Removing Barriers to Women’s Full Participation, NGOWGW

UN Security Council Adopts New Resolution Aimed at Removing Barriers to Women’s Full Participation in All Efforts to Prevent, Resolve, and Rebuild from Conflict

The NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security welcomed today’s additional steps by the UN Security Council to fully implement its resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security. Today’s resolution 2122 (2013) lays out key commitments regarding women’s participation: for the Council itself, for UN actors, for all those involved in peace processes. In addition, the resolution reminds all UN Member States of the forthcoming 15th anniversary in 2015, setting out that date as a marker for achievements and goals on this core issue of international peace and security.

Ms. Brigitte Balipou of Femmes Africa Solidarite, the civil society speaker who briefed the Council following the adoption of this new resolution, noted the urgency for action in her own country of the Central African Republic. “It is time,” she said, “thirteen years after the unanimous adoption of resolution 1325, for the consistent resourcing and sustained political will to support women’s deserved role in preventing, ending, and rebuilding from conflicts like those that are currently plaguing my own country of the Central African Republic.”

“For years, we have been asking the Council to be more consistent in its commitment and obligations to women in conflict situations,” said Sarah Taylor of the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security. “Today’s resolution provides an important step towards this. It should be implemented to help ensure women’s voices and women’s rights are fundamental, not incidental, to the Council’s daily work.”

The resolution also contains capacity-building language regarding the role of women in all processes regarding the prevention and resolution of conflict. “Inclusive conflict prevention and resolution are not solely about improving the lives of women and girls; they are about ensuring stability for the entire community,” said Jacqueline O’Neill, Director of The Institute for Inclusive Security. “We know from experience that women’s full and meaningful engagement strengthens the integrity of a process and the sustainability of its outcome. Ultimately, inclusion is simply smart policy.”

A key element of the resolution is its call on Member States to fund the vital work of women’s leadership, and that of local civil society organizations, who are often doing the daily and dangerous work of conflict prevention and resolution.

“Investment in women’s human rights, equality, and women-led civil society is critical, including for the prevention of conflict and war,” said Maria Butler of the PeaceWomen programme at Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. She added “Our words and our resolutions mean nothing if they are not backed by our actions.”

The NGOWG on Women, Peace and Security advocates for the equal and full participation of women in all efforts to create and maintain international peace and security. Formed in 2000 to call for a Security Council resolution on Women, Peace and Security, resulting in SCR 1325, the NGOWG now focuses on implementation of all Security Council resolutions that address this issue. The NGOWG serves as a bridge between women’s human rights defenders working in conflict-affected situations and policy-makers at U.N. Headquarters.

The NGOWG coalition members are: Amnesty International; Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights; Femmes Africa Solidarité; Global Action to Prevent War; Global Justice Center; Human Rights Watch; The Institute for Inclusive Security; International Action Network on Small Arms; International Alert; International Rescue Committee; Refugees International; International Women’s Program of the Open Society Foundations; Social Science Research Council; Women’s Refugee Commission; Women’s Action for New Directions; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.