Questions
for Consideration: UN Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security,
29th October 2003
NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security and Amnesty International
The NGO Working
Group on Women, Peace and Security and Amnesty International welcome the decision
of the United States of America to hold a Security Council Open Debate on Gender
and Peacekeeping, on 29 October 2003, to mark the third anniversary of the unanimous
adoption of UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.
We would like to take this opportunity to welcome the appointment of an interim
Gender Adviser in the Department for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), New York.
We hope the permanent position of Senior Gender Advisor, will be filled shortly.
1. Coordination of the Implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325 Across
the UN System
QUESTION FOR CONSIDERATION:
• Will the coordination role of the UN Secretary-General’s Office
of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues (OSAGI), with a dedicated staff member,
be assured by the provision of adequate funding by member states?
EXPLANATORY NOTE:
• OSAGI covers gender mainstreaming across the whole UN system on all issues
and comprises six professional staff;
• Yet OSAGI has only one staff member who coordinates the work and advocacy
on the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325, across all of the different UN
departments and agencies, including DPKO;
• This staff member has only been in place for nine months and is funded
by voluntary contributions of the Finnish government for a period of one year.
After this time the position has an uncertain future;
• It should be noted that, in contrast, the Special Representative for
Children and Armed Conflict has a staff of fourteen full-time staff who are
dedicated to the implementation of the various UNSC resolutions on this subject.
2. Mechanisms of Accountability for Peacekeepers
QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION:
• Why are UN directives for peacekeeper accountability not available for
public scrutiny?
• What procedures do troop-contributing countries have to follow-up, via
criminal procedures where appropriate, on cases where their soldiers are repatriated
for committing a breach of code of conduct and/or a criminal act, whilst participating
in a UN peacekeeping operation?
EXPLANATORY NOTE:
• DPKO directives regarding discipline, such as the Directives for Disciplinary
Matters Involving Military Members of National Contingents (MD/24 July 2002)
and the Directives for Disciplinary Matters Involving Civilian Police Officers
and Military Observers (MD/24 July 2002) are currently internal UN documents.
These should be made public.
• Heads of UN peacekeeping operations do not have authority to discipline
peacekeepers beyond repatriation back to their country of origin. Troop-contributing
countries, in turn, continue to have a “very poor track record” of
prosecuting soldiers, who have allegedly committed criminal offences whilst
deployed on UN peacekeeping missions. (Secretary-General’s Study on Women,
Peace and Security, 2002).
3. Gender
Units in UN Peacekeeping Missions
See Operative Paragraph 5 of UNSC Resolution 1325.
QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION:
• How will the UNSC, DPKO and the Fifth Committee of the UN General Assembly
(Fifth Committee) together ensure funding from the assessed peacekeeping budget
for the staffing and programming of gender units?
• How will the UNSC, DPKO and the Fifth Committee together ensure the establishment
of a gender unit for UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) (currently pending budgetary
approval) with sufficient staffing and appropriate programmatic funding?
EXPLANATORY NOTE:
• To-date, only five UN peacekeeping operations have had staff working
directly on gender issues (UNTAET, UNMIK, MONUC, UNAMSIL, MINUCI);
• Gender units continue to be understaffed and lacking in effective authority.
For example, in Côte d’Ivoire (MINUCI) a UN Volunteer is the only
staff member working on gender issues from within the Human Rights Unit;
• Staffing gender units is not always accomplished in a timely manner.
For example, in Afghanistan (UNAMA), other than for a few months when it was
filled temporarily by a staff member from UN headquarters, the post of gender
advisor remained vacant for almost two years from late 2001, only being filled
this week;
• There continues to be a disconnect between the setting of mandates of
UN peacekeeping operations by the UNSC and the approval of funding by the Fifth
Committee for the implementation of these mandates. This has resulted in fewer
gender posts for peacekeeping operations being approved by the Fifth Committee
than were envisaged by the UNSC;
• Ensuring programmatic funding for gender units remains a substantial
challenge. To date all gender units have lacked programmatic funding. To have
a sustainable impact – including through capacity-building of local women’s
NGOs and women’s rights training and outreach – gender units have
so far had to spend a large proportion of their time fundraising.
4. Gender training of Peacekeeping Personnel
See Operative Paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 of UNSC Resolution 1325.
QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION:
• What are DPKO’s plans to institutionalize gender training into all
peacekeeping missions?
• What is your country doing – if your country is a troop-contributor
– to ensure adequate gender training pre-deployment?
EXPLANATORY NOTE:
• A gender training module is compulsory for peacekeepers during their
induction program. Yet the integration of this module into the induction programme
is dependent on the political will of the head of operation;
• DPKO has developed a Gender and Peacekeeping training package, which
has, to-date, been integrated into only four missions. There needs to be a systematic
mechanism for the integration of this resource into all peacekeeping missions.
5. Women’s Participation in Military and Civilian Components
of Peacekeeping Missions
See Operative Paragraphs 4 and 6 of UNSC Resolution 1325.
QUESTION FOR CONSIDERATION:
• What measures has DPKO taken to ensure that more women participate in
civilian and military components of peacekeeping missions?
• What is your country doing – if your country is a troop contributor
– to ensure greater participation of women in peacekeeping missions?
EXPLANATORY
NOTE:
• According to DPKO, “women’s presence [in peacekeeping missions]
improves access and support for local women; it makes male peacekeepers more
reflective and responsible; and it broadens the repertoire of skills and styles
available within the mission, often with the effect of reducing conflict and
confrontation” (Women, War, Peace: The Independent Experts’ Assessment,
2000);
• In 2000, women represented only 4% of police and 3% of military personnel
in peacekeeping missions;
• There are no time-bound targets set for the greater inclusion of women
as peacekeeping personnel;
• There is a need for troop-contributing states to develop pro-active strategies
to encourage the participation of women in national armed forces and police
forces and thus, through their troop-contributions to peacekeeping operations;
• There is a need for DPKO to set up a mechanism for the sharing of best-practices
between troop-contributing countries on strategies aimed at the recruitment
of women.