GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN PEACEKEEPINGOPERATIONS

United NationsDepartment ofPeacekeeping

Operations

Progress Report

PRE-PUBLICATION COPY

ACRONYMS

AGG Advisory Group on GenderCEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against WomenCIVPOL United Nations Civilian PoliceCPA Comprehensive Peace Agreement DD Disarmament and DemobilizationDDR Disarmament, Demobilization and ReintegrationDDRR Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and ReintegrationDOWA Provincial Departments of Women’s AffairsDPA Department of Political AffairsDPKO Department of Peacekeeping OperationsDSRSG Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General IDPs Internally Displaced PersonsIGAD Inter-Governmental Authority on Development LJSSD Legal and Judicial System and Support DivisionMILOBS Military Observers MINUSTAH United Nations Stabilization Mission in HaitiMONUC United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the CongoMOWA Ministry of Women’s AffairsNGO Non-Governmental OrganizationOGA Office of Gender AffairsONUB United Nations Operation in BurundiPDSRSG Political Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General QUIPS Quick Impact Projects RR Rehabilitation and ReintegrationRRR Relief, Recovery and RehabilitationSEA Sexual Exploitation and AbuseSRSG Special Representative of the Secretary-General UNAMA United Nations Assistance Mission in AfghanistanUNAMSIL United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone UNCT United Nations Country TeamUNDP United Nations Development ProgrammeUNFPA United Nations Population FundUNGTF United Nations Gender Task Force UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNICEF United Nations Children’s FundUNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for WomenUNITAR United Nations Institute for Training and Research UNMIK United Nations Interim Administration Mission in KosovoUNMIL United Nations Mission in Liberia UNMIS United Nations Mission in the Sudan UNMISET United Nations Mission of Support in East TimorUNOCI United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire UNOTIL United Nations Office in Timor-LesteUNSCR 1325 United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and SecurityUNTAET Transitional Administration for East TimorVAW Violence Against WomenWAFF Women Associated with Fighting Forces

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface ........................................................................................................................................i

Introduction ................................................................................................................................1

Gender Mainstreaming in Peacekeeping: An Evolving Field of Practice ......................................2

The Year in Review ......................................................................................................................4

The Policy Framework..................................................................................................................6

Gender Mainstreaming in Transitional Processes ......................................................................8

Gender Balance in Recruitment of Peacekeeping Personnel ....................................................16

UN Inter-Agency Coordination Mechanisms ..............................................................................16

Partnerships and External Capacity Development Activities ....................................................17

The Way Forward ......................................................................................................................18

Country Highlights ..................................................................................................................20Afghanistan ............................................................................................................................22Burundi ....................................................................................................................................23Côte d'Ivoire ............................................................................................................................25The Democratic Republic of the Congo ....................................................................................26Haiti ........................................................................................................................................27Kosovo ......................................................................................................................................29Liberia ......................................................................................................................................31Sierra Leone ............................................................................................................................33Sudan ....................................................................................................................................34Timor-Leste ..............................................................................................................................35

Martine Perret – ONUB

Photos: Margaret Novicki| - UNMIL/UN; Evan Schneider/UN; UNMIL/UN

I am very pleased to present this progress report on gender mainstreaming activities inpeacekeeping. The changing nature of peacekeeping in post-conflict countries in recentyears has underlined the need to engage all stakeholders in efforts to build sustainablepeace. Although women and girls have traditionally been marginal to decision-makingprocesses, it has become increasingly clear that their perspectives are especiallyimportant. As Head of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), I have hadthe privilege of listening to and talking with women from all walks of life in many of thecountries currently hosting peacekeeping missions. Their stories, hopes and aspirationsfor peace have left an indelible mark on my own understanding of the complex impactconflicts have on women's lives and the real opportunities that exist for harnessing theirpotential to build sustainable peace in post-conflict environments. This awareness has inturn strengthened my personal resolve to ensure that the provisions of Security CouncilResolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security actively inform our policies andoperational practices in the peacekeeping arena.

We are at the beginning of a process, and still have a long way to go to ensure that allpeacekeeping personnel and Member States alike embrace gender mainstreaming as acritical strategy for making the business of peacekeeping more effective. This approachrequires us to readjust the way we look at our work so as to take into consideration theperspectives of all members of the host countries – men and women equally – to informour planning and operational activities. As our experience in the field of mine-action hastaught us, a gender perspective can enable us to better address vulnerabilities of menand boys in post-conflict situations too. Whilst those who are used to doing “business asusual” understandably raise questions about what difference a gender perspective willmake to their work, it is important to remember that for affected populations, andparticularly for women and girls in these countries, it makes all the difference. Whetheras ex-combatants, as victims of gender-based violence, as widows striving to raise familiessingle-handedly, as ordinary citizens seeking just laws that guarantee their equal rights, aspersonnel in reformed security structures, or as voters and aspirants for political office,women make contributions that are central to the success of peacekeeping.

I am committed to ensuring that DPKO serves as a standard-setter in post-conflictenvironments. By integrating the principle of equal rights and opportunities for womenand men into all aspects of transitional processes, we contribute significantly to makinggender equality a reality. In doing this, we will continue to count on the knowledge andpartnership of our wider UN family, which will continue to support these processes longafter our departure. Indeed, the test of our success as a Peacekeeping Department lies inthe legacy we leave behind. There remains no doubt in my mind that by incorporatinggender perspectives in all peacekeeping activities, we foster a solid foundation forsustaining the peace dividend.

Jean-Marie GuèhennoUnder-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations

PREFACE

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In October 2000, Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Securityacknowledged the need to address the specific vulnerabilities of women in conflictsituations and to capitalise on their untapped potential to contribute to the

establishment of peace and security. The resolution holds the international communityaccountable for the protection of women and provides recommendations in key areas,including reversing the marginalisation of women’s perspectives in processes for buildingpeace and security; addressing the adverse consequences of war on women; ensuringjustice for victims of gender-based violence crimes; recognising the leadership potential ofwomen and helping to unleash their capacities as agents of change in rebuilding post-conflict societies.

For DPKO, the resolution has provided a framework for integrating gender perspectives intothe implementation of peacekeeping mandates at policy and operational levels. One resultof this is that over the last two years, gender advisers have been appointed to every newmultidimensional peacekeeping operation, reinforcing the need to document ongoing workin this field. This report is the first effort to chronicle the progress and challenges relatedto gender mainstreaming in peacekeeping operations, as called for in the resolution. Itfocuses on DPKO Headquarters and the ten peacekeeping missions that have full-time gender advisory capacities. Far from being an exhaustive account, this report provides anoverview of key interventions being supported by gender units in peacekeeping operations,often in cooperation with other mission components or with UN partner agencies.

This first report largely draws from quarterly progress reports prepared by gender advisers,although future reports will incorporate contributions from other functional areas ofpeacekeeping as well as from partner organisations.

There are two parts to this document: an overview and a series of mission profiles. Theoverview provides a global summary of work undertaken at policy and operational levelsand in the different functional areas. It begins with a brief presentation of ongoing areasof progress, and then outlines some of the practical challenges of gender mainstreamingactivities in peacekeeping. The report subsequently describes the policy framework, thenprovides a review of current efforts by gender units to support the incorporation of genderperspectives into the various functional areas of peacekeeping and the collaborativepartnerships being forged to support this work. Finally, the report highlights some of theoutstanding issues that need to be addressed in the coming year to advance gendermainstreaming activities further.

The mission profiles point to gender mainstreaming strategies and approaches beingimplemented in individual countries hosting peacekeeping missions. These profiles drawattention to the main work priorities of the gender unit in each mission and review areasof progress in this regard.

The report is directed at a wide range of stakeholders, namely peacekeeping personnel, UN Member States, UN partners, as well as regional organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) alike, and is intended to impart a consolidated overview of how gendermainstreaming objectives are being translated into action in UN peacekeeping operations.

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INTRODUCTION

In the five years since resolution 1325 was adopted, DPKO has made important stridesto legitimize gender mainstreaming in peacekeeping as a core component of missionactivities. Still, building a common understanding of how to apply gender perspectives

in practice is an ongoing challenge that is as relevant for peacekeeping personnel as it isfor Member States.

The misconception persists that gender mainstreaming is synonymous with increasing thenumber of women in peacekeeping. In reality it is a commitment to identifying thedifferential impacts of conflicts on the lives of women, men, girls and boys, and toproposing practical solutions to respond to the specific needs identified. The lingeringperception also exists that gender mainstreaming is solely about the empowerment ofwomen. Although this is necessary in many cases to bridge longstanding gaps in political,educational and economic opportunities for women and girls that can be compounded byconflict, empowerment remains just one component of a broader goal of building equalopportunities for both women and men to participate in post-conflict processes.

