31 October 2000
Press Release
SC/6942
SECURITY COUNCIL, UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTING RESOLUTION 1325 (2000), CALLS
FOR BROAD PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN
PEACE-BUILDING, POST-CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION
The Security Council this afternoon called on all actors involved in
negotiating and implementing peace agreements to adopt a gender
perspective that included the special
needs of women and girls during repatriation and resettlement,
rehabilitation, reintegration and post-conflict reconstruction.
Such a gender perspective would also include measures that supported
local women's peace initiatives and indigenous processes for conflict
resolution, and that involved
women in all the implementation mechanisms of the peace agreements,
as well as measures to ensure the human rights of women and girls,
particularly as they related to the
constitution, the electoral system, the police and the judiciary.
The Council took that action when it unanimously adopted Security
Council resolution 1325 (2000), by which it also expressed
willingness to ensure that Security Council
missions take into account gender considerations and the rights of
women, including through consultation with local and international
women's groups.
Reaffirming the important role of women in the prevention and
resolution of conflicts and in peace-building, the Council requested
the Secretary-General to provide to
Member States training guidelines and materials on the protection,
rights and particular needs of women, as well as on the importance of
involving women in all
peacekeeping and peace-building measures. It invited Member States to
incorporate those elements, as well as HIV/AIDS awareness training,
into their national training
programmes for military and civilian police personnel in preparation
for deployment.
Also by the resolution, the Council invited the Secretary-General to
carry out a study and report to it on the impact of armed conflict on
women and girls, the role of women
in peace-building and the gender dimension of peace processes and
conflict resolution.
__________
* In press release SC/6941 of 30 October, the meeting number should
be 4211th. The 4210th and the 4212th meetings were both closed.
Security Council - 2 - Press Release SC/6942 4213th Meeting (PM) 31
October 2000
The Council urged Member States to increase the participation of
women at decision-making levels. It urged the Secretary-General to
appoint more women as special
representatives and envoys to pursue good offices on his behalf. In
that regard, the Council called on Member States to provide
candidates to the Secretary-General for
inclusion in a regularly updated centralized roster.
Further, the Council urged the Secretary-General to expand the role
of women in United Nations field-based operations, especially among
military observers, civilian police,
human rights and humanitarian personnel. It requested the
Secretary-General to include, in his reporting to the Council,
progress on gender mainstreaming throughout
peacekeeping missions and all other aspects relating to women and girls.
Expressing concern that women and children accounted for the majority
of those adversely affected by armed conflict, the Council called on
all parties to armed conflict to
protect women and girls from gender-based violence. It emphasized the
responsibility of all States to end impunity and to prosecute those
responsible for genocide, crimes
against humanity, and war crimes, including those relating to sexual
violence against women and girls.
The meeting, which began at 12:15 p.m., was adjourned at 12:16 p.m.
Today's meeting followed an open meeting last week on 24 and 25
October, on women and peace and security. In that meeting, Assistant
Secretary-General and Special
Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, Angela E.V. King,
and a number of other speakers stressed the need to include women in
every aspect of
peace-building initiatives. Speakers specifically called for women's
involvement in decision-making processes.
Resolution
The full text of the resolution, adopted this afternoon as Security
Council reolution 1325 (2000) reads as follows:
"The Security Council,
"Recalling its resolutions 1261 (1999) of 25 August 1999, 1265 (1999)
of 17 September 1999, 1296 (2000) of 19 April 2000 and 1314 (2000) of
11 August 2000, as well
as relevant statements of its President and recalling also the
statement of its President, to the press on the occasion of the
United Nations Day for Women's Rights and
International Peace of 8 March 2000 (SC/6816),
"Recalling also the commitments of the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action (A/52/231) as well as those contained in the
outcome document of the twenty-third
Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly entitled
"Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the
twenty-first century"
(A/S-23/10/Rev.1), in particular those concerning women and armed
conflict,
Security Council - 3 - Press Release SC/6942 4213th Meeting (PM) 31
October 2000
"Bearing in mind the purposes and principles of the Charter of the
United Nations and the primary responsibility of the Security Council
under the Charter for the
maintenance of international peace and security,
"Expressing concern that civilians, particularly women and children,
account for the vast majority of those adversely affected by armed
conflict, including as refugees and
internally displaced persons, and increasingly are targeted by
combatants and armed elements, and recognizing the consequent impact
this has on durable peace and
reconciliation,
"Reaffirming the important role of women in the prevention and
resolution of conflicts and in peace-building, and stressing the
importance of their equal participation and
full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of
peace and security, and the need to increase their role in decision-
making with regard to conflict
prevention and resolution,
"Reaffirming also the need to implement fully international
humanitarian and human rights law that protects the rights of women
and girls during and after conflicts,
"Emphasizing the need for all parties to ensure that mine clearance
and mine awareness programmes take into account the special needs of
women and girls,
"Recognizing the urgent need to mainstream a gender perspective into
peacekeeping operations, and in this regard noting the Windhoek
Declaration and the Namibia Plan
of Action on Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in Multidimensional
Peace Support Operations (S/2000/693),
"Recognizing also the importance of the recommendation contained in
the statement of its President to the press of 8 March 2000 for
specialized training for all
