IRELAND: Action Plan on Women in Areas of Conflict is Flawed, Says Group

A national action plan to support women in conflict is deeply flawed, slipshod and will damage Ireland's reputation internationally, a group of civil society organisations has said.

The group has claimed the National Action Plan on UN Security Council resolution 1325 is being written by two interns at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The resolution, adopted in 2000, requires all UN member states to improve their protection of women's human rights in conflict situations by producing a national action plan.

The Government set up a consultative group in 2008 that included representatives from 12 civil society organisations such as Amnesty International, Trócaire and the National Women's Council of Ireland, to help prepare the plan. But according to the groups, there was no proper consultation process and representatives were there to rubber-stamp what was already decided.

The final plan is expected to be presented to Government in early July with a view to publishing it in October to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the UN resolution.

But, the group claims the current draft is simply a statement of what the Government has done well so far and the rest is “nebulous, vague and aspirational”, with no evidence of the submissions made by the consultative group.

Susan McKay, director of the National Women's Council of Ireland, described the plan as flawed, slipshod and sub-standard. She said it would “compare embarrassingly” to plans by other countries.

Colm O'Gorman, executive director of Amnesty, said the current plan would undermine Ireland's international reputation.

Niamh Reilly, co-director of women's studies at NUI Galway, said the Government's plan was “being written by very junior temporary intern staff” in the conflict resolution unit at the Department of Foreign Affairs. The organisation called on the Government to postpone adopting the plan and to engage in consultation to develop an effective and inclusive plan.

A spokesman for the department said it was common practice there for interns to carry out preparatory work on a report, usually legal students. The interns were involved at the initial stages but would not be involved in its finalisation, he said. “There is no question of a national action plan being written by an intern,” he said.