Women, peace and security
NATO’s implementation of UNSCR 1325
Adopted in October 2000, the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 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 nation stabilization efforts. UNSCR 1325 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.
Role and responsibilities
NATO and its Partners are taking concerted action to support implemention of the resolution. They are promoting the role of women within NATO-led operations and missions, as well as improving their knowledge and skills in relation to questions of gender and diversity.
Their active commitment resulted in a formal NATO/Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) policy on implementing UNSCR 1325, issued in December 2007.
With that policy, came a tasking to the NATO Strategic Commands to develop guidelines for implementation of the Resolution in NATO-led operations, with an emphasis on mission success. 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 serving within NATO structure are appropriately trained and meet required standards of behavior.These guidelines are expected to be finalised later in 2009 and issued to NATO Commanders for implementation, including training and education.
In parallel a group of nations undertook a study on the implementation of UNSCR 1325 in the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in Afghanistan. The study results, released in May 2009, emphasize the need for a comprehensive strategy and the active support of both political and military leadership in promoting and taking responsibility for integrating Resolution 1325. The study also shows that expert functions, such as gender advisers and focal points of contact, are needed to enhance competence.
Identifying training needs and lessons learned, but also sharing them among nations and international organisations and institutions is essential. The main goal of the Alliance and its Partners is now to develop a communication mechanism which would help in spreading of information and would determine a comprehensive set of measures to be presented during the 10th anniversary of UNSCR 1325 in October 2010.
Working mechanism
The implementation cuts across various organizations within the Nations and also within NATO.
Today NATO has several structures 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.
In addition, the Allied Command Transformation, NATO’s Defense College, NATO’s School in Oberammergau, Partnership for Peace (PfP) Training and Education Centers, PfP’s Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes as well as national and partner institutions contribute actively and provide essential support to NATO’s efforts to implement resolution 1325 and to incorporate the gender perspective into training and education.