General Women, Peace and Security

I am currently at the 2010 Women Peacemaker Conference at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice. This year's conference —“Precarious Progress: UN Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security” — brings together 175 practitioners, policymakers, academics, and activists from over 40 countries to examine where and how United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 has had and can have impact.

On 9 September 2010 the European Union (EU) and Belgium organised an event in Brussels called 'Ensuring women's participation in peace and security' to mark the 10th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution (SCR) 1325.

Some of the speakers made reference to small arms control in relation to SCR 1325 although these comments were not recorded in the Conference Conclusions document (attached). They included:

“Equality under the law is not the same as equality in practice,” said Liechtenstein's Minister of Foreign Affairs Aurelia Frick as she set the tone for a panel on “Women in Peace-Building” last Saturday at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

I. Recent Activities

This year marks the 10th anniversary of a landmark piece of international law codifying the link between women, peace and security known as U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000).

Excellencies, Distinguished Participants, ladies and gentlemen,

Ten years ago, the UN Security Council adopted the ground breaking resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

Despite 10 years of efforts and progress, commitments towards the protection women and girls in conflict-affected and post-conflict situations have fallen short of the pledges made and worse, of the needs on the ground.

On Saturday September 25th, Member States, UN Agencies and Civil Society gathered at the UN for the Ministerial Meeting on Security Council Resolution 1325 ,”A Call to Action.” The objective of the meeting, convened by the Mission of Canada and a number of co-sponsoring missions, was to pledge concrete, measurable and time bound commitments towards the implementation of the resolution.

On September 21, I had the privilege of making a presentation at Mount Mary College in Milwaukee, WI on the importance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 as part of their celebration of the International Day of Peace.

READ (Rural Education and Development) Global announced today in an onstage ceremony at the Clinton Global Initiative's 2010 Annual Meeting its Commitment to Action to create educational and economic opportunities for women and adolescent girls in rural communities in Bhutan, India and Nepal.