Women, Peace and Security: UN resolutions

Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security was unanimously adopted by the UN Security Council on 31 October 2000. It was the first time that the Security Council addressed the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women and also recognized the under-valued and under-utilized contributions women make to conflict resolution and peace-building. It also stressed the importance of women’s equal and full participation as active agents in peace and security. Resolution 1325 is binding upon the UN and all its member states and it encourages member states to create their own national action plan (NAP) for the implementation of 1325 at national level.

The main points of Resolution 1325 are:

The participation of women at all levels of decision-making. This includes national, regional and international institutions, mechanisms for conflict prevention, peace negotiations, peace operations (as soldiers, police and civilians) and as Special Representativs of the UN Secretary-General.
The protection of women and girls from sexual and gender-based violence. This includes the training of peace operations personnel in women’s rights and effective protection measures.

The prevention of violence against women through the promotion of women’s rights, accountability and law enforcement. An important part of this section is the prosecution of those responsible for war crimes – such as sexual violence – and that crimes of sexual violence always must be excluded from amnesty agreements. It also stresses the responsibility to strenghten women’s rights under national law.

The mainstreaming of gender perspectives in peace operations, which includes appointing gender advisors to all UN peace operations, always take the specific needs of women into account when designing policies and letting the knowledge of women’s organizations permeate all policy and programme development.

However, the UN and its member states have so far not lived up to these promises. There are huge gaps in the implementation of Resolution 1325 and since there is no system of sanctions for the countries who don’t implement it, it has proven difficult to get things moving.

Source: http://www.equalpowerlastingpeace.org/