Monthly Action Points (MAP) for the Security Council: January 2015

Burundi

The Council is expected to consider the final report of the United Nations Office in Burundi (BNUB) and discuss the establishment of the United Nations Electoral Observation Mission in Burundi (MENUB) which is set to begin operations on 1 January 2015, replacing BNUB. The Council should ensure that gender is a cross-cutting issue across MENUB’s work. Further, women’s full participation as candidates, voters and monitors should be promoted, and women’s civil society organizations should be engaged in any violence prevention efforts in the lead up to, during and after the election.

Cyprus

The Security Council is expected to consider the report of the Secretary-General and renew the mandate of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP). The Council should support efforts to ensure women’s full and meaningful participation in ongoing negotiations by including specific language in the UNFICYP mandate to this effect, and by strengthening references to the participation of civil society in the peace process (SCR 2114 (2013), OP 3(d)) in line with the recommendations in S/2010/603, para. 43.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

In its consideration of the report on the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), the Council should ensure it receives the “enhanced reporting,” requested as per SCR 2147 (2014), OP 27. Furthermore, members should:

• Inquire into concrete information on targeted attacks of any nature on women, including women human rights defenders and sex-disaggregated data, and efforts to consult with women’s human rights organizations and displaced women in all stabilization and peace consolidation efforts.
• Reinforce that MONUSCO, in its Security Sector Reform (SSR) efforts, must ensure that FARDC soldiers and Congolese National Police (PNC) work to prevent sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and are held accountable for any crimes they, themselves commit.
• Request that all units of MONUSCO respect the WHO Safe and Ethical Guidelines for Investigating Sexual Violence and refrain from pressuring NGOs to turn over confidential survivor information.
• Ensure that WPAs only investigate cases of conflict-related sexual violence with the consent of survivors and only after they have had access to lifesaving health care services.

Guinea-Bissau

The comprehensive review of the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS), due by 30 January 2015, will include the recommendations from the UN strategic assessment mission. The Security Council should continue to call for reports to include information and analysis on efforts to mainstream women, peace and security across all work within the mission especially in the context of the mission’s efforts to support the activities of the Steering Committee on SSR and the efforts made by the ECOWAS Mission in Guinea-Bissau (ECOMIB).

Iraq

The Council is expected to report on the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI). As the Security Council continues to address the situation in Iraq, Council members should hold women’s human rights central in all discussion and actions. With nearly 5,000 civilians killed and, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over 2 million persons displaced since January 2014, discussion should outline measures prioritizing the POC, with specific considerations for women and girls. The Council should:

• Ensure a gender lens is being applied to assistance, and women and girls, including those displaced and those with disabilities, are consulted, by all humanitarian and protection actors.
• Mainstream gender in all counterterrorism efforts. All actions taken to prevent and respond to terrorist threats should ensure women’s full and meaningful participation, and address the impact of violent extremism and terrorism on women.
• Call for consultations with women civil society leaders in order to integrate a gender lens that promotes the women, peace and security concerns. Discriminatory policies and practices must be rescinded, and institutions must be inclusive of all Iraqis, including women, in order to provide a foundation for future sustainable peace.

Protection of Civilians

In the expected open debate on protection of civilians (POC), speakers should reinforce the importance of women’s participation in POC activities. It is necessary that the Council ensure the integration of a gender perspective in all mandate renewals and resolutions, particularly by ensuring women’s participation in the design and implementation of specific strategies to protect civilians, including gender-specific strategies and responses to acts of sexual and gender-based violence. Further, the Council should ensure women’s full and meaningful participation in all efforts to resolve and prevent conflict including women’s participation in all peace and reconciliation processes, security sector reform, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration and the flow of small arms and light weapons, as articulated in the Aide Memoire (S/PRST/2014/30).

Somalia

The expected report on the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) should promote women’s full participation in: the constitutional review process, dialogues with Somali regional actors on the federal system, the implementation of the Somali Compact, and all efforts to find a political solution to the ongoing armed violence, and detail the specific steps the UN will take to support such activities. The Council should also ensure the report covers progress made in implementing SCR 2102 (2013), including OPs 2(d) and 2(e) mandating UNSOM to help prevent, monitor, investigate, and report on abuses and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. The Council must call on Somali authorities, AMISOM, and UNSOM to ensure women and children are protected from sexual violence and exploitation, including sexual exploitation and abuse, as specified in SCR 2102 (2013), OP 11.

South Sudan

In its ongoing monitoring of the situation in South Sudan, the Council must continue to advance efforts to implement the mandate of the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS). Reports from the ground in South Sudan indicate widespread and ongoing sexual violence in IDP camps as well as local communities. There is a vast dearth in gender disaggregated data in UNMISS reporting, and further gender expertise and training of UNMISS personnel must be prioritized in 2015 as called for in OP 20 of SCR 2187 (2014). Activities conducted by Council members on South Sudan in 2015 are also encouraged to integrate the representation and voices of South Sudanese women. Relatedly, the Council should continue to insist on the need for accountability for grave human rights violations and abuses, including rampant accounts of sexual violence, in the South Sudan conflict. Both the monitoring teams charged with implementing the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, as well as the forthcoming report by the African Union Commission on Inquiry, may offer critical reporting on the extent of these atrocities. Council members are urged to monitor these reporting instruments and take the lead in ensuring any information released is not suppressed by conflict parties.

South Sudan / Sudan

Given the scope and persistent nature of the human rights and humanitarian law violations by government forces across Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan since 2011, the Council is urged to establish an international commission of inquiry and undertake efforts to stem the illicit flow of arms to the area. Further, as the Council considers the finalreport of the Panel of Experts, inclusion of violations of human rights, including acts of SGBV, should be discussed in the context of expanding the designation criteria for targeted measures.

In its regular work, the Council should ensure that all country reports and mandate renewals evaluate the level of protection and promotion of women’s human rights, as per SCRs 1325, 1820 (OP 9), 1888 (OP 11), 1889 (OP 5), 1960 (OPs 6, 13), 2106 (OPs 5, 6), and 2122 (OP 2(d)). Member States should inquire about any lack of such reporting