NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Women, peace and security

NATO’s implementation of UNSCR 1325

NATO and its partners are taking concerted action to support implemention of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325, which was adopted in October 2000. This resolution recognizes the disproportionate impact that war and conflicts have on women and children, and highlights the fact that women have been historically left out of peace processes and stabilization efforts. It calls for full and equal participation of women at all levels in issues ranging from early conflict prevention to post-conflict reconstruction, peace and security.

• NATO’s Overarching Policy

  NATO and its partners’ active commitment to UNSCR 1325 resulted in a formal NATO/Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) policy on implementing the Resolution, first issued in December 2007.
  The policy, which was updated in June 2011, provides the overall framework for the implementation of UNSCR 1325 and related Resolutions by NATO and its partners. It takes into account the four pillars of UNSCR 1325 – prevention, protection, participation and relief and recovery – and draws on both internal and external NATO resources for implementation.
  The implementation plan underpinning the policy has a six-track approach:

  1. mainstreaming UNSCR 1325 in policies, programmes and documentation;
  2. cooperating with international organizations, non-governmental organizations and civil society;
  3. operations;
  4. education and training;
  5. public diplomacy; and
  6. national initiatives.

  The policy is reviewed every two years through the Political and Partnerships Committee meeting with Euro-Atlantic partners and is approved by the Council.
  The Secretary General issued his first annual report on the progress of the Alliance’s implementation of UNSCR 1325 in November 2011. It will be published each autumn.
  

• Mainstreaming UNSCR 1325 in Operations

  The Alliance has actively begun to implement UNSCR 1325 in its operations. The benefits of this, and of having more female personnel on the ground, has helped save lives.

  In Afghanistan, Kosovo and Supreme Headquarters Allied Command Europe (SHAPE) special Gender Advisers are now in place. They advise commanders on how best to conduct operations to both make them more successful and limit their impact on women and children.

  Particularly in Afghanistan, female soldiers are able to connect with members of the population otherwise closed off from their male colleagues. This has led to fresh information on Taliban supporters, the positioning of improvised explosive device (IED) tracks and redirected patrols, as well as better understanding the needs of Afghan women.

  The Operations Policy Committee (OPC) in ISAF and KFOR format prepared a NATO action plan to mainstream UNSCR 1325 into NATO-led operations and missions. This Action Plan was finally endorsed by Heads of State and Government at the Lisbon Summit in November 2010, together with an overall implementation report of the NATO/EAPC Policy, marking the tenth anniversary of the adoption of UNSCR 1325.

  The gender perspective was successfully integrated into several planning documents, operational plans and exercise planning processes related to NATO Crisis Management, Operational Planning and Exercises.

  In particular, considerable progress has been made in the areas of training and education with Allied Command Transformation (ACT) establishing a number of courses and modules integrating UNSCR 1325 and the gender perspective into pre-deployment training.

  The NATO Strategic Commands developed guidelines for the integration of UNSCR 1325 in the NATO Command Structure. These guidelines were finalised in 2009 and issued to NATO Commanders for implementation, including training and education.

  A first “NATO Workshop on Gender Perspective Training in the Context of Mainstreaming UNSCR 1325 into NATO-led Operations and Missions” took place in November 2011. It helped to identify best practices and lessons learned, as well as identify existing gaps regarding gender perspective training.

  Though the Alliance has no influence on measures or policies taken at national level, it is required that personnel deployed in NATO-led operations and missions and serving within NATO structures are appropriately trained and meet required standards of behavior. In that respect, several Nations have initiated gender-related training for subject matter experts and raised general awareness on UNSCR 1325 ahead of national force deployments.

• Working mechanisms

  The implementation of UNSCR 1325 cuts across various organizations within nations and also within NATO.
  Today, NATO has several mechanisms at its disposal:

  • a task force force bringing together civilian and military staff across the Headquarters;
  • an ad hoc working group of interested Allies and partners;
  • a gender office (NATO Office on Gender Perspectives);
  • and an advisory committee of experts (NATO Committee on Gender Perspectives) tasked with promoting gender mainstreaming as a means of making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design and implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies, programmes and military operations;
  • a working group led by Allied Command Operations (ACO) to assess means to further incorporate UNSCR 1325 into operational planning and execution;
  • both of NATO’s Strategic Commands (ACO and ACT) have deployed Gender Advisors, as do lower-level Operational Headquarters lsuch as ISAF and KFOR;
  • the Operations Policy Committee (OPC) in ISAF and KFOR format works on the NATO action plan to mainstream UNSCR 1325 into NATO-led operations and missions;
  • the Political and Partnerships Committee in EAPC format develops and reviews overall policy.

  Moreover, essential support to implement UNSCR 1325 and incorporate the gender perspective into training and education has been developed and will be reviewed regularly. A progress report on overall implementation of UNSCR 1325 will be produced for the Chicago Summit in May 2012.

Video