Spectrum of Perspectives: Review and Analysis of UNSCR 1325 in Asia-Pacific Region - Women in Governance - India (WinG-India) and the Asia Pacific Women's Alliance on Peace and Security (APWAPS)

The Asia Pacific Region has had some of the most intractable and longest running conflicts anywhere in the world. Eighty-two percent of conflicts in the region since 1948 have been internal conflicts[1], although many have had inter-state and even regional and international dimensions. Many of  the conflicts are also sub-national armed conflicts[2] which are not formally recognized and do not therefore benefit from any formal peace negotiations or efforts to end the violence and address their deep-rooted origins as part of peace initiatives.

The online discussion on UNSCR 1325 was undertaken against this changed backdrop and renewed push for State obligation. A core focus of the dialogue was to lead the discussions to how  in going forward the WPS agenda can get  more strongly informed by a rights based approach and issues of conflict transformation and peace building are necessarily understood and articulated using a human rights and justice lens. The discussions were clustered around four primary issues of concern - militarization, security, categories of women, accountability and access to justice.

A. Militarization:

• A strong critique that has come from the women’s movement is that although UNSCR 1325 in itself is grounded on strong feminist politics the way it has been used is different. Increasingly UNSCR 1325 has been used as a management tool- of making wars safe rather than questioning the structural causes of wars and armed conflicts and its long term impact, or of new partnerships and alliances that are forged to keep wars going and the sinister crimping of women’s rights through these alliances. 
• The participants pointed out that it is difficult to draw lines between short and long term implications of militarization. In the short term militarization impacts upon the bodily security of women and in the long term it affects their livelihood and takes away their rights. For indigenous women it is their right to forests and land. This dispossession makes them extremely vulnerable making them dependent and rob them of their autonomy. It was pointed out that one of the biggest problems faced by indigenous communities (especially women) in Bangladesh and most other countries is the mainstreaming of militarization in society and of the military being in charge of so many vital sectors including ‘law and order’. In many other countries in the Asia Pacific undergoing internal and protracted armed conflict civilian spaces and institutions have gradually and silently got  militarized which has serious and extremely alarming implications for women and human rights defenders. Export and trade in arms is essential to militarism and militarization and this has increased exponentially in many countries in the region. In addition in situations of prolonged and intractable armed conflict there has been huge proliferation of arms including small arms in the communities which has contributed significantly towards heightened levels of violence in the community with women being especially impacted. Militarization therefore implies a system of governance, in or without uniform, where the voices of people are either curbed or silenced and in many instances through constitutional means.
• In a post war scenario the issue is even more problematic. In situations where a war is militarily ended and there have been records of gross human rights violations as in Sri Lanka, civil society organizations and human rights defenders become particularly vulnerable. Security and intelligence agencies establish well-oiled surveillance and monitoring system capitalizing on the vulnerabilities of different groups of people which leads to erosion of trust within communities making it difficult to rebuild social networks. Surveillance by the military restricts activities of civil society and makes human rights work extremely difficult. In a post war scenario there is huge economic gains to be made and increasing nexus is being forged between the military and corporations for economic activities.
• Finally concerns were raised about the review of UNSCR 1325 implementation and numbers. One indicator of how UNSCR 1325 is being implemented focus on the percentage of women in the military. Increased numbers of women is viewed as 'progress'. This is especially problematic in countries that are experiencing ethnic/religious conflict. It is critical to have a more nuanced understanding of the politics of actively recruiting women from certain communities into the military and the way in which it impacts broader political issues at the heart of the conflict especially when the conflict was drawn along ethnic divides. 

B. Security:

• Concerns were raised over the securitization of women’s rights as a result of their inclusion in the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. The participants reiterated that the security discourse for women is essentially about comprehensive human security and goes move beyond a narrow military or state centric preoccupation and articulates the concerns of women whose voices are marginalized in the mega narratives of conflict analysis and peace building. This analysis is totally missing in the implementation of UNSCR 1325. The tools that are used to measure UNSCR 1325 implementation do not give adequate importance to socio-economic vulnerability in the post-war context, which makes women open to vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, especially in a militarized context. It was pointed out that in villages of post conflict Nepal, security has been equated with establishment of new police posts, which were destroyed during the conflict, with the help of the Peace Trust Fund. These police posts are nowhere capable of ensuring security for those who need food, shelter and treatment for their physical and mental well being.
• Many participants strongly surfaced the need to work with UNSCR 1325+ and CEDAW together as CEDAW is legally binding while resolutions are political commitment. The adoption of CEDAW General Recommendation 30 which brings in the issue of extra territoriality this need is especially critical and strategic in post conflict “development” agendas and scenarios. It was suggested that whatever one chooses as the specific focus, women need to put their respective ideas within the general systemic framework of all forms as integral to militarized security and the urgency of women's participation in all aspects of security policy making as essential to conceptualizing and implementing plans to demilitarize security.

