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

SCR 1325 and the Girl Child

29 February 2007

Security Council Resolution (SCR) 1325 on women peace and security is a groundbreaking instrument that mandates the participation of women in decision-making and peace processes, the protection of women and girls, and the institution gender perspectives and training in peacekeeping. However, six years after the adoption of SCR 1325 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.

The full and effective implementation of SCR 1325 can play a large part in addressing the impact of violent conflict on the girl child. 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.
  • 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
  • Call on civil society and non-governmental agencies to increase global and local awareness of SCR 1325 as it relates to women and girls and hold governments and policy-makers accountable to its mandates.