SECRETARIAT

Secretary-General (SG)

Overview: The Secretary-General is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations. The Secretary-General brings to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his/her opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security; regularly reports on a variety of themes to the Security Council and the General Assembly; and engages in implementing political mandates in a number of countries through his/her Special Representatives and Special Envoys. Click here for more information

Relevant operative paragraphs of UNSC Resolution 1325: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 13, 16, 17

The Secretary-General can:

• Mandate that all UN entities, and in particular, those with peace and security mandates, develop gender action plans for integrating a gender perspective in all aspects of their work at headquarters and in the field.

• Appoint more women to the positions of Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG), Representative or Special Envoy.

• Implement his strategic plan of action (A/49/587) calling for an increase in the participation of women at decision-making levels in conflict resolution and peace processes.

• Urge Member States to follow through with their commitments under international law, and in this case, UNSC Resolution 1325.

• Systematically incorporate information on the impact of armed conflict on women and women's role in prevention and peace-building in all of the SG country-specific and thematic reports.

Office of Legal Affairs (OLA)
Overview: The OLA's mission includes: providing a unified central legal service for the Secretariat and the principal and other organs of the United Nations; contributing to the progressive development and codification of international public and trade law; promoting the strengthening and development as well as the effective implementation of the international legal order for the seas and oceans; registering and publishing treaties, and to perform the depositary functions of the Secretary-General. The OLA provides advice to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) on the legal aspects of UN peacekeeping and other peace operations. Click here for more information

Relevant operative paragraphs of UNSC Resolution 1325: all

The Office of Legal Affairs can:

• Review and/or prepare draft guidelines, directives and other administrative issuances that can be applied to UN peacekeeping and other peace operations, including directives on disciplinary matters involving military and civilian personnel in UN peacekeeping and other field missions.


Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS)

Overview: OIOS was established in 1994 as an independent office reporting directly to the Secretary-General, to strengthen internal oversight in the United Nations. OIOS provides worldwide internal auditing, investigation, inspection, programme monitoring, evaluation and consulting services to all UN activities under the Secretary-General's authority: the UN Secretariat in New York, Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna; the five regional commissions: ECA (Africa), ESCAP (Asia and the Pacific), ESCWA (West Asia), ECE (Europe) and ECLAC (Latin America and the Caribbean); peacekeeping missions and humanitarian operations in various parts of the world; and assistance to Funds and Programmes administered separately under the authority of the Secretary-General (such as UNHCR, UNEP and UNICEF). In June 2000 the OIOS undertook an in-depth evaluation of the United Nations Advancement of Women Programme, which evaluated the work of the Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women (OSAGI) and the UN Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), among others. Click here for more information

Relevant operative paragraphs of UNSC Resolution 1325: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 16, 17

The Office of Internal Oversight Services can:

• Produce a thematic evaluation- with a mandate from the General Assembly- on the progress towards the integration of a gender perspective in the context of international peace and security. The scope of the OIOS evaluation would be the work of the Secretariat divisions/departments/programmes, including Department of Political Affairs (DPA), Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).


The Executive Committee on Peace and Security (ECPS)

[Chair: Department of Political Affairs (DPA), Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), Department of Disarmament Affairs (DDA), Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women (OSAGI), Department of Public Information (DPI), Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Office of Legal Affairs (OLA), Office of the Special Representative of the SG on Children and Armed Conflict (OSRSG/CAC), UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), UN Security Coodinator, World Bank]

Overview: The ECPS is a high-level coordinating body created by Secretary-General to facilitate communication between UN programmes and agencies in order to prevent, respond to, and end conflict. The Committee is composed of high-level representatives from within the UN secretariat and the UN system who work on peace and security. The ECPS is convened on a regular basis by the Under Secretary-General of Political Affairs.

Relevant operative paragraphs of UNSC Resolution 1325: 5, 8a, 8b, 8c, 13

The Executive Committee on Peace and Security can:

• Work to ensure all UN actors with a mandate on peace and security systematically integrate a gender perspective in their work, with clear goals, targets, timetables and monitoring and reporting mechanisms.

• Include gender experts on the Integrated Mission Task Forces (IMTFs).

• Include in the terms of reference for all members of IMTFs that they must regularly consult with women's organizations and integrate a gender perspective in their work and reporting.

