PeaceWomen Themes

The Conflict Prevention theme focuses on the incorporation of a gender perspective and the participation of women in preventing the emergence, spread, and re-emergence of violent conflict. 

The most effective way to fulfill the Women, Peace and Security Agenda is to prevent conflict from occurring. The prevention pillar of the Agenda has strong support from civil society yet effective focus on prevention remains lacking. There are gaps at all levels in challenging the root causes of violence, including militarization and the proliferation of small arms and light weapons. Women must actively participate in designing and implementing disarmament strategies.

Women’s active role in conflict prevention is crucial to international peace and security. Recognising women as constructive participants in conflict prevention, the Security Council calls for the full and equal participation of women at all levels of decision-making (SCR 1325; SCR 1820). Member States are called upon to increase the representation of women in national, regional and international institutions, in mechanisms for conflict prevention (1325, OP1) and in conflict prevention dialogues (1820, OP12).

The systematic collection of information and data about women in conflict by all actors is vital to the conflict prevention work of the UN, including the Security Council. At the national and local level, early warning systems can be used as communication channels to prevent violence. These systems must be linked to early action systems, including utilizing existing UN mechanisms and structures. To be effective, they must incorporate a gender-sensitive approach in both design and implementation.

While there is impunity for violations of international law and sexual violence, efforts to prevent conflict are incomplete. It is women who continue to serve as critical agents in developing long-term strategies for conflict prevention, advancement of human security, and the promotion of peace. Women’s active role in conflict prevention, in addition to gender mainstreaming, is crucial to the achievement of international peace and security.

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The Participation theme focuses on women’s representation and participation in peace processes, electoral process – as both the candidate and voter – UN decision-making positions, and in the broader social-political sphere.

The Security Council acknowledges the need for strategies to increase women’s participation in all UN missions and appointments to high-level positions in SCR 1325(OP3) and 1889(OP4) and further emphasises the need for women’s participation in peacebuilding processes (1889). 

Specifically, it calls for the mobilisation of resources for advancing gender equality and empowering women (OP14), reporting on the progress of women’s participation in UN missions (OP18), equal access to education for women and girls in post-conflict societies (OP11), and the increase of women’s participation in political and economic decision-making (OP15). Until this language translates into action, the potential for women’s full and equal contribution to international peace and security will remain unrealized.

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The Protection theme focuses on securing the rights and safety of women and girls during and after conflict. The protection of women must not be separated from women’s agency and participation.

The normative framework and mechanisms of the “Protection of Civilians” agenda overlap and reinforce the protection elements of Women, Peace and Security. The number of civilian casualties now surpasses the number of combatant casualties in armed conflict, and women continue to be disproportionately affected in gender-specific ways, such as sexual violence, trafficking, and exploitation. Hence, it is imperative that the Security Council encourages protection strategies, policies, and actions to incorporate a gender perspective at all levels and stages of implementation.

Acknowledging the importance of protecting women and women’s human rights in conflict (1325,OP8), the Security Council calls for all parties to armed conflict to respect and uphold international law (OP9) and take special measures to protect women’s rights from gender based violence (OP10).

To strengthen women’s participation as a cross-cutting theme, women must be consulted and engaged in designing and implementing the protection programmes intended to secure their rights and safety (1960, OP10). The Security Council specifically calls for the consultation of women and women’s organisations in the development of protection mechanisms for displaced women (1820,OP10).

The Security Council requests the Secretary-General to provide guidelines and training materials on the protection of women for Member States to incorporate into national training programmes (1325,OP6). The Security Council further requests specific guidelines and strategies for peacekeeping operations, with the purpose of enhancing the protection of women and girls from sexual violence (1820,OP8-9), and calls upon Member States to afford victims of sexual violence equal legal protection (1820,OP4; 1888,OP6).

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The Peacekeeping theme focuses on a gendered approach to multi-dimensional peacekeeping missions, predominantly through gender mainstreaming of peace support operations and the increase of female recruitment in peacekeeping, military, and police.

The Security Council calls for an increase in the number of women in peacekeeping operations (1325,OP6).

It is also important to note that the issues of gender and peacekeeping should never be reduced to the number of women recruited as peacekeepers. Promoting security is about providing real human security for the population, not about the militarisation of women. The point is not to achieve gender parity for its own sake, but rather to draw on the unique and powerful contribution women can make to peacekeeping.

The Security Council commits to include a gender component in UN field operations (1325,OP5), and requests that the Secretary-General’s reports to include information on the progress of gender mainstreaming within each operation (1325,OP17). Without a gender perspective, it is almost impossible to adequately create an inclusive security, which forms the basis of promoting sustainable and durable peace. Gender training, pre-deployment, on the ground, and post-deployment is effective for ensuring peacekeeping personnel have sufficient knowledge and skills.

Peacekeeping missions are increasingly being mandated to address sexual violence (1960,OP10), and training can increase the prevention, recognition, and response to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and sexual exploitation and abuse (1820,OP6). The implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda varies greatly among Peacekeeping Operations. This variation is a result of the peacekeeping mission’s mandates and also structure, leadership, funding, whether there is a designation of a separate unit to address gender, and the number of gender advisors. These key gaps were highlighted in DPKO’s Ten-Year Impact Study on Implementation of Resolution 1325 in Peacekeeping.

