Gender & Peace & Security

However, peacekeeping forces have committed acts of sexual violence in virtually every country they have operated in. Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire, former Senator, commander of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, has “said there is a “culture of silence” and near-impunity for UN peacekeepers in their missions abroad, contributing to the growing scandal over sexual abuse and exploitation by the blue-beret troops.” In 2000, the Security Council issued its first resolution on women, peace and security: resolution 1325. It centered three principles: women participation in decision-making processes, gender mainstreaming, and protection of women from conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence. Thus, within the UNSC and R2P framework, prevention and protection of women from sexual violence is intrinsic to its law. As the R2P agenda emphasizes protection from sexual violence, the lack of investment in preventing it by the UNSC is troubling, particularly where U.N. peacekeeping forces are concerned.

The Haitian mothers are struggling to bring up their children they say were fathered by soldiers from the U.N.'s peacekeeping force stationed in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH, who came from Uruguay, Argentina, Nigeria and Sri Lanka, said their lawyer, Mario Joseph at BAI, who filed the lawsuits. "These mothers and their children face severe economic difficulties and discrimination," he said, adding that six of the mothers were left homeless after Hurricane Matthew devastated the Caribbean island last year.

In advance of the UNSC debate, the Permanent Missions of Namibia, Colombia and Norway, the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) convened a high-level panel discussion to launch the Women, Peace and Security index (WPSI). The launch event took place on 26 October 2017 at UN Headquarters. The WPSI is structured around three dimensions of women’s well-being: inclusion (economic, social and political); justice (formal laws and informal discrimination); and security at the family, community and social levels. The Index captures and quantifies these three dimensions through 11 indicators, and ranks 153 countries, covering more than 98 percent of the world’s population, along the three dimensions. A report titled, ‘Tracking Sustainable Peace Through Inclusion, Justice and Security for Women: Women Peace and Security Index 2017/2018’, which introduces the Index, shows that few countries perform uniformly well across key indicators of inclusion, justice and security. Iceland ranks the highest on the WPS Index while Afghanistan and Syria are the bottom ranked countries. According to the report, 30 countries score in the top third for all three dimensions, with achievements in each dimension reinforcing progress more broadly. The report also notes that while there are clear regional patterns in performance, there are also major differences within regions, and the lowest scoring regions all have some countries whose score exceeds the global average. Such countries include Nepal in South Asia and Namibia, South Africa, Mauritius, Ghana, Tanzania and Zimbabwe in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2000, the United Nations adopted a resolution which urged all member states to increase the participation of women in peace and security efforts. Resolution 1325 calls for special protection of women and girls from gender-based violence in situations of armed conflict, and the prosecution of those that carry out these attacks. Additionally the resolution calls for more women in peacekeeping operations and local police forces. However, 17 years later, the levels of female participation in peacekeeping are still low while the abuse of women and girls in conflict continues. According to the UN’s own data, at least 55 UN peacekeepers were accused of sexual exploitation and abuse between January and July this year. According to Séverine Autesserre, professor of political science at Barnard College, Columbia University, and an expert on peacekeepers, the most recent statistics show only 5% of UN peacekeepers were women, and most of those were deployed in non-combat positions. Female peacekeepers generally aren’t put into combat operations and are generally given jobs which are considered safer and less dangerous.