Office for the Special Advisor on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women (OSAGI)

Overview: OSAGI has been charged with overseeing, monitoring and supporting the implementation of gender mainstreaming throughout the UN system. Click here for more information

Relevant operative paragraphs of UNSC Resolution 1325: all

The Office for the Special Adviser on Gender Issues can:

• Advocate for the implementation of 1325 throughout the UN system, as an Assistant Secretary-General, member of the Executive Committee on Peace and Security and the Executive Committee on Humanitarian Affairs, as well as the chair of the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality and the Inter-Agency Taskforce on Women, Peace and Security.

• Support the work of the Commission on the Status of Women and other functional, as well as regional commissions of ECOSOC on their work to gender mainstream, and in particular, in the context of women, peace and security, via sponsorship of expert group meetings, panels, hearings, roundtables, etc.

Critical to the coordination of the work towards implementation of UNSC Resolution is a specially-appointed senior social affairs officer works within the OSAGI office on women, pece and security issues.

Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE)

Overview: The Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) is a network of Gender Focal Points in United Nations offices, specialized agencies, funds and programmes. The IANWGE consists of approximately 60 members representing 25 entities of the United Nations system, i.e. offices and departments of the United Nations Secretariat, regional commissions, funds and programmes, specialized agencies, and the Bretton Woods institutions. The IANWGE works through a system of task forces, including the Task Force on Women, Peace and Security, with designated task managers, and through informal inter-sessional meetings. The Network has played a central role in promoting gender equality throughout the United Nations system and in follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 and the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (Beijing +5) in 2000. The Network also monitors and oversees the mainstreaming of gender perspectives in the normative operational work of the UN system. Click here for more information

IANWGE Taskforce on Women, Peace and Security

Overview: The Taskforce on Women, Peace and Security- one of the nine IANWGE taskforces- plays a critical role in the advocacy for and coordination of the United Nations systems joint response to women, peace and security, in partnership with Member States and non-governmental organizations, based on the Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security and in line with the critical area of concern for the Beijing Platform for Action - women and armed conflict. Click here for more information

Relevant operative paragraphs of UNSC Resolution 1325: all

The IANWGE Taskforce on Women, Peace and Security can:

• Develop an UN system-wide action plan aimed at the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325.

• Continue to provide coordinated, inter-agency input into thematic and country-specific Secretary-General reports and Security Council resolutions.

Department of Political Affairs (DPA)

Overview: The Department of Political Affairs monitors, analyzes and assesses political developments throughout the world. The Department provides advice and support on all political matters to the Secretary-General in the exercise of his/her global responsibilities under the United Nations Charter and/or mandated by the Security Council or General Assembly. The Department carries out activities related to the prevention, control and resolution of conflicts, peace-building, electoral assistance, substantive support and secretariat services to the Security Council and the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. Click here for more information

Key sub-bodies of DPA: Executive Office of the Under Secretary-General, Regional Divisions, Policy Planning Unit, Electoral Assistance Division, Security Council Affairs Division, Decolonization Unit and Division for Palestinian Rights

On-going political and peace-building missions led by DPA:
UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA); UN Observer Mission in Bougainville (UNOMB); UN Office in Burundi (UNOB); UN Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic (BONUCA); Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region; UN Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA); UN Peacebuilding Support Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS); Office of the Special Coordinator for the Middle East (UNSCO); UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS); UN Tajikistan Office of Peacebuilding (UNTOP); Office of the Special Representative of the SG for West Africa; UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)

Relevant operative paragraphs of UNSC Resolution 1325: 3, 6, 8a, 8b, 8c, 13, 15, 16, 17

The Department of Political Affairs can:

• Ensure, as the primary information-gathering body for the UN, that all reports, including those of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly and Security Council, contain substantive gender analysis and treat the impact of conflict on and agency of women in the countries or themes profiled in the reports.

• Ensure the incorporation of a gender perspective in and the inclusion of women on the agenda of the Executive Committee on Peace and Security (ECPS), as the Under Secretary-General convenes and chairs the ECPS.

• Play an important role in conflict prevention from field offices by involving women in determining early warning signals of impending conflict and preparing means of prevention and intervention.

• As the focal point for all matters related to electoral assistance, promote special measures, such as quotas, for ensuring that women participate equally in decision-making at all levels of governance.

• Collaborate with a variety of UN entities and personnel, including Special Representatives of the Secretary-General and Envoys, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Department of Peacekeeping Operations and those that comprise Integrated Mission Task Forces (IMTFs), to ensure the inclusion of a gender perspective and the inclusion of women and girls' human rights in UN-brokered peace agreements and all peace and reconstruction processes.

• Advise the SRSGs and Envoys to dialogue with government officials and all parties to armed conflict to set out provisions for the protection and promotion of women and girls' rights.

