the proper design and location of camps and the adequate staffing of camps;

1. Recognize the importance of fully involving women in designing rehabilitation policies in post-conflict situations and take steps to assist household economies, including the social and economic conditions of women-headed households and widows;

- Mainstream a gender perspective, as appropriate, into national immigration and asylum policies, regulations and practices, in order to extend protection to those women whose claim for protection is based on gender-related persecution;
- Mainstream a gender perspective into humanitarian responses to crises and armed conflicts and into post-conflict reconstruction activities.

C. Increasing the participation of women in peacekeeping, peace-building, pre- and post-conflict decision-making, conflict prevention, post-conflict resolution and reconstruction

Actions to be taken by Governments and international and regional intergovernmental institutions:
- Increase, including through measures of affirmative action, women's participation and leadership in decision-making and in preventing conflict;
- Mainstream a gender perspective into peace-promoting activities at all levels as well as humanitarian and peace-building policies, including through gender analysis and the encouragement of the participation of more female personnel at all levels, in particular at senior or high levels in field missions, and monitor and review such policies as appropriate, on the basis of equitable geographical distribution where applicable;
- Recognize and support women's non-governmental organizations, particularly at the grass-roots level, in respect of their preventing conflict, including early warning and peace-building;
- Develop and implement innovative strategies to increase the participation of women in peacekeeping operations and invite the Secretary-General to analyse their effectiveness in his reports on peacekeeping operations, if appropriate, based on an expert group meeting;
- Mainstream a gender perspective into bilateral and multilateral peace-building discussions and promotion of social development. D. Preventing conflict and promoting a culture of peace Actions to be taken by Governments, the international community and civil society, as appropriate: - Integrate a gender perspective into foreign policies and adjust policies accordingly;
- Support the establishment of women-for-peace networks;
- Strengthen ongoing efforts to train international peacekeeping forces on human rights and gender-sensitivity, provide training on codes of conduct and prevention of violence against women, ensuring that trainers include civilians, women and experts in gender issues, and monitor the impact of this training;

Actions to be taken by the United Nations:
- Acknowledge and support the vital work of non-governmental organizations in the field of peace in efforts towards preventing conflict and for peace-building;

Actions to be taken by Governments:
- Join international efforts to elaborate international policies to prohibit illicit traffic, trade and transfer of small arms, and to control their excessive production, with a view to alleviating the suffering of women and children in the situation of armed conflict;
- Encourage as appropriate the role of women in the peace movement, working towards general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control including disarmament of all types of weapons of mass destruction;