SCR 1325 and the Peacebuilding Commission: Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security – Six years on report

The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) is a body intended to advise and propose integrated peacebuilding, development and reconstruction strategies for countries emerging from violent conflict. This report examines the establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission, its structure, mandate and obligation to implement SCR 1325 in the achievement of durable peace and development.

It has been six years since the unanimous adoption of Security Council resolution 1325 (SCR 1325) and, within the last year, the United Nations has established the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC)—a body intended to advise and propose integrated peacebuilding, development and reconstruction strategies for countries emerging from violent conflict.

Considering many of the existing strategies, mechanisms and bodies that already exist within the United Nations (UN), two questions immediately arise. First, why create a Peacebuilding Commission? The UN has long been engaged in working to build peace in war-torn regions, so why is there the need for a new body? More specifically, what was happening in the UN and globally that made it necessary? Second, given that SCR 1325 commits the UN to making women’s participation in peacemaking and peacebuilding central to its activities, how did the commitments embodied in the resolution shape the development of the PBC?