UN agency launches Internet portal on women in peace and war

An Internet portal offering comprehensive information on the dangers and responsibilities facing women and girls during armed conflicts and women's roles in peace building was unveiled today by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

UNIFEM Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer said the portal would address the information gap, providing accurate reports and helping to track progress towards implementing Security Council resolution 1325. That text was unanimously adopted in October 2000 and urges an enhanced role for women in preventing conflict, promoting peace and assisting in post-conflict reconstruction within UN operations.

The resolution, she said, "is a watershed political framework that makes women - and a gender perspective - relevant to negotiating peace agreements, planning refugee camps, programmes and peacekeeping operations and reconstructing war-torn societies."

She said two experts she appointed, "the world's first female Defence and Finance Ministers," Elisabeth Rehn of Finland and Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson of Liberia, had found an epidemic of violence against women and girls in the 14 conflict zones they visited.

Their report recommended that UNIFEM systematically collect, analyze and share information on the roles of women in conflict, conflict prevention and peace building, Ms. Heyzer said.

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