WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY RESOURCES : DEMOBILIZATION, DISARMAMENT, REPATRIATION, RESETTLEMENT AND REINTEGRATION
Civil Society and NGO Reports, Papers and Statements | UN Documents | Government Statements and Reports | Books, Journals and Articles

UNIFEM WOMEN, WAR AND PEACE WEB PORTAL: DDR AND SECURITY SECTOR REFORM

Civil Society and NGO Reports, Papers and Statements

No Standing, Few Prospects: How Peace is Failing South Sudanese Female Combatants and WAAFG
Small Arms Survey, Geneva Call, September 2008
A joint publication from the Geneva Call and the Small Arms Survey, documents the range of contributions that women made to the southern rebellion, including as combatants and in many support roles, both voluntary and coerced. It also reports on the vulnerabilities women faced during the conflict, especially to sexual violence, and the failure of the Government of Southern Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) to address the needs of these women through disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programmes to date, despite stated commitments.

The lessons learned from this research on women’s roles and experiences within the SPLA will help to inform Geneva Call’s engagement strategies with armed non-State actors for the observance of humanitarian norms.

Based on interviews, focus groups, research and analysis conducted by Geneva Call, the report is the 13th Issue Brief from the Small Arms Survey’s Sudan Human Security Baseline Assessment (HSBA) project.

To download this publication, please click HERE

Enhancing the EU Response to Women and Armed Conflict with Particular Reference to Development Policy
European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), April 2008
Women’s multiple and diverse roles in conflict are hidden, poorly understood and, at times, consciously or unconsciously dismissed. Usually it is women’s role as victims that is given most prominence. Though, in recent years the international community has become more responsive to women’s diverse roles as actors on conflict prevention, resolution and peace-building, there is recognition that the EU’s response to this reality must be scaled up, widened and deepened. Local, national or international action that does not involve and empower women is less likely to be successful and sustainable in any field, including that which is intended to bring development or peace. This study is based on the premise that a more effective international/EU response to women and armed conflict must incorporate the three inter-related and mutually reinforcing concepts of gender equality, women’s empowerment and upholding women’s rights.

To read the full report, which looks at issues of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, please click HERE

Women and War
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), May 2008
War and violence today spare no one, but they affect men, women, boys and girls in different ways. Women and girls in war-torn countries are faced with unimaginable risks, threats and challenges. War can mean violence, fear, loss of loved ones, deprivation of livelihood, sexual violence, abandonment, increased responsibility for family members, detention, displacement, physical injury, and sometimes death. It forces women and girls into unfamiliar roles and requires them to strengthen existing coping skills and develop new ones.

Despite all the hardship women endure in armed conflicts, the image of women as helpless victims of war is flawed. Women are playing an increasingly active role in hostilities – whether voluntarily or involuntarily. Many also play a proactive role post-conflict in peacebuilding and social reconstruction.

To read the full report on the major risks and challenges that women and girls face during war, and some of the ICRC's responses, please click HERE

Child Soldiers Global Report 2008
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, May 2008
Included within this report is a wide recognition of the involvement of girls in fighting forces, in combat and non-combat roles and as victims of sexual slavery, rape and other forms of sexual violence.

Repeated Security Council resolutions have highlighted the need to take into account the special needs and vulnerabilities of girls affected by armed conflict, including girls involved in fighting forces. The importance of considering the requirements of girls during disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) processes was explicitly reaffirmed by the Paris Principles in 2007. Yet girls associated with armed forces or groups have been widely excluded from DDR programs.

For the full report, please click HERE

Liberia: A Flawed Process Discriminates against Women and Girls
Amnesty International, April 2008
Liberia experienced conflict between 1989 and 1997 and again between 1999 and 2003. Estimates of women and girls associated with the fighting forces were in the range of 30-40 per cent of all fighting forces or approximately 25,000-30,000 of all the fighting forces. The consequences of the violence and human rights abuses perpetrated against women and girls during the conflict are devastating. Many continue to suffer both physically and mentally from the harsh and inhumane treatment they endured during the war. In September 2007 Amnesty International researchers visited the capital Monrovia and three districts in Lofa County including Voinjama, Kolahun, and Foya to speak to women and girls associated with the fighting forces and some of whom had participated in formal DDRR.