Given the critical role played by peacekeeping missions in laying the foundation for post-conflict societies, mainstreaming a gender perspective in all operational activities(disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration, rule of law, elections and capacity

development of national institutions) is vital for institutionalising theprinciple of equal rights for women and men within the framework ofreconstruction. However, an appreciation of the long-term impactpeacekeeping interventions have on defining the roles of women andmen in the post-conflict context – and of the need therefore to adoptgender-sensitive approaches – has yet to take root in the decision-making that informs the work of all DPKO personnel.

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Photos: UNOCI/UN; UN

GENDER MAINSTREAMING INPEACEKEEPING: AN EVOLVINGFIELD OF PRACTICE

A view of a local woman from Mukike commune in Rural Bujumbura, Burundi,during the visit of Carolyn McAskie, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Burundi and Head of the United Nations Operation in Burundi(ONUB), for an inspection of the security and humanitarian needs of the localpopulation. - Martine Perret/ONUB

The notions that gender advisers are catalysts in gender mainstreaming efforts and thatgender mainstreaming is the responsibility of all staff have also failed to be universallyaccepted. Generally, the tendency remains to transfer all responsibility on the issue to thegender adviser. There needs to be a wider appreciation that while gender units areresponsible for overseeing the rationalisation and coordination of gender activities, and forproviding technical guidance to staff, gender mainstreaming is a collective responsibility.Along the samelines, the mandateof gender advisorerequires them tosupport gendermainstreamingwithin themissions to besupported, as wellas help to buildcapacity andpartnerships withgovernmentalcounterparts and women’s organisations in the host country which will ensure theirparticipation in all aspects of the transition. Unfortunately, this mandate remains poorlyunderstood. The net result is that gender units remain inade-quately resourced toeffectively fulfil this dual role.

Strategic partnerships are valuable for ensuring collective ownership andcomplementary approaches towards implementation of resolution 1325. For thisreason, DPKO is strengthening existing partnership networks with Member States,

UN entities and NGOs that might broaden the impact and scope of its gendermainstreaming activities. Both at mission level and at Headquarters, existing partnershipmechanisms within the UN – namely, the UN Country Theme Groups on Gender and theInter-Agency Working Group On Women, Peace and Security, chaired by the SpecialAdviser on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women – continue to guidecooperation between DPKO and other UN entities. Employing the in-country gendertheme groups as mechanisms to coordinate implementation of resolution 1325 amongUN agencies within the context of integrated missions has strong potential. However, thishas yet to be fully harnessed. Resource constraints in some cases and limited capacity inothers have constrained the reach of their impact.

1 Report of the Economic and Social Council for 1997 (A/52/3), 18 September 1997

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GENDER MAINSTREAMING refers to “the process of assessing the implications forwomen and men of any planned action including legislation, policies orprogrammes in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making the concernsand experiences of women and men an integral dimension of design, implemen-tation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political,economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally andinequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.”1

In his 2004 report to the Security Council on the implementation of Security CouncilResolution 1325, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted that within the UN system,it was evident that the most significant progress on the resolution since its adoption in

2000 had been made in the field of peacekeeping. He pointed to the adoption of institu-tional mechanisms as concrete illustrations of this progress, namely the appointment ofgender advisers in all multidimensional peacekeeping missions (from two advisers in2000 to a total of ten by 2004), the development of training tools and resources, and theadoption of a policy on human trafficking.

Since the Secretary-General issued his report, DPKO has gone even further to advance theresolution’s implementation. New policies, forms of guidance and tools have been devel-oped, and strategic partnerships with Member States and UN entities have beenadvanced, with a view to meeting this goal. A gender adviser has been appointed to DPKOHeadquarters to ensure that the policy-making framework and guidance provided topeacekeeping missions are gender sensitive, to provide policy guidance and support togender units, and to build a knowledge base of learning and best practices in the field ofgender and peacekeeping. Furthermore, a process is underway to design a network for thecoordination of knowledge management and sharing of best practices in a more formal-

ized way amonggender advisersand focal points.

Last November,the first strategicplanning meetingof all genderadvisers and

gender focal points convened in New York. The result was an enhanced coordination ofinformation sharing on substantive aspects of gender mainstreaming among genderadvisers both at Headquarters and in peacekeeping missions and more harmonizedworking approaches among gender units.

A gender resource package for peacekeeping operations, launched in October 2004, hasbeen an important tool in facilitating awareness-raising of gender issues among peace-keeping personnel. The resource package serves as an important addition to the ongoinggender training activities being implemented for mission staff working in the differentfunctional areas. Staff in peacekeeping functional units, including those working on elec-toral assistance, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) and the establish-ment of the rule of law, are drawing practical guidance from the package in order toinform planning and operational processes in the field.

Another significant event occurred in March 2005, when the Under-Secretary General forPeacekeeping issued a policy statement which provided an operational framework forimplementing gender mainstreaming mandates in the work of the department.

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“Gender equality is a democratic principle,it is about justice for all, it is not just anissue for women.”

Pascalin, Coordinator for the ‘Gender and Elections Project’ in The DRC

THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Efforts to integrate gender perspectives in mission components are ongoing, but have metwith mixed results in some areas, such as in the establishment of gender-sensitive DDRprogrammes, and in attempts to build broader commitment and accountability for gendermainstreaming among mission staff. On the other hand, progress hasbeen achieved within some missions on mobilising high-level sup-port to ensure women’s participation in constitutional reform andelectoral processes. In some cases, mission leaders have beenstrongly committed to supporting this work.

Despite these developments, progress has stalled or slowed in someareas. Gender-based violence continues to threaten the security ofwomen in post-conflict environments, and even though steps havebeen taken among UN entities at inter-agency levels to address thisscourge, the response remains far from adequate. In addition,reporting on gender issues through formal mechanisms availablewithin DPKO remains limited. As a result, peacekeeping personneland key partners remain largely uninformed about the nature, typeand impact of gender mainstreaming activities overall. On anotherlevel, efforts to increase the number of female personnel inpeacekeeping have not resulted in any noticeable shift. At thehighest levels of decision-making, the number of female Special Representatives of theSecretary-General remains two out of a total of seventeen.

Over the reporting year, DPKO made important strides in building strategicpartnership networks for gender mainstreaming both at Headquarters and in fieldmissions. The primary partners have included Member States, UN entities, and

governmental and nongovernmental counterparts in countries hosting peacekeepingmissions. Among Member States for example, donor countries, in seeking to strengthensupport to DPKO’s gender mainstreaming activities, have generously contributed financialresources towards the establishment of a gender facility that funds strategic projectinitiatives for strengthening the capacities and participation of women in all aspects ofpost-conflict transitional processes.

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Photos: UN, source unknown; UN;source unknown; Burundi – MartinePerret|/UN

UN Agencies and the Government of Burundi launch a ‘back to school program’ as peace returns to Burundi. – Martine Perret|/UN

Policy Statement

The Under-Secretary General’s policy statement on gender mainstreaming inpeacekeeping operations provided an important operational framework for theimplementation of mandates provided by Member States and laid the groundwork

for the development of a fully-fledged gender policy inpeacekeeping.

Gender Resource PackageThe gender resource packagefor peacekeeping operations isa basic audience tool to sup-port gender-mainstreamingefforts. It provides advice foraddressing gender issues inmost functional areas ofpeacekeeping. When the pack-age was launched in October2004, peacekeeping missionswere requested to design adissemination strategy to

guide its usage and to provide periodic progress reports to Headquarters. The English language version has been disseminated to all peacekeeping missions, and gender advisers are using the package as a training resource tool to support capacity develop-ment of mission staff and partners in missions including Cote d’Ivoire (UNOCI), Haiti(MINUSTAH), Kosovo (UNMIK) and Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL).

UNAMSIL developed a specific training programme to facilitate broader usage of thepackage while UNOCI has used it as a tool for building awareness about gender issues inpeacekeeping within the UN country gender theme group. Furthermore, the Rule of LawSection in UNOCI has amended its recruitment operating practices in line with provisionscontained in the gender resource package. The package also serves as an importantreference document for gender advisers during induction training in various missions. InBurundi (ONUB) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), it provided thebasis for convening a special briefing session for senior managers. In the United NationsMission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) and the UN Special Political Mission inTimor-Leste (UNOTIL) that succeeded it, the gender resource package has been widelyused for staff briefing sessions on gender-based violence. In MINUSTAH, the Civil AffairsDivision has appointed gender focal points in ten regional offices across the country. Theyhave been trained to serve as resource persons to disseminate and monitor implemen-tation of the guidance provided in the package. The impact of the package has beenpositive so far, although delays in the issuance of the French language version havelimited its dissemination to government and NGO partners in some missions. To build onthe content of the package and to facilitate further outreach, DPKO is designing acomplementary tool kit with checklists, case studies and resource information.

