WUNRN
*
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 13 2014 (IPS) - The largest annual gathering with special focus on
issues which impact on women and thereby humanity as a whole is now taking
place in New York.
It is the annual session of the Commission on Status
of Women (UN-CSW) under the United Nations umbrella, attracting hundreds of
government and civil society participants representing their nations and
organisations.
This is the 58th time that CSW is meeting and over the
years, its agenda has evolved in a meaningful way to bring to global attention
to women’s equality and their contribution to human progress.
For last few years, equality of women’s participation
at all decision making levels has taken a special profile in its deliberations
and many parallel events. Participation has emerged as the major area of
practical application for women’s agenda.
At the same time, engaging men and boys for gender
equality is being seen as an essential component of any proactive strategy.
Adoption of the landmark U.N. Security Council
resolution 1325 boosted the essential value of women’s participation. For a
long time, the impression has been that women were helpless victims of wars and
conflicts.
In reality, women have shown great capacity as
peacemakers. They assumed activist roles during conflicts while holding
together their families and communities.
At the grassroots and community levels, women have
organised to resist militarisation, to create space for dialogue and moderation
and to weave together the shattered fabric of society. The contribution and
involvement of women in the eternal quest for peace is an inherent reality.
The consensus statement that the Security Council
issued on Mar. 8, 2000 formally and for the first time brought to global
attention to fact that the contribution women have been making to preventing
war, to building peace has remained unrecognised, under-utilised and
under-valued.
It finally recognised that “peace is inextricably
linked with equality between women and men”.
This conceptual and political breakthrough led in
October that year to the ground-breaking resolution 1325 of the Council on
“Women and Peace and Security”.
Validity of its core message that sustainable peace is
possible only with women’s full participation has become increasingly relevant
in today’s context when we find women being excluded from peace conferences.
The current international practices that make women
insecure and deny their equality of participation, basically as a result of its
support of the existing militarised inter-state security arrangements, is
disappointing.
I draw your attention to the existing concept of
security based on inter-state power structure rather than on human security – security
of the people. Human security is rarely a primary consideration in the Security
Council’s decision-making.
This should make us determined to ensure that women
have more avenues to promote peace, not only at the local level but also at the
national, regional and global levels.
By bringing their experiences to the peace table,
women can inject in the peace process a practical understanding of the various
challenges faced by civilian populations.
The mechanisms and arrangements that come out of such
involvement are naturally more sensitive to the needs of common people and,
therefore, more purposeful and sustainable.
Recognition that women need to be at the peace tables
to make a real difference in transitioning from the cult of war to the culture
of peace, I believe, made the passage of 1325 an impressive step forward for
women’s equality agenda in contemporary security politics.
This was reflected very eloquently when in 2011 three
women were chosen as Nobel laureates. Their citation for the Nobel Peace Prize
referred to the Resolution 1325, saying that “It underlined the need for women
to become participants on an equal footing with men in peace processes and in
peace work in general.”
The Nobel Committee further asserted that, “We cannot
achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same
opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society.”
This is the first time when a Nobel Peace Prize
citation has mentioned a United Nations resolution so specifically.
The Charter of the United Nations in its Article 25
states that “The Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out
the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present Charter.”
Therefore, as a Security Council resolution 1325 is a
commitment made by the United Nations, its member-states and the international
community in general to take action to comply and work towards its full
implementation.
In this context, I will underscore that top priority
should be given to energising and supporting the U.N. member states to prepare
their respective National Plan of Action (NAP) for 1325 at the country level.
Of 193 U.N. members, so far only 43 have prepared such
plans and 10 more are reportedly on the way. A long way to reach 193!
Civil society, in particular women’s organisations,
human rights activists and peace groups around the world, need to mobilise
their efforts to hold governments accountable for the commitments they made in
Resolution 1325.
There needs to be international support to ways and
means to enhance women’s participation and role in formal and informal conflict
prevention and mediation efforts, including measures for capacity-building
support for women’s peace movements in conflict and post-conflict situations.
Coordinated and coherent support by the United Nations
system is particularly needed to achieve greater effectiveness of peacemaking
and peacebuilding efforts through the increased participation of women and
strengthened capacity to address gender issues in peace and post-conflict
planning processes.
It is essential that the views of both women and men
are equally heard and recognised in society, and in economic and political
planning and decision making. Only then can men and women equally and
democratically influence progress in society.
My own experience during the course of my different
responsibilities – more so during past 20 plus years – has shown that the
participation of women in peacemaking, peacekeeping and peace-building assures
that their experiences, priorities, and solutions contribute to lasting
stability, good governance and sustainable peace.
1325 is a “common heritage of humanity” wherein the
global objectives of peace, equality and development are reflected in a
uniquely historic, universal document of the United Nations.
We should never forget that when women are
marginalised, there is little chance for the world to get sustainable peace in
the real sense.
*Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury was
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations (2002-2007), Ambassador of
Bangladesh to UN (1996-2001), and initiator of the conceptual breakthrough for
UNSCR 1325 as Security Council President in 2000.