WUNRN
Background Paper - Geneva High Level
Consultation - September 2010
Women, Peace & Security: From
Resolution to Action
The Protection Agenda Under Security
Council Resolution 1325
Seeking Durable Solutions:
Elisabeth
Rasmusson, Secretary General
Norwegian
Refugee Council
Abstract/Subject
of the Paper
We have
sufficient resolutions, methodology and tools available and accessible to human
rights and humanitarian actors to ensure implementation of
Gender related
protection issues that arise during displacement are predictable and can be
mitigated.
However,
without a strong commitment from policy-makers and management at all levels,
including the field, achieving durable solutions for displaced persons is
neither probable nor possible.
Outline of
speech
The key gender
related protection issues that affect the displaced population and hamper
durable solutions include:
Physical protection
Sexual
violence is a protection issue for men, women, boys and girls, often
exacerbated in situations of conflict and displacement and extremely difficult
to mitigate. Women and girls in particular are exposed to rape, which during
conflict is frequently used as a weapon of war. Young boys and men especially
experience forced recruitment as child soldiers, which increases the risk of
them becoming perpetrators. The problems created by sexual assaults do not
suddenly stop when a war or conflict is over, but continue and seriously hamper
people’s return and recovery.
Human rights
Land rights
are determined by gender in a number of countries. So too are the rights to
humanitarian assistance, to earn money, to select whom to marry, and to move freely.
This again leads to invisibility as well as altering of survival techniques.
Impunity
Although the
new SRSG for Sexual Violence in Conflict addresses impunity for perpetrators
and reaching justice for survivors, more must be done. We must deal with
impunity beyond sexual violence, to decrease all violations of human rights.
Impunity and justice for survivors can only be reached through participation of
both men and women in peace processes, by establishing reporting and monitoring
systems for violations, and through a functioning judicial system.
Responsibility and accountability
Who is
responsible and accountable for the implementation of
Access
The Guiding
Principles on Internal Displacement state that all authorities must provide
humanitarian organisations with access to internally displaced persons, yet
experience shows that such access is often purposefully hindered. Local
authorities are not the only challenge to access; donors, military and other
actors who misuse aid also constitute equal obstructions to access.
Humanitarian organisations can increase access to female and male displaced
persons by conducting participatory research and strengthening data collection
to unveil access restrictions as well as solutions, and by employing both
female and male staff.
Examples from
the field that illuminate gender-related protection issues
Local
integration of IDPs is perceived as a complex and
long-term process which is often hindered by a number of factors, including
specific vulnerabilities of the displaced as well as lack of motivation and
acceptance from the locals. Lack of awareness of the different needs and
vulnerabilities of men, women, girls and boys, as well as a lack of willingness
to address these issues in an adequate way, is one of the major obstacles in
the way of social integration of IDP women and girls.
In
In Liberia gender related protection
problems became evident in the return and early recovery phases of NRC’s work
for the displaced population. It is estimated that 70% of Liberian women are
survivors of sexual violence. The justice system is non-functioning and despite
enormous resources from the international community having gone into addressing
sexual gender-based violence, severe violations persist.
In
NRC’s Shelter Programme in Georgia,
women were actively involved in the process of finding alternative shelter as
well as designing rehabilitation programmes. Women have also taken
an active role in the
rehabilitation work being performed in their shelters. A gender-disaggregated
survey amongst individual house beneficiaries was carried out. Based on the
survey results, the house designs were modified in order to provide washing
facilities and ensure privacy through the installation of internal doors. It is
worth noting that children constitute 20% of the project beneficiaries. Safe
and healthy living conditions were improved for children through this project,
and since most of the land plots are close to their previous place of
residence, children could continue to access their own schools.
In
today’s emergency in Pakistan, we
see yet again that women have become invisible. It is men who make the
decisions, who are consulted, and who are the recipients of aid. After all the
disasters and emergencies the world has had to deal with in the last years,
humanitarian actors are yet again slowly realizing that women are once again
those who lose out because they are not part of the process, they do not have a
voice and those making and implementing decisions do not know what their needs
are.
Recommendations
All
humanitarian programmes and projects need to include minimum standards by using
the IASC Gender Marker and checklists
developed for individual Cluster activities at all stages of the project cycle.
These tools, designed to assess the value of a project for men, women, girls
and boys, are widely available and practically designed. With our knowledge and
experience that women are the ones who most often lose out, it is crucial to
use such tools systematically in project design and implementation - if not we risk missing our target.
The IASC
Gender Capacity Stand-by Project GenCap (a roster of gender advisers) and ProCap (a roster responding to priority gaps and needs in emergency
protection response) both of which are run by NRC, are designed
specifically for this purpose.
We should
refer to the revised Framework for
Durable Solutions, and use this document to guide assessments on achieving
durable solutions, as well as in the profiling of IDPs, to ensure women and
girls achieving durable solutions on par with other IDPs.
The importance
of collecting sex disaggregated data
on the ground cannot be reiterated enough. Collecting information on specific
needs in terms of assistance and protection, and using this disaggregated data
in the identification and design of programmes, is essential to securing
durable solutions for IDPs women and girls.
In addition,
we must further develop follow-up,
monitoring and reporting mechanisms to ensure universal use of the existing
tools and adherence to
The IASC e-learning course ‘Different Needs –
Equal Opportunities’ is a powerful training tool, and should become mandatory
amongst all humanitarian actors, including field workers as well as policy
makers. This has already been made mandatory for all OCHA staff by the previous
ERC.
Lastly, not a
recommendation but a reminder to all duty bearers that gender mainstreaming in
humanitarian assistance is not optional. Nor is it optional to decide whether
or not to include women. Through the humanitarian
principles and a rights-based
approach all humanitarian actors are decreed by the human rights framework
not to discriminate and assist selectively, but to actively aim to assist those
in need, regardless of gender.
Management at all levels need to take responsibility for
the implementation of the recommendations above, and policy makers need to advocate for implementation for these
recommendations in all relevant fora and relations.