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Photos: UNMIL/UN; Burundi/UN

THE POLICY FRAMEWORK

Among the policy statement’s provisions were calls for • the development of acomprehensive action plan for implementing resolution 1325; • the creation ofguidelines and training tools to better enable staff to mainstream genderperspectives in their work; • increased and more systematic reporting on gender in periodic reports to the Security Council, including the use of sex-disaggregated data; • strengthened partnerships with Member States andUN partner agencies towards implementation of resolution 1325; • greaterinvestments in the recruitment of women to serve at all levels of peacekeepingmissions; • and enhanced support to gender units.

Guidelines and Tools for Gender MainstreamingIn line with the Under-Secretary-General’s policy statement, DPKO is revising the stan-dard generic gender and peacekeeping training modules, which are used to train uni-formed and civilian personnel, and which are available to Member States for pre-deploy-ment training. In addition, the Department is also developing standard gender trainingmodules targeted at specialist staff and middle and senior managers. The ongoing designand revision of training materials is important for harmonizing the content and messagesconveyed in gender training materials used by different training providers within DPKOand in the peacekeeping missions.

In response to a lack of operational guidance tools for peacekeeping staff on how toapply gender perspectives in practice, the policy statement requires that allpeacekeeping functional units design guidelines to facilitate this work – a number

have already been developed. The UN Mine Action Service, for example, issued theGender Guidelines for Mine Action, which provides step-by-step guidance and checklistsfor integrating gender perspectives in mine clearance, mine risk education, victimassistance and advocacy activities. In addition, the DDR sector – under the coordinationof the UN Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration Working Group and with theUN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) acting as a lead agency – has developedpolicy guidance on mainstreaming gender concerns in all DDRprocesses, including in the planning phase, determining eligibilitycriteria, designing cantonment sites and gender-sensitivereintegration programmes, and monitoring and evaluation. Anotherset of guidelines is also being developed to support the fieldactivities of military personnel in peacekeeping and is being jointlycoordinated by the Training and Evaluation Service of the MilitaryDivision and the gender unit in DPKO.

Action Plan To mark the five-year anniversary of the adoption of resolution 1325,DPKO is developing a Department-wide action plan for the imple-mentation of the resolution, as called for by the Security Council in2004 and underlined in the Under-Secretary-General’s policy state-ment. The Action Plan will provide a framework for ensuring a morecoordinated approach to gender mainstreaming, and for supportingbroader accountability for implementation of the resolution withinsections of the Department. It will outline key objectives, outputs and progress measuresfor implementation of the resolution as part of the programme of work for each Office inDPKO. The Action Plan design process, as a part of a series of workshops helped staff ineach office at DPKO, including those in the military, police, operations and mission sup-port units, to elaborate concrete objectives, outputs and indicators for implementation ofresolution 1325 within their respective work areas. The DPKO Action Plan will be animportant complement to the UN system-wide action plan coordinated by the Office ofthe Special Adviser on Gender Issues and will provide a more detailed elaboration of thebroad objectives outlined in the system-wide plan.

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Women in Burundi turn out in large numbers to vote. The post-conflict environment has proven to be very conducive to securing better rights for thewomen of Burundi and introducing real change.

Mainstreaming gender in peacekeeping activities is the full incorporation of genderperspectives into all peacekeeping activities, from the initial stages of ceasefirenegotiations and the establishment of mandates for peacekeeping operations, to

post-conflict situations.2

Peace NegotiationsEnsuring women’s participation at the peace table remains a major challenge in mostrecently negotiated peace agreements. Women’s participation in peace negotiations pro-vides a starting point for ensuring that their perspectives will be reflected in the agree-ments that lay the foundation for post-conflict peace-building. During the year underreview, for example, a comprehensive peace agreement was signed to end decades of warbetween North and South Sudan. Despite strong advocacy on the part of Sudanesewomen to participate in the peace negotiations, only two women were involved in theInter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD)-led negotiations. While the partiesin conflict have ultimate responsibility for determining the composition of the negotiatingteams, there is room for international mediators and facilitators to influence and guidesuch processes to ensure increased participation of women in discussions that will deter-mine the nature and shape of post-conflict societies. This role of the international com-munity requires further strengthening in the future.

Mission PlanningResolution 1325 calls for the inclusion of gender components in peacekeeping opera-tions. In response, DPKO ensured that all new missions established in 2004 includedgender expertise in the planning phase. This has provided an effective way to integrategender perspectives into the mission mandate. DPKO gender advisers participated ininter-agency assessment missions conducted prior to the finalization of the mandates ofmissions in Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Haiti and most recently Sudan. For example, SecurityCouncil Resolution 1590, which established the peacekeeping mission in Sudan, reaf-firms resolution 1325, including the need to address gender-based violence and to ensurethat the DDR process is gender-sensitive. Resolution 1545, which established the UNMission in Burundi made the same references and further requested that the Secretary-General ensure through his Special Representative that “ONUB personnel give specialattention to issues related to gender equality.”

Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration The direct and indirect roles played by women and girls during combat were clearlyacknowledged in resolution 1325, which calls for the integration of gender perspectivesinto DDR programmes and the inclusion in such programmes of those who assume sup-port roles in combat. Over the last year, gender units have strongly supported the imple-mentation of gender-sensitive DDR programmes in peacekeeping missions. The objectivehas been to ensure that these programmes effectively target female ex-combatants andwomen associated with fighting forces. The results of these efforts have been mixed.UNMIL in Liberia acknowledged women associated with fighting forces as eligible for sup-port under its DDR programme, but this success was not replicated in the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo (MONUC) or in Burundi (ONUB). The DDR programme in UNMILwas broadened to target not only those women who engaged in active combat, but also

2 Report of the Secretary General on Gender Mainstreaming in Peacekeeping activities, Feb 2003 (A/57/731)

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GENDER MAINSTREAMING INTRANSITIONAL PROCESSES

those women and girls who played support roles as cooks, sex slaves and porters duringthe conflict. A revision of the eligibility criteria ensured that women who presented eithera weapon or at least 150 rounds of ammunition qualified for inclusion in the DDR pro-gramme. In addition, the mission, in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender andDevelopment and women’s organisations in Liberia, launched a strong public informationcampaign to encourage women and girls to come forward and participate in the pro-gramme. Over 21,000 women ended up qualifying for support, compared to the estimateof 2,000 during the assessment phase.

Unfortunately, in MONUC and ONUB, advocacy efforts by the gender units and partnersto include women associated with fighting forces as part of the DDR programme achievedlimited success. However, ONUB’s gender unit closely monitored the living conditions ofwomen in the cantonment sites, and in collaboration with the UN Children’s Fund(UNICEF) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) worked to ensure that women ex-com-batants, particularly pregnant and nursing mothers, received adequate reproductive healthcare and drugs. Out of a total of 16,491 demobilised soldiers in ONUB as of August2005, 485 were women.

Ensuring the effective reintegration of female ex-combatants and women associatedwith fighting forces has been a common challenge in missions that haveimplemented DDR programmes. In both UNMIL and ONUB, quick impact project

activities funded through the mission are providing important avenues to support womenex-combatants. In ONUB, the gender unit strongly advocated the integration of women ex-combatants into the newly established police force as part of the support effort for theirreintegration. This has ensured the successful absorption of 231 women ex-combatantsinto the Burundian police force. The MONUC gender unit, in collaboration with UNIFEMand the UN Development Programme (UNDP), implemented a training programme for thenational DDR team as part of a strategy to ensure that women who were not included inthe disarmament and demobilisation process are able to access support in thereintegration programme. A technical group on gender and DDR has been established tooversee this process, and a project,‘Identification of Women Associated with ArmedGroups in the DRC’, has been launched by the technical group.