For the full report, please click HERE

Forgotten females: Women and girls in post-conflict disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programs
Maya Oza Ollek
McGill University, Montreal
August 2007
Disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programs slowly developed gender-policies to reflect the recent upsurge in females’ participation in armed groups in combat and support roles. This has not translated, however, into females’ successful inclusion in DDR.
The thesis considers the influence of the provisions for DDR in peace agreements, the definitions of combatants and eligibility criteria for program entry, institutional responsibility for DDR programs, DDR program implementation, and the agency of DDR target populations on the participation of females in DDR. It examines DDR programs in Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Sudan.

For the full paper, please click HERE

Girls in Fighting Forces: Moving Beyond Victimhood
Myriam Denov, PhD Associate Professor McGill University
School of Social Work (2007)
A Summary of the Research Findings on Girls and Armed Conflict
from CIDA’s Child Protection Research Fund.

For the full paper, please click HERE

Launch of the Gender & Mine Action Web-Portal
Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines
The Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines is delighted to announce the launch of an Internet portal, dedicated to encouraging and supporting gender mainstreaming in mine action. The portal is both a source of information, and an interactive space for mine action actors and stakeholders to exchange questions, perspectives and experiences.

For more information, please click HERE

The Demobilization and Political Participation of Female Fighters in Guatemala
A report to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Wenche Hauge, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO), March 2007
This report focuses on how the female fighters of the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) in Guatemala fared in the demobilization and reintegration process that began in 1997, and to what degree the women became socially and politically active afterwards. The study seeks to explain why there are quite varying levels of post conflict social and political activity among these women in 2006, ten years after the peace accord between the Guatemalan government and the URNG was signed.

For the full paper, please click HERE

1325 and Small Arms
Sarah Masters, Women's Network Coordinator, International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA)
Adopted in October 2000, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security states that gender perspectives should be incorporated in all areas of peace support operations, including disarmament. Although small arms are not specifically mentioned in the Resolution, 1325 has been used in relation to small arms issues, including disarmament in post-conflict contexts. Members of the Women’s Network of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) have taken leadership roles in peacebuilding work, violence prevention and education about gun violence, and are using 1325 in their disarmament efforts around the world.

For the full paper, please click HERE

Failing to Empower Women Peacebuilders: A Cautionary Tale from Angola
International Crisis Group
"It took me only a few weeks after my arrival in Luanda to realize that a peace agreement that is "gender-neutral" is, by definition, discriminatory against women and thus far less likely to be successful. The exclusion of women and gender considerations from the peace process proved to be a key factor in our inability to implement the Lusaka Protocol and in Angola’s return to conflict in late 1998."

For the full paper, please click HERE

Women in Armed Opposition Groups in Africa and the Promotion of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
Geneva Call and the Program for the Study of International Organizations, Addis Ababa, 23-26 November 2005
The objective of the 2005 Addis Ababa workshop was to identify ways of strengthening the understanding and observance of international humanitarian law and human rights law within the African armed groups and their political wings. At the same time, the workshop sought to contribute to African and international organizations’ understanding of and ability to work with armed opposition groups to promote and uphold international humanitarian and human rights norms. Four topics were discussed during the workshop: humanitarian law, human rights law, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) and transition into governance roles. This report presents information and analyses that came out of these four thematic working groups.

For the full report, please click HERE

Displaced Women and Girls At Risk: Risk Factors, Protection Solutions and Resource Tools
Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, February 2006
There is a growing understanding among practitioners and policy makers that the experiences of women and girls vary significantly from that of men during flight, in exile and once peace has been brokered or populations return home. Less, however, is understood about the many forms of
violence and risks to women’s safety and wellbeing during various phases of displacement, and how to address them.

Girl Mothers in Fighting Forces and Their Post-War Reintegration in Southern and Western Africa
Prepared by Malia Robinson and Susan McKay, Conference Report, Italy, June 2005
The conference "Girl Mothers In Fighting Forces and Their Post-War Reintegration in Southern and Western Africa" was held at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center, Bellagio, Italy, from 12-18 April 2005. The conference was intended to provide an opportunity for those directly involved with the demobilization and community reintegration of girl mothers in African conflict situations to explore the existing research and share their practical experiences, with the “luxury” of time and space for reflection, discussion, sharing and creating possibilities—program ideas, policy recommendations, a research agenda, and a scholarly publication. It was hoped that the conference would contribute to the improved capacity of Africa-based practitioners in documentation, analysis and program enhancement.

