<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>The Role of Women in the Transformation of Violent Conflict</TITLE><BASE href=http://www.peacewomen.org/un/ngo/ngostatements/Oct03.html> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1264" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY text=#000000 bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>The NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security (and international network) has released two documents to accompany today's discussion in the Security Council to mark the anniversary of 1325:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>1) The Role of Women in the Transformation of Violent Conflict Statement by the NGO Working Group on Women Peace and Security in support of the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325 - October 2003</DIV> “..the critical inputs of women in peace and security, poverty eradication, environmental protection and promoting democracy and effective governance must be recognized and actively promoted and facilitated” [Secretary General’s report to the General Assembly on July 11th (A/58/135 para 58)] 1. The formal participation of women in peace negotiations and decision-making processes is key to the effectiveness of conflict prevention and the sustainable transformation of violent conflict. Since last October there have been both significant benchmarks for peacebuilding in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Liberia, matched with increased violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Afghanistan, including the pre-emptive attack on Iraq and the continued situation of instability in that country, sadly reflected in the recent bomb attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad. 1.1 Representative women have not been systematically included in the formal processes underpinning conflict transformation and resulting agreements have been gender blind. In the context of each of these difficult and complex conflict transformation situations, the members of the Security Council are required to endorse actions to support peacebuilding and conflict prevention, in line with Resolution1325 in which the formal participation of women is a priority. 1.2 We are encouraged by the numerous UNSC Resolutions, which make specific reference to 1325*; the budget allocation for a P4 gender position based at DPKO headquarters; the DDA Gender Action Plan and the OCHA initiative to also develop a Gender Action Plan; the swift advertisement for the P5 Senior Gender Adviser and proposed Gender Unit for the Mission in Liberia. We hope these positive ‘better practice’ initiatives will be systematized throughout the UN Secretariat, agencies and departments as an integral part of the commitment to gender-mainstreaming. 1.3 Emphasizing that, action plans need to be backed with appropriate financial and human resources at country level and UN headquarters level, coupled with effective monitoring and evaluation of implementation, which move sound proposals into practice. 1.4 Regretfully, in terms of gender balance in high-level decision-making positions within the UN system, the number of women SRSGs has still not increased beyond one in the mission in Georgia, despite the existence of OSAGI data-bases of appropriately qualified women candidates and gender experts. Equally we are concerned at the time lag for filling the permanent P4 position of Gender Advisor within DPKO headquarters and the D1 Gender Advisor position in Afghanistan, and the fact that the 30% quota target for women in the UN system set out for 2005 is not on track. 2. Bearing in mind available knowledge and resources, on the crucial role of women in peacebuilding and conflict prevention, as well as the need for explicit gender-awareness in all conflict analysis, we call upon members of the Security Council to: 2.1 Further promote gender-mainstreaming, awareness and action with committed and sustained funding through inter alia, initial quotas at UN and national/regional intervention levels; commencing with the swift appointment of a permanent P4 Gender Advisor within DPKO headquarters office, support for a parallel Gender Advisor within DPA and permanent funding for the Senior Social Affairs Officer – Women, Peace and Security within the Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues (OSAGI). 2.2 Ensure that gender posts are funded from the regular budget and not from trust or voluntary funds, as part of ensuring a sustained mainsteaming of gender in peace and security issues. 2.3 Mandate and establish a Sub-Committee on Women, Peace and Security to develop and monitor a measurable plan for the implementation of 1325, including: a) the integration of the relevant aspects of 1325 into all country-specific and thematic UNSC resolutions; b) the institutionalization of reporting mechanisms on gender concerns in SC reports; c) the systematic support and promotion of the inclusion of women as active agents and equal participants at all levels and phases of peace negotiations; d) make full use of the resources developed by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Women, Peace and Security including check lists developed for SC Missions. 2.4 Establish an independent monitoring and response group to advise on gender-sensitive conflict prevention, with sustainable financial resource backing to monitor country level contexts. This group should address issues of gender-based violence and build on initial work done by NGOs such as International Alert and the Swiss Peace Foundation on gender-sensitive early warning indicators, highlighting the linkages of micro and macro levels of violence and the need for monitoring and early response. 2.5 Encourage and support the peacebuilding initiatives of women in particular in Afghanistan, Colombia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq and Liberia in respect of SC Resolutions: S/RES/1493 (28 JUL) paras 8 & 9; S/RES/1483/2003 (22 MAY); S/RES/1478/2003 (6 MAY); S/RES/1468/2003 (20 MAR) para 2; S/RES/1445/2002 (4 DEC) paras 12 and 19; S/RES/1419/2002 (26 JUN) para 7; S/RES/1386/2001 (20 DEC); S/RES/1383/2001 and S/RES/1355/2001 (15 JUN). 3. The NGOWG further calls upon Member States to: 3.1 Integrate 1325 into domestic national and regional legislation with particular focus on the protection of women’s human rights in terms of address of sexual and gender-based violence, and gender-awareness in early education as part of violence prevention. 3.2 Mainstream gender-awareness training throughout their military and civilian security forces; along the lines of examples provided by the Scandinavian countries, the Canadians and the Dutch. 3.3 Ensure that all national peacekeepers are trained in gender-awareness and human rights protection, and fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) with regard to accountability on engagement in UN peace support operations, failing this that there are at minimum clear and publicized lines of accountability for peacekeepers not currently falling under the ICC. 4. These recommendations are made in the spirit of Resolution 1325 and the Security Council’s desire to remain “actively seized” in the implementation of this resolution as an effective tool for the grounding of sustainable peace globally. The NGOWG would like to close by reiterating the statement made by the Secretary-General in his Study on Women, Peace and Security (2002): "Central to any transition process is the need to take account of the differential needs of women and men at all stages of rebuilding societies and the importance of concrete mechanisms to ensure that all people- women and men- enjoy freedoms and participate equally in rehabilitation and reconstruction." *The UN Office of the Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women (OSAGI) has compiled the “2002-2003 Security Council Resolutions with Analysis of Women, Peace and Security Issues” in a table format. For more information about this table, contact Jenny Perlman, Acting Coordinator of the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, at: (212) 551-3140, or <A href="mailto:jennyp@womenscommission.org">jennyp@womenscommission.org</A>.   2) 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. See:  <A href="http://www.peacewomen.org/wpsindex.html">http://www.peacewomen.org/wpsindex.html</A>  </BODY></HTML>