Gender justice and accountability in peace support operations: Closing the gaps
The goal of this policy briefing is to provide a focused look at the challenges and obstacles to ensuring gender justice and accountability in the context of international peace support operations (PSOs) and to provide recommendations for UN and regional peacekeeping bodies (AU, ECOWAS, EU, NATO, OSCE) officials, responsible for peacekeeping in terms of setting policy standards and practice guidelines, as well as those directly involved as military or civilian peacekeepers.
Gender justice is fundamental to fostering gender equality and gender mainstreaming. It incorporates the gender equitable promotion and protection of civil, political, economic and social rights. This necessitates gender-awareness and gender analysis of the rights themselves as well as the obstacles to the enjoyment of these rights.
The perspectives and recommendations contained in this briefing paper are based on consultations with international legal experts and gender justice advocates, interviews with peace support personnel, and members of ‘beneficiary’ communities where PSOs have operated, as well as other primary and secondary sources of information.
The briefing builds on previous documents relating to broader aspects of gender mainstreaming in PSOs and was undertaken as part of International Alert’s ongoing work to support the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 and related instruments. Many aspects of gender mainstreaming and gender justice overlap and interlink, this briefing focuses on rule of law mechanisms and practical accountability mechanisms linked to these.