In Haiti, Cote d'Ivoire, and Sudan, gender units are also working closely with the nationalDDR commissions and DDR units within the peacekeeping missions to ensure the designand delivery of gender-sensitive programmes. In Haiti, the DDR unit, in collaboration withthe gender unit, has launched a number of activities to mobilise Haitian women as agentsof peace to support the implementation of DDR programmes in the country. In UNOCI,ongoing consultations between the gender unit and the national DDR committee hasresulted in the establishment of gender-sensitive standards for the DDR sites, while in theUN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), the gender unit is continuing to work closely with theDDR unit to ensure that the eligibility criteria for access to the DDR programme does notdiscriminate against women who were part of the combat effort.

PoliceGender mainstreaming in police components of peacekeeping missions presents opportu-nities internally (in terms of the work of the civilian police component of the mission)

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Photos: Martine Perret/ONUB; LubomirKotek/OSCE, UNMIK; UN

and, where mandated, externally (in terms of opportunities for ensuring that gender per-spectives inform processes for restructuring national police forces). Gender units inpeacekeeping missions are collaborating closely with police components to support effortsin this sector. Ongoing interventions are generally targeted at a number of levels thatinclude: providing support for development of policies and training tools targeted atrestructured national police forces; the appointment of gender focal points; establishmentof special units within police stations to provide private spaces for women victims to con-fidentially report on gender-based violence crimes; and advocating and supporting therecruitment of women into national police forces.

Gender units in MONUC, UNMIL, ONUB and UNAMSIL are implementing gender trainingactivities for staff of national police forces. In UNAMSIL, such training extends to thesenior command of the Sierra Leone Police, while in MONUC, recent training activitieshave targeted police officers responsible for overseeing electoral security in the forthcom-ing elections. UNMIL has made efforts to institutionalize such training activities bothwithin the national police force and within the civilian police component in the mission.Additionally, the gender unit has provided support for the development of a gender policyfor the Liberian national police. Ongoing gender training activities have led to heightenedawareness among female police officers in the Congolese forces of their rights. In thecase of MONUC, this is contributing to more vocal demands by female officers to addressinstitutionalized forms of discrimination within the force. The appointment of a genderspecialist within the civilian police component in UNMIK is also providing opportunitiesto further develop staff capacities related to gender.

Special units to address gender-based violent crimes, including sexual violence, havebeen established within national police forces in a number of countries with peace-keeping missions. In UNMIL, a women and children’s unit has been recently estab-

lished with funding from UNICEF, drawing on the experience of the Family Support Unitsin Sierra Leone, which provide a model for addressing the specific needs of women vic-tims of crime. Specialised civilian police officers work in twenty Family Support Unitsacross the country and provide training for the more than 140 staff members of the units.In MINUSTAH, the gender unit and civilian police are finalizing a pilot project to estab-lish private rooms within police stations where women can confidentially report violentcrimes. In ONUB and UNMIS, discussions are ongoing between the gender units and thecivilian police to establish similar units to better serve women victims of violence.Drawing from the experience in Sierra Leone, there is a need to ensure that these unitsare provided with adequate resources to function effectively and to eventually evolve intomechanisms to provide public education and prevent crimes against women.

As regards restructuring of national police forces in some countries hosting peacekeepingmissions, gender units are working to support the recruitment of more women into thenew forces. In UNMIK, the establishment of a Gender Cell and a Gender Advisory Boardwithin the Kosovo Police Service is providing an important vehicle to facilitate theengagement of more women in the service. With the introduction of a mandatory genderquota for new recruits, the percentage of female officers as of July 2005 stands at thir-teen percent. In ONUB, the gender unit has successfully advocated the recruitment of231 female ex-combatants into the restructured police force, while in ONUCI, the gender

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Photos: Martine Perret/ONUB;MINURSO Korean Medical Unit – EvanSchneider/UN Photo

unit has initiated consultations with the Reform and Restructuring Unit of the IvorianGendarmerie to review strategies for recruiting women. In Sierra Leone, the adoption of apolicy to support increased recruitment of women to the police force has ensured that onaverage, for every 300 to 400 new officers recruited to the Sierra National Police Force,about 75 are women.

Judicial, Legal and Correctional SystemsSecurity Council Resolution 1325 underlines the need to ensure that judicial systems inpost-conflict environments effectively protect the rights of women and girls. Gender main-streaming in judicial and legal components of peacekeeping missions thus requiresincreased consultations with women leaders and organizations, gender-sensitive reforms ofjudicial and legal systems, and increased employment opportunities for women in the jus-tice system. Collaboration between gender units and justice components in peacekeepingmissions has been evolving, and over the reporting period, a number of concrete initia-tives have been launched relating to capacity development, training and technical sup-port, all of which are meant to guide judicial and legal reform processes within the hostcountries. In UNMIK, the gender office is developing training programmes targeted at theKosovo Judicial Institute, and is also providing technical support to the Forum of WomenJudges and Prosecutors of Kosovo. The MONUC gender unit is likewise commencing agender awareness training programme targeted at magistrates, lawyers and legal auxil-iaries. Support for gender-sensitive legal reform processes have been initiated in UNAM-SIL, UNMIL and ONUB, where gender units are contributing to discussions to inform theadoption of laws on rape and domestic violence. In Afghanistan, the rule of law adviser isbuilding collaboration on gender justice with the gender unit and with partners includingUNIFEM, while in UNOCI, the rule of law section has collaborated with the gender unitand national partners, including the Women’s Association for Jurists, to compile data onviolence against women in Cote d’Ivoire.

To support the integration of gender perspectives into the work of the justice componentin a coherent and integrated manner, DPKO will develop specific gender guidelines forjustice programmes over the course of the next year, which will serve to guide field staffon how to better operationalise gender-sensitive judicial and legal programmes.

Gender mainstreaming strategies informing the work of corrections components in peace-keeping missions have largely focused on training activities for corrections officers. InUNMIK, the gender unit facilitated workshops targeted at senior managers of the KosovoCorrections Service in order to guide the incorporation of gender sensitive policies intothe work of the Service. In UNMIL, training programmes on gender have been implement-ed for all newly recruited corrections officers for the Correction Service of Liberia.Additionally, the gender adviser from ONUB participated in a workshop to guide develop-ment of a DPKO corrections manual for peacekeeping missions with a non-executive man-date and assisted in integrating a gender perspective in the guidance developmentprocess.

Constitutional Reforms/ElectionsConstitutional reform and electoral processes are an important way to facilitate the partic-ipation of women in democratic decision-making structures in post-conflict countries, in

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line with the provisions of resolution 1325. Important building blocks in this effortinclude guarantees of equal rights for women in constitutional reform efforts and theirequal access to and participation as voters and as candidates running for elected office.With six peacekeeping missions at various stages of preparation for elections, genderunits have been very active over the past twelve months in ensuring the integration ofgender perspectives in the process. The advocacy and support of gender units in thedrafting of constitutions in the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan(UNAMA), MONUC and ONUB were instrumental in ensuring constitutional guarantees forwomen's equal rights. In Afghanistan and Burundi, guarantees of quotas for women run-ning for elected office were enshrined in the new Constitutions. In Burundi, 30 percent ofseats in the National Parliament, Senate and Government were assigned to women, whilein Afghanistan, 25 per cent of Lower House and 17 per cent of Upper House seats werereserved for women. In UNMIL, guidelines were adopted to ensure that women represent30 per cent of the candidates on political party lists, although the numbers of femalecandidates submitted by political parties in the end only amounted to 14 per cent.

Partnerships between gender units, electoral assistance divisions and public informa-tion offices on the one hand, and women’s organisations, government counterpartsand UN agencies including UNIFEM and UNDP on the other, have ensured the

strong involvement of women in registration processes and in preparing potential womencandidates to run for office. In MONUC and MINUSTAH, gender units facilitated meet-ings between women’s representatives and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to discuss how the mission could help women overcome barriers to their partici-pation in the elections. The Office of the Special Representative in ONUB and thePolitical Affairs Division played particularly strong roles in advocating women’s representa-tion in all the decision-making mechanisms established to support the elections. Activesupport was provided by gender units to ensure wide-scale registration of women voters,and in ONUB, MONUC and UNMIL, partnerships with women’s groups were initiated toensure effective monitoring of the registration process. Record numbers of women regis-tered to vote in all cases. For example, women constituted 52 percent of the registeredvoters in Burundi. The percentage of female registered voters in Afghanistan was equallysignificant, with women constituting 40 percent of registered voters during the 2004presidential elections, and 44 percent of registered voters in the September 2005 parlia-mentary elections. In Liberia, women accounted for 50 per cent of registered voters, whilein the Democratic Republic of the Congo, despite logistical problems (such as a shortageof registration centres) that caused long queues in many places, women still turned out toregister. Thus in the Bas Congo region, for example, women made up 48 per cent of reg-istered voters.

