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Information
Sources
The
information resources that we have regularly utilized in this
website appear in the right column. Below offers some explanation of
the sources that have informed particular parts of the
website.
The Security Council noted the need to consolidate
data on the impact of armed conflict on women and girls in its
October 2000 resolution on Women, Peace and Security.
To try to address the lack of consolidated
and accessible information, UNIFEM has created this portal, which is
very much a work in progress. We have only begun to create a
centralized repository of information from a wide variety of
sources, with links to reports and data from the UN system, and also
from experts, academics, NGOs and media sources. And we have only
begun to do this with resources in English. Our inital aim is to
track progress on the implementation of resolution 1325, and
ultimately to provide information to encourage researchers, policy
makers, analysts and NGOs so they can routinely include, seek and
contribute more information and analysis on women, war and peace.
Resolution 1325 provides a comprehensive political
framework, within which womens protection and their role in peace
processes can be addressed. However, without adequate information
and analysis about the impact of armed conflict on women and womens
role in peace-building, it will be very difficult for the Security
Council to mainstream gender into its work, and routinely consider
womens needs and their potential contribution.
Through this portal, UNIFEM strives to
provide access to the information and analysis that is currently
available on the impact of armed conflict on women and women's role
in peace-building. We do our best to ascertain the legitimacy of the
sources of that information and analysis. Where there are
conflicting perspectives, we strive to present a variety thereof so
that users can make their own judgement regarding the accuracy of
the information.
The absence of formal approaches to
collecting and analyzing information on women in conflict in
response to resolution 1325 means that gender issues are not
systematically addressed in political and preventive actions and
post-conflict peace building. This is reflected, for example, in
Security Council discussions and in reports of the Secretary General
where attention to specific gender issues in individual countries is
still lacking. more...
This is not due to deliberate neglect, but to the enormity of
the gender mainstreaming task that the United Nations has set for
itself.
Gender mainstreaming requires specialized expertise
and training. It requires programmatic integration of gender into
all elements of activity. It requires regular monitoring, reporting
and evaluation of progress made and obstacles encountered, as well
as systems for holding institutions accountable to achieving its
goals. Key aspects of this work include collecting and disseminating
information, disaggregating data, assessing lessons learned, and
fostering cross-regional and inter-agency collaboration and
learning. Finally, it requires adequate human and economic resources
to put all of these measures in place and to ensure that women's
specific experience is made visible.
Impact of Conflict: Due to
the chaos and danger of violent conflict, and the break down of the
rule of law, it is impossible to collect precise data, or to
document the full impact of the conflict. Some statistics, but
mostly estimates are produced, and testimony is collected after the
fact, by the justice system and International NGOs. It is often very
difficult to verify such information, yet when the phenomenon is
reported by multiple sources, we have included the attributed fact
or analysis.
Womens Peace-Building activities:
This section of the country profiles is far from complete,
and womens organizations are strongly encouraged to submit
information via email, fax or post - for inclusion.
UN Resources: The site
provides links to the reports and resolutions of the Security
Council, the General Assembly, the Human Rights Commission, ECOSOC
and treaty bodies, such as the reports provided under the Convention
on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. To
the extent possible, any gender content has been highlighted in the
short summaries provided. The site also provides visibility to the
activities undertaken by UN Departments, Agencies and Funds in the
field. Again, this is not a complete accounting of all activities
undertaken to date, but provides a template into which future
activities and efforts can be made visible.
NGO Resources: Throughout
the site you will find further resources, contacts, news and
analysis generated by the NGO community, which are provided through
our partnership with the NGO information service www.PeaceWomen.org, a project that links many NGO
efforts coordinated by the Womens International League for Peace
and Freedom, the worlds oldest womens peace
organization.
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