Resolution 1325 Felicity Hill, Mikele Aboitiz, Sara Poehlman-Doumbouya
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)
