WUNRN
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
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 6-8th 2008
in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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During the dialogue, UN-INSTRAW launched two
new projects in
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
“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
UN-INSTRAW is an Institute devoted to applied
research,
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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