• Encourage governments to exclude from peace agreements any amnesty provisions for non-political crimes, including sexual and other violent crimes against women and girls and to develop post-accord legislation that incorporates a gender perspective and women's equal participation in at all levels of decision-making.

• Act as a liaison between local women's groups and Security Council members during the Council's fact-finding missions to the field.

• Prepare the Secretary-General’s briefing notes, background papers and talking points, using gender analysis.

• Promote the appointment of women in senior-level positions within the UN system, in coordination with the senior appointments group.

• Maintain and develop cooperation with the secretariats of regional organizations and arrangements through joint meetings, consultations, liaison and attendance at meetings held by the regional bodies.

Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO)

Overview: DPKO is responsible for planning, preparing, managing and directing UN peacekeeping operations. DPKO also provides guidance and support to UN political and peacebuilding missions, led by the Department of Political Affairs (DPA). Peacekeeping missions’ mandates may vary widely, from monitoring a cease-fire agreement, to administering a state through a transition to stable government. Depending on a mission’s mandate, peacekeeping operations may consist of a variety of components, including: a military component, a civilian police component; and various civilian components including human rights, gender, elections, and public information.

A permanent Gender Advisor position, to be filled shortly and housed in the Peacekeeping Best Practices Unit (PBPU), will be the focal point for gender mainstreaming in DPKO. The permanent Gender Advisor will provide the senior management with technical advice and expertise on gender, support the work of gender advisors in peacekeeping missions, and work with the Office for the Special Advisor on Gender Issues (OSAGI), the Inter-Agency Taskforce on Women, Peace and Security, and other relevant bodies in the UN system. An interim Gender Advisor has been working in the mean time to develop principles and guidelines for gender mainstreaming in DPKO, including a Gender Resources Package – a practical field manual for peacekeeping personnel on how to integrate gender issues into their work – as well as an organizational action plan for implementing Resolution 1325.

Bodies within DPKO: office of the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations; Executive Office; Peacekeeping Best Practices Unit; Mine Action Service; Office of Operations (Situation Centre; Africa Division; Asia and Middle East Division; Europe and Latin America Division; Cartographic Section); Office of Mission Support (Logistics Support Division; Administrative Support Division; Finance Management and Support Service; Personnel Management and Support Service) Military Division; and the Civilian Police Division.

Other key peacekeeping actors/DPKO’s peacekeeping partners: troop and police-contributing countries; Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (consisting of 114 troop and police-contributing countries) (C-34); Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ); Security Council Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations. Click here for more information

Relevant operative paragraphs of UNSC Resolution 1325: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8c, 13, 17

The Department of Peacekeeping Operations can:

• Ensure that gender units, with adequate seniority, staffing and resources, are established in all peacekeeping missions.

• Ensure that gender expertise is included in all assessment missions and in all subsequent stages of the planning proces.s

• Ensure that gender expertise is prioritized when recruiting for civilian posts in all substantive offices/units in missions.

• Provide gender-sensitive training guidelines and materials to national and regional peacekeeping training centers, and follow-up on their integration and use.

• Ensure adequate gender-sensitivity training for peacekeepers, once deployed, through the full implementation of the gender-training module.

• Ensure gender mainstreaming throughout the Standardized Generic Training Modules (SGTMs), in addition to ensuring implementation of the gender-training module.

• Urge further definition of sexual exploitation and abuse in the disciplinary directives for uniformed personnel, taking into account the Secretary-General’s 2003 Bulletin on “Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse” (ST/SGB/2003/13).

• Develop detailed guidance for peacekeeping missions on implementation of the existing disciplinary directives.

• Actively encourage Member States to develop pro-active strategies for the recruitment of women for peacekeeping operations.


Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA)

Overview: The Department assists Member States in promoting, strengthening and consolidating multilaterally negotiated principles and norms in all areas of disarmament and gives attention to efforts of Member States in the area of disarmament and non-proliferation in order to help maintain international peace and security and to contribute to global efforts against terrorism. It promotes transparency and confidence-building measures and will expand its outreach activities, including through its website, to ensure the flow of impartial and factual information to the public. The Department implements disarmament and non-proliferation and education programmes, and encourages the exchange of information on and experience in disarmament and security-related matters among organizations of the United Nations system, Member States, other intergovernmental organizations, regional organizations and non-governmental organizations, and to enhance interaction and cooperation on such matters.

