Peace & Security
Click here to access a factsheet on Women, Peace and Security,
The experience of war differs for men and women, particularly in contemporary conflicts. Women remain a minority of combatants, but continue to suffer the greatest and most ongoing ramifications of living in war-time situations. In recent conflicts, up to 90 percent of casualties are civilians – with most of these being women and children.
Women in war-torn societies face specific difficulties of gender-based violence, often including sexual violence. Increasingly, sexual violence has become a common-place tactic in wartime, with women being systematically used during times of conflict, to achieve military and political goals.
After the conflict has ended, women continue to deal with the impacts of sexual violence – unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, stigmatisation. Coupled with ongoing discrimination and inequitable laws, sexual violence can exacerbate the problems already preventing women from accessing education or participating in governance and peace-building processes.
Women are often further burdened by the need to function as primary carers in times of conflict. Left with the responsibility of caring for the wounded and other family members, women are placed at risk of being forced to enter situations of sexual exploitation in order to raise necessary finances.
Much is known of the particular impacts of war on women, yet they continue to be poorly represented in formal peace talks and post-conflict reconstruction processes. In recent peace processes, women have made up less than 8 percent of participants, and fewer than 3 percent of signatories. No woman has ever been appointed chief or lead mediator in UN-sponsored peace talks.
It is essential that women are included within peace negotiations, to ensure the needs of women in post-conflict situations are adequately represented, and to guarantee the ongoing stability of peace. The importance of women in peace negotiations was formally recognised in 2000 with the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. The landmark resolution addresses the specific situation of women in armed conflict and advocates for their fuller participation in decision-making during the re-building process.
What is the UN Security Council?
The United Nations Security Council is the most powerful body in the UN, and has mechanisms which can be used to enforce its resolutions: sanctions, military force, peacekeeping and observer forces. Every Security Council Resolution is a commitment made by the United Nations and its Member States to take action on a specific issue. All member states are expected to comply, and to work towards full implementation of the Resolution.
Security Council Resolution 1325
Security Council Resolution 1325 (SCR 1325) was adopted unanimously in October 2000. It is the first Resolution targeting the impact of conflict on women, and the role of women in peace, reconciliation and reconstruction. Core to the Resolution is a recognition that women can both influence and be affected by armed conflicts, that women are actors but may also be particularly vulnerable (Swedish Government National Action Plan SCR 1325, October 2006).
The knowledge and experience of women in conflict prevention and in the post conflict reconstruction of their societies is usually excluded, and women are under-represented in decision-making institutions. Gender-related violence is regularly used strategically by warring parties, and violence against women and girls is treated with impunity. SCR 1325 recognises the relevance of women’s experiences of conflict in peace processes and in conflict resolution; looking at women as active participants - rather than simply as victims.
Security Council Resolution 1325 calls for:
• Increased representation of women at all decision making levels in institutions promoting security
• Attention to the specific protection needs of women in conflict, including refugees
• Increased support for women peace-builders
• Protection from sexual violence, and an end to impunity for war crimes against women
• Women’s perspectives considered during conflict and in peacekeeping operations
• Response by all parties to women’s post-conflict needs – throughout disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration
How can we understand Security Council Resolution 1325?
Security Council Resolution 1325 works in conjunction with other UN Conventions and resolutions, to address the needs of women during and after periods of conflict. Security Council Resolution 1325 shares a common agenda with CEDAW - the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, otherwise known as the Bill of Rights for Women. CEDAW was adopted by the United Nations in 1979, and is the human rights convention devoted exclusively to gender equality.
CEDAW aims for equality for women in civil, political and socio-economic life. As a human rights convention, the guidelines in CEDAW are mandatory for United Nations Member States that have ratified the Convention. Each of these 192 signatory countries must report every four years to the CEDAW Committee on the progress and obstacles encountered in their efforts to achieve gender equality. Australia was one of the first countries to ratify CEDAW in 1983.
Both SCR 1325 and CEDAW regard the full participation of women in all levels of decision making as crucial in the achievement of gender equality. The two can be used to complement each other – for example where SCR 1325 demands women’s increased participation, CEDAW sets out concrete measures that should be taken to achieve this. The commitments of SCR 1325 are reinforced by the obligations which are set out in CEDAW.
Since the implementation of SCR 1325, three further resolutions have been adopted by the Security Council – 1820, 1888 and 1889 – to further support the core principles of SCR 1325. The four resolutions focus on two key goals: strengthening women’s participation in decision-making and ending sexual violence and impunity. Together these resolutions provide a framework to implement and measure change in the lives of women in war-affected countries.
UN Women’s approach
UN Women continues to lend support to projects focused on: facilitating women’s participation in decision-making processes, promoting the adoption of gendered perspectives in policy development, and countering conflict-related sexual violence. UN Women focuses on four key thematic areas: peacebuilding, security and justice, sexual and gender-based violence and post-conflict humanitarian planning.
How is Security Council Resolution 1325 relevant to Australia?
Australia has committed to playing a more active role in relation to its UN commitments, but is yet to enact an Australian National Plan of Action on SCR 1325. Looking at neighbouring regions in conflict, Timor-Leste, the Solomon Islands and Bougainville, it is clear that women in these regions have been disproportionately affected by war, but have remained sidelined from formal peace processes. Australia has played a leading role in peacekeeping in the region and is therefore in a position to influence the engagement of women in peace processes, and to ensure there is an ongoing commitment to the rights of women.
Several UN Member States have incorporated SCR 1325 into their legal, political and military systems. The United Kingdom Government created a National Plan of Action on SCR 1325 in 2006, setting out ways to incorporate SCR 1325 into its political and military practices. For example, the UK’s National Plan of Action led to an audit of gender content in pre-deployment training of Defence Force personnel, the results of which are now being used to ensure best-practice gender training.
UN Women and other supporting organisations would like to see the Australian Government take similar actions to implement a National Plan of Action on SCR1325. Australia has been involved in promoting SCR 1325 in the Pacific region. Peacekeepers and staff deployed to RAMSI (Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands) have regarded SCR 1325 as an essential tool in promoting the participation of women in decision-making and AusAID has provided support to regional NGOs dedicated to promoting SCR 1325, but the Australian Government is yet to enact a standardised policy on gender matters.
These moves taken by the Australian Government are key, but without a National Plan of Action, there continues to be no broad set of guidelines in place to outline the need for gender awareness in peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction operations. The role Australia plays in post-conflict reconstruction in the Pacific region and globally, makes it essential for an overarching National Plan of Action on SCR 1325 to be adopted. Such an act would see the role of women explicitly recognised, and ensure that gender becomes a central consideration in Australia’s military and defence commitments.