WUNRN
Direct Link to Full 50-Page Report:
_________________________________________________________________
UN
News Centre
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=37486&Cr=peacekeep&Cr1=
UN STUDY ON IMPLEMENTATION OF UN SECURITY COUNCIL
RESOLUTION 1325 – MORE WOMEN NEEDED IN PEACEKEEPING
8 February 2011 – Ten years after the
Security Council called for greater involvement of women in peacebuilding,
United Nations peacekeeping missions have a mixed record and need to deploy
greater efforts to reach the goal, according to a study
launched today.
“The impact study is a call to action to the senior leadership of
peacekeeping to accelerate implementation of resolution 1325,” UN
Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy said,
referring to the Council’s resolution of October 2000, which sought to end
sexual violence against women and girls in armed conflict and encourage greater
participation by them in peacebuilding initiatives.
The study, carried out by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO)
and the Department of Field Support (DFS), calls on UN peacekeeping missions to
work with local women, national authorities and Member States to increase the
limited participation of women in peace negotiations, national security
institutions and governance in post-conflict situations today.
Despite some cases of enhanced political representation, women’s ability to
contribute effectively to governing their societies often remains hampered by
persistent discrimination, it reported. Early and better-coordinated planning
by peacekeeping missions, across the UN system and with national partners, is
required to ensure lasting and meaningful changes for women in post-conflict
situations, it added.
“I will continue to prioritize this agenda and provide the necessary
leadership to ensure that the entire peacekeeping family is effectively
mobilized to support the building of more just and equal post-conflict
societies,” Mr. Le Roy said in launching the Ten-year Impact Study on
Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution
1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security in Peacekeeping.
Peacekeeping has played a crucial role in significant progress made in
women’s participation in politics as voters, candidates and elected officials,
with the most marked advances in countries where quotas are in place, such as
Timor-Leste and Burundi, it reported.
Peacekeeping missions have also influenced legal and judicial reforms by
supporting the adoption of gender equality laws in several countries, including
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone. Deployments of patrols
in high-risk areas in the Darfur region of Sudan and the DRC have also enhanced
protection of women.
But peacekeeping has not succeeded in significantly improving women’s
participation in peace negotiations, the study found, underscoring the need for
a strategy ensuring engagement with diverse groups of women. Peacekeeping missions
should also intensify advocacy to increase the representation of women in
national security institutions, safeguard their equal rights, and expand
opportunities for their professional advancement, it added.
The study also called for a more robust response to fight against
conflict-related sexual violence, which remains highly prevalent in
peacekeeping mission areas; more resources for protecting women who are
refugees or internally displaced, with the support of international partners;
and holding senior peacekeeping management to a higher level of accountability
for compliance with resolution 1325.
Key advances include an exponential increase in women serving as civilian
staff in UN peacekeeping missions from only 20 in the 32 years between 1957 and
1989 to 30 per cent of the current 19,800 civilian staffers. Eight Special
Representatives of the Secretary-General (SRSGs) and Deputy SRSGs in peace
operations are women, while women currently make up nine per cent of the 12,000
deployed police officers, up from six per cent in 2005.
There are now three all-female UN police units deployed – Indian in Liberia,
Bangladeshi in Haiti, and Samoan in Timor-Leste – and the current UN Police
Adviser, who advises the DPKO on police-related matters, is a woman, Ann-Marie
Orler of Sweden.
The UN has launched a plan to recruit more female police officers into
national police services and into UN police operations around the world, with a
goal of reaching 20 per cent by 2014.
Categories: Releases
