Report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014) and 2191 (2014) (S/2015/561)

Code: S/2015/561

Period of Time and Topic: This report by the Secretary-General is on the humanitarian situation in Syria.

Women, Peace and Security

The Secretary-General’s report gives account on major developments in Syria, including both political/military and humanitarian aspects, and recognizes that the severe security and humanitarian situation for civilians, including civilian casualties, mass displacement and destruction, is the result of the deliberate targeting of civilians.[1] While the report gives detailed account on human rights violations against civilians from both the Syrian government and non-state armed groups, including ISIL and the Nusrah Front, and informs on humanitarian provisions and protection of civilian measures, it does not apply a gender lens to consider how women are specifically affected by the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation. The report does not include any specific references to the WPS agenda, such as mentions of WPS resolutions, and only sporadically reports on women casualties (precisely in six instances), women’s human rights abuses, and lacking humanitarian assistance to women. The prevalence of sexual violence is only mentioned once when accounting for the mass human rights violations against civilians.[2] Regarding the humanitarian response, the report accounts for the delivery of “reproductive services and services relating to gender-based violence to 263,737 women in need in eight governorates”[3] by UNFPA as well as the delivery of eight midwifery kits and 24 obstetric kits by UNICEF.[4] Given these very limited references to the situation of women, which has not seen any improvements compared to the last reporting period, one can assume the continuance of an overall unawareness for the importance of gender-sensitive reporting to assess how women, men, girls and boys are affected differently and to cater to their specific security and humanitarian needs.

References in Need of Improvement and Missed Opportunities

Reporting on women’s concerns in accordance with the WPS agenda could have been stronger on several occasions.

Humanitarian support

The report would have highly benefited from commenting on whether any of the UN agencies or partner organizations, including WFP, WHO, UNICEF and UNHCR, had conducted gender-sensitive needs assessments to identify whether and how women are affected differently in order to effectively tailor humanitarian assistance to their needs. Additionally, information on whether local civil society organizations, particularly women’s civil society, were consulted in the design and implementation of delivery mechanisms for humanitarian assistance would have been desirable.

In its mention of the continuous challenges regarding humanitarian access, including administrative difficulties in obtaining visas[5], the report would have been stronger if it had specified whether organizations working on women’s health issues, including reproductive health and family planning provisions, face additional challenges or restrictions. Ideally, the report would have included information on how to specifically cater to women’s needs such as secure access to sanitation facilities as well as hygiene and health assistance, including reproductive health, family planning and maternal health services. Further, the report would have benefited from detailing whether specific provisions have been made or are planned to assist women in hard-to-reach areas and besieged areas.[6]

Human rights

Considering the severe security situation for civilians due to continuing “indiscriminate and disproportionate”[7] attacks against civilians, the report could have further specified how women are adversely affected, particularly by the use of sexual and gender-based violence as a tool of war. In its mention of repeated cases of arbitrary arrests, detention, torture, and death in custody at government detention centers, the report would have highly benefited from detailing whether women were among the detainees and whether sexual violence was used as a method of torture at these centers.[8] Additionally, the report could have focused more strongly on the situation of IDPs, including references to the security concerns of displaced women and the prevalence of sexual violence in IDP camps. Ideally, the report would have provided information on whether gender-sensitive provisions to ensure women’s safety are available or in the process of planning at IDP sites.

Ideal Asks for WPS transformation

Pursuant to resolution 2043 (2012), which mandates UNSMIS to monitor and support the full implementation of the Envoy’s six-point proposal (annexed to resolution 2042 (2012)) to bring an immediate end to all violence and human rights violations and securing humanitarian access; resolution 2139 (2014); and resolution 2165 (2014), future reports by the Secretary-General must reflect the Security Council’s commitment to the WPS agenda and provide updates on the implementation of gender-sensitive programming regarding both participation and protection concerns. Applying a gender lens throughout the report will ensure that all genders are adequately represented and their particular needs in regards to the severe security, political and humanitarian situation are being met.

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[1] S/2015/561, para. 26

[2] Ibid.

[3] S/2015/561, para. 27

[4] S/2015/561, para. 51

[5] S/2015/561, para. 39

[6] S/2015/561, para. 44f

[7] S/2015/561, para. 26

[8] S/2015/561, para. 21