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Promoting the implementation of UN resolution 1325: the role of the commonwealth

Date: 7 Feb 2007
Speaker: Deputy Secretary-General Florence Mugasha
Location: Strategy Workshop with Women’s Constituencies from Troop and Police Contributing Countries, Tshwane, South Africa

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Promoting the implementation of united nations resolution 1325 (women, peace, and security): the role of the commonwealth

H.E Jessie Duarte,
Deputy Director General, Department of Foreign Affairs, South Africa

Ms. Rachel Mayanja
Special Adviser to the Secretary General on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women

Ms. Jane Holl Lute,
Assistant Secretary General Department of Peacekeeping Operations

Distinguished Delegates

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is an honour and a pleasure for me to be with you today, among so many friends and professional colleagues who are in the vanguard of promoting equal participation, peace and development.

I bring you warm greetings from the Commonwealth Secretary-General Rt. Honourable Don McKinnon, who met with the United Nations Secretary-General, His Excellency Ban Ki Moon in New York yesterday to, among other issues, discuss our partnership efforts at promoting international peace and development.

This underlines the value we place on building organisational synergies as a basis for long term dialogue on our common agenda of peace and development.

Let me, at the outset, congratulate the Government of South Africa for hosting this event and to express our gratitude for the excellent arrangements that have been put at our disposal for this meeting and  also for the exemplary hospitality characteristic of the people of this great country. South Africa has a valued role and place in the Commonwealth and we are delighted to be here.

This Strategy Workshop is organised by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat and other partners. It is a unique initiative to interface women’s constituencies and other relevant entities involved in peacekeeping operations. It is significant because this is the first time we are having a platform for direct dialogue
on policies between women’s constituencies and Troop Contributing Countries /Police Contributing Countries (TCCs/PCCs).

Such dialogue and exchange of information is imperative particularly as we tackle difficult issues concerning human rights violations, sexual abuse and impunity, lack of access for women’s contribution to peace building. It also affords us the opportunity to understudy and recommend ways to improve peacekeeping within member countries.  It is fitting that this workshop is a follow-up to the Policy Dialogue organised by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in March 2006 for Troop Contributing Countries /Police Contributing Countries (TCCs/PCCs).

Unlike the United Nations, the Commonwealth Secretariat does not engage in traditional peacekeeping operations.  However, our Heads of Government have made firm commitments to the promotion of international peace and development in various declarations and statements such as the Harare Commonwealth Declaration and the Abuja and Malta Communiqués to mention just a few.

By the same measure, they also support and promote gender equality as one of the fundamental values of the Commonwealth, particularly through the endorsement of the Plan of Action for Gender Equality 2005 – 2015), adopted by Commonwealth Ministers responsible for Women and Gender Affairs in 2004.

 It is also pertinent to mention that the Commonwealth is the largest intergovernmental and only organisation with direct mandate and access on gender issues, at very high political levels. WE have a vibrant platform where our fifty-three Ministers for Women and Gender Affairs meet to exchange views and develop policy. We are, therefore, in a unique position to influence the outcomes through our networks with our women’s constituencies.

Thus, through our principles and practices, we encourage and support our member countries to make the needed sacrifice in contributing to the request for troops.  For instance, as of December 2006, seven out of the twelve largest TCCs/PCCs, are Commonwealth member countries. These include Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and our host South Africa.  Similarly, we took pride when India announced in September 2006, that it would send the ‘first ever’ all female police contingent’ for the mission in Liberia.  I should inform you that the all female contingent arrived Liberia a few days ago.

Among several provisions, resolution 1325 calls for increased participation and representation of women in peace negotiations, peacekeeping, democratic processes and post-conflict reconstruction including issues of gender justice and an end to impunity.  Given our comparative advantage, the Commonwealth Secretariat adopts a two-pronged approach with five components in addressing issues of peace building and conflict management.

 The two-pronged approach involves short term – problem solving; and long term – with a focus on prevention and rebuilding while the five components deal with programme implementation in the following areas.

Good Offices

a)  The Commonwealth’s short-term measures focus on dialogue and problem-solving, complemented by a long-term approach that addresses the root causes of conflict within its member states. The short-term measures are implemented through the Good Offices of the Secretary-General and seek to resolve immediate or ongoing disputes or crises before they deteriorate into violent conflict. Over the long-term, the Commonwealth seeks to help build a positive environment that can enable democracy and development to flourish.

While being proactive in engaging where action is necessary, the Commonwealth attempts to work in co-operation with the government of the member country concerned. It also engages with key stakeholders such as political parties, civil society organisations and international partners. This is done either directly or through special envoys to promote human rights and inclusiveness.  Promoting respect for human rights standards, gender equality, youth development and civil society participation is integral to the Good Offices role, and Envoys and the Secretariat work closely with members of civil society and our Gender Section to mainstream gender into all their activities including the promotion of UNSCR 1325.

