WILPF proposals for committed policies with the women, peace and security agenda (Spain)

Spain will be holding new elections as of June 26, 2016, after political parties failed to reached an agreement to form government after the December 20, 2015 elections. WILPF Spain is currently calling on all political parties standing for the elections to fully implement UNSCR 1325. 

Read the original petition in Spanish in the PDF below, or at the WILPF Spain website here. You can also read the English translation below.

España celebrará nuevas elecciones el 26 de junio, 2016, después de que los partidos políticos no lograran alcanzar un acuerdo para formar gobierno después de las elecciones el 20 de Diciembre, 2015. WILPF España está haciendo llegar a todos los partidos políticos demandas para la total implementación de la a la resolución 1325.

Lee la petición original en español en el siguiente PDF, o en la página web de la sección de WILFP España aquí; y lee la traducción en Inglés a continuación.

WILPF proposals for committed policies with the women, peace and security agenda

All around the world many women are committed to working for peace, aiming to put an end to violence in their closest surroundings and working towards more just societies that respect human rights. Armed conflicts have huge impacts in people’s lives, with specific impacts on men and women: forced displacement, the breakdown of the social fabric, increase of poverty, social exclusion and sexual violence.

In 2000, the UN Security Council passed UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in which the disproportionate impact of violence on girls and women was identified. Moreover, their key role in peacebuilding and conflict transformation worldwide was recognized. Resolution 1325 commits all Member States to take specific steps. It calls on States to listen to and support women who build peace in times of violence, to guarantee significant women’s representation in all decision-making levels, including peace processes, and to protect women and girls from the specific impact they suffer from armed conflicts.

The women, peace and security agenda has been developed since 2000 with the approval of an additional seven UN Security Council resolutions which strengthen and complement UNSCR 1325: 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013), 2122 (2013) and 2242 (2015). Furthermore, in 2007 Spain created a National Action Plan for the implementation of UNSCR 1325 (2000) and a Plan to implement it in the Spanish cooperation policies. In the European scope, in 2008 the EU Comprehensive Approach to the EU Implementation of UNSCRs 1325 and 1820 on Women, Peace, and Security was developed.

Ultimately, peacebuilding is inextricably linked to full equality between men and women. The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), a women’s organization created in 1915, has been working towards peace through nonviolent means and to promote political, economic and social justice. Thus, WILPF Spain, a national section of WILPF, is calling for political parties who stand for the 2016 general elections in Spain to commit with the full implementation of the women, peace and security agenda and to integrate in their electoral programmes the following proposals:

Implementation of resolution 1325

• Support women peacebuilders in the Government's diplomatic efforts;
• Guarantee a significant presence of women in all peace processes which the Government supports directly or indirectly (through, for instance, the EU);
• Earmark 15% of the peacebuilding budget to specifically finance the women, peace and security agenda, especially women’s organizations that work in this field, as recommended by the United Nations.
• Revise the Spanish National Action Plan guaranteeing that substantive and effective civil society participation will be guaranteed, especially women’s organizations.
• Strengthen the fight against impunity in international crimes, particularly the ones committed against women, in order to restore universal jurisdiction.
• Receive and protect refugees who flee from armed conflict and persecution, in accordance with Spain’s international obligations. It must be guaranteed that the specific needs of women and girls be attended to, including psychosocial, economic and hygienic support.

Commitment to the equal presence of women in all decision-making levels

The Spanish Government must guarantee paritary presence of women in all political decision-making levels and in all institutional spaces from the public administration.

Commitment to a feminist foreign policy

The Spanish government should commit to a foreign policy that doesn't put armed conflict at its core, but instead conflict prevention, peacebuilding and human rights protection.This policy must guarantee women’s rights, their adequate representation as well as the necessary resources to implement the women, peace and security agenda.

Disarmament and decrease of military spending

The Spanish Government has to work actively to bring about a progressive disarmament program in a multilateral human security framework and to commit to a progressive and substantive reduction of military spending. It must strengthen preventative diplomacy and peacebuilding from a gender perspective.

Abide by the Arms Trade Treaty

The Spanish Government has an obligation to consider the risk that their arms exports can have on enabling or facilitating violence against women and children to be perpetrated. If that is the case, the Government should cease its arms trade. This control has to be done transparently.