EUROPE: Women, Peace and Security From Norwegian, Estonian and Finnish Perspectives

What do women want? What do women need? How can women contribute?

These were just a few of the questions asked by Norwegian Minister of Defence, Ms. Grete Faremo at an open debate on Women, Peace and Security in the UN Security Council at UN Headquarters in New York City recently.

In addition, Ambassador Tiina Intelmann, Permanent Representative of Estonia to the United Nations in New York and Minister of Interior of Finland, Ms. Anne Holmlund, provided some valuable insights on resolution 1325, and what is needed now.As Norwegian Minister of Defence Faremo stated, “we simply can't afford to ignore half of society's talent and capacity, and we must insure greater accountability.” She called on the Security Council to show leadership by maintaining its focus on full implementation of all resolutions on women, peace, and security.

She also called for endorsing the indicators proposed by the UN Secretary-General for this purpose,and by making prosecution of perpetrators a political priority. Ms Faremo also said she noted that all of the UN force commanders are men.

What was her solution to this problem? She called on the UN to “start searching for women commanders while continuing to improve the gender ratio of our forces.” Ms. Faremo also made it clear, too, that this resolution is not about political correctness. She wants better protection and more equal participation of women in social, economic and political life, including in peace processes and security services.

According to Estonian Ambassador Tiina Intelmann, ”women are no longer an invisible or irrelevant aspect of armed conflicts.” Her statement focused on how Estonia is contributing to international peace and security, the promotion of women and girls, and human rights concerns.

As she stated, “women have the right to be protected in conflicts and can and should be able to contribute to peace processes, However, despite the progress made since 2000, these principles still need to be translated better into reality at the global, regional and national levels,” she added.

Ms Intelmann explained that Estonia, as a member of a number of regional organizations and the UN continues to expand its contributions to international peace and security As she said, “We continue to participate in international civilian and military operations and contribute to development cooperation and humanitarian assistance. The action plan contains commitments with regard to the inclusion of the gender perspective in these activities.”

Gender equality and the promotion of the situation of women and girls continue to be one of the priorities of Estonia's development cooperation and humanitarian activities, she pointed out. “In Afghanistan, for instance, our projects have been aimed at supporting women's access to health care and education. This focus will be accompanied i.a.by support to the participation of women's organisations in peace processes.”

“Finally, Estonia continues to actively support the implementation of this resolution in the European Uniion, NATO, as well as the OSCE,” said Ambassador Intelmann.

When it comes to Finland, the Minister of Interior of Finland, Ms Anne Holmlund, contributed to the debate by offering some insights as to what her country has done and learned during the past decade on “Women, Peace, and Security.”

She made it clear that “the Finnish Government supports the participation of women at all stages and all levels of peace processes, peacekeeping, peacebuilding and post-conflict recovery, National Action Plans, and work against impunity, including cluding due attention to victims.”

“Increasing the amount of women also in the highest positions can wait no longer”, Ms. Holmlund said. ”The United National and regional organizations have a responsibility to set examples and promote gender-equality, while Member States have a responsibility to provide and support female candidates. Accordingly, Finland commits to nominating increasingly female candidates,” she added.

The Finnish Government also works closely with non-governmental organizations. In fact, they provide financial support to several NGOs working in the area of Women, Peace and Security. In fact, Finland actively seeks advice and forms partnerships with NGOs in implementing its National Action Plan.

But what is needed now? According to Michelle Bachelet, Under Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN Women, is determined leadership by all of us working together, and she says ”UN Women will support existing and new efforts to improve the protection environment for women during and after conflict, to engage women in conflict prevention, and to ensure peacebuilding processes are guided by women's perspectives and address their needs.”