BUILDING INCLUSIVE AND PEACEFUL SOCIETIES IN THE AFTERMATH OF CONFLICT

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Without women’s engagement in all stages of ending violent conflict and consolidating the peace, the dangers of relapse are greatly heightened.


Key messages

  • Women in conflict-affected and recovering countries lack economic opportunities necessary for survival, remain confronted by daily violence in their homes and communities, struggle to cope with heavy burdens of care and dependency, and continue to endure the emotional and physical scars of conflict, without support or recognition. In the aftermath of conflict, violence against women often increases, underlining the importance of rebuilding rule of law institutions.
  • Experience and evidence show that women are more likely to spend their incomes on family needs including health care and education, thus making a proportionately larger contribution to post-conflict social recovery.
  • Since the adoption of resolution 1325, women’s participation in national level governance bodies in post-conflict countries has increased, often as a result of temporary special measures. However, more investment is needed to achieve gender parity in local governance structures, as well as in the design, monitoring and evaluation of public service programs.

Facts and figures

  • Conflict-affected communities that experienced the most rapid economic recovery and poverty reduction are those that had more women reporting higher levels of empowerment.
  • In the front line of service delivery—whether as polling agents, police officers, registration officials, judges, court clerks, teachers, medical attendants, or agricultural extension agents—leads to better quality services for both men and women.
  • In Rwanda, as a result of measures to ensure women’s participation in land commissions, 83 percent of private land was jointly owned by married couples, 11 percent by women, and 5 percent by men.
  • Data from 40 countries shows a positive correlation between the proportion of female police and reporting rates of sexual assault.

  • The percentage of benefits from temporary employment activities received by women has risen to 35 percent in recent years. The target of the Secretary-General’s seven-point action plan on gender-responsive peacebuilding is 40 percent.
  • By July 2015, in conflict and post-conflict countries with legislated electoral quotas, women represented almost 23 percent of parliamentarians, compared to 15 percent in countries without quotas.
  • The percentage of women entering DDR programmes has increased significantly, but there is no data on the proportion of benefits received by women and no data on the differences on quality and coverage of benefits.

Key recommendations

  • Consult with local women leaders, including women’s human rights defenders, on concessions agreements negotiated as part of post-conflict reconstruction efforts, and ensure a minimum level of 30 percent women’s representation in all decision-making bodies with regards to the country’s natural resources.
  • Design programmes for economic recovery that target women’s empowerment, challenge rather than entrench gender stereotypes, and are forward-looking on the transformative role women can play in an economy for the future.
  • Develop guidance on post-conflict macroeconomic policies that take into account gender dimensions, and prioritize public expenditure to reconstruct vital services for women.
  • Establish quotas for women of a minimum of 40 percent of service delivery employment opportunities at local level.
  • Provide women and girls with identity documents as a matter of priority during and after conflict, in order to register to vote, access land and avail themselves of social services and benefits, including education and health services.
  • Continue to ensure that technical assistance to post-conflict elections includes advice on temporary special measures. Elections basket funds should allocate a minimum of 15 percent of their funding to women’s participation.
  • Develop and implement strategies to increase participation and leadership of women within armed forces, police services, defense institutions, the penal system and the judiciary.

FULL RECOMMENDATIONS

  • Ensure that all local level peacebuilding efforts are preceded by mapping exercises to ascertain what programmes are relevant for communities affected by war, and which will most effectively empower women. There should not be a one-size-fits-all policy.

WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT FOR PEACEBUILDING

  • Consult with local women leaders, including women’s human rights defenders, on concessions agreements negotiated as part of post-conflict reconstruction efforts, and ensure a minimum level of 30 per cent women’s representation in all decision-making bodies with regards to the country’s natural resources.
  • Design programmes for economic recovery that target women’s empowerment, challenge rather than entrench gender stereotypes and are forward looking on the transformative role women can play in an economy for the future.
  • Design programmes with meaningful participation and end-benefit in mind for rural women, widows and female heads of households.
  • Develop and use gender-sensitive tools that would map and analyze local contexts and markets to implement livelihood activities that are locally relevant, conflict sensitive, and that empower women instead of further pushing them into poverty.
  • Develop guidance on post-conflict macroeconomic policies that take into account gender dimensions, and prioritize public expenditure to reconstruct vital services for women.
  • Design economic recovery programmes and macroeconomic policies in a gender-responsive manner and evaluate their impact on women’s economic security and human rights.
  • Make effective and meaningful participation of women in decision-making and planning a condition of any UN-supported economic recovery programme.
  • Design, implement and monitor economic recovery programmes and macroeconomic policies in a gender-responsive manner, and evaluate them for their impact on women’s economic security.

WOMEN IN POST-CONFLICT GOVERNANCE

  • Adopt legislative and policy measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country, and to ensure that women have equal opportunities to participate in the new, post-conflict structures of governance. This includes the adoption of temporary special measures to accelerate achievement of gender equality in all decision-making posts.
  • Establish quotas for women of a minimum of 40 per cent of service delivery employment opportunities at local level.
  • Provide women and girls with identity documents as a matter of priority during and after conflict, in order to register to vote, access land and avail themselves of social services and benefits, including education and health services.
  • Adopt service delivery measures that specifically target women and take into account the oftendisproportionate burden that women face in caregiving responsibilities, including child grants for households; education incentives for girls; free and accessible healthcare of good quality, including sexual and reproductive health, for pregnant mothers and young children; and other measures designed to alleviate the burden of unpaid work and family care.
  • Continue to ensure that technical assistance to post-conflict elections includes advice on temporary special measures. Elections basket funds should allocate a minimum of 15 per cent of their funding to women’s participation. Elections bodies should be supported to develop capacity in gender-sensitive data collection and the management of sex-disaggregated data.
  • Provide technical assistance to public administration reform, to assist governments to implement schemes to achieve gender parity in civil service.
  • Facilitate grassroots women’s organizations and women human rights defenders’ access to participate in the planning and delivery of basic services in crisis contexts, taking into consideration the implications for women’s security and their often disproportionate burdens of care.
  • Provide leadership capacity-building opportunities to national and local women leaders.

SSR AND DDR

  • Incorporate a gender-sensitive approach in SSR and DDR, ensuring that not only are these responsive to women’s particular experience of conflict, but that women fully participate, and their rights and perspectives are adequately addressed.
  • Develop and implement strategies to increase participation and leadership of women within armed forces, police services, defense institutions, the penal system and the judiciary.
  • Ensure that security sector reform fosters familyfriendly and non-discriminatory work environments free of all forms of harassment and violence within the security sector, in order to increase the participation, retention and promotion of female personnel.
  • Vet candidates for new or re-forming armed and police services for crimes of sexual violence and other violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, giving particular attention to confidentiality and protection of victims of sexual violence.
  • Include gender analysis and full consideration of women’s human rights in SSR/DDR planning and implementation, so that entry requirements do not inhibit women’s access, and that reintegration opportunities do not further entrench harmful gender stereotypes and gender-based discrimination, or violate women’s human rights.
  • (Department of Peacekeeping Operations) Should ensure gender-responsive DDR/SSR are integrated in mission planning with dedicated funding, gender expertise, and regular reporting on genderresponsive DDR and SSR in mission reports and briefings to the Security Council.
  • Ensure female uniformed personnel in all UN peace missions participate in the implementation of DDR/ SSR programmes, as they can play a key role in confidence-building, especially in screening activities and providing security in demobilization sites.
  • Facilitate the participation of women leaders and organizations in all stages of DDR/SSR
  • Engagement should be with the entire spectrum of actors involved in SSR, including customary and religious leaders, private military and security companies, security sector oversight actors and the penal system. They should also engage men and boys to strengthen gender equality within DDR and SSR processes, and prevent and respond to human rights violations, including sexual abuse.
  • Ensure reintegration processes respond to trauma and improve the availability and quality of psychosocial support services.
  • Ensure the presence of gender and DDR/ SSR expertise in the negotiation of formal peace agreements, to make certain that women participate in DDR and SSR programmes.