Report of the Secretary-General on developments in Guinea-Bissau and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau

Code: S/2015/37

Period of time and topic: review of UNIOGBIS, situation update from 11 November 2014, implementation of resolution 2157 (2014) from 12 May 2014

Women, Peace and Security

The report focuses much more on women’s participation and gender mainstreaming issues than women’s protection. Women from civil society, public administration and political parties participated in a workshop by UNIOGBIS and the Ministry of Women, Family and Social Cohesion on amending legislation, including the constitution, to align it with resolution 1325 (2000), including through quotas for women in electoral law and political parties; reform of the defense and security sectors; and incorporating gender issues, human rights and gender equality in national education to address discrimination and domestic violence against women (S/2015/37 para. 32). Women are appointed as ministers, including for the ministries of Justice and Defense, in a sign of political will for inclusive governance (S/2015/37 para. 42). Women’s associations participate in consultations with the mission, along with a wide variety of other actors (S/2015/37 para. 41). The report also notes women’s limited participation in the armed forces and barriers to their participation, limiting the armed forces’ ability to respond to the security and defense needs of the entire population (S/2015/37 para. 48). Further, the report mentions gaps in government services and the role of traditional structures, including in conflict resolution, which exacerbate women’s exclusion (S/2015/37 para. 49). Finally, the report notes increasing women’s participation in decision-making as an opportunity to move forward (S/2015/37 para. 55(e)).

In regard to gender mainstreaming, UNIOGBIS and the Islamic Council of Guinea-Bissau released a report on the roles of men and women in the Council’s leadership and the role of women in mediation and conflict resolution in Guinea-Bissau, including recommendations on capacity building for women and men, identifying and empowering women leaders, and bringing together women in law enforcement and on the Council to work together on conflict resolution (S/2015/37 para. 30). UNIOGBIS, with the Ministry of Women, Family and Social Cohesion and women’s organizations, organized a workshop on resolution 1325 (2000) and the NAP, aimed at mobilizing the government to mainstream gender and supporting the NAP, including through amending the electoral law to increase women’s political participation, appointing gender focal points in ministries, and funding the NAP and facilitating regional gender consultations through the Ministry of Women, Family and Social Cohesion (S/2015/37 para. 31). UNIOGBIS provides further training on human rights and gender mainstreaming to parliamentarians (S/2015/37 para. 14). Also, UNIOGBIS raises awareness of gender issues through newspapers and the radio (S/2015/37 para. 38).

On women’s protection, UNIOGBIS distributed information on the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non‑custodial Measures for Women Offenders to prison guards (S/2015/37 para. 17). UNIOGBIS also held human rights seminars for security forces on the law on female genital mutilation and laws on domestic violence (S/2015/37 para. 29). The report also notes the link between women, poverty and a lack of access to services and peace and security issues (S/2015/37 para. 46). More specifically, the report highlights that women have limited land ownership, despite constituting greater part of the subsistence agriculture workforce, and further mentions the high maternal mortality and gender-based violence rates (S/2015/37 para. 50). Access to justice is a challenge for women who, although they disproportionately suffer from abuses and crime, constitute less than ten percent of those who use the justice system (S/2015/37 para. 53).

The report also includes sex-disaggregated data on women’s participation in varied police trainings and prison guard workshops; women’s participation in the military; female prisoners’ access to justice support; the number of women appointed as ministers; and the percentage of the population who is illiterate (S/2015/37 para. 17, 18, 19, 24, 42, 48, 52).