Gender units, working with electoral assistance divisions, electoral commissions and UNpartners, have further supported training to develop the leadership capacities of womenstanding in elections. In this regard, the ONUB gender unit provided training to 136potential women candidates in senate, parliamentary and commune elections and 406candidates in Colline elections in Burundi, whilst gender units in Haiti and Liberia trained50 and 30 women candidates across party lines respectively. In Haiti, a network calledWomen Candidates for Winning the Elections was established following the training sup-port programmes. The gender unit in MONUC has worked with UNDP to support the

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Photos: Lebanon (UNIFIL) – JohnIsaac|/UN; East Timor (UNTAET) –Eskinder Debebe/UN

Independent Electoral Commission in providing training to women leaders and potentialcandidates, and also collaborated with the National Democratic Institute and the USAgency for International Development to train over 600 Parliamentarians, predominantlymale, as part an effort to integrate gender perspectives into the legislative process.Training activities were also initiated for officers of the Congolese National Police whohave responsibility for electoral security.

The unprecedented gains made by women in recently concluded elections in Burundi canbe attributed both to the strong determination of women to assume a greater role in thepolitical process and to the political will of male leaders to open up space for women inthis regard. The strategic alliances developed by different components of the peacekeep-ing mission greatly facilitated this process. The result is that over 30 per cent of newlyelected Parliamentarians in Burundi are women, and for the first time in Burundi’s histo-ry, a woman has been appointed President of the National Assembly. In addition, awoman has been appointed Vice-President of the country for the first time, and twowomen have been appointed as vice-presidents of the Senate. The task of strengtheningthe capacities of women elected to political office is among the priorities that the genderunit will be supporting in the post-elections period.

Gender-Based ViolenceIn spite of increased awareness that gender-based violence threatens women’s humanrights and sustainable peace, the scourge continues unabated, undermining women’shealth and security in post-conflict environments. Gender units in peacekeeping missionsare increasingly engaging in efforts to respond to this problem, often within the frameworkof inter-agency mechanisms established at country levels. For example, in MINUSTAH,MONUC, UNMIL, UNMIS and ONUB, gender units are part of established UN inter-agency task forces that are coordinating system-wide initiatives to address gender-basedviolence, particularly sexual violence. Gender units are also supporting regional andnational initiatives to respond to the problem. In MONUC, the gender unit provided sup-port for a regional conference on ending sexual violence, which was convened in Uvirawith participants from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. Thegender unit in UNMIL is contributing to the implementation of a national campaign onviolence against women in Liberia, which aims to facilitate the adoption of an amendedrape bill and establish a fast-track court to prosecute rape cases.

In Afghanistan, a Presidential Decree has resulted in the establishment of a Task Forceon Violence against Women made up of national institutions, and UNAMA’s genderunit is serving as a member of a Coordinating Cooperation Commission that is working

to expand the number of safe houses available to women victims of violence. A collabora-tive effort is underway between the gender unit in ONUB and the Ministry of SocialAffairs and Women’s Welfare to implement an action plan to stop sexual violence. ONUB’sgender unit is also embarking on a project for victims of gender-based violence made upof female ex-combatants and women from the community at large. To ensure that infor-mation and facts on gender-based violence, including trafficking, is reflected in the workof relevant Standards Implementation Working Groups, the UNMIK gender office is work-ing to ensure the inclusion of inputs from women’s organisations. In Timor-Leste,UNMISET was instrumental in initiating a joint UN Task Force to support the Office of

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Promotion of Equality in drafting a Domestic Violence Bill, which is tabled for adoption inJanuary 2006. In Haiti, a programme initiative is underway to engage men as partners toend violence against women in the south of the country, with the support of the male pro-gramme officer in MINUSTAH’s gender unit. In UNAMSIL, the gender adviser has includ-ed modules on gender-based violence in training conducted for the national police andarmy. Moreover, increased collaboration in Sierra Leone between the police, nationalNGOs supporting victims of sexual violence and the judicial system is contributing tohigher levels of reporting of gender-based violent crimes, and has also led to an unprece-dented number of prosecutions of such crimes in the courts of law.

Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

Prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse has been an integral part of ongoing gen-der training activities implemented by gender units for mission staff. The traininghighlights the rights of women and girls in the host country, and the responsibility

of peacekeepers to protect them. In addition to training, gender advisers have also beencollaborating closely with conduct and discipline units in missions where such units havebeen established. In MONUC, areas of collaboration particularly focus on the implementa-tion of sustainable victim-support measures, whereas in MINUSTAH, the gender unit issupporting the Conduct and Discipline Unit to establish links with women’s organisationsin the host country. Gender advisers also participate in sexual abuse and exploitation taskforces and policy groups in ONUB, UNAMSIL and UNOCI, while in UNMIS, the genderadviser acts as an interim focal point pending the appointment of a code of personnelconduct officer. Over the reporting year, an increased separation between gender main-streaming functions and sexual abuse and exploitation-related tasks has been clearlyestablished in peacekeeping missions, with the contribution of gender units largelyfocused on facilitating preventative and outreach efforts to local women’s organizations.This development has ensured that gender advisers are not diverted from their mandatedtasks to support gender mainstreaming activities.

HIV/AIDS Security Council Resolution 1308 acknowledges the particular vulnerabilities of uni-formed services, international peacekeeping personnel and civilian staff to HIV/AIDS, and,as is the case with resolution 1325, emphasises the incorporation of HIV/AIDS awarenessinto pre-deployment and in-mission training programmes. In working towards this objec-tive, gender advisers and HIV/AIDS policy advisers have established close working partner-ships in many peacekeeping missions. The main elements include conducting joint train-ing activities, having gender advisers serve on HIV/AIDS task forces and holding regularcoordination meetings. These partnerships also include the design and incorporation ofgender training modules into established HIV/AIDS training materials. In UNOTIL, thegender adviser serves as the HIV/AIDS focal point, following a recent merger of the genderand HIV/AIDS units. The scope of collaboration between gender advisers and HIV/AIDSadvisers is still evolving, but experiences in missions including ONUCI, MINUSTAH,UNMIS, ONUB and UNAMSIL provide solid grounds for advancement in the future.

Public Information and MediaThe incorporation of gender perspectives into the public information components ofpeacekeeping missions is informed by the need to both ensure equal access and repre-

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sentation of women through this medium, and to further ensure that it promotes positiveimages of women in society. During the reporting period, a series of successful initiativeswere launched through partnerships between gender units and the public informationoffices. This is contributing to increased awareness of the work of gender units and is pro-viding broader outreach to host communities on measures to integrate gender perspec-tives into different components of mission work, including DDR, promotion of women’shuman rights and elections. UNAMSIL provides a positive example of this partnership –Radio UNAMSIL airs specific radio programmes on women, including those to raiseawareness on gender-based violence and to inform on the implementation of resolution1325. In UNMIL and ONUB, radio programmes were aired to highlight the importance ofwomen’s participation in the electoral process, thus contributing to efforts to mobilisewomen to register to vote. A radio series with interviews of prominent women in Coted’Ivoire has also been an effective strategy employed by UNOCI to highlight women’s rolein the political process. The gender unit in UNMIK has been providing technical supportto the Steering Committee of Kosovo Women Journalists as part of an effort to enhanceprofessionalism among women journalists, and to develop their capacity to better monitorand support positive representation of women in the media.

Training and Capacity Development for Peacekeeping Personnel

In working to promote collective ownership for gender mainstreaming and to build staffcapacities in this regard, gender units employ a variety of mechanisms, including theestablishment of gender task forces at mission headquarters that include representa-

tion of gender focal points from all functional areas of the mission. Gender task forcesmeet regularly to share information and strategies for advancing implementation of resolu-tion 1325 within their respective sectors. In the peacekeeping mission in Burundi, thegender unit has been successful in ensuring that task force representatives are appointedat sufficiently senior levels to influence policy decisions within their functional areas.Gender units in some cases provide capacity development training to task force members.In UNAMA, the gender unit has developed an action plan for gender mainstreaming andexpanded the network of gender focal points to all eight field offices of the mission,where the focal points are providing assistance to government institutions, women’s NGOsand civil society groups, and UN agencies. A similar process is underway in MINUSTAH,where gender focal points appointed from among the staff of the civil affairs section arealso deployed in regional offices to support implementation of gender-related activities.The participation of gender advisers at senior management meetings in a number of mis-sions, including MONUC, UNMIL, UNAMSIL, ONUB, UNOTIL and ONUCI, has also creat-ed important avenues for them to influence policy decisions.