Forgotten Casualties of War: Girls in Armed Conflict
Save the Children, April 2005
Save the Children is today calling on world leaders to better protect the large numbers of vulnerable and innocent girls whose lives are destroyed every year by conflict, with the launch a new report ‘"Forgotten Casualties of War: Girls in Armed Conflict". The report identifies a ‘"hidden army" of girls, some as young as eight, who are abducted against their will to live life in the army. The roles of the girls vary from being actual soldiers through to serving as porters, cleaners and cooks. Almost all are forced to serve as sex slaves or ‘"wives".

Gender and Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration: Building Blocs for Dutch Policy
Tsjeard, Bouta, Conflict Research Unit, Clingendael, Netherlands Institute of International Relations, The Hague, March 2005
With the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, the topic of gender and armed conflict is firmly placed on the international agenda. Most attention so far has been paid to women's roles in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and post-conflict rehabilitation. Less consideration is given to women's roles in active warfarer and to women who operate as combatants in (ir)regular armies in conflict. THis is despite the fact that paragraph 13 of the REsolution 1325 encourages all those involved in the planning for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) to consider the different needs of female and male ex-combatants and to take into account the needs of their dependents. Only recently have multilateral organizations, and to a lesser extent bilateral donors, started to address the topic of gender and DDR in their policies. The Netherlands is becoming increasingly active in the field of DDR, and for this reason a policy on DDR and gender has been developed in this paper.

The Impact of Guns on Women's Lives
Amnesty International, IANSA, Oxfam, part of Control Arms and Stop Violence Against Women campaigns, March 2005
This report provides an overview of where two major international campaigns intersect: Control Arms – organized by Amnesty International (AI), the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) and Oxfam International and AI’s Stop Violence Against Women campaign. There is a growing acknowledgement that issues of gender need to be fully integrated into international work to stop the proliferation and misuse of small arms and that the specifics of armed violence have often been overlooked in some campaigns to address violence against women. Looking at how the myths about men, women, and guns are constructed can reveal new ways to break the cycles of violence which threaten
to brutalize succeeding generations in so many societies around the world.

Putting Guns in Their Place: A resource pack for two years of action by humanitarian agencies
Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, October 2004
This publication provides an overview of areas for action — public health, forced displacement, protection of children, gender rights, taking weapons out of circulation and the safety of relief workers — including questions to include in project design or evaluation. An introduction to the UN Programme of Action on small arms and existing processes and instruments regulating weapons transfers is also offered. To obtain a hard copy of the report, click here.

Remettre les Armes a Leur Place: suggestions pratiques pour deux ans d'action par les agences humanitaires
Centre pour le Dialogue Humanitaire, Genève, Octobre 2004

Las Armas, en Su Sitio: un conjunto de recursos para dos anos de accion por parte de las agencias humanitarias
Centro para el Diálogo Humanitario, octubre de 2004

Women in Armed Opposition Groups Speak on War, Protection and Obligations under International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law: Workshop Report
Dyan Mazurana, Geneva Call and the Program for the Study of International Organization(s), Geneva, 26-29 August 2004
This report covers the key protection and obligations for women and girls in armed opposition groups under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Drawing on the voices of the 32 women present from 18 armed opposition groups as well as previous relevant studies, the report then investigates the ways in which women and girls enter into armed opposition groups and their active participation within the groups. It documents and analyzes the ways women experience empowerment in armed opposition groups, and the ways they are disempowered. It examines the reasons girls under 18 years of age enter into armed opposition groups, their roles, and the threats to their rights and physical and mental integrity from forces both outside and within their armed group. The report then moves to cover key disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) issues raised by the women participants. It concludes with an investigation into the potential gains and obstacles facing women and girls within armed groups and those wishing to work with them in promoting and enforcing humanitarian and human rights law within armed opposition groups. Each section is followed by key lessons learned from discussions with women in armed opposition groups.

Where Are The Girls?: Girls in fighting forces in Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique: Their lives during and after war
Susan McKay and Dyan Mazurana, Supported by the Canadian International Development Agency's Child Protection Research Fund, March 2004
Dyan Mazurana and Susan McKay's study, Where are the Girls?, raises our awareness of the militarization of the lives of girls in fighting forces and the role they play. The authors use data gleaned from their research in Northern Uganda, Mozambique and Sierra Leone to reveal that girls in fighting forces are not, and never have been, simply "camp followers." This study is addressed to all those who work in countries that are in conflict or ravaged by war, whether they are community groups or multilateral, governmental, or non-governmental organizations. Where are the girls, if they are not counted as part of the military when the time comes for disarmament, demobilization and rebuilding of societies?

