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By Philip Lee, WACC Deputy-Director of Programs A multimedia Peace Fair marking the 10th anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 took place in New York, 25-29 October 2010. Representatives of several organizations from around the world gathered to highlight the contributions of women’s groups and others towards implementing UNSCR 1325.
The Peace Fair included panel discussions on the role of female peacekeepers in conflict situations, women in peace negotiations, and how women worldwide are making and building peace. Films and documentaries were screened, and a small book fair offered publications focusing on different aspects of gender and peace.
Officially launched by Helen Clark (seated centre), UNDP Administrator and former Prime Minister of New Zealand, participants heard from Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury (seated left), former President of the Security Council and a staunch advocate of the implementation of UNSCR 1325. Commenting that UNSCR 1325 opened a long awaited door of opportunity for women to bring qualitative improvement to peace building and decision-making, he criticized the complicity of the Security Council in international practices that have exacerbated women’s security issues.
Chowdury also noted that while it is still not clear where 1325 resides in the UN system, it should now come under the mandate of the newly formed agency UN Women, led by Michelle Bachelet. ‘Ten years of expectation and exasperation have gone by. The time to act was yesterday.’
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Harriett Jane Olson, chief executive of the Women’s Division, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, lamented the lack of progress, commitment, and investment in ways that make for peace. United Methodist Women provides a platform for civil society, religious communities and women need to speak out as they work towards full implementation of 1325. Olson expressed the hope that, ‘In ten years we shall be celebrating the implementation of 1325 and not just memorializing its adoption.’
The opening session included a round of cyber dialogue about 1325’s implementation with three women in Afghanistan, Burundi, and Sierra Leone. It emphasized once again the close relationship between poverty and violence, the need for economic empowerment, and for improved women’s representation and involvement in decision-making in relation to peace processes and political participation.
Background to UNSCR 1325 United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) was passed in the year 2000 and is a landmark document codifying the links between women, peace and security. As a Security Council Resolution it is, by definition, binding on UN member states. In theory it obligates them to take special steps to protect women from violence, to promote their increased participation in peace-keeping efforts, to ensure that women’s involvement in peace building is acknowledged, and that women are given formal roles in peace negotiations.
The reality of UNSCR 1325 has fallen far short of the mark. At a high level ministerial meeting held at the end of September 2010, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon commented: | |  |
‘Our achievements over the past decade have not met our own expectations. Women are still excluded from peace processes. The security sector in most countries is still dominated by men. When conflicts end, and international aid begins to come in, it is still not geared to the needs of girls and women. And, most tragically and strikingly, women and girls still suffer gender-based violence… The international community is still failing to protect.’ WACC partner femLINKpacific made a statement at that same ministerial meeting calling for women, peace and security to be defined as a core mandate of the new organization UN Women. It also pressed for systematic reporting to the UN on the integration of UNSCR 1325 in national and regional security processes in order to enable regular updating on priorities, lessons learned and good practices.
The Thirteen 25 Diary: Her Stories
FemLINKPACIFIC’s documentary shedding light on Pacific peace women’s efforts to implement UNSCR 1325 was earlier shown at a breakfast meeting hosted by H.E. Mr Gary Quinlan, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations, and H.E. Mr Robert Aisi, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Papua New Guinea to the United Nations.
Titled The Thirteen 25 Diary: Her Stories the documentary focuses on a series of interviews with members of femLINKPACIFIC’s regional network and forms part of a series of media initiatives contributing a Pacific perspective to the global commemoration of the 10th Anniversary. As convener of the Pacific Regional Women’s Media and Policy Network on UNSCR 1325, femLINKpacific has also produced a series of ‘1325’ translation and information posters and T-shirts, a ‘hip hop’ anthem and digital story as well as the quarterly broadsheet femTALK 1325.
‘This is a story of what is possible through women’s peace initiatives, when our work is invested in. This is a story of how we have communicated peace at the personal level, at an inter-generational level and at the policy level.’, commented Sharon Bhagwan Rolls, who earlier this year was appointed to the UN Civil Society Advisory Group on Women, Peace and Security, Participants at the Peace Fair also saw two powerful documentaries made by the shootingpoverty group (www.shootingpoverty.org) and sponsored by Oxfam. Linking the prevalence of small arms and weapons to ongoing poverty, they appeal for stricter control over the arms trade. Bang for Your Buck shows how the hand-grenade has become the weapon of choice for resolving conflict in Burundi, where a grenade costs the same as a glass of beer.
The fast-paced Grosso Calibre revels in the music and lyrics of banned rapper MC Smith, who depicts the reality of life in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas where police and gangs daily battle it out. (Photo: Anti-war monument outside the United Nations, New York.)
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The Peace Fair was co-sponsored by PeaceWomen, the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, United Methodist Women, the Hague Appeal for Peace, The Mission of Switzerland to the UN, and International Civil Society Action Network.
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