KEEPING THE PEACE IN AN INCREASINGLY MILITARIZED WORLD

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Although the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda has its roots in the pacifist, anti-militarist struggle there is no doubt that women’s presence raises awareness of women’s issues in theaters of action, helps prevent sexual exploitation and abuse of the local population, and improves operational effectiveness.


Key messages

  • Women’s presence in the security sector has been found to significantly lower rates of complaints of misconduct, significantly lower rates of improper use of force, or inappropriate use of weapons, and are less authoritarian in their interactions with citizens and lower ranking officers. Women in peacekeeping operations have been found to increase the credibiltiy of forces, gain access to communities and vital information, and lead to an increase in reporting of sexual and gender based crimes.
  • Many security actors have introduced a range of reforms, policies, guidance, training, advisory positions and in some cases, a very sophisticated apparatus to mainstream gender. This is a welcome development, but it is still a nascent phenomenon that has not yet led to impactful transformations in military structures and military cultures, beyond greater awareness of the importance of this issue and the emergence of a professional cadre of gender advisors embedded in military institutions.
  • A gender perspective is much more prominent in peacekeeping operations today. This includes an entire normative and institutional architecture that did not exist 15 years ago, and tangible changes in the way that peacekeeping missions approach human rights monitoring, training, force generation, support to rule of law, security sector reform, and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes. However, these efforts are ad-hoc and remain limited in scope and scale, constrained by the systematic under-resourcing of gender-related requirements and expertise within peacekeeping budgets, and the uphill climb to tackle entrenched gender inequality in mission contexts.
  • While much of the work of missions remains virtually invisible to affected populations and the general public, incidences of sexual exploitation and abuse continue to grab the attention of both the international community and communities where peacekeepers are deployed. It is crucial that the UN take more decisive action to address this issue once and for all.

Facts and figures

On average, only 3 percent of the military in UN missions are women, and the majority of these are employed as support staff. This number has not changed since 2011, and has changed little from the 1 percent of women peacekeepers in 1993.

There are almost 7,000 international civilian staff in field missions, and less than 30 percent are women (and only 20 percent in senior management positions). Among national staff, which make up an even larger share of the workforce in missions, the percentage of women is only 17 percent.

Out of a total of 33 benchmarks adopted by five peacekeeping missions, none specifically referred to gender-specific issues or gender equality. Out of 105 indicators attached to these benchmarks, only 5 refer to gender issues, and of these most relate to sexual violence.

Key recommendations

  • Encourage Member States to deploy more female military officers to UN peacekeeping missions by adopting financial incentives, such as a gender balance premium.
  • Ensure gender-responsive budgeting and financial tracking of investments on gender equality in missions by requesting peacekeeping budget experts and planning officers, along with gender-responsive budget experts, to review mission budgets and make a recommendation on methodology and capacity needed.
  • Ensure that all UN peacekeepers are provided scenario-based training on gender mainstreaming in peace operations, preventing and responding to conflict-related sexual violence and sexual exploitation and abuse by calling on Member States to invest in the capacity of national peacekeeping training centers from the largest troop contributing countries, so that they become permanent features in their pre-deployment training curriculum.
  • Address impunity and lack of assistance for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse by fully implementing the recommendations of the High- Level Independent Panel on UN Peace Operations and the SG’s report on sexual exploitation and abuse. In addition, countries that repeatedly fail to live up to their written assurances to investigate and prosecute their soldiers should not be allowed to contribute troops to peacekeeping missions. Victims Assistance Mechanisms should be funded through pooled funds in each country or from the operating budget of the entities that employ the accused.
  • Scale up support to unarmed civilian protection (UCP) in conflict-affected countries, including working alongside peace operations.

FULL RECOMMENDATIONS

  • Set specific targets for the improved recruitment, retention and promotion of women in their armed forces and the leadership of security institutions.
  • Ensure that every soldier they deploy is thoroughly vetted, trained and held accountable for their actions, including when they abuse or exploit women and girls.
  • Commit to doctrines and planning that takes into account the impact on women and girls of every military deployment and operation, and that considers the use of unarmed military protection as a preferable or complementary protection method, where appropriate.
  • Encourage Member States to deploy more female military officers to UN peacekeeping missions by adopting financial incentives, such as a genderbalance premium.
  • Ensure gender-responsive budgeting and financial tracking of investments on gender equality in missions by requesting peacekeeping budget experts and planning officers, along with genderresponsive budget experts, to review mission budgets and make a recommendation on methodology and capacity needed.
  • Ensure that all UN peacekeepers are provided scenario-based training on issues related to gender equality—from gender mainstreaming in peace operations to preventing and responding to conflict-related sexual violence—by calling on Member States to invest in the capacity of national peacekeeping training centers for the largest troop contributing countries, so that they become permanent features in their pre-deployment training curriculum.
  • Address impunity and lack of assistance for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse by fully implementing the recommendations of the High- Level Independent Panel on United Nations Peace Operations101 and the Secretary-General’s recent annual report on sexual exploitation and abuse.102 In addition:
    • Countries that repeatedly fail to live up to their written assurances to investigate and prosecute their soldiers should not be allowed to contribute troops to peacekeeping missions.
    • If the United Nations has obtained prima facie evidence of misconduct, the home country of the alleged perpetrator should be under the obligation to prosecute, and if they don’t, they should be obligated to provide a detailed explanation of their findings.
    • The United Nations should empower an independent commission of inquiry to conduct a broad-based investigation on sexual exploitation and abuse and the handling of allegations by both member states and the UN itself, including the failure to systematically apply many of the powers that it already has to hold individuals accountable for their actions.
    • Consider engaging with States in support of establishing an international tribunal with jurisdiction to try UN staff and all categories of RECOMMENDATIONS Moving progress beyond 2015: Proposals for action Chapter 6. Keeping the Peace 157 peacekeepers that have allegedly committed serious crimes, including sexual abuse.
    • Make concrete proposals on the ground about how to fund Victims Assistance Mechanisms and render them operational, including from pooled funds in each country or from the operating budget of the entities that employ the accused.
  • Take steps to improve regulation and oversight of all private contractors hired by the United Nations with regards to sexual exploitation and abuse. The UN should revise and fully implement guidelines to regulate these companies, including through permanent or temporary debarment of companies from further contracts and keeping a centralized register of companies whose staff have repeatedly been linked to allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse.
  • Promote women’s empowerment and nonviolent means of protection, and take into account the whole range of women’s protection issues and the interventions to address them—including women’s leadership and women’s empowerment—in mission planning, implementation and reporting, as well as in policy discussions on the protection of civilians in the context of peace operations.
  • Scale up their support to unarmed civilian protection (UCP) in conflict-affected countries, including working alongside peace operations.