Gender

To be effective as peacebuilders, we need to respond to the power dynamics and norms that influence peace and violent conflict at the household, community, national and international levels.

10 years ago the groundbreaking UN Resolution 1325 was passed.

This extraordinary Resolution recognises the devastating impact of conflict on women and states that women must be involved in building peace.

Whilst 1325 is extraordinary in principle, a decade later, a lack of implementation means its impact is not being felt by women.

International Alert recently published a report examining women’s representation in parliament in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Drawing on local views, Women, elections and violence in West Africa provides an assessment of the current state of women’s political participation in the two countries ahead of their forthcoming elections in 2011 and 2012.

Only one in forty signatories to peace agreements over the last twenty-five years were women, reveals a new report by Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS), a UK research and advocacy group of which International Alert is a member.

The Global Monitoring Checklist on Women, Peace and Security, a vital report on the political, legal, and socioeconomic progress of women in five conflict-affected regions, was recently launched in Parliament to an audience of parliamentarians, civil servants, journalists and members of civil society.

Initiative for Peacebuilding (IfP), a consortium supported by the European Union and led by International Alert, recently launched six synthesis papers which summarise lessons learnt, conclusions and recommendations drawn from evidence-based research conducted in the last year and a half by Alert and its partners.

International Alert recently brought together in Gbarnga, Liberia, members of the traditional and formal justice communities to share experiences and expertise in order to improve access to justice for female victims of sexual violence, including both women and girls.

Civil society and government representatives from Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Burundi recently gathered in Freetown for training on developing gender-sensitive indicators for the consolidation of peacebuilding programmes. Participants also attended a roundtable discussion on the development of National Action Plans (NAPs) for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325.

As part of the Human Security Project, International Alert Guinea recently held a series of workshops in the town of N’zerekore, in Guinea’s forest region, aimed at reducing sexual violence against women and improving access to justice for women and girl victims.

International Alert Burundi recently carried out a study on women’s perceptions of security as part of its programme aimed at supporting local women’s organisations for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

International Alert, together with Amnesty International UK, CARE International UK, Oxfam GB, WOMANKIND Worldwide, Women for Women International UK, and other members of the Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS) network, is launching the No Women No Peace. competition, a competition for creative people.

United Nations Resolution 1325, passed 10 years ago this week, recognises the devastating impact of conflict on women and states that women must be involved in building peace. Despite this historic resolution, women all over the world are today suffering violence, while being excluded from solutions to conflict.

The Women Building Peace: Sharing Know-How workshop on Assessing Impact was held in London in July 2004. The meeting brought together women from conflict and transition contexts in Africa (including Uganda, Sudan, and Somalia), the Middle East (Israel), South Asia (Nepal), the Caucasus (Georgia and Abkhazia) and South America (Colombia).

Full report