WUNRN
ATTACHED ARE UN SECURITY COUNCIL
RESOLUTION 1888 &
SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 1889 ON
WOMEN, PEACE & SECURITY
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UN
Security Council Urges Further Measures to
Strengthen
Women’s Participation in Peace Processes
5 October 2009
United Nations, New York — The UN Security Council on 5 October called for a wide range of measures to strengthen the participation of women at all stages of peace processes. Through the unanimous adoption of resolution 1889 (2009), the Security Council reaffirmed its landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security, and condemned continuing sexual violence against women in conflict and post-conflict situations.
Resolution 1889 urges Member States, United Nations bodies, donors and civil society to ensure that women’s protection and empowerment is taken into account during post-conflict needs assessment and planning, and factored into subsequent funding and programming. The new resolution also calls for disarmament and demobilization programmes to address the needs of women and girls associated with armed groups, as well as the needs of their children.
The Council further requested the UN Secretary-General to submit a report on women in post-conflict situations within one year, and to ensure cooperation between the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict and the Special Representative on sexual violence in armed conflict, whose appointment had been requested by last week’s UN Security Council Resolution 1888.
“A cessation of conflict should not result in the marginalization of women and girls, nor their relegation to stereotypical roles,” UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said as she opened the Council discussion on behalf of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The Secretary-General’s statement refers to the issue as a top priority for the United Nations. “A growing body of evidence suggests that bringing women to the peace table improves the quality of agreements reached, and increases the chances of successful implementation. Women are likely to put gender issues on the agenda, set different priorities and possibly bridge the political divide more effectively. Experience also suggests that women's contributions in post-conflict situations can make a critical difference to community survival and reconstruction.”
Rachel Mayanja, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, introduced the latest report of the Secretary-General on the issue, affirming that women and girls continued to be victims of gender-based violence in situations where open hostilities had subsided and thus were outside the radar screens of the international community. Commending the Council for its adoption of resolutions 1888 and 1889, she said it was critical for the body to continue playing a strong advocacy role to root out sexual violence in conflict.
“Failing to address women’s needs in transitional governance, livelihood support, public service and judicial systems can slow recovery and undermine peace,” said UNIFEM Executive Director Inés Alberdi in her statement to the Council. She welcomed the adoption of resolutions 1888 and 1889, and emphasized that women were a powerful positive force for long-term peacebuilding.
Asha Hagi Elmi Amin, representing the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, said resolutions 1888 and 1889 laid out important steps to ensuring women’s rights in conflict. However, without accountability for those resolutions, persistent impediments to their implementation would remain. Strong, high-level leadership, a coherent approach and a concrete monitoring mechanism were needed.
Other speakers emphasized that women’s empowerment must be built into the broader development efforts of post-conflict countries. Speaking in his national capacity, Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem of Viet Nam, which holds the Council presidency for the month of October, said that from his country’s post-conflict experience, State and society needed to pay full attention to both civilian women and those having served in armed forces or having been involved in military activities, making sure that a complete range of services was available for them.
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