Another important strategy to promote gender awareness among mission staff is the provisionof gender briefings to all incoming staff, both uniformed personnel and civilian staff. The highlevels of staff turnover and ongoing rotation of uniformed personnel result in gender unitshaving to invest greatly in providing briefings and training to new staff on an ongoing basis.

During the reporting year, the gender units in ONUB and MINUSTAH also initiated train-ing partnerships with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, which deliv-ered a series of training workshops for peacekeeping personnel in these two missions onthe special needs of women and children in conflict.

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Photos: Evan Schneider|/UN; UNMIK – Ida Nikolovska/OSCE; PIOoffice/UNOTIL

To ensure that the perspectives of women andmen inform all decision-making efforts, reso-lution 1325 calls for gender balanced repre-

sentation at all levels and in all processes to buildpeace and security. In peacekeeping missions, theincreased presence of women is important for dis-pelling the perception of missions as male-domi-nated environments, ensuring that missions are“gender-friendly“ and serve as a model to the hostcountry. However, in the last reporting year, therehas been no shift in the percentage of womenemployed in peacekeeping missions. As ofSeptember 2005, women make up only one percent of personnel in military functions and onlyfour per cent of those in civilian police functions.Among civilian staff, women constitute on average30 per cent of international personnel and justabove 20 per cent of nationally recruited staff. The

fact that employment of women in peacekeepingmissions remains unchanged, despite efforts toengage Member States more closely on this issueand to widely disseminate vacancy announcementsand broaden outreach to professional women’sorganisations, highlights the need for a comprehen-sive review of existing practices and to design moreinnovative strategies to ensure successful recruit-ment and retention of female personnel.

The UN country team gender theme groupsserve as the main vehicle for informationsharing and coordination of activities between

gender advisers in peacekeeping missions andother UN entities. In Kosovo, the inter-agencygender task force established by the gender unit inUNMIK serves as a mechanism to monitorimplementation of the standards for Kosovo. Thegender theme groups further provide a platform forintegrating the work of gender advisers within abroader planning and operational frameworkinvolving UN agencies that have a long-termpresence in the countries. In UNAMSIL andUNOTIL, which are both missions in a drawn-downphase, the participation of gender advisers in thegender theme groups serves as an importantstrategy for integrating gender perspectives into thetransitional planning processes.

With the end of the mandate of UNMISET and theadoption of a one-year mandate for UNOTIL, whichis focused primarily on transfer of skills and knowl-edge to key institutions and partners, the gender

unit has assumed central responsibility for provid-ing direct technical support to the UN countryteam, particularly the gender theme group. InMONUC, a gender thematic group has recentlybeen established to replace the gender technicalgroup, comprising focal points from the various UNagencies. Membership has been extended toinclude donors, key government ministries and rep-resentatives from civil society.

In addition to the UN system-wide coordinationmechanisms, gender units have developed and con-tinue to expand strategic partnerships with individ-ual UN agencies as part of efforts to integrate gen-der perspectives in all aspects of transitionalprocesses. Main partners in this respect includeUNIFEM, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and the UNHigh Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).Partnerships between gender units and individualUN agencies are evolving, but important lessonshave emerged that should inform future efforts toenhance cooperation between gender units andindividual UN agencies.

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GENDER BALANCE IN RECRUITMENT OF PEACEKEEPING PERSONNEL

UN INTER-AGENCYCOORDINATION MECHANISMS

Police Staff

Military Staff (total male: 60,862)

NationalCivilian Staff

InternationalCivilian Staff

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000 malefemale

GENDER BALANCE IN PEACEKEEPING MISSIONS (July 2005)

As part of their mandate to support the participation and contribution of women toall aspects of the transition to peace, gender units focus on capacity developmentsupport to government counterparts, particularly Ministries of Women’s/Gender

Affairs and networks of women’s NGOs working to promote women’s rights and economicand political empowerment.

In UNMIL, ongoing partnerships with governmental organisations include training and capaci-ty development support for County Coordinators of the Ministry of Gender and Developmentand for gender focal points in line ministries. In Afghanistan, the gender unit has been pro-viding similar support to the women’s affairs departments established by the Ministry ofWomen’s Affairs in 29 provinces across the country. The gender unit, in partnership withUNIFEM, has also been supporting the Advisory Group on Gender, which serves as a govern-mental coordination mechanism for the Afghan reconstruction process, to integrate genderperspectives in all national priority programmes. In working to support implementation of theConvention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), thegender adviser in UNAMSIL facilitated the visit of a group of experts to Sierra Leone to pro-vide training to the staff of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs.Efforts to strengthen national capacity development processes in Kosovo include ongoing sup-port provided by the gender unit in UNMIK to the Kosovo Women's Initiative to mainstreamgender in local governance processes. In UNMIS, the gender unit has initiated cooperationwith academic institutions, including the Afhad University for Women, as a means of promot-ing resolution 1325 in the work of these bodies. The gender unit has also established a data-base of NGOs working on gender issues in Sudan. Collaborative partnerships with regionalwomen’s organisations such as the Mano River Women’s Peace Network were initiated by gen-der units in UNAMSIL and UNMIL during the reporting period. Additionally, a workshop toexchange ideas and foster joint planning between gender units in the West Africa region wasconvened under the auspices of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre inAccra, and drew the participation of gender advisers and representatives of women’s organisa-tions from ONUCI, UNMIL, UNAMSIL and MONUC.

Through funding available from a gender facility established at DPKO Headquarters in2005, gender units are expanding capacity development support and partnerships withwomen’s organisations and other institutions to advance implementation of resolution1325. In UNMIK and UNAMSIL, funding has been disbursed to support specific activi-ties to promote national implementation of resolution 1325. Other initiatives includecapacity development programmes for women’s organisations to facilitate their participa-tion in the political processes in MONUC and ONUCI; capacity development of the NGOSecretariat of women’s organisations in Liberia; civic education for women’s rights at dis-trict levels in Timor-Leste; and support to national institutions to address gender-basedviolence, including support for the national police in Burundi and for a men’s associationworking to end violence against women in Haiti.

Opportunities to further expand partnerships with Member States, particularly those con-tributing uniformed peacekeeping personnel, are being reviewed. In 2005, for the firsttime, DPKO will convene a seminar with Member States to review best practices andopportunities for increasing recruitment and deployment of female uniformed personnel topeacekeeping missions.

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Photos: PIO Office/UNOTIL; JohnIsaac|/UN

PARTNERSHIPS AND EXTERNALCAPACITY-DEVELOPMENTACTIVITIES

This report highlights some notable progress on gender mainstreaming in peacekeep-ing operations over the last year. Much more remains to be done, however.Outstanding challenges include the further strengthening of institutional mecha-

nisms to facilitate this work; building greater accountability for gender mainstreaming atall levels of DPKO; developing effective monitoring and impact assessment tools; ensuringthat investments made to promote women’s participation in transitional processes are sus-tained beyond the life of a peacekeeping mission; and increasing the numbers of femalepersonnel at all levels of peacekeeping.

Gender units are operating at different levels in terms of human resource capacities tosupport their work. There is a need to harmonise the staffing of gender units to reflect thescope of the mandate and size of peacekeeping missions, and to attract more qualifiedmen to serve on the staff of gender units. Moreover, the need to ensure financialresources to facilitate the work of gender units is key, given that their mandate is to sup-port gender mainstreaming inside the missions, as well as externally engaging and sup-porting women’s contributions to all aspects of transitional processes.

In addition to strengthening the capacities of peacekeeping missionswith full-time advisers, there is an equally pressing need to supportthe adoption and enhancement of mechanisms for theimplementation of resolution 1325 in the seven peacekeepingmissions that operate without full-time gender advisers. Gender focalpoints in these missions have been active in supporting training andawareness-raising activities for staff. The need to review andmaximize the potential for integrating gender perspectives in thework of these missions is one that requires greater attention in thefuture.

An important ingredient for strengthening accountability for gendermainstreaming among staff is an unwavering commitment from

senior leadership. Some important steps have been taken and need to be furthernurtured. The issuance of a policy statement by the Under-Secretary-General forPeacekeeping was an important step forward. At mission level, several SpecialRepresentatives have prioritized implementation of resolution 1325 as an integral part ofthe missions’ work and have taken steps to inform staff (in ONUCI), to establishmechanisms for regular consultations with women’s organizations in the host country (inUNMIK) and to mobilize government-counterpart’s support for the goal of equalparticipation of women in all aspects of the transitional process (in ONUB). Moreformalized mechanisms for institutionalizing accountability to gender mainstreaming inpeacekeeping at senior leadership levels and ultimately at all levels of the Departmentwill be necessary in the future.