Click for the Executive Summary
Click to order the publication

Girl Soldiers: Challenging the Assumptions
Rachel Brett from Yvonne Keairns: The Voices of Girl Child Soldiers, Quaker United Nations Office, Geneva, October 2002

The Voices of Girl Child Soldiers: Summary
Yvonne E. Keairns, PhD, Quaker United Nations Office and Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, October 2002

Peace as Disappointment : The Reintegration of Female Soldiers in Post-Conflict Societies: A Comparative Study from Africa
Elise Fredrikke Barth, International Peace Research Institute (PRIO), Oslo, Norway, August 2002
The roles of women during war and peace are often very different. During a war, women may perform tasks usually performed by men, in addition to supporting the war effort more directly. In some cases, women are themselves soldiers. When a war is over, women's contributions during the conflict rarely receive recognition, one reason being that the needs and priorities of a post-conflict society are very different from those of a society at war: whereas men and women are encouraged to act out similar roles as fellow soldiers in an army or guerrilla movement, post-conflict society encourages difference between the genders. This has important consequences for former soldier women and for their sense of identity. In many cases, female ex-soldiers prefer to conceal their military past rather than risk social disapproval. Policymakers need to be aware of the characteristic obstacles faced by female ex-soldiers in a post-conflict situation. Drawing on a range of conflicts within Africa, with a special focus on Eritrea, this report describes a number of postwar challenges faced by female ex-combatants. The report will be of interest to aid workers, diplomats and researchers focusing on post-conflict reconstruction.

Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration and Gender-based Violence in Sierra Leone [Excerpts from Precious Resources: Adolescents in the Reconstruction of Sierra Leone]
Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, April–July 2002

Addressing Gender Issues in Demobilization and Reintegration Programs
Nathalie de Watteville, Africa Region Working Paper Series. World Bank, May 2002
While the role of female ex-combatants varies widely, the women seem to share one characteristic: limited access to benefits when peace and demobilisation come. In addition to female ex-combatants, there are other affected groups neglected during demobilisation, including abducted girls, ex-combatants" families, and women in the receiving or war-torn community itself. Demobilisation and reintegration programmes (DRPs) can have several objectives including reducing military expenditures, or addressing economic and social issues. But how does a gender dimension fit with these objectives? This report explores how to ensure that gender specific needs are identified and addressed in future DRPs and how strategies can be and have been identified that minimise gender discrimination. For example when female ex-combatants failed to take up micro-credit grants provided by ACORD, an ex-female combatant was hired and trained to reach other female ex-combatants. Strategies to improve re-integration include recruiting and training female staff, who are better placed to reach out to female client groups. Gender specialists must also be recruited to ensure that gender-specific issues are targeted and addressed. The report also offers some financial guidance on the cost of instituting a gender-sensitive programme.

Gender Perspectives on Small Arms and Light Weapons: Regional and International Concerns
Vanessa A. Farr, Wendy Cukier, Hon. Zoë Bakoko Bakoru, Jane Sanyu Mpagi, Amani El Jack, Ruth Ojambo Ochieng, Olive C. Kobusingye, Kiflemariam Gebre-Wold, Bonn International Centre for Conversion/Internationales Konversionszentrum Bonn Briefing 24, July 2002

UN Documents

Women Building Peace Through Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration
UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Panel Summary, March 2005
The panel was an opportunity to hear the voices of women working in DDR process from four different sectors, namely the perspective of civil society (Liberia), former combatants (Rwanda), national institutions (Sudan) and the international framework (UNIDIR). The panel was atypical in that it was a conversation amongst the panelists as much as it was a conversation between the panel and the audience. The Liberian and Rwandese women outline the lessons learned from their experiences and offered guidance and mentorship to the Sudanese women who are at the very genesis of the process, especially through emphasizing the importance of women’s organizing and selfreliance in the recovery process.

Standard Operation Procedures on Gender and DDR
UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), 2004
Since DDR processes are usually conceived at the peace table, any UN personnel involved in facilitating or expediting a peace process should proactively assist the attendance of women’s representatives, inform them about what DDR is, and promote their involvement in the planning phase. This will contribute towards ensuring that women and girl excombatants, women working in support functions to armed groups and forces, wives and dependants as well as members of the receiving community are informed and included in shaping any peace accord and related DDR plans.