peacekeeping personnel on the protection, special needs and human
rights of women and children in conflict situations,
"Recognizing that an understanding of the impact of armed conflict on
women and girls, effective institutional arrangements to guarantee
their protection and full
participation in the peace process can significantly contribute to
the maintenance and promotion of international peace and security,
"Noting the need to consolidate data on the impact of armed conflict
on women and girls,
"1. Urges Member States to ensure increased representation of women
at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international
institutions and mechanisms for
the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict;
"2. Encourages the Secretary-General to implement his strategic plan
of action (A/49/587) calling for an increase in the participation of
women at decision-making levels in
conflict resolution and peace processes;
Security Council - 4 - Press Release SC/6942 4213th Meeting (PM) 31
October 2000
"3. Urges the Secretary-General to appoint more women as special
representatives and envoys to pursue good offices on his behalf, and
in this regard calls on Member
States to provide candidates to the Secretary-General, for inclusion
in a regularly updated centralized roster;
"4. Further urges the Secretary-General to seek to expand the role
and contribution of women in United Nations field-based operations,
and especially among military
observers, civilian police, human rights and humanitarian personnel;
"5. Expresses its willingness to incorporate a gender perspective
into peacekeeping operations and urges the Secretary-General to
ensure that, where appropriate, field
operations include a gender component;
"6. Requests the Secretary-General to provide to Member States
training guidelines and materials on the protection, rights and the
particular needs of women, as well as on
the importance of involving women in all peacekeeping and
peace-building measures, invites Member States to incorporate these
elements as well as HIV/AIDS awareness
training into their national training programmes for military and
civilian police personnel in preparation for deployment and further
requests the Secretary-General to ensure
that civilian personnel of peacekeeping operations receive similar
training;
"7. Urges Member States to increase their voluntary financial,
technical and logistical support for gender-sensitive training
efforts, including those undertaken by relevant
funds and programmes, inter alia, the United Nations Fund for Women
and United Nations Children's Fund, and by the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees
and other relevant bodies;
"8. Calls on all actors involved, when negotiating and implementing
peace agreements, to adopt a gender perspective, including, inter
alia:
"(a) The special needs of women and girls during repatriation and
resettlement and for rehabilitation, reintegration and post-conflict
reconstruction;
"(b) Measures that support local women's peace initiatives and
indigenous processes for conflict resolution, and that involve women
in all of the implementation
mechanisms of the peace agreements;
"(c) Measures that ensure the protection of and respect for human
rights of women and girls, particularly as they relate to the
constitution, the electoral system, the police
and the judiciary;
"9. Calls upon all parties to armed conflict to respect fully
international law applicable to the rights and protection of women
and girls as civilians, in particular the
obligations applicable to them under the Geneva Conventions of 1949
and the Additional Protocols thereto of 1977, the Refugee Convention
of 1951 and the Protocol
thereto of 1967, the Convention
Security Council - 5 - Press Release SC/6942 4213th Meeting (PM) 31
October 2000
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women of
1979 and the Optional Protocol thereto of 1999 and the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of
the Child of 1989 and the two Optional Protocols thereto of 25 May
2000, and to bear in mind the relevant provisions of the Rome Statute
of the International Criminal
Court;
"10. Calls on all parties to armed conflict to take special measures
to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly
rape and other forms of sexual
abuse, and all other forms of violence in situations of armed conflict;
"11. Emphasizes the responsibility of all States to put an end to
impunity and to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes
against humanity, war crimes including
those relating to sexual violence against women and girls, and in
this regard, stresses the need to exclude these crimes, where
feasible from amnesty provisions;
"12. Calls upon all parties to armed conflict to respect the civilian
and humanitarian character of refugee camps and settlements, and to
take into account the particular needs
of women and girls, including in their design, and recalls its
resolution 1208 (1998) of 19 November 1998;
"13. Encourages all those involved in the planning for disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration to consider the different needs of
female and male ex-combatants and
to take into account the needs of their dependants;
"14. Reaffirms its readiness, whenever measures are adopted under
Article 41 of the Charter of the United Nations, to give
consideration to their potential impact on the
civilian population, bearing in mind the special needs of women and
girls, in order to consider appropriate humanitarian exemptions;
"15. Expresses its willingness to ensure that Security Council
missions take into account gender considerations and the rights of
women, including through consultation
with local and international women's groups;
"16. Invites the Secretary-General to carry out a study on the impact
of armed conflict on women and girls, the role of women in
peace-building and the gender dimensions
of peace processes and conflict resolution, and further invites him
to submit a report to the Security Council on the results of this
study and to make this available to all
Member States of the United Nations;
"17. Requests the Secretary-General, where appropriate, to include in
his reporting to the Security Council, progress on gender
mainstreaming throughout peacekeeping
missions and all other aspects relating to women and girls;
"18. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter."
* *** *
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Felicity Hill,
Director, United Nations Office
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
777 UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA
Ph: 1 212 682 1265
Fax: 1 212 286 8211
email: flick@igc.apc.org
web: www.wilpf.int.ch
www.reachingcriticalwill.org
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