An understanding of gender issues is critical to peacekeeping activities because of the need for peacekeeping personnel to respond appropriately to the different ways that women, men, girls and boys are affected by armed conflict and its aftermath. When examining the role that gender plays in peacekeeping, there are two important areas to focus on: women’s equal participation in peace support operations and ensuring that peacekeepers are aware of and actively promoting and protecting women’s rights.

OP6
'Requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Security
Council, the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations and its Working Group
and relevant States, as appropriate, to develop and implement appropriate training
programs for all peacekeeping and humanitarian personnel deployed by the United
Nations in the context of missions as mandated by the Council to help them better
prevent, recognize and respond to sexual violence and other forms of violence
against civilians'
OP7
'Requests the Secretary-General to continue and strengthen efforts to
implement the policy of zero tolerance of sexual exploitation and abuse in United
Nations peacekeeping operations; and urges troop and police contributing countries
to take appropriate preventative action, including pre-deployment and in-theater
awareness training, and other action to ensure full accountability in cases of such
conduct involving their personnel'
OP8
'Encourages troop and police contributing countries, in consultation with
the Secretary-General, to consider steps they could take to heighten awareness and
the responsiveness of their personnel participating in UN peacekeeping operations
to protect civilians, including women and children, and prevent sexual violence
against women and girls in conflict and post-conflict situations, including wherever
possible the deployment of a higher percentage of women peacekeepers or police'
OP9
'Requests the Secretary-General to develop effective guidelines and strategies to enhance the ability of relevant UN peacekeeping operations, consistent with their mandates, to protect civilians, including women and girls, from all forms of sexual violence and to systematically include in his written reports to the Council on conflict situations his observations concerning the protection of women and girls and recommendations in this regard'
OP15
'Also requests the Secretary-General to submit a report to the Council by
30 June 2009 on the implementation of this resolution in the context of situations
which are on the agenda of the Council, utilizing information from available United
Nations sources, including country teams, peacekeeping operations, and other
United Nations personnel, which would include, inter alia, information on situations
of armed conflict in which sexual violence has been widely or systematically
employed against civilians; analysis of the prevalence and trends of sexual violence
in situations of armed conflict; proposals for strategies to minimize the
susceptibility of women and girls to such violence; benchmarks for measuring
progress in preventing and addressing sexual violence; appropriate input from
United Nations implementing partners in the field; information on his plans for
facilitating the collection of timely, objective, accurate, and reliable information on
the use of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict, including through
improved coordination of UN activities on the ground and at Headquarters; and
information on actions taken by parties to armed conflict to implement their
responsibilities as described in this resolution, in particular by immediately and
completely ceasing all acts of sexual violence and in taking appropriate measures to
protect women and girls from all forms of sexual violence'
OP10, OP11, OP12, OP19, OP21, OP25
Relevant clauses in SCR 1889 (2009)
OP4Source: UN Photo
NGOWG Checklist on Women's Participation and Gender Perspectives in Security Council Resolutions
Key things to look for, in Security Council resolutions, on the issue of peacekeeping include:
- Does the resolution call for gender training to peacekeeping civilian personnel, including police, and other members of peace and field operations on the rights and protection of women and girls, including on issues related to sexual violence and HIV/AIDS?
- Does the resolution ensure that reporting on peacekeeping missions includes the status of gender mainstreaming, as well as other information relevant to resolution 1325 (2000)?
- Does the resolution reinforce the zero tolerance policy for misconduct by members of peace support operations?
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