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Six Years On: Women Continue to be Excluded from Peacemaking and Peacebuilding Processes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Gina Torry, Coordinator
Tel: 1-212-682-3633
Fax: 1-212-682-5354

Six Years On: Women Continue to be Excluded from Peacemaking and Peacebuilding Processes

23 October 2006

Six years after the adoption of Security Council Resolution (SCR) 1325 on women peace and security, the overall implementation of this groundbreaking instrument by the international community remains low, and its use within the work of the Security Council, infrequent. Women continue to be excluded from most peacemaking and peacebuilding processes around the world, and sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls during and after armed conflict continues unabated.

To advance the implementation of SCR 1325 in the year to come, and in anticipation of the Security Council's Open Debate on Women's Participation in the Consolidation of Peace, scheduled for 26 October 2006, the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security urges Member States to:

  • Call on the Security Council to establish a focal point and an expert level working group on women, peace and security to ensure systematic implementation and integration of resolution 1325 within its work, including in all resolutions that establish or extend peacekeeping missions and in terms of references for Security Council mission trips and mission reports.
  • Call on the new UN Peacebuilding Commission to adopt an internal policy on gender mainstreaming in its structure and operations, integrate a gender analysis in arrangements for the management, disbursement and use of the new Peacebuilding Fund and - create mechanisms to facilitate the participation of representatives of women's civil society groups and networks in its country specific configurations.
  • Support the Secretary-General's proposals in his In-Depth Study on All Forms of Violence Against Women (A/61/122/Add), particularly paragraph 397 that urges "[t]he Security Council intensify efforts to address gender-based violence against women and consistently monitor measures taken within the framework of the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 . . . [and] consider establishing a dedicated monitoring mechanism to increase the effectiveness of the Council's contribution to preventing and redressing violence against women in armed conflict".
  • Request the Secretary-General to make further recommendations to the Security Council on specific means by which the Council could be more systematically informed of the use of sexual and gender-based violence in armed conflict and means by which the Council could more effectively bring an end to impunity and hold parties responsible for these violations accountable.
  • Call on the Security Council, the Secretary-General and Member States to create mechanisms to ensure the inclusion of representatives of women and women's groups engaged in peacemaking and peacebuilding in all peace negotiations and processes.
  • Develop action plans on women, peace and security using the framework of SCR 1325, with support of the United Nations, governments and regional organizations and call on the Secretary-General to develop concrete recommendations and guidelines for reporting on progress made in the development and implementation of national action plans and strategies on women, peace and security by October 2007