Taking UNSCR 1325 to the Next Level: Gender, Peace and Security - Press Release Posted by Communication WPP on November 5, 2013 at 10:27amView Blog Taking UNSCR 1325 to the Next Level: Gender, Peace and Security Mainstreaming, Masculinities and Movements Panel Discussion Highlighting New Insights from the Field for Effective UNSCR 1325 Implementation NEW YORK, USA – On Wednesday October 30th, the Women Peacemakers Program (WPP), the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) and Conciliation Resources organized a panel discussion on gender, peace and security. The event aimed at taking discussions on implementation of UNSCR 1325 to the next level, highlighting the need for a gender perspective, including attention for masculinities and the role of men in gender, peace and security. The panel discussion was hosted by the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations. Thirteen years into the implementation of UNSCR 1325 this process is still very incomplete. Given the increasing number of Security Council Resolutions dealing with women, peace and security issues, and especially the latest one calling for women’s leadership in conflict prevention, the panel discussion addressed an important gap in joining up the topics of gender, women, and masculinities. Representatives of WPP, GPPAC and Conciliation Resources and partner organizations SAMYAK (India), femLINKPACIFIC (Fiji) and CIASE (Colombia), reflected on the importance of being attentive to gender in peacebuilding and conflict prevention and what a gender-sensitive approach to peace and security entails. This included a discussion on hegemonic masculinities and active involvement of men as partners of women peace activists. Sarah Taylor, Executive Coordinator of NGO working group on Women, Peace and Security, moderated the panel discussion. Karel van Oosterom highlighted the important role women are playing in all three dimensions of the work of the Netherlands at the UN in New York: peace, justice and development. In particular he asked for more international political and financial efforts to implement UNSCR 1325. A key note speech was given by Anne-Marie Goetz, Chief Adviser to the Peace and Security Section of UN Women, who stressed the transformative values of UNSCR 1325, which is not about changing the players, but changing the game of peace processes. The panel discussion started with panelists critically reflecting on the current gender practices in peacebuilding and conflict prevention and provided suggestions for taking this forward. Rosa Emilia Salamanca, Executive Director of CIASE, stressed how, following an exchange between women from the Philippines and Colombia co-organized with Conciliation Resources, women from different backgrounds have set out on broadening the current peace process to ensure peaceful transformation of Colombia’s society at large, challenging the dominance of the masculinised formal negotiations between the government and the FARC. Sharon Bhagwan Rolls of femLINKPACIFIC and Peter van Tuijl of GPPAC outlined best practices of integrating gender and the commitments of UNSCR 1325 into a global network. Strong partnerships with women-led member organizations are crucial and to the advantage of both the network and its members. “As a women’s media organization and a member of GPPAC, we are able to collect local perspectives on human security from rural women and feed them into policy advice produced by a global network. This practice has three immediate results: it helps educate GPPAC members on gendered notions of human security; it connects femLINK as a women’s organization into a broader peacebuilding movement; and it strengthens policy response from political actors, on issues influencing the lives of women and men in our region.” Sharon Bhagwan Rolls, Executive Director, femLINKPACIFIC, Fiji An innovative practice to stimulate more critical thinking and to broaden the constituency for UNSCR 1325 implementation is to analyze the construction and role of masculinities in conflict and peace and to ensure active participation of men as allies for women peace activists. Based upon its experience of involving men for gender-sensitive peace, WPP highlighted the positive results of engaging men as allies UNSCR 1325 implementation, but also elaborated on the challenges and possible pitfalls, such as the invisibility of women leaders. “A transformative agenda, informed with feminist perspectives and gender equality, has to be at the center for addressing violent masculinities and involving men in gender-sensitive peacebuilding. The experience of WPP shows that men and women working together as equal partners, both on grassroots and on international level, is the only way peace can be sustainable.” Anand Pawar, Executive Director of SAMYAK, member of the WPP Network and South Asian Network to Address Masculinities (SANAM). The event concluded with an open debate on how bring a gender perspective into 1325-related implementation efforts. [END] womenpeacemakersprogram.org/Press%20Release%20Taking%20U... The list of speakers: - Anne-Marie Goetz, Chief Adviser, Peace and Security Section of UN Women - Sarah Taylor, Executive Coordinator, NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security (NGOWG) - Isabelle Geuskens, Executive Director, Women Peacemakers Program (WPP), the Netherlands - Anand Pawar, Executive Director of SAMYAK, India; member of the South Asian Network to Address Masculinities (SANAM) - Peter van Tuijl, Executive Director, Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), the Netherlands - Sharon Bhagwan Rolls, Executive Director, femLINKPACIFIC, Fiji - Sanne Tielemans, Policy Analyst, Conciliation Resources, United Kingdom - Rosa Emilia Salamanca, Executive Director, CIASE (Corporación de Investigación y Acción Social y Económica), Colombia The Women Peacemakers Program (WPP) has been established in 1997 to support and empower women peace activists. WPP actively advocates for the recognition of women’s experiences and peacebuilding contributions during war and conflict and the integration of a gender perspective in peacebuilding processes. The Women Peacemakers Program ’s vision is of a world where women and men work together as allies to build communities where people co-exist peacefully through active nonviolence. Its mission is to support the empowerment of gender-sensitive women and men for the transformation of conflict through active nonviolence. womenpeacemakersprogram.org The Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) is a global civil society-led network which seeks to build an international consensus on peacebuilding and the prevention of violent conflict. It was established in 2003 in response to the call made by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for an international conference of civil society organizations working in the field of conflict prevention in his 2001 report Prevention of Armed Conflict. GPPAC builds civil society networks for peace by linking local, national, regional and global levels of action and by developing multi-stakeholder partnerships with key stakeholders including governments, the UN system and regional organizations. gppac.net Conciliation Resources is an independent organization working with people in conflict to prevent violence and build peace. Public participation and inclusive peace processes are key themes within our approach. We work closely in support with groups and individuals from all sections of society to ensure that people directly affected by conflict are involved in its resolution. In addition, we take what we learn to government decision-makers and others working to end conflict, to improve policies and practice worldwide – we are prepared to challenge preconceptions and find new ways to influence change. We publish the Accord peacebuilding analysis series, which in 2013 focused on ‘Women Building Peace’ c-r.org/accord Media contacts: Sophie Schellens: [email protected] Gesa Bent: [email protected] Clare Richards: [email protected] Audio recordings and video footage of the event are available upon request.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 11:24:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015