UN must translate pledges on women, peace and security into action, officials say

On the eve of a Security Council meeting marking the fifth anniversary of the adoption of its landmark resolution on women, peace and security, key officials involved in the initiative today said more must be done to translate promises into action.

Calling the resolution – 1325 – a breakthrough, UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Programme Manager for Peace and Security, Maha Muna said: "It took the issues of gender equality but also the impact of conflict, and women's roles in peacebuilding, further than any other resolution, declaration or convention."

Ms. Muna told a press briefing that the resolution acknowledged that "often the impact of conflict on women is different than it is on men," by asking nations to give them a bigger role in peacekeeping and in post-conflict situations.

"This resolution clearly, fundamentally changed the position of women in conflict," agreed Rachel Mayanja, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women. "We are not seen simply as victims, but as actors, contributors to the peace process."

Also speaking at the press briefing, Khin Ohmar, Coordinator for the Peacebuilding and Reconciliation Program of the Women's League of Burma, described "serious forms of human rights violations" in her country, where 1 million people are internally displaced and 700,000 have fled across the border to Thailand.

In an environment where heroine production is the highest in the world, women are often caught up in conflicts, she said. Within this context the Women's League of Burma translated Resolution 1325 into 10 modern ethnic languages to train women to be peacebuilders, and provided press releases to the Burmese media on the issue, Ms. Ohmar said.

Hanaa Edwar, General Secretary of the Iraqi Al-Amal Association, a non-governmental organization (NGO), is also founder of the Iraqi Women's Network that worked with 100 women's NGOs in Iraq to make their needs known in the drafting of the Iraqi constitution. "We voted for it because we wanted to move forward," she said, "But we are going to amend this constitution," she added, to include among other measures, more guarantees women in such areas as marriage, child custody and divorce.

Goretti Ndacayisaba, Programme Executive at DUSHIREHAMWE, an NGO from Burundi, described how women in her country organized different tribes and ethnic groups and taught them peace and reconciliation strategies.

To mark the anniversary, women from a number of war-ravaged countries will address the Council about their role in the peacebuilding process in their respective nations. Ms. Mayanja will speak at tomorrow's meeting, as will UNIFEM Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, and representatives from around the world who belong to the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security.