Women are important in the UN’s conflict and peacebuilding missions: Resolution 1325 marks a milestone in the UN’s thinking about women: their lives are multilinear and multiple factors affect their participation in public and private life
focusing on women, peace and security. For the first time, gender and security were linked, highlighting the importance of including and increasing the participation of women in post-conflict, peace-making and peacekeeping activities.
It is important to take stock of the effect of resolution 1325, including in the UN and its agencies. The biggest question amid the past scandals involving women, peace and security in UN peacekeeping missions and, recently, the World Health Organisation, is how can the UN ensure that these resolutions and standards reflect in their work?
The UN has been plagued by scandals involving crimes of sexual violence and discrimination against women by peacekeeping forces in Haiti, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor, Liberia, Bosnia and Herzegovina among others. It is horrifying to think that these abuses are imposing a double trauma on the survivors of this violence.
One of the key tenets of resolution 1325 is the important role women play in conflict prevention and resolution and in peacebuilding and, most notably, the need to increase their role in decision-making in these fields. Article 1 of this resolution emphasises this point. It urges all member states to ensure the increased participation of women at all decision-making levels.
by the UN has shown that this contributes to gender intentional decision-making that recognises people’s different needs and vulnerabilities.as the “world’s largest man’s club”. They argue that aside from clerical and translation appointments, fewer women have been employed in the UN at the decision-making and professional staff levels.