Women's contribution to peacebuilding
Women have a crucial role in maintaining peace and in building empowering networks of solidarity among girls and women. Some even dare to say that in a world ruled by women, there would be no wars.
The United Nations defines peacebuilding as the "Activities undertaken on the far side of conflict to reassemble the foundations of peace and provide the tools for building on those foundations something that is more than just the absence of war.” (Lakhdar, 2000). There is a wide range of perspectives inside the feminist movement that undertake the issue of marginalisation of women from high-level decision-making and informal contributions to peacekeeping and conflict resolution and reconstruction. For example, transversal feminism advocates empowering women to form webs of solidarity transversely over racial, ethnic, national, class, and other divides, “to campaign as women for women as a way to challenge gendered inequalities and (re)create more peaceful and emancipatory societies” (O’Reily, 2013). One of the best examples of the increase of gender perspective in peacebuilding is Resolution 1325 adopted by the UN Security Council in 2000 on women and peace and security, which seeks women's participation in peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction. However, even though the positive consequences of this Resolution are visible, we can not talk about it as a household term as its recognition is not widely expanded outside activists and policy circles (Miller, Pournik & Swaine, 2014).
Regarding that Resolution, its very contribution comes precisely from the fact that it “was the first time the UNSC committed a resolution for women during peace and conflict”. Furthermore, Resolution 1325 lays out essential directives for member states, addressing the effects of war on women and highlighting their crucial involvement in peacebuilding and conflict resolution. It sets a precedent for subsequent resolutions, empowering women to demand equality and urging member states to recognize their capabilities on par with men (Akinbamidele, 2022). In addition, since this Resolution was adopted, there has been an increase in the Council's involvement with the WPS agenda, notably by incorporating gender language in its resolutions. To illustrate, in 2000, only a quarter of relevant resolutions mentioned women, but by 2013, this rose to 94%. However, what has yet to occur is an improved implementation of WPS on the ground of peacekeeping operations (there’s an implementation gap), lacking the essential leadership and subsequent action within the Council and Secretariat in these operations, a positive influence on the ground will not materialize (UN WOMEN, 2015). What is more, women's participation in peace processes remains disappointingly low even after two decades. On average, between 1992 and 2019, women made up only 13% of negotiators, 6% of mediators, and 6% of signatories in major peace processes worldwide. This lack of inclusion persists, with similar struggles evident in peace efforts in 2020 (Akinbamidele, 2022).
For instance, Afghanistan, a country characterized by huge insecurity and violence, has put into practice Resolution 1325 by the adoption of a National Action Plan (NAP) for the period of 2015-2022. This NAP is structured around the four strategic pillars of the 1325 Resolution, which concern participation, protection, prevention, and relief and recovery (Women Peace and Security Programme), aiming to achieve increased participation of women during decision-making processes, especially regarding peace and security. The NAP, however, does not forget about the necessity to recognize the vulnerable nature of Afghan women during times of war, and the subsequent need for the prevention of sexual violence and the facilitation of aid distribution and access to healthcare and justice (Afghanistan National Action Plan). Nevertheless, the NAP has not been successful, and this is mainly due to implementation and budgetary issues since the country does not have the necessary resources or agencies to execute it (Afghanistan National Action Plan). In addition to this, it is relevant to remark that in 2021 the Taliban regained power over the region, which, once again, worsened the situation of women, seeing their rights be diminished once again with prohibitions on working or going to school (Maizland, 2024), which takes the fight for the participation of women in peacebuilding to the background.
Another country worth mentioning is Rwanda, as the genocide that took place in 1994 lead the international community to take action in relation to the gender dimension of conflicts and the systemic employement of rape as a weapon (Madsen, 2018). In the aftermath of the conflict, Rwandan women and girls had to assume roles in society that were traditionally regarded as masculine (government officials, peacebuilders…). Even though this growth aligns with the goals of Resolution 1325, in fact, it originated out of necessity. In 2010, the country formulated its National Action Plan (NAP), that prioritizes the prevention, safeguarding, involvement and endorsement of women and gender topics, underscoring the significance of economic empowerment of women. However, the lack of resources along with irregularities, inefficiencies and non-integration complicate the achievement of results (Madsen, 2019). It is important to highlight that the government´s persistent commitment to a gender-responsive political agenda has led to a relevant increase in the representation and involvement of women in the political dimension, with the emergence of gender quotas that has extended to all areas of government (Björkdahl et al., 2015).
Bibliography
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Akinbamidele, F (30 November, 2022). (Analysis) Resolution 1325: The Contribution and Limitation on Women, Peace & Security. The New Global Order. https://thenewglobalorder.com/world-news/ready-analysis-resolution-1325-the-contribution-and-limitation-on-women-peace-security/
Björkdahl, A., & Mannergren Selimovic, J. (2015). Translating UNSCR 1325 from the global to the national: protection, representation and participation in the National Action Plans of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Rwanda. Conflict, Security & Development, 15(4), 311–335. https://doi.org/10.1080/14678802.2015.1071973
Lakhdar, Brahimi. (2000). Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations. United Nations.
Madsen, D. H. (2018). ‘Localising the Global’–Resolution 1325 as a tool for promoting women's rights and gender equality in Rwanda. In Women 's Studies International Forum (Vol. 66, pp. 70-78). Pergamon. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277539516302072.
Madsen, D. H. (2019). Friction or flows? The translation of Resolution 1325 into practice in Rwanda. Conflict, Security & Development, 19(2), 173-193. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14678802.2019.1586190
Maizland, L. (January 19,2023). The Taliban in Afghanistan. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/taliban-afghanistan
Miller, B., Pournik, M., & Swaine, A. (2014). Women in peace and security through United Nations Security resolution 1325: Literature review, content analysis of national action plans, and implementation. Institute for Global and International studies, 16.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Directorate of Human Rights and Women’s International Affairs. June 2015. Afghanistan’s National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 Women, Peace and Security https://gnwp.org/wp-content/uploads/Afghanistan-NAP-2015-2022.pdf
O'Reilly, M. (2013). Gender and Peacebuilding. In R. Mac Ginty (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Peacebuilding (pp. 57-68).
UN WOMEN. (2015). Preventing Conflict Transforming Justice Securing the Peace. A Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1325. https://www.un.org/peacebuilding/sites/www.un.org.peacebuilding/files/documents/globalstudywps_en_web.pdf
1325 National Action Plans. Afghanistan 1325 Resolution. Women Peace and Security Programme https://1325naps.peacewomen.org/index.php/afghanistan/
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