C. The vulnerability and agency of different categories of women in the conflict continuum

• As anywhere else women in WPS  are not a homogenous group but include  very diverse categories such as  peacemakers, combatants, sympathizers, human rights defenders, survivors of sexual violence etc. This diversity with diverse needs, voices and perspectives has often been missing in UNSCR 1325 work. Views from both Nepal and Sri Lanka clearly pointed out the need for a more nuanced, sensitive and culturally relevant handling of sexual violence in conflict and that this has not been adequately done so. On the other hand in recent years, the Security Council has come under considerable criticism of having uneven focus on protecting women from sexual violence with the adoption of a number of UNSCRs on women, peace and security at the expense of promoting women’s participation in decision-making. A participant opined that one of the rare positive impacts of armed conflict on gender relations is the increased movement, mobility and opportunities for women in political spaces for leadership in constructing and reconstructing peace in the society during conflict and post conflict situations. However policy makers before and after UNSCR 1325, have continued to focus and perpetuate women as victims without an adequate acknowledgment of their agency. Additional resolutions on WPS were added in successive years by the Security Council without first focusing on the implementation of UNSCR 1325 and primarily reaffirming women's victimhood and sexualized violence. Additionally when women do come forward to report the legal processes fail them. A participant pointed out that while protection is important, protection without accountability only leads to further impunity for sexual violence. Participants especially from Sri Lanka emphasized that existing formal legal systems in countries cannot handle sexual violence cases in war-affected countries.
• The other group that featured in the discussions was women combatants of armed rebel groups. It was pointed out that women combatants are especially vulnerable and extremely disempowered in a post conflict scenario. Many join revolutionary groups aspiring for ‘equality’ and ‘justice’ and challenging patriarchal hierarchies but are pushed back into stereotypical gender roles when the ‘revolution’ ends. Furthermore sexual violence experienced by women combatants who are perceived to have transgressed traditional and accepted gender and societal norms are even less reported or justice sought. In any peace negotiation or peace agreement justice and redress for sexual violence for ex women combatants or other non party women never feature.

D. Issues around access to justice and accountability

• The main discussions that ensued under this category were the issue of disappearances which somehow do not feature under UNSCR 1325 and the other is the issue of violations by non stat actors. It was pointed out that women seeking truth and accountability have reached nowhere and that women can only play leadership roles in peace building if there is a sense and promise of justice in their personal lives. Women urgently need justice and closure regarding disappearances of family members. A participant from Nepal added a word of caution saying that although it is important to use UNSCR 1325 but one should not conflate its importance. Nepal’s 33 per cent women members in the Constituent Assembly did not happen because of UNSCR 1325 but because of the political parties. Therefore it could be useful to recognize and identify national transformative opportunities for gender justice. Another participant however added that even while looking at national opportunities one needs to be discerning. There is an urgent need to restructure the governance system which was present before conflict, replacing those who were in charge of security forces during the conflict otherwise there can be no justice. Women cannot seek justice regarding ‘missing’ family members from the very people who made them ‘disappear’.
• The second focus was on the issue of non state actors. A participant stressed that she believes at this moment, one of the most complex issues in contemporary concerns in human rights discourse is killings by non-state actors. She pointed out that the Security Council perceived ‘peace for women' as something achievable by militaristic approach but  however in reality it created chains of armed non-state groups victimizing women further. International laws and policies or customs are yet to come up with structures that can hold non-state actors accountable and end the impunity enjoyed by them. Broadly defined as armed groups that operate beyond state control the category of non state actors cannot be readily placed under a clear definition and this increases the complexity. There is therefore an urgent and critical need for the adoption of legal structures like International Criminal Court as that would be another route of addressing issues of justice and accountability under Women, Peace and Security.