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THE WAY FORWARD

Peacekeeper sharing the joy of children in a host country. – UN

Alongside increasing investments in addressing the gender dimensions of peacekeepingpractice comes the need to develop effective monitoring tools to capture lessons and toassess the impact of ongoing work. While several missions have made a good start to thisprocess, there is a need to systematize the approaches and tools that will ensure moreeffective monitoring and impact assessment of gender mainstreaming in peacekeeping.

Undoubtedly, the success of a peacekeeping mission derives from its legacy, whichshould be defined by the extent to which the mission’s presence contributes toharnessing the full capacities of women and men for building sustainable peace.

The transition of two peacekeeping missions to special political missions in 2005 – inTimor-Leste and Sierra Leone – has presented opportunities to assess the impact on thehost countries of investments made to mainstream gender perspectives and to capturelessons learned from these experiences. Equally important is the need to ensure effectivetransitioning of thework of the gendercomponent, so thatthere is a mecha-nism in place toenable continuity tothis by governmen-tal partners and UN developmentagencies. An initiative currentlyunderway to evaluate the impact of the gender mainstreaming efforts in UNOTIL and UNAMSIL shouldprovide important policy guidance to inform the phase-out strategy of gender units in thefuture.

The lack of progress to date in increasing the number of female staff in peacekeepingmissions at senior levels and particularly among uniformed personnel, while not a reflec-tion of a lack of commitment on the part of DPKO to promoting this objective, doesunderline the need to review and revise strategies in place for addressing this challenge.Bold and innovative strategies, such as proposals advanced by Member States (namelySweden) for the use of civilian observers in peacekeeping, deserve serious considerationin the coming year, in the quest for ways to close this gap.

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Photos: Kosovo – LeMoyne/UN; LibaTaylor/UN; UN

The legacy of a successful peace-keeping mission should be defined by the mission’s contribution to harnessingthe full capacities of women and men for building sustainable peace.

COUNTRYHIGHLIGHTS

Photos this page, clockwise from top left: Mbanda, south of Burundi. Female ex-combatant sur-renders weapons and ammunitions to the UN registra-tion desk. – Martine Perret/ONUB; People fight forONUB flyers after the performance of inter-activeTheater troop TUBIYAGE in the Kabezi, Burundi publicsquare. The performance sensitized the populationabout voter registration. – Martine Perret/ ONUB; TheOGA encourages the women of Liberia to check theirnames against voter registration lists. – EricKanalstein/ UNMIL; Ex-combatants participate in skilltraining as part of the rehabilitation and re-integra-tion process, Kakata, Liberia. – Eric/UNMIL; Elderlyrefugee woman about to enter into the former YugoslavRepublic of Macedonia at the Blace Official BorderCrossing. – Evan Schneider/UN

T he following section provides a snap-shot of the workof gender units in peacekeeping missions with full-time gender advisory capacities (Afghanistan,

Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of theCongo, Haiti, Kosovo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan andTimor-Leste). The Offices of Gender Affairs in UNpeacekeeping missions are responsible for supporting theimplementation of Security Council Resolution 1325. To thisend, they work with mission personnel – civilian, militaryand civilian police – to provide practical guidance onstrategies for addressing the specific needs of women and men in transitional processes. Gender units alsosupport capacity development of national counterpartsthroughout the transitional period – governmental and non-governmental organizations and women’s groups. In doingso, they collaborate closely with other UN partner agenciesin order to enhance complementarity and impact of thiswork both during and well beyond the transitional period.

Photos this page, clockwise from top left: A UNStabilization Mission in Haiti peacekeeper, who is providing security for a mass in which the PrimeMinister of Haiti, and the Special Representative of theSecretary-General for Haiti participate, chats with ayoung girl outside of the cathedral. – Sophia Paris,MINUSTAH/UN; President Ndayizeye from Burundi (second in line) registers for elections at a suburb ofBujumbura. – Martine Perret/ONUB; Cote d'Ivoirewomen gather to celebrate International Women's Dayat the Palais de la Culture in Abidjan. – Ky Chung/UN;In order to participate in the demobilization and rein-tegration program a woman ex-combatant hands overarms and ammunition to a UN Peacekeeper in Liberia. – Eric Kanalstein/UNMIL

The Bonn Agreement of 2001 committedAfghanistan to a “broad-based, gender sensi-tive, multi-ethnic and fully representative gov-ernment”. The United Nations AssistanceMission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), under thecoordination of the Gender Adviser, has playedan integral role in facilitating implementationof this commitment.

In January 2004, UNAMA developed anaction plan for gender mainstreaming. Twokey components of the plan were: strength-

ening UNAMA’s capacity for gender main-streaming by, amongst other things, main-streaming gender issues within the mission;and providing ongoing support to theGovernment of Afghanistan particularly theMinistry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA).

GENDER MAINSTREAMING WITHIN UNAMA

UNAMA has strengthened its capacity for gen-der mainstreaming by appointing gender focalpoints in eight of its regional offices. UNAMA’sgender unit works in close collaboration withthe offices of Political Affairs, Rule of Law,Human Rights, Legal Affairs, Personnel,Training, and the Police Division to ensure thata gender perspective is incorporated into theirongoing activities. To date, this approach hasgenerated some success. For example, thePolitical Affairs Office has made deliberateand concrete efforts to ensure women’s partic-ipation in the political process, an investmentthat has resulted in very positive outcomes.Awareness raising and training is ongoing forall staff members - national and international,civilian and uniformed. Moreover, the GenderOffice works to promote gender balance objec-tives relating to recruitment of national andinternational staff, with a particular focus onsenior management positions.

THE ELECTORAL PROCESS

In the lead-up to the presidential elections inOctober 2004, UNAMA’s Gender Adviser chairedthe Elections Task Force, a working group of theAdvisory Group on Gender (AGG), which istasked with monitoring the progress of women’s

voter registration. Through regular consultationswith, and recommendations to, the JointElectoral Management Body Secretariat(JEMBS), the Task Force was able to contributeto the increased registration of female voters.Thus, out of the 10.5 million Afghans who regis-tered to vote, 40 percent were women.

Subsequently, in the run-up to the parliamen-tary elections, the Election Task Force workedto promote women’s representation in the elec-toral process - both as voters and as candi-dates. When the registration facilities re-opened for the voter registration update peri-od, approximately 1.7 million Afghans signedup - either to register for the first time or tocorrect voter registration cards or replacemissing ones. Of these registrants, fourty four

percent were women, an increase of four per-cent from the presidential elections.

The electoral process in Afghanistan sawAfghani women playing a new-found and sig-nificant role, evidenced in a thirteen percentrepresentation of women in the Emergency LoyaJirga, a figure which increased to twenty per-cent in the Constitutional Loya Jirga. Thanks toadvocacy work undertaken by the AfghaniWomen’s Groups, as well as MOWA, the newlyadopted Constitution of Afghanistan guaran-tees equal rights for men and women (Article22), and includes provisions relating to thepolitical participation of women. Article 83ensures approximately twenty five percent rep-resentation of women in the Lower House ofParliament, whilst Article 84 calls for seven-teen percent representation in the Upper House.One female candidate ran for the Office ofPresident and two others as Vice-Presidents.The presidential candidate was later appointedto the position of Minister of Women’s Affairs.

SUPPORT TO THE GOVERNMENT OFAFGHANISTAN

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs is the leadinggovernment institution for promoting theadvancement of women and mainstreaminggender into all government policies and pro-grammes in Afghanistan. The Ministry hasidentified four priority areas: education, health,women’s legal protection and women’s econom-ic empowerment. UNAMA plays an integral rolein helping MOWA implement its mandate,largely through capacity development andallowing the Ministry to develop the necessarypower and authority to implement its mandate.Initially the Ministry was perceived as weak,with little authority within the Cabinet. It wasseen as giving too much focus to implementingprojects rather than to policy development,

advocacy and capacity development.Nevertheless, over time, the Ministry has beenstrengthened, mostly due to the continued sup-port of the UN Country Team and donors.

