By Melina Lito, Global Action to Prevent War
and Jasmin Nario-Galace, IANSA Women’s Network
30 August 2012 - On Wednesday, member states
began discussing the draft outcome documents circulated by Ambassador Joy Ogwu,
President of the Second Review Conference on the UNPoA. The draft UNPoA
Implementation Plan for 2012–2018 specifically calls for women’s involvement in
the UNPoA implementation process at the national level. Paragraph 8 reads: “To
increase the participation and representation of women in small arms
policymaking, taking into account the link between the Programme of Action and
Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) and GA resolution 65/69 and to explore
means to eliminate the negative impact of the illicit trade in small arms and
light weapons on women.”
Several delegations
took the floor to express support for its inclusion, including those of Norway,
Mexico, Nigeria, Chile, Belize, Switzerland, Peru, Austria, New Zealand, Japan,
and Germany. Only Cuba dissented, arguing that the final document should not
include elements that are not prevalent in the UNPoA. Cuba noted that
the links to UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) should not be included
in the final document because it does not relate to the original commitments
made in 2001.
In keeping with its statement yesterday, Mexico
supported the inclusion of gender perspective as well as the link between the
PoA and UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) and UN General Assembly
Resolution 65/69.
Switzerland and
Nigeria both recognized and supported the gender perspective in the final
document, with Switzerland welcoming the inclusion of women’s participation and
representation in small arms policy-making while Nigeria also supported the
incorporation of gender and recognized the impact that armed conflict has on
women and children. Austria also supported the inclusion of a
gender reference in the final document, especially a reference on the role of
women.
States such as Mexico, Germany, and Nigeria
also stated that the draft document should make an explicit reference to children
and the impact that armed conflict can have on the latter.
So far, we note that 27 delegations have made
references to women. Truly, the link between sexual violence and the arms trade
indicates a need to highlight the prohibition of violence against women as well
as their participation in the implementation of the UN PoA.
As discussions move forward on the inclusion
of gender language in the final document that will outline the next cycle, we
hope that the references to women and children be kept separate, as each group
has a different level of participation in policy-making and is impacted in
different ways by armed conflict and illicit flow of arms.