ESCWAopened today its
scheduled activities of the Tenth Anniversary of Security Council Resolution
1325 concerning women, security and peace. For the occasion, the Regional
Commission launched its study entitled "The Means to Strengthen the Role of
Women in Conflict Resolution and Peace Building", with an emphasis on case
studies from Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq.
In her opening address to inaugurate the
activities, Chief of ESCWA Centre for Women (CFW) Afaf Omer reminded the audience that it
is women and children who bear the brunt of wars, which they are not
responsible for waging. They remain at the receiving end of conflict
repercussions, whereas it is the men who are mostly the negotiators and decision-makers
on such violence.
Omer noted: "It is in this context that
Security Council Resolution 1325 was envisaged. Security Council Resolution 1325
is a major breakthrough for the rights of women in the context of armed
conflict of war. It was adopted on 31 October 2000 and calls upon member
countries of the United Nations to protect women and girls in conflict due to
the disproportionate effect of conflict on them, to include women in conflict
resolution and peace building processes and to increase their representation in
political decision making processes on all levels."
"Today, we celebrate the 10th
anniversary of the resolution. Ten years after its adoption by the Security
Council, the picture has not changed much. We still see women and their
children, the primary victims of conflict and casualty of war excluded from the
peace table. Despite all this, some progress was made, and we see more and more
member countries joining in the efforts of raising awareness of this crucial
topic and preparing for drafting action plans in order to implement the
elements of Resolution 1325," the CFW Chief added.
The Study
Omer then presented the ESCWA study on "The Means to Strengthen the Role
of Women in Conflict Resolution and Peace Building" to a crowd of international
experts in women affairs, governmental officials from The Sudan, Lebanon, Yemen
and Iraq, and officials from UN and civil society organizations. She explained
that the study analyses how the implementation of international legal
instruments for the protection of women and girls in armed conflict and war can
– and hopefully will – contribute to protecting them better in such situations.
It comprises four parts: a regional overview and three country studies
(Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq).
The regional study provides a
brief background on the situation of conflict in the region, giving special
attention to the devastating consequences of armed conflict and war
specifically on women and girls. It then discusses how the implementation of
international legal instruments, specifically Security Council Resolution 1325
and the subsequent Security Council Resolution 1820 that was adopted in 2008, can
– and hopefully will - contribute to better protection of their rights and
provides a number of concrete recommendations for policy makers. It also
mentions the importance of the full implementation of CEDAW and the lifting of
reservations by member states.
It further points out ten
factors that have enabled a devastating escalation of the negative effects
armed conflict and war have had specifically on women, among those the lack of
awareness for the gender dimension of conflict and war, the lack of good
governance, and the lack of international legal instruments before Security
Council Resolution 1325. It concludes that the increased awareness and
attention the situation of women in armed conflict and war gained after the
resolution and related documents, is a positive sign and a step in the right
direction, and that although we still see horrendous crimes against women in
current conflicts sets the scene for hope and action.
It provides ten recommendations
for international organizations, governments and the civil society how to make
the best possible use of these international legal instruments, specifically
Security Council Resolution 1325 for the better protection of women and
increased involvement of women in conflict resolution and peace building.
The three country studies provide an insight into the
concrete situation of women under occupation and during war and armed conflict
in each of the countries, and show how the implementation of international
legal instruments can contribute to the protection of human rights in these
concrete conflict situations and to improved conflict resolution and peace
building by integrating women into the process. They provide detailed
information on each country's situation separately, but also highlight
similarities, and provide a number of recommendations for further improvement
and increased implementation of the available international legal instruments.
The ESCWA meeting
will continue until tomorrow 26 October, with a workshop on drafting national
plans to implement 1325 in member countries. Such plans would ensure women's
participation in conflict-resolution and peace building.
The study is
available on the following link:
