Implementation

This paper draws on inputs from nearly 30 contributors from around the world – Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas and Oceania. They include grassroots activists, global level experts, peace negotiators, former MPs, researchers, academics and civil society champions. The paper makes a case for broadening ways the WPS agenda is applied, so to tackle various manifestations of violence – including violence conflict, non-conflict armed violence, IPV to violent extremism – their gender dimensions and weapons use.

The Global Network of Women Peacebuilders has provided support to national action planning processes in different countries including Nepal, the Philippines, Guatemala and South Sudan. It enhances civil society capacities by training them in developing NAPs incuding in drafting and formulating indicators. Upon request it also provides technical support to Member States. The attached recommendations are informed by its many years of experiences in NAPs.

The Localization program of GNWP, which directly engages local authorities, traditional leaders and local women in the implementation of UNSCR 1325 and 1820 in local communities, complements the efforts of governments, civil society and other national actors and ensures that the Women and Peace and Security (WPS) resolutions—and National Action Plans (NAPs)—are owned and carried out at the local level.

Women and girls experience armed violence within and across contexts. This is especially so in post-conflict settings, which tend to be long-lasting and often characterized by residual fighting or high levels of lethal violence. Yet, there is a continuity of violence across contexts: conflict-era dynamics surrounding VAWG influence the magnitude and types of VAWG in post-conflict environments. Disarmament programmes rarely translate into the total removal of all firearms from the community.

During and following conflict, men, women, boys, girls and gender minorities are often direct victims of small arms violence including domestic violence, sexual violence, forced recruitment into armed groups, injury, and death. Indirect consequences of armed violence include taking care of injured family members and an inability to access work, education, and health care. Yet armed conflict can also create spaces to transcend traditional gender roles.

This paper discusses the relationship between guns and violence against women, with specific attention to violence in the home. Women are at a higher risk of violence and death in the domestic sphere especially in cases where there is access or possession of firearms. This argument is supported by using case studies in South Africa, the UK and the US. In domestic violence cases, almost 70 per cent of fatalities are women and the perpetrator is usually a current or former partner. In these cases, about one in three of these femicides is committed with a firearm.

The Women, Peace and Security agenda will only be fully realized when states and other key stakeholders prioritize its radical premise of preventing conflict and violence rather than just cleaning up the pieces afterward. This requires an integrated approach that dismantles the current economy of violence and war and instead invests in an economy of gender justice and peace.