Women in foreign affairs and international security
7
women participate in elite peace
processes' and are better represented in
national parliaments and civil society.
The importance of women's participation
in civil society is illustrated by several
examples in the Middle East.
Israeli and
Palestinian women have long built
coalitions across national, ethnic, and
religious lines in order to lead non-
violent efforts to promote security and
access to basic services. In Syria, the
Women's Advisory Board to Syrian
negotiations, a group of independent
civil society representatives, has raised
matters missing from the agenda and
helped develop policy positions, made
recommendations to assist the peace
talks, and proposed gender-responsive
perspectives. Successful local
efforts led
by Syrian women include monitoring
and documenting human rights abuses,
establishing ceasefires, creating local
political councils and distributing
humanitarian aid. Similar
observations
about the role of women's civil society organisations have been made in conflicts in Colombia,
Liberia and Tunisia. The Council on Foreign Relations has put together a
database on the inclusion
of women in peace negotiations across the globe, and on the role their contribution (or lack thereof)
has played. Despite the evidence that women's participation is beneficial, there are still glaring
inequalities both in representation in international peace negotiations, and in aid and development
policies for women in fragile states.
Between 1992 and 2019, women constituted, on average, 13 % of negotiators, 6 % of mediators, and
6 % of signatories in major peace processes worldwide. These numbers, even if still low, represent
an increase compared with previous years. Between 1995 and 2019, the proportion of peace
agreements with gender equality provisions also increased from 14 % to 22 %. Similarly, despite the
role that local women's groups could play in preventing and resolving conflicts, such groups receive
only a small percentage of the aid allocated to fragile states by major donors. A 2017 Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
study attributed this to significant 'blind spots
in donors' understanding of the links between gender equality, conflict and fragility'.
The EU perspective
The topic of women in foreign affairs and international security has gained increased visibility across
EU institutions. In 2008, the Council adopted the comprehensive approach
for EU implementation
of UN Security Council resolutions 1325 and 1820 on women, peace and security; in 2010, it adopted
a
set of indicators to monitor the implementation of this comprehensive approach in the areas of
prevention, participation, protection, relief and recovery. Among others, the indicators include the
number and percentage of women mediators and negotiators as well as the number of women's
civil society groups involved in peace negotiations supported by the EU. The indicators were
reviewed and
revised in 2016.
Starting in 2010, three successive gender action plans (GAPs) for promoting gender equality and
women's empowerment through EU external action have defined the general framework for EU
external policies with respect to gender. The third EU gender action plan
(GAP III) published in
Women, peace and security agenda
UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 was unanimously
adopted on 31 October 2000 and established the 'women, peace
and security' (WPS) a
genda. The resolution reaffirms the
important role of women in the prevention and resolution of
conflicts, and equally in peace negotiations, peace-building,
peacekeeping, humanitarian response and post-conflict
reconstruction. Furthermore, it stresses the importance of
women's equal participation and full involvement in all efforts
related to the maintenance and promotion of peace and security.
It urges all players to increase the participation of women and to
incorporate gender perspectives in all UN peace and security
efforts. It also calls on all parties to conflicts to take special
measures to protect women and girls from gender-based
violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, in
situations of armed conflict. As of
August 2019, 81 UN member
states (42 % of all UN member states) have UNSCR 1325 national
action plans.
Since 2000, nine additional resolutions related to the WPS
agenda have been adopted, widening its scope. The resolutions
on WPS aim to change the philosophy and rhetoric around
conflict and gender equality, and to challenge the international
community to do more.