"The most underutilized tool we have for successfully building
peace is the meaningful inclusion of women" – Remarks
by UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, at the Open
Debate on Women, Peace and Security, 13 October 2015.

Link to remarks here.

 

   

Click on the image above to go to UN Women and watch a video of Major General Patrick Cammaert, a leading international expert in peacekeeping speaking to UN Women. He discusses why it is so crucial to involve more women in peacekeeping roles and why all UN peacekeepers need to be trained to identify and act to confront sexual and gender-based violence in conflict. 

"World peace should mean serenity, tranquillity, non-violence, and calmness for all. Soroptimists must collectively influence world leaders to facilitate through negotiation the achievement of long lasting world peace. The brokerage of peace will only be achieved by including women in the peace-making process and as evidenced by the United Nations.

Only four percent of peace negotiators are women. Research has evidenced that if the peace negotiation table included a fifty percent membership of women and men, peace outcomes would be more effectively achieved. This is because women are less likely to capitulate and give into failure to achieve justice and harmony for the community, territory, country or region."

 

Click on the infographic above to go to UN Women

"Soroptimist International must actively pursue an advocacy role in demanding and promoting women as peace-makers. For more than 45 years, since the end of the Second World War, Europe has enjoyed relative peace. Can this be said today of Europe and beyond? Sadly not, given the movement of women, men, girls and boys, seeking safety from their war torn communities. Many refugees have little hope for their future nor that of the next generation. Rape as a weapon of war is rife, and this is a violation of a basic human rights.

Soroptimist International must be part of the journey that achieves gender equality and the cessation of violence against women and girls. We can start by demanding the inclusion of many more women at the negotiating table. We should applaud all Soroptimists who are currently engaged in project and advocacy work which is alleviating the suffering of refugees, highlighting rape as a weapon of war, and combating violence against women and girls". IPP Ann Garvie 

 

Photo: Women UN Peacekeepers line up for duty: Courtesy of UN Media

It is clear that women must be involved in creating peaceful communities and in post-conflict reconciliation. However, it is simple to say it is something that should be done and much harder to explain how it should be done. UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security aims to do just that. Here, we look at how that resolution can change good words into action.
 

UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security 

UN Security Council Resolution 1325 might not have the most descriptive or memorable name, but it is a landmark resolution for women, peace and security. Through this resolution, the need to include women in conflict prevention, peace negotiations and reconciliation, and humanitarian responses was affirmed and women’s rights were strengthened. Not only does ‘1325’ call for women to be guaranteed space at the negotiation table, but it also calls for special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence in conflict, in particular rape and sexual abuse. Adopted on the 31 October 2000, this resolution (which provides an international binding legal framework) sought to change the face of modern warfare.

It is often said that it is now more dangerous to be a women in a conflict zone than a soldier; it is increasingly acknowledged that women’s vital perspectives can provide strategies towards peacebuilding. ‘1325’ addresses not only the inordinate impact of war on women, but constructive actions that can be taken to include and empower women and agents of sustainable conflict resolution. To achieve systematic changes that will ensure the inclusion of women, resolution 1325 has four ‘pillars’: participation, protection, prevention, and relief and recovery. By women being involved at each stage of conflict, peacekeeping, and recovery it is possible to transform how we think and experience peace and security issues.

In response to resolution 1325 a number of countries created National Action Plans to implement the changes 1325 called for Click here to view National Action Plans. However, where there has been action in response to 1325 the focus has been on protecting women from violence and not empowering them as agents of peace. Critically, these two things should not be seen as separate – they are two sides of the same coin. Only when women are systematically included will the culture of conflict change so that it isn’t more dangerous to be a woman in conflict than a soldier.

Click on the image above to view the ‘Timeline of Women, Peace & Security’ from October this year, on the anniversary of landmark UN Security Council resolution 1325 (2000).