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NO PEACE WITHOUT WOMEN - FORUM
NORWAY 1325
Eleven years ago was the first time the UN Security Council adopted a resolution that highlighted the importance of women in creating peace and security in the world. The message of the resolution has been exemplified and made visible by this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winners Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakkol Karman. This prize obliges the Norwegian authorities to step up the implementation of Resolution 1325.
There is still a long way to go
before the world's women take their rightful place as negotiators and peace-builders.
But Leymah Gbowee from
Resolution 1325 – the foundation of this year’s Peace Prize
When Thorbjørn Jagland, the chair of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, presented the three winners, he stated: "We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women have the same opportunities as men to influence development at all levels of society. Resolution 1325 made violence against women in war and conflict to an international security concern for the first time." In accordance with the Resolution, women's lack of participation in peace processes can be seen as a threat to international peace and security.
All UN member states are bound by Security Council resolutions. According to resolution 1325, states are required to increase women’s representation in all conflict resolution initiatives and peace negotiations. Additionally, more women are to take part in peacekeeping forces, and women's perspectives are to be incorporated into post-war reconstruction programs. Finally, the resolution recognizes the importance of women's peace initiatives.
The real test of how the resolution can be used is taking place in countries where women live in conditions characterized by war and conflict. Policy on peace and security is still dominated by men in the same way wars are fought primarily among men. While wars are fought, women must take greater responsibility to keep society going; they must provide water and food for children while schools are destroyed, the economy decimated, and villages wiped out. Women are systematically raped as part of a deliberate war strategy. It makes no difference to these women that there are resolutions and action plans that guarantee their security on paper. Words on paper are of little consequence when less than three percent of peace agreement signatories since 1992 have been women, and when peace agreements are made on men's terms. Peace agreements that focus exclusively on ceasefires and border drawing, without regard to resolving underlying conflict issues, such as clean water, schools, health services, rehabilitation of sexual assault victims and legitimate and just trials for perpetrators, are not agreements that take women seriously.
Sexualized violence as weapon of war
In 2001, the UN hired two
experts – Elisabeth Rehn, the former Finnish Defense Minister and Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf of
In 2001,
Forum Norway 1325 hopes that this year's Peace Prize will inspire Norwegian authorities and the international community to support women’s own peace initiatives in a more binding and systematic way. Norwegian authorities have a responsibility to help the UN sweep its own doorstep in regards to sexual assaults committed by peacekeeping forces, and to ensure women's legal protection during and after war.