An integral goal of the PeaceWomen project is to raise awareness about Security Council Resolution 1325 (SCR 1325) and other related resolutions on women, peace and security. Advocacy and education facilitate dialogue and progress, fostering a platform for systematic change. SCR 1325 is the result of decades of devoted work by strong civil society members and organizations, actively collaborating to improve the status of women. The incorporation of this gender perspective into the work of the Security Council, is an important step towards the attainment of sustainable peace and gender equality worldwide. Below are ideas on how you can take steps to reach out to and directly influence policy makers, as well as contact information for current Member States, civil society organization, and useful resources.

Influence Policy

 
• Write to 15 current United Nations Security Council Members. Remind them of the commitments made in SCR 1325 to the protection and promotion of women’s rights in conflict. The Security Council members, as they have primary responsibility for the maintenance of International peace and security should be treated as your representatives. The members need to hear constructive recommendations for action from civil society. The contact information for UN Security Council Members can be found here.

• Organize a letter-writing campaign addressed to your head of government and government ministries, requesting information about the way in which SCR1325 is being addressed across all government portfolios. To find useful information how to organize a campaign please click here.

• Contact your government representatives at the United Nations, please find contact information here. Remind them of their commitments, as UN Member States, made in SCR 1325, and thus their responsibility for implementation. Educate them on SCR 1325 and other existing UN conventions, treaties and resolutions.

•Request information about their ongoing and future actions with regard to SCR 1325. Useful resources for the background of 1325 can be found here.

• If your government is a Troop-Contributing Country (TCC), providing troops for peacekeeping operations, establish a group to monitor your government’s efforts to provide gender training before deployment, and to monitor your government’s efforts to respond to allegations of violations by its troops.

• Organize to pass legislation on SCR 1325 (2000) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, or CEDAW, (1979) in your local city government. To find good advocacy tips please click on the PDF in the right corner named “12 steps to pass legislation”.

Network, Support and Share Information

• Build networks with women’s organizations and groups living and working in situations affected by conflict, or with the potential of experiencing armed conflict. Visit them and bring the media with you. Hold press conferences, send out reports and make presentations to policy-makers and the general public upon your return. To contact women's organization/groups, please visit PeaceWomen´s organization database here

• Support women’s peace initiatives with your time and finances. For a country-specific compilation of women’s peace and security initiatives, please click here.

• Contact groups and organizations that have used SCR 1325 in their own communities to share strategies and models for action. For more information about other groups using or interested in SCR 1325, contact the PeaceWomen team in the WILPF UN Office and we will be happy to try and help facilitate the connection. Contact us at: info@peacewomen.org.

• Organize a letter-writing campaign targeting major funders, requesting increased funding for women’s participation in peace processes, including for their participation in formal peace negotiations. To find useful information how to organize a campaign please click here. 

Generate Awareness, Educate and Inform

• Organize workshops, seminars and conferences in your community for local journalists, politicians, community organizations, academia and others, and at high schools and universities for students, to raise awareness about SCR1325 and other related UN tools, such as CEDAW, and invite women from conflict zones to speak. To find useful material please click here. 

• Subscribe to 1325 PeaceWomen E-News, a bi-weekly electronic newsletter, produced by WILPF’s PeaceWomen project, that provides updates on implementation of SCR1325, and related women, peace and security issues. Please click here to subscribe.

Advocacy Tools

• Teach/take a course on women, peace and security issues, including Resolution 1325,
Include/focus writing assignments on current women, peace and security issues.

• Organize a media letter-writing group and send weekly/monthly articles and letters to newspapers to highlight women, peace and security issues. For more information please click on the PDF called “Media Advocacy” in the right corner of the page.

• Develop advocacy and education tools and packages to circulate in your local community, including posters and postcards on SCR 1325 and related international instruments. 

• Translate SCR1325 into your local languages. Share your translations with the PeaceWomen Project for the 1325 Translation Initiative. For more information about this initiative, please, click here. 

Below are useful Power Points and Fact sheet providing the basic information about SCR1325.

- Security Council 1325 – Basic Overview (prepared by NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security) to download the PowerPoint please click here.

- Where are the Women? United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security Three years on. (prepared by the PeaceWomen Project) to download the PowerPoint please click here.

- Fact sheet Understanding United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (provided by PeaceBuild) to download the fact sheet please click here or click on the link on the panel on the right. To find more advocacy material please visit our website http://www.peacewomen.org/portal_advocacy.php or click here.

Please add your own ideas and send them to us at info@peacewomen.org

Gender Advocacy at the UN


There are several entry points for civil society to engage in the United Nations work throughout the year. Outside of this, civil society can engage directly with Member states, civil society actors in New York and around the world. Below are a few initiatives that we highlight because of their work with implementation of resolution 1325.

Member States Initiative
Friends of 1325
The Friends of 1325 which includes 28 states from various regions under the leadership of Canada works actively to advocate the implementation of Resolution 1325. Contact information to Member States can be found here.

Civil Society Actors - New York
GEAR Campaign
The Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign, a network made up by over 300 women’s organization and other civil society organizations have played an essential role in the efforts of the formation of the newly created UN gender equality entity. GEAR also urges the UN to set up a transparent process now for recruiting the best qualified Under Secretary-General to head this agency. To find more information about the GEAR network please click here.

NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security
The NGOWG on Women, Peace and Security advocates for the equal and full participation of women in all efforts to create and maintain international peace and security. Formed in 2000 to call for a Security Council resolution on Women, Peace and Security, the NGOWG now focuses on implementation of all Security Council resolutions that address this issue. The NGOWG serves as a bridge between women’s human rights defenders working in conflict-affected situations and policy-makers at U.N. Headquarters. To find more information about NGOWG on Women, Peace and Security please click here.

Civil Society Actors – International
Below are the Member organization of the NGO Working Group for Women, Peace and Security. Please click on the organizations name to find their homepage.
Amnesty International
Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights
Femmes Africa Solidarité
Global Action to Prevent War
Global Justice Center
Hague Appeal for Peace
Human Rights Watch
International Action Network on Small Arms
International Alert
International Rescue Committee
International Women’s Tribune Centre
Open Society Institute
Women’s Action for New Directions
Women’s Division, General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Women’s Refugee Commission

Other international civil society actors that works with Women, Peace and Security, please click on the organizations name to find their homepage.
Oxfam
European Peace building Liaison Office
Gender Action for Peace and Security
International Security Sector Advisory Team
Pearson Peacekeeping Center
Institute for Inclusive Security
Center for Humanitarian Dialogue
KvinnatillKvinna
Women in Black
Global Network of Women Peace builders

To find more organizations working with women, peace and security please click here.