IWTC WOMEN’S GLOBALNET #343
ACTIVITIES & INITIATIVES
OF WOMEN WORLDWIDE WOMEN ENSURE ACTION ON UNSCR
1325, WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY September
25, 2008 Helena
Gronberg 1.
PLANNING UNDERWAY TO MARK
OCTOBER PASSAGE OF UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 1325 ON WOMEN, PEACE AND
SECURITY 2.
FINLAND LAUNCHES NATIONAL
ACTION PLAN ON SCR 1325 3.
RURAL AND REGIONAL WOMEN’S
MEDIA CORRESPONDENTS MEET TO INTENSIFY ADVOCACY & OUTREACH IN
ASIA-PACIFIC 4.
SALZBURG GLOBAL SEMINAR 455
MAKES RECOMMENDATIONS ON SCR 1325 5.
OTHER MEETINGS ON
PEACEBUILDING 6.
SITES AND SOURCES FOR KEEPING
CURRENT ON WOMEN, PEACE & SECURITY ISSUES 1. PLANNING
UNDERWAY TO MARK OCTOBER PASSAGE OF UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 1325 ON
WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY This October will
mark 8 years since the UN Security Council passed its landmark resolution on
women, peace and security. As in previous
years, planning is underway in countries worldwide and among the New
York-based international community including UN agencies, governments and
civil society on what debates, seminars and discussions will take place to
give new impetus to the implementation of SCR 1325 and to identify new issues
and challenges. In the United
Nations, the Inter Agency Task Force on Women, Peace and Security plays a
critical role in the advocacy for and coordination of the United Nations
systems joint response to women, peace and security, in partnership with
Member States and non-governmental organizations. The Office of the Special Adviser on Gender
Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI) coordinates the work of the Inter
Agency Task Force and is also responsible for the preparation of the annual
report of the Secretary General detailing progress made in the system-wide
plan for implementation of SCR 1325. A focal point
of SCR 1325 October activities is the Security Council. Whichever country
holds the October presidency in the Security Council — this year it is China
– decides on the theme and what other events the Security Council will
sponsor such as an Arria Formula, an Open Debate, and/or a Presidential
Statement. To respond to two themes put forward by China, the Inter- Agency
Task Force supported the suggested theme of Women and Armed Conflict with a focus on women’s participation.
Most agencies and NGOs make an effort to tailor their side events to the
theme decided on. The Open Debate on Women, Peace and
Security is tentatively scheduled for October 29th and China has indicated that it will
give civil society one slot to speak.
China has also implied that there will be no Presidential Statement.
The Task Force is also advocating for
an Arria Formula - an
informal arrangement that allows the Security Council greater flexibility to
be briefed by individuals other than government delegates and is therefore an
important “opening” in Security Council deliberations for NGOs to have their
voices heard. For the Arria Formula to happen, a Security Council member
(there are 15 member states on the Security Council including the 5 permanent
members) must agree to sponsor the Arria. To date, no country has stepped
forward with an offer. Side Events to be Important Feature of
SCR 1325 October Events: The UN and its
specialized agencies, NGOs and country missions to the UN are all likely to
host a number of panels and seminars, exhibits, and book launches in the
October 1325 program adding depth and substance to discussions in the
Security Council. OSAGI will host the
SCR 1325 Planned Events Calendar
(UN, NGO and government events) on its website http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/index.html and all those who wish their event
publicized are encouraged to submit information to osagi@un.org by the end of September. - Among events
currently on the agenda is the International Rescue Committee’s photo exhibit
entitled Global Crescendo – Women’s
Voices from Conflict Zones. The
idea behind the exhibit, which is so-sponsored by OSAGI, was to use
photography as a medium through which “to act and be heard.” Women in
Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Cote d’Ivoire participated in the project in which
women were given cameras and asked to capture their perspectives and
challenges through the lens. - The NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and
Security, the 12-organization working group that monitors and advocates
on SCR 1325 with the New York-based international community, is also planning an event which is
still in the planning stages. Details
of the event will be found on the OSAGI website as well as on the Working
Group’s website: http://www.womenpeacesecurity.org/programs-events/ 2. FINLAND LAUNCHES NATIONAL
ACTION PLAN ON SCR1325 On September
19, 2008 Finland became the eleventh country to launch a National Action Plan
on SCR 1325. The UN Secretary-General's report of 13 October 2004, on
implementation of SCR 1325, requested that Member States develop their own
National Action Plans to implement the resolution. Only Austria, Cote
d’Ivoire, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and now Finland have so far heeded to the
request. The Finnish 1325 network, which is made up of non-governmental
organizations, was very active in promoting the preparation of the national
action plan in Finland. For the full action plan see http://formin.finland.fi/public/download.aspx?ID=32702&GUID={6E789E51-2C81-4F67-B12D-23E7389922F4}
3. SCR 1325 AND PEACE AND
SECURITY ISSUES FOCUS OF PACIFIC WOMEN’S RURAL AND REGIONAL MEDIA
CORRESPONDENTS MEETING “Amplifying
Women’s Voices to Influence National and Regional Peace and Human Security
Policy” was the focus of a series of meetings and training sessions organized
for 38 rural and regional women’s media correspondents brought together by
femLINKPACIFIC (Media Initiatives for Women) in Suva, Fiji. At the meeting, held from September 15 to
17, rural correspondents, focal points and partners from Tonga, Solomon
Islands and Bougainville, Papua New Guinea as well as the rural Fijian
communities of Ba, Nadi, Nausori and Labasa reviewed activities to date and
developed plans for intensifying efforts to produce women’s news and
information from their communities. The event commemorated the
International Day of Peace (September 21) and particular attention was paid
to the role of women’s media advocacy and promoting women’s participation in
all aspects of peace building and the implementation of SCR 1325. Dr. Anne S.