Getting Right, Doing it Right: Gender and Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration
UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), October 2004
UNIFEM offers the findings, recommendations and model Standard Operating Procedures contained in this publication towards the goal of implementing the resolution and towards better integrating women’s needs and perspectives in the planning and execution of DDR programmes. These materials are informed by broad consultation, field visits, case studies on DDR in Liberia and Bougainville, and a desk review of the UN’s involvement in DDR. The practical objective is to learn lessons from past processes so that the knowledge gleaned can inform future efforts, as well as those currently under-way. A broader objective is to ask how commitment to the inclusion of women and women’s perspectives in DDR processes can help the UN develop and re-centre its founding goals of conflict prevention, peacekeeping, peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction—all stages of conflict pertinent to DDR, which take on quite a new meaning if viewed from a gender perspective.

Women, Men, Peace and Security
United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR). Disarmament Forum. Issue 4, 2003
This issue of Disarmament Forum examines how gender relates to disarmament and security issues. Contributing authors explore gender aspects of early warning, the role of gender in DDR programmes, masculine behaviour and violence, and consider specific UN efforts concerning gender mainstreaming—including the Gender Action Plan of the Department for Disarmament Affairs. If the international community does not adopt a gender perspective as it designs and implements its activities, it is choosing to limit the effectiveness and success of its peace and security work. Security Council resolution 1325 of October 2000 has helped to focus attention on the often ignored or marginalized role of women in peace-building and security—yet there is a wide gap between diplomatic statements on the importance of gender perspectives and what happens on the ground.

Gender Mainstreaming Action Plan
United Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA), April 2003
This document sets out an action plan for UN Department for Disarmament Affairs for April 2003-December 2005. It was developed as an internal working document through an extensive consultative process woth DDA staff. This plan builds on past efforts of DDA to promote understanding of the importance of gender perspectives in disarmament work. In 2001, DDA in collaboration with the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Advancement of WOmen (OSAGI) published Gender Perspectives on Disarmament Briefing Notes. In order to better understand how the mainstreaming of gender perspectives can further disarmament goals, it is necessary to examine the social and political context in which disarmament is relevant, primarily armed conflict- including pre-, post- ans during conflict- as well as policy and decision-making about weapons development, production, deployment, use, limitation and elimination.

Helping Women Help Themselves: Increasing the Role of Women in the Weapons in Exchange for Development Programme
UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), 2002

Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration of Ex-Combatants in a Peacekeeping Environment: Principles and Guidelines
United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, 1999

Operational Framework for Repatriation and Reintegration Activities in Post-Conflict Situations
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva, 1999

Government Statements and Repor

Books, Journals and Articles

The Importance of a Gender Perspective to Successful Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Processes
Vanessa Farr. Disarmament Forum. UNIDIR, 2003

Protection of Civilians: Gender Considerations for Disarmament, Conflict Transformation and the Establishment of Human Security
International Alert, 2003
The proliferation of ‘portable weapons’ in any society is a key source of the spread of violence, which impacts on the protection of civilians. Disarmament is therefore central to the protection of civilians. 'Human security' needs to be at the heart of any approach to disarmament. The possession of arms as a means of security, defence, brokering power and survival must be replaced by viable and sustainable alternatives. Hence there is the necessity to always consider disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration, transformation and development as linked and interdependent. The experiences of conflict can in many instances be gender specific. For example, men and boys are the usual ‘carriers’ and ‘users’ of portable weapons and women and girls are often the ‘carers’ for those wounded by these weapons. For the sustainability of disarmament and conflict transformation processes, gender roles need to be considered, both in terms of impact and agency. This requires gender and diversity analysis of the conflict dynamics at a household and community level as well as a macro and national level.

Girls in Fighting Forces: Their Recruitment, Participation, Demobilization and Reintegration
Dyan Mazurana, Susan McKay, Khristopher Carlson and Janel Kasper. Peace and Conflict. vol.8, no. 2. 2002

Engendering a New Police Identity?
Tracy Fitzsimmons. Peace Review. vol. 10, no. 2. 1998

Revisiting a Repopulated Village: A Step Backwards in the Changing Status of Women
Maria Julia. International Social Work. vol. 38. 1995