Legal and Institutional Frameworks

b)   On UNSCR 1325, the Gender Section in collaboration with member countries and partners organised a successful meeting at the Wilton Park, London in June 2006 at which many of you here participated. The meeting afforded us the opportunity to review the challenges and gaps to the implementation of this landmark resolution.  Additionally, our Ministers with support from the Secretariat agreed to develop terms of reference for a ‘Working Group’ on ‘Gender, Peace, and Security’, to conduct initial assessment in post-conflict situations. The terms of reference of this Working Group will be discussed by our Senior Officials at the meetings in New York in the wings of the 51st   session of the Commission on the Status of Women later this month.   Furthermore, the Commonwealth has continued to engage the Security Council and contribute to the open debate on ‘UNSCR 1325’ in 2004 and  2005 respectively, reiterating among other issues, the need for education and change in mind sets to avoid conflicts, as well equal participation and representation in peace processes.

Nation and Institution Building

c) Through mutual assistance, the Commonwealth works to improve democratic arrangements through the observation of elections and the provision of technical assistance and training.  We also seek to support the promotion of best practice through the organisation of workshops, seminars and conferences and the production and circulation of publications to strengthen democratic values and culture.

In the period from 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006, Commonwealth Observer Groups were sent to observe elections in four Commonwealth countries, while Commonwealth Expert Teams were sent to two others. Observer groups comprise electoral experts, politicians, civil society representatives including women and youth group activists, to ensure balanced and informed assessment of the conduct of elections and the electoral and democratic context in which they are conducted. The Groups recommend ways to improve electoral and democratic conditions so as to ensure improvement in the democratic and just political environment that must underpin a peaceful society;

Development of Tools and Resources

d) As part of our efforts to institutionalise mechanisms and intervention strategies including ‘good practice’, we recently published “Gender Mainstreaming in Conflict Transformation: Building Sustainable Peace”, an advocacy, capacity building and policy tool, with reviews on commitments, their impact, gaps and progress, highlighting national level programme implementation and examples of good practice.

I am happy to report that recent feedback has shown this resource useful as just recently, there were requests from a group of non-Commonwealth practitioners in Asia, requesting translation in their local language to facilitate usage and information sharing among local practitioners.  Furthermore, because we recognise the critical importance of education as a powerful tool to change mind-sets necessary to manage these situations, as well as the fact that preventing conflicts are more cost effective than post-conflict reconstruction, we continue to push for peace education/citizenship education in conflict and difficult circumstances. In this regard, two important initiatives have been carried out by the Commonwealth.  These are:

i. Development of citizenship framework for South Africa and Sierra Leone; and
ii. The ‘Mombasa Declaration’ by Commonwealth African Education Ministers (2004), promoting education for all particularly in crisis, post-conflict and difficult circumstances

Build synergies and strengthening partnerships. 

e) In tandem with the integrated approach, we have continued to explore effective partnerships such as today’s event with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations to ensure holistic and multi-sectoral strategies targeted to improve efficiency.

In carrying out these efforts, we have recorded some achievements, albeit general progress remains modest.  However, we remain committed to ensuring that equal participation and representation of women, men and young people is an essential panacea to achieving sustainable peace globally.  I would now highlight a few challenges that still confront our member countries and the Secretariat in our efforts to mainstreaming into these processes.

Challenges

While acknowledging current efforts and achievements, more work remains to be done.  In order to improve our interventions, several challenges must be addressed.  Some of these include:

  • Persistent lack of access to women’s participation and representation in all processes;
  • Unwillingness to exercise the necessary political will by state and non-state actors to implement agreed commitments and frameworks;
  • Lack of resources both human and financial, for example, need to enhance women’s capacities and skills to engage in these processes;
  • Lack of disaggregated data to inform interventions, for example, cases of gender-based violence, which goes unreported; and
  • Over-burden of work (unpaid work), which is further exacerbated in post-conflict situations, and denies women the opportunity and time to participate.

Against this background, and in the spirit of collective responsibility, I would like to ask, what can we do, as concerned members of international family to improve our intervention efforts and skills?  My response to this question is contained in the following suggestions: 

  • Overall, our interventions need to be better coordinated and supported by essential gender disaggregated data in order to ensure effective implementation of the provisions of resolution 1325;
  • We must make  determined effort to ensure that women are equally represented at peace negotiation tables;
  • We should consider ways of raising dedicated funds for the implementation of UNSC 1325. This is absolutely necessary to better mainstreaming as the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues  And the Advancement of Women and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations is often left without resources to deploy staff and effect programmes;
  • We should institute practical monitoring and evaluation tools including the development of indicators to measure progress.  This can be easily achieved particularly with the development of national action plans requested by the Security Council through the UN Secretary-General’s report in 2005;  
  •  Some member countries have developed action plans to promote UNSCR 1325.  I wish to encourage those who have not done so, to do so.

The Commonwealth is well placed, as it has done in the past, to continue strengthening democracies through assistance in elections, drafting of constitutions, capacity building initiatives and brokering strategic partnerships.  In the area of monitoring, our Ministers responsible for Women and Gender Affairs will consider the possibility of establishing a Working Group on Gender, Peace, and Security when they meet in New York in about two weeks. The outcome of this deliberation will be shared with our partners to ensure coordinated response.

Conclusion

Excellencies, Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I hope my brief overview of what the Commonwealth is doing to promote resolution 1325 will stimulate your discussions and reiterate our collective conviction that gender equality is the fundamental premise on which any attempt at sustainable democracy and peace can be achieved.

I thank you for your attention and wish you successful deliberations.

 

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