Walker, former Executive Director of IWTC, was a key-note speaker at the
event. 4. SALZBURG GLOBAL SEMINAR
455 RECOMMENDATIONS ON SCR 1325 Participants
at the Salzburg Global Seminar, held September 7 to
12, 2008, examined progress on the implementation of UNSCR 1325, recognizing that for too long parties to SCR 1325
have depended on “calls to action,” many of which had been ignored, without
sufficient attention to “action itself.” Recommendations which have come out
of seminar are therefore focused on how all the actors, from the highest
levels of the United Nations to grass-roots, can design and implement
concrete mechanisms and actions to give life to SCR 1325 and related
resolutions (such as the equivalent European Parliament resolution). Among
the significant recommendations are : -
Follow-On
Resolution to UNSCR1325: Upon receipt of the next Secretary-General’s report on women,
peace, and security, issue a follow-on resolution to SCR 1325 comparable to
UNSCRs 1379 and 1612 on Children and Armed Conflict which provide mechanisms
for follow-up, funding and the option of sanctions. - 40/40 gender-balance formula: Ensuring the full
participation of women in all aspects of peacemaking and peace building
cannot be guaranteed unless women have an active role. To achieve this,
the 40-40 Approach should be adopted by all parties, whether governments,
organizations or groups, under which both men and women are guaranteed a
minimum of 40% representation. Delegates
included more than 65 women and men experts from the Philippines, Western,
Central and Southern Africa, North and South America, South Asia,
Australasia, Western, East and South East Europe, Britain and Northern
Ireland. For
more information, see http://www.salzburgglobal.org/2009/Sessions.cfm?IDSPECIAL_EVENT=1564
or contact NSmith@SalzburgGlobal.org -
5. OTHER MEETINGS ON
PEACEBUILDING - Joan
B. Kroc Institute for Peace &Justice: Women PeaceMakers Conference:
"Crafting Human Security in an Insecure World." September 24 - 26,
2008. See http://peace.sandiego.edu/events/womenpeace/info.php
- World Association for Christian
Communication (WACC) will hold a final meeting in Cape Town from 6-10
October on “Communication is peace: Building viable communities.” see http://www.wacc.org.uk/wacc 6. SITES AND SOURCES FOR
KEEPING CURRENT ON WOMEN, PEACE & SECURITY ISSUES - Women
Watch: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/wps/ -
NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security: http://www.womenpeacesecurity.org/
-
Peace Women: http://www.peacewomen.org/ - Recommended Readings From Women, Ink. (i) Women Building Peace: What They Do, Why It
Matters by Sanam Anderlini How and why do
women's contributions matter in peace and security processes? Why should
women's activities in this sphere be explored separately from peace building
efforts in general? Anderlini offers a comprehensive, cross-regional analysis
of women's peace building initiatives around the world and traces the
evolution of international policies in this arena and highlights the endemic
problems that stunt progress. https://id311.securedata.net/womenink.org/merchantmanager/product_info.php?cPath= (ii) Women’s Experiences during Armed Conflict
in Southern Sudan, 1983-2005 The Case of Juba County Central
Equatorial State by
ISIS-WICCE As a result of
the prolonged civil armed conflict in Southern Sudan, women experienced acute
poverty, food insecurity, poor health and sexual and gender-based violence.
Aimed at documenting the experiences and circumstances of the Southern Sudan
women in the two decades (1983-2005) of armed conflict, this study adopts a
descriptive and analytical approach that utilizes a mix of quantitative and
qualitative methodologies. Issues addressed include the pre-armed conflict
environment, causes of the conflict and process and women’s experiences in
the outbreak of conflict, including atrocities committed during the war,
damages to property, sexual and gender-based violence, flight, life in
refugee camps and the causes of death. https://id311.securedata.net/womenink.org/merchantmanager/product_info.php?cPath (iii) Gender, Conflict & Peacekeeping, edited
by Dyan Mazurana, Angela Raven-Roberts and Jane Parpart This
groundbreaking volume explores how gender has become a central factor in
shaping current thinking about the causes and consequences of armed conflict,
complex emergencies and reconstruction. Drawing on expertise ranging from the
highest levels of international policy-making down to the daily struggle to
implement peacekeeping operations, this work represents the full span of
knowledge and experience about international intervention in local crises.
Presenting a rich array of examples from Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, East
Timor, El Salvador, the former Yugoslavia, Guatemala, Haiti, Kosovo, Liberia,
Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda and Serbia, the authors offer important insights
for future peacekeeping and humanitarian missions. https://id311.securedata.net/womenink.org/merchantmanager/product_info.php?cPath=2 |
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