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RIGHTS: Landmark U.N. Resolution on Equality Stuck on Paper

Nergui Manalsuren

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 29 2008 (IPS) - Civil society groups are urging the U.N. to fully implement a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for greater women’s participation in conflict prevention, resolution and peace-building.

On Wednesday, the 15-member Council opened its eighth open debate on “Women, Peace, and Security” at U.N. headquarters in New York.

“Eight years since the adoption of Security Council resolution 1325, there has been a great deal more talk about the protection and promotion of women’s human rights in conflict-affected situations,” said the coalition of major human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

“It is necessary now to move from words to action,” said Sarah Taylor, coordinator of the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security.

Many women’s advocates fear that this year will again see little more than “lip service” paid toward making 1325 reality.

“I don’t think we feel that the real spirit of 1325 has really got the heart of the Security Council and its efforts. It should be more than an annual anniversary that we celebrate,” said Jessica Neuwirth, the president of Equality Now, a leading group dedicated to promoting women’s rights worldwide.

She expressed disappointment that even though one of the key ideas of the resolution was to bring more women’s voices into the Security Council, the powerful body rarely reaches out to women when debating conflict resolutions.

“There is a once-a-year moment where they pay lip service with this resolution, but that is not what we really would like to see,” Neuwirth told IPS.

“What we’d like to see is, in a very formal way, anytime there is a conflict on the Security Council agenda, they look to women to seek advice and guidance and put them into discussions and elements that promote peace,” she added.

Vivian Stromberg, the executive director of MADRE, an international organisation that has been promoting women’s rights for 25 years, is also not optimistic that Wednesday’s debate will change anything.

However, she believes that the participation of civil society in the discussion on the floor, particularly women’s organisations in this case, is crucially important to raise questions, and to put pressure on those governments which do not comply with their obligations.

“Women’s participation brings to the table everything that affects women. They bring to the table the issues of gender, issues of sexuality, issues of environment, issues of peace and security, issues of war, and economy, the vast number of issues that the whole world is facing now with the level of poverty that we’re seeing now,” Stromberg told IPS.

“I think that women are in the best position to respond to all of those issues, and to relegate women to issues only to which she has a biological relationship is wrong and shortchanges humanity,” she said.

According to the U.N. report on Women, Peace, and Security, there have been gains in the broad areas for action set out in the resolution: awareness of the importance of gender equality, development of national action plans, gender mainstreaming, capacity building and support for greater participation of women in decision-making, including in elections and governance. However, a gap between policies and implementation of the resolution remains, in particular at the national level.

The report says that only 10 member states have developed specific national action plans for implementation of the resolution and five more are in the process of developing such plans.

“We have a long way to go in ensuring women’s equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, particularly in conflict prevention and resolution, equal representation in security institutions and decision-making bodies, as well as ensuring women’s protection from sexual violence and ending impunity,” Rachel Mayanja, the U.N. Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, told the Security Council.

Regarding sexual violence and impunity, including sexual violence by U.N. peacekeeping forces, the head of MADRE said that the U.N. needs to do what it has promised to do.

“If they have a zero tolerance policy then they are supposed to have zero tolerance… They can’t just talk about it, they have to follow it through, and that means that the home countries need to be held accountable,” Stromberg told IPS.

She expressed her concern that without civil society, there will be a big, empty hole through which governments can slip and hide.

“Since the U.N. as a body doesn’t have the power to bring to justice a peacekeeper from a particular country, it’s that country that has the power to do that and the obligation [of civil society is] to hold their governments accountable,” added Stromberg.

Rachel Mayanja also stressed the importance of civil society groups, noting that they have “been active in the national implementation process, holding governments accountable and injecting new dynamism into societies.”

However, these NGOs do not enjoy the cooperation of the Security Council on these critical matters, she added.

“We hope that they renew their commitments to implementation of 1325, and we would like it to see as more than an annual event. It should be a daily event. They should bring women in. We would like to see it happen,” Neuwirth told IPS.