å Saturday, April 1st, 2017

United Nations Resolution 1325, as described in the essay “Nongovernmental Organizations’ Role in the Buildup and Implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325” written by Hill, Aboitiz, and Poehlman-Doumbouya, builds on language and resolutions already established by the United Nations, with the goal of protecting women and girls during times of conflict and including women in conflict resolution and peace keeping missions.  The resolution identifies that civilians, women and children in particular, are those that are most likely to be affected during times of conflict and stresses the need for protection of women and children under human rights law. It also notes the importance of the role women should play in conflict revolution and maintaining peace and the need for implementing gender and culture sensitivity training for peacekeeping missions.

Specifically, the resolution calls for equal representation of women in the decision-making process and accordingly, a plan to implement a strategy to do so. It calls for training guidelines on the protection and inclusion of women, increased funding for training, adherence to accords such as the Geneva Convention in regards to protecting women and children, consideration of women and children in future measures and resolutions, and studies on the impact of conflict on women and children. While the above certainly sounds well-meaning and useful, we must consider how the resolution moves from words on paper to action in real life.

Reading Hill et al.’s essay, it is difficult to ascertain whether the resolution has been successful in protecting women’s rights and safety. The authors speak to actions taken by nongovernmental organization’s (NGOs) roles in crafting the measure and later, working towards implementing the resolution. There were hearings, annotated essays and books recorded, testimonies, forums, dispersions of copies of the resolutions, panels, and working lunches. Again, this looks good on paper and allows academics to flex their intellectual muscles, but how do we determine the real-life consequences of the resolution?

One result is the inclusion of women’s voices and this certainly should not be underestimated. The essay does note the inclusion of gender provisions in reports on UN peacekeeping missions in a number of localities, including Afghanistan, East Timor, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It also mentions that the resolution has resulted in the inclusion of women in the reconstruction talks of both Afghanistan and the DRC. But missing from the essay is the result of these inclusions. Was input from and regarding women considered and put into action? What affect did the gender provisions have on the reports of peacekeeping missions?

Most likely, as is often the case with human rights, progress on this issue is slow moving and it will be a while until we see complete inclusion and consideration of women across all areas of conflict resolution, peace keeping, and rights protection. That being said, starting the conversation and officially resolving to include and protect women is an important first step.

In the article “ Role in the buildup and Implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 by Felicity Hill, Aboitiz ad Sara Poehlman, they explain to us how the creation of Resolution 1325. On October 23, 2000, the Security Council of The United Nations discussed and adopted a resolution called 1325. The principal goal was to recognize the role of women in conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and rebuilding war-torn societies. This resolution also indicates the importance of women have in the society and their participation having equality and being fully involved in all initiatives aimed at the maintenance and promotion of peace and security.
According to the article before this resolution, women’s were not considered agents of peace but this changed with the resolution 1325.

There has been a lot of efforts to ensure this resolution is implementing, for example, the NGOS Working group of women, peace, and Security to ensure this resolution mention how in one of the meetings in the Arria Formula meeting some countries gave their testimonies about crimes during a war. One of the testimonies was about The ”Tokyo Tribunal on Japanese military sexual slavery” Where the Japanese military used women as sex slaves. They called “comfort women” and this was during World War II. This shows us how women are not just sexual abuse but were not considered part of peacebuilding at that moment on the contrary women were considered “war weapons”. All these testimonies of Japanese women and women from other countries show how innocent people as women and also children were affected by war and how important is to have protection for them. “The public hearing encouraged the ongoing work of women for genuine justice, peace, and an end to impunity”. Pg.1263)

I am not clear if this resolution is being fulfilled in its entirety in all countries because this is the first time I heard of this resolution but according to the article, the author mentions” the demand for women to be included in decision-making and in peace and security negotiations has had some effect. Women have been included in the talks on the reconstruction of Afghanistan and in the Inter-Congolese Dialogue”. The most important thing is this resolution was build to protect women in during and after a war. It clear that during a war the most affected are women and children and the purpose this resolution is to ensure women have a role in taking decisions about prevention and peacebuilding.

The purpose of Resolution 1325 is to acknowledge the impact of war on women and girls. Resolution 1325 calls for the adoption of gender mainstreaming which takes into consideration the unique needs of women and girls in war torn countries while also recognizing the importance of women’s  roles  and experiences in post war reconstruction, peace and justice.

Resolution is 1325 is a  document or recommendation that requires countries at war to protect women and girls against gender-based violence and prevent rights violations. This document is attempting to recognize that the most affected and impacted groups of people during conflict are women and children. These groups are targeted at higher rates in times of war by armed groups.

Two of the main areas that Resolution 1325 is bringing attention to is sexual violence against women and girls in countries of conflict and to increase the involvement and participation in peace building, security and other political institutions. Despite this resolution being based in international law that explicitly recognizes  “gender-specific conditions and acts that women experience in war”(p.1255) the resolution is facing difficulty being implemented even though  the document has a  Special Representative of the Secretary General  to advance  the issues covered in Resolution 1325. Members of the UN are supposed to follow the decisions made by the security council. Countries represented in the United Nations are supposed to be implementing the aim of the resolution.

I don’t think many nations are interested in implementing the resolution or are not committed to it because there appears to be no accountability or penalties for countries that do not implement it. I think that women are still being presented as victims even within the language of this resolution because it mainly emphasizes the  violence and other issues women face before, during and after war but does not seem to look at the other ways in which women’s rights are violated or ignored in the absence of war. I have never heard of this resolution and I am sure that I am not alone so the fact that society or countries in general may not even know about Resolution 1325 is another challenge to its implementation.

While the Resolution does bring awareness of the effects of war on women and children and how those effects differ from men’s there are still countries presently in conflict that are not utilizing women in peace building and do  not have women in positions of political power where they can effect change. Women, children and civilians are still being targeted by military groups  and women and girls are still becoming victims of various forms of violence from trafficking to rape and their rights continue to be violated and unprotected. Women still account for the largest group affected by war but there are still not enough women represented in the policy making and decisions that impact them (living free from violence, protection against gendered forms of violence,  lack of social justice and resources)