References in Need of Improvement

Overall, the report could have been stronger by including women’s and women’s civil society organizations in all efforts drawing upon the women, peace and security agenda, including gaps, challenges and next steps to fully incorporate a gender lens into UNIOGBIS’s work, especially considering gaps in State functions exacerbating women’s exclusion (S/2015/37 para. 49). One opportunity for improvement is the mention of the government’s commitment to increasing women’s participation in decision-making, which should have also included women’s civil society organizations in all efforts to ensure women’s rights are protected and their concerns are taken into consideration (S/2015/37 para. 55(e)). Women and women’s civil society organizations should have been involved in the design and implementation of the gender mainstreaming trainings for parliamentarians to ensure the trainings take women’s concerns into account and encourage the parliamentarians to continue to consult with women’s groups and promote women’s human rights throughout their work (S/2015/37 para. 14). The reporting on women appointed as ministers, including in the ministries of Justice and Defense, should have included if those women are qualified, if they have sufficient access and resources to include a gender lens in their work, and if they are able to consult with women and women’s civil society organizations in order to positively impact the promotion of women’s human rights, especially in the justice sector (S/2015/37 para. 42, 53). Women and women’s civil society organizations should have, additionally, been involved in the design and implementation of seminars on FGM/C and domestic violence to ensure that women’s concerns are incorporated and the seminars respect the rights of survivors and are survivor-centered 9S/2015/37 para. 29). Women and women’s civil society organizations should have also been more involved in the workshop on resolution 1325 (2000) and the NAP, including in its design and implementation to ensure women’s unique concerns were taken into consideration, the workshop was accessible for women and women’s civil society organizations who are representative of women in the country, that any outcomes were adequately resourced to continue to include women’s participation and actors were able to promote women’s human rights (S/2015/37 para. 31). The mission’s efforts to raise awareness on gender issues through radio and newspapers could have been stronger by including women and women’s civil society organizations in the design of programs to ensure they address women’s concerns and reach their target audiences (S/2015/37 para. 38). Finally, the report’s reference to UNIOGBIS consulting with women’s associations could have been strengthened by expanding on which groups are consulted, if they are representative of women and women’s needs, and if the interactions are substantive and incorporated into UNIOGBIS’s work (S/2015/37 para. 41).

In addressing poverty and the lack of access to basic services the report should have done more to recognize how socioeconomic development intersected with gender (S/2015/37 para. 46, 50, 52). Women and women’s civil society organizations should have been involved in the design and implementation of any efforts to neutralize gender inequalities in the economic, land-ownership and education systems, including any aid and legislative efforts (S/2015/37 para. 46, 50, 52).

The report’s reference to the Islamic Council’s and UNIOGBIS’s report considers both men and women, showing a gender lens, but could still have been stronger by examining the structures of the Council, law enforcement sector and traditional leaders to consider power relations and hierarchies that may be contributing to a lack of empowerment and barriers for both women and men in mediation and conflict resolution, as well as broader peacebuilding (S/2015/37 para. 30). The workshop for women on aligning legislation with resolution 1325 (2000) could have been much stronger by including a gender lens (S/2015/37 para. 32). By including men in the discussion on reforms concerning women’s participation in politics, the defense and security sectors, and gender equality in the national education curriculum, the workshop could have been more effective in its ability to affect those types of changes by engaging leaders of all genders working in those sectors and including men and boys in the prevention of discrimination, domestic violence and gender-based violence against women (S/2015/37 para. 32, 50).

Furthermore, the report could have been improved by separating women’s and youth’s needs and concerns (S/2015/37 para. 46). The inclusion of sex-disaggregated data could have also been improved by including analysis on barriers to women’s participation and if their participation is meaningful (S/2015/37 para. 17, 18, 19, 24).

Missed Opportunities

As this report was submitted pursuant to resolution 2157 (2014), it did not miss any opportunities to include UNIOGBIS’s women, peace and security mandate. The only women, peace and security content in resolution 2157 (2014) is mainstreaming a gender perspective into peacebuilding in line with resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008) in UNIOGBIS’s mandate, and the report includes a section with that heading (S/RES/2157 (2014) OP. 1(g)).

Ideal Asks for WPS Transformation

The report should be improved with an explicit reference to and analysis of all genders, emphasizing diverse masculinities and femininities, including the dynamics between and among genders as well as the power relations and hierarchies at play, and the intersection of gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, class, and age across all political, peace, and security processes.