UNFPA: Empowering Women to Promote Peace and Security
Women and girls are likely to suffer the most during times of conflict. The vital role they have to play in preventing conflict, building peace and reconstructing their communities is often overlooked. However, the active political and economic participation of women offers a real opportunity to construct lasting peace, reduce poverty and enhance development.
UNFPA is committed to safeguarding women's reproductive health and well-being, including protecting them against gender-based violence, during and after times of conflict. Beyond this, the Fund empowers women to take an active role in building sustainable peace.
UN Security Council Resolution 1325 is the first resolution ever passed by the Security Council that specifically addresses the impact of war on women, and women's contributions to conflict resolution and sustainable peace. UNFPA is part of an interagency Task Force to implement the resolution, which was adopted on 31 October 2000. Since then, the Fund has been very active. [see statement by UNFPA Executive Director]
Priorities for 2005 involve three strategies to ensure that women's concerns and rights are taken fully into account in conflict and post-conflict situations:
- Knowledge sharing and institution building
- Capacity building for organizations and institutions to respond to gender-based violence
- Capacity building for women's organizations
- Resolution 1325 was the main topic of discussion at a panel discussion organized by UNFPA and the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, in honor of the 52nd Commission on the Status of Women (2008). Five keynote speakers,including Elisabeth Rehn, former Finland Minister of Defense, Betty Bigombo, Minister of State for pacification in Uganda, and Nuria Esparch Fernandez, Deputy Minister of Defense, Peru, reflected on their personal experiences on the issue of women’s leadership in peace and security.
- In October 2005,
UNFPA sponsored a workshop that brought together UNFPA staff, partners and international experts to discuss ways to narrow the gap between the provisions of Resolution 1325 and the reality on the ground. Reassessing Institutional Support for Security Council Resolution 1325, 17- 20 October 2005
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Highlights
- In April 2004, UNFPA conducted a training workshop on leadership, media and conflict management for women in Afghanistan. This workshop was designed to address the challenges noted at the earlier global meeting in Slovakia, of helping women become leaders and find solutions to their societies' problems, and formulating strategies and tools to ensure that UNFPA fully supports this empowerment, specifically by addressing those strategies through a comprehensive gender-sensitive approach. [see report]
In November 2002, UNFPA conducted a training workshop on capacity-building for non-governmental organizations in conflict/post-conflict settings. The workshop touched on gender roles, forms of interpersonal communication, active listening, financial management, and the logistics of establishing and maintaining a self-sustaining organization through which to achieve social change effectively.
- In November 2001, UNFPA held a consultative meeting resulting in a strategic report examining the impact of armed conflict on women and girls. The Impact of Conflict on Women and Girls: A UNFPA Strategy for Gender Mainstreaming in Areas of Conflict and Reconstruction discusses strategies and tools to ensure that reproductive health programmes accurately reflect this population's needs, specifically by addressing them through a comprehensive, gender-sensitive approach
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