Branches of DDA: Conventional Arms, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Regional Disarmament, Monitoring Database and Information

DDA's Gender Action Plan- finalized in 2003- is based on the ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions 1997/2 on gender mainstreaming in the UN system and the Beijing Platform for Action (1995). The Plan is

"intended to strengthen, consolidate, inform and guide the department's work on disarmament into the future...A primary assumption behind the action plan is that disarmament - both generally and in specific initiatives - can be strengthened through the integration of gender insights in disarmament debates, decision-making and actions, and through more equitable participation by women in decision-making"   Jayantha Dhanapala Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affair, April 2003

In the consultative process of formulating the Plan, DDA welcomed the partnership of gender consultants, OSAGI, DAW, OHRM and UNIFEM to facilitate the theoretical and practical connections between gender and disarmament, and thereby, working towards total disarmament through the means of progressing gender perspective, involving women in decision-making and questioning armament through the paradigm of human security. Click here for more information

Relevant operative paragraphs of UNSC Resolution 1325: 13

The Department for Disarmament Affairs can:

• Create internal monitoring and reporting mechanisms to ensure that the Gender Action Plan is implemented.

• Develop a question-based checklist and other tools for the Regional Disarmament Branch to train regional and sub-regional arrangements, and their Member States, so as to translate international mandates on the incorporation of a gender perspective and the equal participation of women into the regional context.

• Ensure that each of the departmental branches incorporate a gender perspective in all departmental publications, training manuals and teaching materials that come out of DDA.

• Create open spaces- through forums and workshops- where regional bodies, Member States and civil society, and in particular women’s organizations can discuss and learn of lessons learned in incorporating a gender perspective in disarmament issues.

• Reach out to women’s organizations to involve them in or support women’s on-going involvement in disarmament discussions, so as to expand their capacity to engage in disarmament conversations.

• Encourage Member States to nominate more female candidates for expert groups, the DDA disarmament fellowship programme and meetings and events organized by the Department.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL

Functional Commissions

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)

Overview: The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) was established as a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) by Council resolution 11(II) of 21 June 1946 to prepare recommendations and reports to the Council on promoting women's rights in political, economic, civil, social and educational fields. The Commission also makes recommendations to ECOSOC on urgent problems requiring immediate attention in the field of women's rights. In 2000, a comprehensive review and appraisal of progress made in the implementation of the Platform for Action was undertaken by the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (Beijing +5) entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century." The Assembly adopted a Political Declaration and Further Actions and Initiatives to Implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (the Outcome Document). The Commission's current and future work, as determined by its multi-year programme of work 2002-2006 is closely related to both the Platform for Action and the Outcome Document so as to ensure their effective implementation. Click here for more information

Relevant operative paragraphs of UNSC Resolution 1325: potentially all

The Commission on the Status of Women can:

• Recomend that ECOSOC develop monitoring and reporting mechanisms within the UN system on women, peace and security, as related to the UN system's mandate to mainstream a gender perspective (ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions 1997/2).

• Make recommendations- via Agreed Conclusions, decisions or resolutions- to other functional commissions, in order to guide their work on women, peace and security, and gender mainstreaming, in general.

• Ensure that its future mandate and multi-year programme of work that the work of the Commission is implementation-focused and built on the sharing of best practices, and in particular on women, peace and security issues, among experts from civil society, governments, inter-governmental bodies and the UN.

• Review implementation of the commitments made under the Beijing Platform for Action critical ares of concern: women and armed conflict; women in decision-making; and mechanisms for the advancement of women.


Commission on Human Rights (CHR)

Overview: Commission on Human Rights procedures and mechanisms are mandated to examine, monitor and publicly report either on human rights situations in specific countries or territories (known as country mechanisms or mandates) or on major phenomena of human rights violations worldwide (known as thematic mechanisms or mandates). The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, composed of 53 States, meets each year in regular session in March/April for six weeks in Geneva. Over 3,000 delegates from member and observer States and from non-governmental organizations participate. During its regular annual session, the Commission adopts about a hundred resolutions, decisions and Chairperson's statements, including those on the theme of integration of the human rights of women and the gender perspective, and in particular, violence against women. The Commission is assisted in its work by the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, a number of working groups and a network of individual experts, representatives and rapporteurs- including the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women-who are mandated to report to it on specific issues. Click here for more information

Relevant operative paragraphs of UNSC Resolution 1325: 8a, 8b, 8c, 9

The Commission on Human Rights can:

• Incorporate the provisions found in UNSC Resolution 1325 in the body of the CHR resolution on violence against women, as well as in the resolutions on internally displaced persons, trafficking of women, protection human rights defenders, and all country-specific resolutions.

• Request that all Special Rapporteurs, and in particular, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, substantively treat the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325 in all country-specific reports.

