Contributed by Gwendolyn Beetham

My job at the Department of Peacekeeping Operations at the UN is even busier than usual this week. The UN is celebrating the 6th anniversary of 1325, a resolution that was adopted by the UN Security Council on October 31, 2000. The full text of the resolution is here, but basically, 1325 is *hugely* important in that it’s the first of its kind to specifically address the impact of war on women and women’s role in securing peace and security.

To mark the event, the Secretary-General just released a new report on women, peace, and security, which talks about the progress made on 1325 and future actions that need to be taken. The NGO Working Group on Women Peace and Security is also putting out a report called “Six Years On,� and the International Women’s Tribune Center is launching its amazing “Women Talk Peace� project – which features local language radio programs centered around 1325 conducted in Bassa, Kpelle, Luganda, Swahili, Filipino, French and English.

There are also lots of 1325-related events taking place both in and outside of the UN Secretariat building – check out PeaceWomen’s calendar of events for more information and read more about the anniversary of 1325 after the jump.

One of the cooler talks open to the public is taking place tonight at the Church Center in NYC. The event is hosted by the Global Justice Center, who argue for the legal enforcement of 1325 in national or international courts. This addresses one of the main problems of these kinds of resolutions in that countries sign on to these things, but there is no way to hold them accountable for violations, or make them legally responsible for implementation.

So, as we have seen with the case of CEDAW, people just sign up to a treaty, but then do very little about it. And in the case of 1325, the UN Security Council even recognizes that:

“One reason for the limited attention the Council has given to gender issues and the problem of sexual exploitation and abuse, is that the Council considers member states to be mainly responsible for adopting suitable measures to promote women's involvement and combat sexual exploitation and abuse.�

In short: if the states don’t do anything about gender issues (and history tells us that they really won’t unless they have somebody telling them to and/or holding them under the fire), then shit won’t get done. So, let’s just say tonight’s Global Justice event is much needed.

That rant aside, the main event this week is the Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security, where the big boys (and a few girls) get to talk about the progress made towards the implementation of Resolution 1325. And this is where things get interesting. At the Open Debate last year, Council member Algeria “expressly stated that the topic transcended the Council's mandate. China and Russia made similar statements, stressing that other UN bodies were more apt at dealing with women's issues.� [My emphasis]. This goes down Thursday...I’ll keep you updated.

3 Comments

October 24, 2006 10:45 AM

[0+]  Gwen said:

Just a quick update - I went to the Global Justice Center's meeting last night. There were 2 other women's organizations there that are doing some pretty amazing things with international tools like 1325 & CEDAW. You should definitely check out the Women's Alliance for a Democratic Iraq and the Women's League of Burma. And the Global Justice Center has been working with these organizations and providing legal advice, etc. and are pretty great in their own right. And just an aside: the Global Justice Center's Director is the founder and former President of the Center for Reproductive Rights.

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October 25, 2006 11:27 AM

[0+]  Not true said:

Didn't your government make the UN irrelavent?

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October 25, 2006 11:31 AM

[0+]  Not true said:

Sorry, should read: irrelevant

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