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PRESS RELEASE

Women act for sustainable peace and gender equality in Africa

Supporting the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR) on Women, Peace and Security, UN-INSTRAW presents two new projects in Africa.

UN-INSTRAW (the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women) participated in the High-Level Policy Dialogue on National Implementation of UNSCR 1325 in Africa, organized by the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) on February 6-8^th 2008 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

During the dialogue, UN-INSTRAW launched two new projects in Africa that aim to support the implementation of UNSCR 1325, by calling for the full and equal participation of women in all peace and security initiatives, along with mainstreaming of gender issues in the context of armed conflict, peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction.

As part of a year-long project in Burundi and Liberia, financed by the Government of Austria, UN-INSTRAW will conduct assessments of the women, peace and security situation; support the full implementation of Resolution 1325 by generating national consensus on these issues and promoting a national action-planning process; and stimulate awareness-raising and capacity-building activities through tools and workshops to relevant stakeholders.

“These projects will focus on assessing the current situation and future opportunities to comprehensively implement Resolution 1325 at the national level, and advocating for greater attention to women, peace and security issues in countries where it is urgently required. One of the objectives is to bring together policy-makers, the national security sector and civil society to build consensus and establish a common agenda on these issues,” stated Nicola Popovic, Gender, Peace and Security Advisor at UN-INSTRAW.

UN-INSTRAW also presented its project in Somalia, financed by the Government of Italy that will evaluate and strengthen the role of Somali women in ongoing conflict-resolution and peace-building processes; as well as the role of Somali women living in the Diaspora. The project also aims to create dialogue and strengthen collective action between Diaspora women and women living in Somalia.

“Rather than portraying all women as helpless victims of war and violence, it is essential to take into account the active roles that they play as combatants, peacebuilders, politicians and activists. By accepting the challenge of turning policy into practice, we commit to building national commitment to more gender-sensitive and inclusive peace  processes in countries facing war and the aftermath of prolonged conflict  such as Burundi, Liberia and Somalia,” continued Popovic.

In this context, UN-INSTRAW offered Security Equality, Engendering Peace (2006) as a guide for the formulation of national action plans on the implementation of Resolution 1325 in both developing and developed countries.

Also present at the dialogue were Ministers of Gender and representatives of Ministries of Defense and Justice of 16 African countries, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), regional and sub-regional NGOS and UN Agencies.

Press contact:

Valeria Vilardo

Communications Associate, Tel: 001 809 685 2111 ext. 277,

E-mail: vvilardo@un-instraw.org

About UN-INSTRAW

UN-INSTRAW is an Institute devoted to applied research, training and knowledge management in partnership with governments, the United Nations Agencies, civil society and academia to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Gender, Peace and Security Programme

The programme promotes applied research, facilitates knowledge management, and supports capacity-building in order to promote an inclusive peace and human security for women and men, girls and boys, around the world.

Gender Training for Security Sector Personnel

It is essential that the security sector (the police, military, judiciary, border guards, rule of law agencies, policy-making institutions and non-statutory security actors as the media or armed militias) take gender issues into account in all security sector initiatives in order to build and strengthen a democratic, transparent and effective security sector.

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