Participation

The Participation theme focuses on women’s representation and participation in peace processes, electoral process – as both the candidate and voter – UN decision-making positions, and in the broader social-political sphere.

The Security Council acknowledges the need for strategies to increase women’s participation in all UN missions and appointments to high-level positions in SCR 1325(OP3) and 1889(OP4) and further emphasises the need for women’s participation in peacebuilding processes (1889). 

Specifically, it calls for the mobilisation of resources for advancing gender equality and empowering women (OP14), reporting on the progress of women’s participation in UN missions (OP18), equal access to education for women and girls in post-conflict societies (OP11), and the increase of women’s participation in political and economic decision-making (OP15). Until this language translates into action, the potential for women’s full and equal contribution to international peace and security will remain unrealized.

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INTERNATIONAL: Women Advance As Political Leaders

On November 1, 2010, Dilma Rosseau was elected President of Brazil. The daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant, she was a revolutionary guerilla in the 1970's who was imprisoned for three years and tortured for 22 days with electric shock, but most importantly, today, she's a female leader, one of several political women selected recently to guide Latin American nations.

SOUTH AFRICA: No Place for Complacency in Gender Equity

South Africa has a balance of men and women in Parliament that would rival Nordic countries, which lead the way regarding gender equity. However, it should not rest on its laurels.

BURMA: War Looms for Kachin as Junta Ceasefire Crumbles

Sixteen years after Burma's military regime reached a ceasefire deal with the country's second largest rebel group, the Kachin Independence Organisation, the KIO and the 10,000 soldiers it says belong to its armed wing are preparing for war.

A soldier stands guard last month at a Kachin Independence Army outpost overlooking the Pajau plains near the rebel capital of Laiza, northern Kachin State. Photo: Mizzima/Thomas Maung Shwe

KAZAKHSTAN: Kazakhstan Pushes Gender up on the Agenda

Unnoticed by many, Kazakhstan now ranks ahead of some of its EU partners according to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report for 2010. Kazakhstan is in 41st place with Slovenia in 42nd, France in 46th, Italy in 74th and Hungary in 79th.

ZIMBABWE: ZRP Women Network Lauded

SENATOR for Beitbridge constituency, Cde Tambudzani Mohadi, has launched the Zimbabwe Republic Police chapter of the women's network which seeks to uplift the standard of women in the police force by creating an enabling environment which will allow women officers to participate in all activities within the force.

AFRICA: African Elections Put Fewer Women in Parliament

Recent elections in East and Southern Africa have left fewer women in politics, placing countries at risk of not meeting equality targets, the United Nations (UN) said on Wednesday.

"Elections in the region have shown regression with regard to women's representation in parliament," UN Development Programme director Bo Asplund told a conference of women in politics in Johannesburg.

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Palestine Swears in First Female Magistrate on Judicial Council

On Thursday, Samoud Dhamiri al-Yameen was sworn in as the first female magistrate on the Islamic Judicial Council of Palestine.

She will join Supreme Justice Sheikh Yusef al-Da'is of the Supreme Council for Islamic Courts and Major General Adnan Dhamiri, Commissar-General and spokesman for the security establishment.

VIETNAM: Vietnam Leads Region in Gender Gap Eradication

Vietnam is evaluated as the best performer in Southeast Asia in terms of eradicating gender gap over the past 20 years, said Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

NEPAL: 'Women's Participation a Must for a Comprehensive Peace Process' National Action Plan to Address Gender Issues

Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Rakam Chemjong today said the ministry is formulating a new national action plan with the objective of ensuring women's proportional participation in all peace building processes during and after conflict.

PHILIPPINES: TIME Hails Cory as Amongst Most Powerful Women of Past Century

The legacy of the late Philippine President Corazon “Cory” Aquino continues with her inclusion in TIME Magazine's “The 25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century” list.

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