This Policy Brief is based on discussions held during the Global Consultation “Gender & Militarism: Analysing the Links to Strategise for Peace”, organised by the Women Peacemakers Program (WPP) from July 2- 4, 2014, in Cape Town, South Africa. The Global Consultation brought together over 70 women and men activists and academics, representing over 25 countries from all over the world, to discuss the multi-layered connections between gender and militarism. The WPP Global Consultation took place in the Cape Town City Hall, where Nelson Mandela held his first official speech a few hours after his release from prison on February 11, 1990. In his spirit of peace and reconciliation, the WPP Global Consultation called attention to the importance of investing in gender sensitive conflict prevention and nonviolent conflict resolution to advance the Women, Peace, and Security agenda.
During the 14 years UNSCR 1325 has existed, more than 40 National Actions Plans (NAPs) have been developed for national implementation of the Resolution. UNSCR 1325 has contributed to increased awareness of the need to address sexual and gender-based violence during armed conflict, increased women’s participation in peace processes, and investment in gender training for the security sector. But many gaps, challenges and obstacles persist in moving from rhetoric to implementation of UNSCR 1325.
The Policy Brief outlines some key recommendations for the implementation of UNSCR 1325. These include:
- Recognise that advancing the women, peace and security agenda is a multi-faceted process, which involves a diversity of actors (state, non-state, civil society, (women) peace activists), approaches and interventions – existing inside as well as outside the current peace and security systems.
- UNSCR 1325 implementation requires redefining peace and security from a holistic gender perspective and going beyond “adding women and stir”. This requires concrete actions such as investing in disarmament and arms control, with effective women’s participation, conflict prevention and nonviolent conflict resolution.
- Go beyond solely looking at numbers only in evaluating UNSCR 1325 implementation and effectiveness. Shifts in norms, values and overall culture need to be taken into account as well.
- Involving gender-sensitive and nonviolent men as partners in discussions on Women, Peace and Security helps to move the issue beyond one for women-only to an issue of concern for all, broadening the support for its implementation.
- There is no single blueprint for successful nonviolent organising. Nonviolent strategies require creativity and need to be culturally and context-specific, inclusive, and supportive of women’s substantive participation and leadership.
- Document examples and results of women’s nonviolent organising and conflict resolution to capture the direct impact of nonviolent activism, and highlight the importance of investing in alternative conflict resolution mechanisms for sustainable peacebuilding.
- Build bridges between different movements and fields of work – women’s peace activism, masculinities, UNSCR 1325 lobby and advocacy, disarmament campaigns, economic and social rights, faith based peacebuilding – to broaden linkages, analyses and impact, and ensure the linking of local perspectives to global actions and campaigns.