• Ensure that all Member States before coming before treaty-based committees, and especially the Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Human Rights Committee, are aware of the provisions contained in UNSC Resolution 1325 and report on their implementation of 1325, as it applies to their commitments under the treaties.


SECURITY COUNCIL (SC)

Overview: The Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security (Article 24). The Security Council is responsible for formulating, with the assistance of the Military Staff Committee, plans to be submitted to the Members of the United Nations for the establishment of a system for the regulation of armaments (Article 26). The SC may investigate any dispute, or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute, in order to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or situation is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security (Article 34). The Council shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security (Article 39). The Security Council may take measures that can include complete or partial interruption of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of communication, and the severance of diplomatic relations (Article 41). The Security Council may consider measures provided for in Article 41 as inadequate or have been proved to be inadequate, and may take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security. Such action may include demonstrations, blockade, and other operations by air, sea, or land forces of Members of the United Nations (Article 42). Click here for more information

Relevant operative paragraphs of UNSC Resolution 1325: all

The Security Council can:

• Integrate the mandates of 1325 in all of its country-specific and thematic resolutions. The progress towards this integration should be monitored and reported on by the Security Council, as well as the Secretariat bodies, the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) and the Office for the Special Advisor on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women (OSAGI).

• Ensure that in each Arria Formula, an informal consultation between civil society and Council members, women, peace and security themes are treated and that in each Arria, a woman(en) from the country/region or impacted by the theme under discussion have the opportunity to address the Council members. These two concrete steps toward implementation through the mechanism of an Arria Formula should be institutionalized, and thus systematic.

• When on mission to the field, encourage UN staff, national and local governmental representatives and civil society actors to work towards the equal and active participation of women at all levels of decison-making on peace and security.

• When on mission to the field, the Council should host substantive consultations with women's organizations and networks.

UN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)

Resident Coordinators (RCs)

Overview: Resident Coordinators- funded and managed by the UN Development Programme- lead UN country teams in more than 130 countries and are the designated representatives of the Secretary-General for development operations.  Working closely with national governments, Resident Coordinators and country teams advocate the interests and mandates of the UN drawing on the support and guidance of the entire UN system. Click here for more information

Relevant operative paragraphs of UNSC Resolution 1325:

Resident Coordinators (RC) [in collaboration with those UN entities that comprise the country teams] can:

• Establish a gender theme group among the UN entities that comprise the country team. Further, the Resident Coordinator can enhance the effectiveness of the gender theme groups by increasing the level of seniority of members, establishing a clear mandate for the group, developing links to other theme groups and providing adequate resources. [SG report on gender mainstreaming in the UN system, May 2004]

• Encourage the host country to protect and promote women's increased active participation in conflct prevention, post-conflict reconstruction and peace-building, so as to allow for sustainable development.


UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)

Overview: UNIFEM is the women's fund at the United Nations. It provides financial and technical assistance to innovative programmes and strategies that promote women's human rights, political participation and economic security. Within the UN system, UNIFEM promotes gender equality and links women's issues and concerns to national, regional and global agendas by fostering collaboration and providing technical expertise on gender mainstreaming and women's empowerment strategies. UNIFEM's mandate is to:
Support innovative and experimental activities benefiting women in line with national and regional priorities; Serve as a catalyst, with the goal of ensuring the appropriate involvement of women in mainstream development activities, as often as possible at the pre-investment stage; Play an innovative and catalytic role in relation to the United Nations system of development cooperation. Click here for more information

Relevant operative paragraphs of UNSC Resolution 1325:

UN Development Fund for Women can:

• Continue to expand on and publicize their web portal on women, peace and security, WomenWarPeace.org.

• Continue to host 1325 trainings and workshops at regional and local levels for women's organizations and other non-governmental and civil society organizations.

MEMBER STATES

Friends of 1325: Governmental Group

[Australia, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Guinea, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, United Kingdom, United States]

Overview: The Friends of 1325 is a voluntary, ad hoc group of UN Member States who identify as advocates for the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325. The group meets on a regular basis. UNIFEM, OSAGI and the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security participate in the group's meetings on invitation.

The Friends of 1325 can:

• Encourage their Member States colleagues to become more aware of the provisions made in UNSC Res 1325 and to promote its implementation.

• Promote the principles of women, peace and security in the six General Assembly committees, Economic and Social Council and all other inter-governmental bodies.

Sources:
The information found in the Overviews in this document was compiled from the respective UN websites and the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality, IANWGE/2003/12, Report, 7 March 2003.