Peace-keeping Operations and Gender Equality in POst-Conflict Reconstruction

If Peacekeeping Operations are to succeed in ensuring a sustainable peace and long-term reconstruction based on democratic principles and United Nations human rights standards, it is essential that the principle of gender equality and non-discrimination be upheld. In contemporary conflicts, the civilian population increasingly has become the primary war objective and focus of violence, with men and women experiencing conflict differently. Women and children constitute the vast majority of refugee and internally displaced populations, with a marked in increase in female-headed households, and little or no representation of women in either peace negotiations, or planning for national reconstruction. United Nations Peacekeeping Operations must guarantee that the protection of women's human rights are central to all actions that promote peace, implement peace agreements, resolve conflict, and reconstruct war-torn societies.