These measures can trigger positive changes for women within conflict and post-conflict situations, such as increased physical security, employment-related benefits, capacity building for local women’s organisations, and increased awareness of women’s rights. Additionally, positive role models and examples of women’s leadership have a positive effect on the environment and contribute to the success of peacekeeping missions.

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The Human Rights theme focuses on mechanisms to respect, protect, and promote women’s rights before, during and post conflict.

Respect, protection and promotion of human rights is an important part of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. The need for all actors in armed conflict to respect international law and uphold standards of human rights, in relation to women and girls, is reaffirmed in SCR 1325(OP9), 1888(OP3), and 1889(OP2). The Security Council calls for increasing women’s participation from field operations as human rights personnel (1325, OP4) to women protection advisors in human rights protection units of peacekeeping missions (1888, OP7).

Women’s human rights - both civil-political and socio-economic - are particularly at risk in times of conflict and in post-conflict situations. In addition, other forms of discrimination are often suffered by women or are part of fueling conflict. As states seek to create sustainable peace it is essential that attention is paid to these various human rights issues –in terms of ending impunity for violations and in terms of establishing laws, policies, institutions and mechanisms to respect, protect and promote human rights.

Socio-economic rights are a vital aspect of the human rights agenda for women. Without access to, for example, education, health, housing or water, other civil and political rights have limited meaning. Conflict and post-conflict situations create a significant challenge to women’s ability to make gains in their economic stability. However, working to guarantee women their socio-economic rights in such contexts can be an avenue towards reconstruction and peacebuilding. Women in post-conflict situations often experience discrimination and/or lack of access to education, health services and other inalienable rights that results in limiting their opportunities for economic survival. The guarantee of women’s socio-economic rights is closely tied to women’s empowerment, the capacity to participate in peacemaking and peacebuilding and the ability to freely exercise civil and political rights. The denial or lack of access to economic and social rights can impede the effective reconstruction of post-conflict societies.

Racial and ethnic discrimination can affect women and men in different ways. It is vital to understand the gender dimensions of racial and ethnic discrimination in order to adequately design responses that will be effective for combating racial and ethnic discrimination against women as well as men. It is often the case that women are targeted victims of racial discrimination solely based on their gender by way of “sexual violence committed against women members of particular racial or ethnic groups in detention or during armed conflict; the coerced sterilization of indigenous women; abuse of women workers in the informal sector or domestic workers employed abroad by their employers.”

There are many international and regional human rights instruments and many different mechanisms established to protect and promote human rights. Many of these are relevant to conflict and post-conflict environments and to the women, peace and security agenda. Furthermore, countries that have emerged from conflict often seek to ensure that violations of human rights committed during conflict are addressed. In addition there is a pressure on new post-conflict governments to commit to international and regional human rights standards and to set up mechanisms and institutions at the national level to ensure that human rights are respected in the future.

To tackle impunity and realise rights, normative legal frameworks must be supported by a systematic documentation of abuses as well as initiatives addressing the barriers women face in reporting and prosecuting violations.

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The Reconstruction and Peacebuilding theme focuses on the application of a gender perspective to peacebuilding. The response of local, national, and international systems to women’s priorities in post-conflict situations can significantly impact stability and development.

The realisation of women’s right to full participation in preventing, resolving and recovering from conflict, is critical to building sustainable peace and the fulfilment of human security. Furthermore, the response of local, national and international systems to women’s priorities in post-conflict situations, can significantly impacts the stability and development of communities.

The engagement of women in early stages of peacemaking can increase gender analysis in post-conflict planning, lead to improved outcomes for women, and enhance their capacity to participate in longer-term peacebuilding. However, women’s rights and concerns should not be dependent on the presence of women in peace processes. Systems must be in place to ensure their inclusion is standard operating procedure.

In SCR 1325, the Security Council recognises that addressing the unique needs of women and girls during post-conflict reconstruction requires integrating a gender perspective at all stages (1325,OP8). The Security Council acknowledges the need to counter negative societal attitudes regarding women’s equal capacity for involvement, and calls for the promotion of women’s leadership and support for women’s organizations (1889,OP1). In addition, the Security Council requests training on the protection, rights and needs of women in all peacebuilding measures (1325,OP6).

To achieve this, the Security Council tasks the Secretary-General to report on challenges and make recommendations relevant to the participation of women and gender mainstreaming in peacebuilding and recovery efforts (1888,OP19). In response, the Secretary-General issued a report on women’s participation in peacebuilding in 2010. The report details the challenges obstacles women must confront in participating in recovery and peacebuilding efforts, and advocates for a Seven-Point Action Plan to respond to these challenges.

First, the plan calls to increase women’s engagement in peace processes and to address gender issues in the context of peace agreements. Secondly, the plan urges for the inclusion of gender expertise at senior levels in the UN’s mediation support activities. Thirdly, the plan notes that, while the international community cannot control the gender composition of the negotiating parties, it must investigate strategies for the inclusion of more women. Fourthly, the plan calls for the establishment of mechanisms to ensure that negotiating parties engage with women’s civil society organisations. The Action Plan’s fifth commitment involves increasing the proportion of women decision makers in post-conflict governance institutions. The sixth point addresses rule of law, emphasising the importance of issues such as women’s access to justice and a gender perspective to legal reform. The Action Plan’s seventh commitment is concerned with women’s economic empowerment. The Action Plan’s implementation remains the challenge.

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