In recent years, peace agreements have become pivotal moments for determining the future constitutional and legal framework of a post-conflict zone. Internationally, increasing efforts have been made to ensure the inclusion of women within all aspects of such agreements. In 1995 the Beijing Platform for Action asserted that 'in addressing armed or other conflicts, an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes should be promoted so that before decisions are taken an analysis is made of the effects on women and men, respectively.' This vision was given further weight in the ground-breaking Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security that calls upon all actors when negotiating and implementing peace agreements to adopt measures that ensure the protection of and respect for human rights of women and girls. (For the full text, see Appendix 1) The lecture given by Christine Chinkin considers some of the relationships between peace processes, post-conflict security and guarantees of women's human rights