On 31 October, Security Council Resolution 1325 - Women, Peace and Security - will celebrate its 20th anniversary. The Resolution recognised for the first time the role of women in armed conflict, from prevention to the peace process, allowing for greater equality and participation. At the same time, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) stresses that, based on the COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker, the world is not doing enough to cope with the economic and social consequences of the pandemic. Measures related to the physical and economic integrity of women are only carried out by 12% of countries with different levels of effectiveness and targeting and strong regional variations.
However, such actions cannot be taken only at a State-level, nor they can be exclusively COVID-related. The importance and complexity of gender-based violence in conflict (CRSV) requires the participation of non-governmental organizations and UN Missions and agencies engaged at all levels. For this reason, the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) pushes for the implementation of an information-sharing system between the different actors involved. The inclusion of the CRSV in the Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Arrangements (MARA), for example, can allow the identification of specific geographical and preventive patterns. In conjunction with more targeted action in the field, the MARA - as well as the COVID Tracker - allow for better transmissibility of such issues to the UN officials who in parallel promote these topics at the international level.
As highlighted by the UNDP, the pandemic offers an unprecedented opportunity to reformulate economic and implementation models, allowing for greater social justice and gender equality in conflict and non-conflict contexts. Contextual action and data and good practices exchange become, thus, crucial in this respect.
To read more, please visit:
https://civiliansinconflict.org/blog/wps20-improving-information-sharing/
https://theglobalobservatory.org/2020/10/next-20-years-of-women-peace-security-agenda/
Author: Matteo Consiglio; Editor: Margherita Curti
