Almost 13 years after the UN Security Council’s first resolution on women, peace and security (Resolution 1325), the Council has taken a further step in supporting the role of women in conflict prevention and resolution, negotiations and peacebuilding.
Friday 18 October saw the adoption of Resolution 2122, which set out a roadmap for ensuring continuing international focus on increasing women’s leadership in transitional justice, and a commitment to review progress on Resolution 1325 in 2015.
The new resolution cements the theme of women, peace and security within the Security Council's programme of work, inviting regular briefings from the Executive Director of UN Women and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict. It also encourages member states to facilitate and support women’s leadership and participation at all levels of decision-making, and to combat impunity for crimes against humanity conducted against women and girls.
Today, UNA-UK signed a civil society statement led by the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, which makes recommendations for further action.
The statement urges states to create strategies to raise women's participation in conflict prevention at the local level, and in community media. It also calls on states to ensure that peacekeeping operations and strategies give due consideration to gender issues and women's rights, and engage with local and international women’s groups. Finally, the statement stresses that states must support women's civil society groups and include the voices of women in transitional justice initiatives.
UNA-UK works to support continued focus on women's leadership and participation in political life at all levels. At this year’s International Day of UN Peacekeepers, UNA-UK jointly organised a conference featuring Ann-Marie Orler, former Police Adviser to the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, who spoke on the importance of recruiting more female police peacekeepers.
In addition, UNA-UK’s Peace and Security Programmes Manager, James Kearney, recently wrote an article for Business Network (BN) Magazine on the crucial importance of women’s participation in political life, particularly during the political transitions currently underway in some Arab states.
For more on UNA-UK's work on gender, click here.