To ensure implementation of MOWA’s pro-grams at provincial levels, the Ministryhas established provincial Departments

of Women’s Affairs (DOWAs) in thirty out ofthirty four provinces. As with MOWA the capac-ity of the DOWAs remain weak and UNAMA,with financial support from the AfghanistanEmergency Trust Fund (AETF), undertook aproject to build the capacity for fifteen DOWAs.Key components of the project included thefacilitation of transportation to ten DOWAs andtraining on public administration to anotherthree. Moreover, one national and three region-al workshops have been organized on capacitydevelopment for both MOWA and the DOWAs, toencourage increased participation of women inthe parliamentary elections.

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Out of the 10.5 million Afghans who registered to vote, 40 percentwere women.

AAFFGGHHAANNIISSTTAANNUNITED NATIONS ASSISTANCE MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN (UNAMA)

The gender unit works closely with donors andkey agencies to support the process of main-streaming gender equality across the mainpolicy and programming frameworks inAfghanistan, as a means of protecting thebasic human rights of women and girls. Onesuch initiative, the National Women’s Program(NWP) seeks to, amongst other things, ensurea nationwide increase in the quality and quan-tity of services affecting women, encouragethe inclusion of women in decision-makingprocesses, increase the levels of targeted andsustainable donor support for women and chil-dren, provide capacity-development for MOWAand DOWAs, improve linkages between MOWAand the relevant line ministries, and increasethe capacity of MOWA and DOWA in planningand advocating strategies to reduce femalepoverty. In addition to being part of the largerNWP working group, the Gender Adviser is alsoan active participant in the smaller planninggroup, responsible for the design and develop-ment of the program.

UNAMA’s gender unit has also been activelyinvolved in the development of Terms ofReference for the creation of Ministerial

Gender Advisers/Units to assist MOWA inmainstreaming gender concerns throughoutthe remaining ministries. MOWA has prioritisedeleven ministries for the appointment ofGender Advisers/Units and it is intended fiveof them will be included in the initiative by theend of 2005.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

After a 10-day fact-finding mission toAfghanistan in July 2005, the UnitedNations Special Rapporteur on Violence

Against Women, Ms. Yakin Erturk, concludedher visit by drawing attention to the fact thatalthough significant progress has beenachieved in the past three and a half years,there continues to be a high rate of violenceagainst women in Afghanistan, and is evi-denced both in its intensity and pervasivenessin public and private life. She also drew atten-tion to the fact that stability in Afghanistancan only be secured if the social fabric isrewoven from the grassroots and that now is aunique opportunity to achieve this.

As a follow-up to the mission, the Inter-Ministerial Task Force on the Elimination of

Violence Against Women (VAW), led by MOWA,endorsed a three-month work plan to addressthe issues raised by the Special Rapporteur.The work-plan identified deficiencies in theAfghani Justice System and mandated relevantagencies and ministries to take action toimprove the judicial and law enforcement sys-tem. Actions undertaken include the trainingof Court Officials, staff of the AttorneyGeneral’s Office, and police departments han-dling VAW cases. Another initiative is the for-mal registration of marriages and divorces toensure the protection of women’s rights underIslamic Law and according to internationalstandards. The implementation of the work-plan will be supervised by the VAW Task Forceand MOWA’s Legal Department, with technicalsupport from UNIFEM.

Additionally, UNAMA, together with Afghan andinternational stakeholders, is taking part in theCoordination Cooperation Commission, which islooking into the question of safe houses forwomen who have left home as a result ofdomestic violence and abuse. There are cur-rently four safe houses in Afghanistan and theaim is to extend the initiative further still. n

In addition to making a specific reference toSecurity Council Resolution 1325, SecurityCouncil Resolution 1545 (which establishedONUB) tasks ONUB’s personnel with giving‘special attention to issues related to genderequality, as well as to the specific needs ofchildren.’ Tasked with overseeing the imple-mentation of these provisions, a GenderAdvisor was appointed to ONUB in 2004. Thestrategic goals of ONUB’s Gender Unit focus ondisarmament, demobilization and reintegration(DDR), election support and addressing genderbased violence.

The post-conflict environment is highly recep-tive to securing better rights for the women ofBurundi and introducing real changes thatcould, with the appropriate and necessary fol-

low up, lead to real sustainable development.The necessary political will to move genderissues forward is present and in recognition ofthis OGA, in partnership with other compo-nents of ONUB, is working to ensure that theopportunities presented will not be wasted.The office is arranging workshops relating totraining of trainers, capacity-development andawareness-raising.

WOMEN’S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

Legislative elections, senate elections, presi-dential elections and more recently CollineCouncil elections at the grassroots level havebeen held during the period of review. A newdemocratically elected president was inaugu-rated on the 19th of August 2005. As a result,the political and security climate has

improved, opening a window of opportunity forthe women of Burundi.

Women’s standing in Burundian societyhas traditionally been very weak. Thereare no laws on succession or matrimoni-

al rights for women, inheritance can be passedonly from father to son, and legislation on sexualviolence is almost non-existent. In the past,women lacked access to political office and hadlimited participation in formal or informal deci-sion-making processes. Prior to the 2005 elec-tions, the rate of representation of women inpolitical processes averaged between four – tenpercent, whilst at the senior administrative levelthe standard participation rate was close to nil(there were no female governors of provinces norheads of Commune/Colline Councils).

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Against this backdrop, the 2005 elections havebeen revolutionary, granting women theirrightful place in Burundian society. Of 118new parliament members, thirty six arewomen, a representation rate of thirty percent.The Head of Parliament is a woman and thirtyfour percent of the senators are women, withtwo of the Vice-Presidents being women. Thegovernment has further demonstrated its com-mitment to include women in decision-makingprocesses by appointing a woman Vice-President of Socio-Economic Issues, sevenfemale ministers (of a total of twenty), andfour women as governors of provinces. At theCommune/Colline level, thirteen women havebeen elected Head of Commune, with a furtherseven as Presidents and thirty-eight as Vice-Presidents of Commune Councils.

As a sign of ONUB’s continued support to pro-motion of women’s rights in Burundi, a jointONUB team led by the Political Deputy SpecialRepresentative of the Secretary-General(PDSRSG) met with Mme. FrancoiseNgendahayo, the newly appointed Minister ofNational Solidarity, Human Rights and Gendershortly after the elections. The meeting culmi-nated in an agreement to foster close workingrelationships to strengthen the capacities ofelected women officials, and update andreform legislation relating to women with aparticular focus on the Bill of Succession andmarital rights law, rape and related sexualand gender-based violence legislation.

DEMOBILIZATION, DISARMAMENT AND REINTEGRATION

The Gender Unit has taken a lead on the criticaltask of advocating for the adoption of categori-sation of women associated with fighting forcesin the DDR process so as to include women whowould otherwise have been excluded.Furthermore, with support of the Political Sectionand the Force Commander’s Office, a broadadvocacy campaign was initiated to request theinclusion of women ex-combatants from theArmed Political Parties Movement (APPM) in thedemobilization process so that they could beintegrated into the new army and police force.By 16 August 2005, 16,491 former combatantsof the Forces Armees Burundaises (FAB) and theAPPM had undergone the national demobiliza-

tion process, including 2,909 children and 485 women. It is expected that by the end ofDecember 2005, a total of 11,400 FAB soldierswill have been demobilized. However, the pres-ence of women in the new official army, theForces de Defense Nationale (FDN), is negligible.Conversely, a promising number of women havebeen integrated into the new police force. Of 300women initially estimated to integrate into theNational Police Force, 231 have been selected.

During the review period OGA visited sev-eral cantonment sites throughout thecountry, with assistance from the

Military Joint Cease Fire Commission and thePeacekeeping Forces Operations Centre. Thesevisits revealed that with few exceptions, theprevailing situation was generally very poorthroughout the country. In Rugazi, a canton-ment site for future police officers, there were6,600 men and 380 women, with twenty sevenof the women in advanced stages of pregnancywhile eighty seven were living with theirbabies. There were no special provisions forwomen and they received neither protectionnor assistance for themselves or their children.In an attempt to improve the situation for thewomen and children in the cantonment sites,the Gender Office held meetings with donors toadvocate for specific funding for women in theDDR process. A special report was provided tothe SRSG and senior management of ONUBabout the issue, urging the DDR actors to finda solution to the problems. OGA subsequentlyheld meetings with UNICEF and UNFPA todevelop a joint strategy and to coordinateactivities in order to improve the living condi-tions for women and children in cantonmentsites. This generated an agreement to focus asa first step, on pregnant and nursing mothers.UNFPA subsequently provided delivery kits, areproductive health mobile clinic, and visitedthe camps to deliver kits, drugs, and gynaeco-logical assistance.

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

The 12-year conflict in Burundi saw unmen-tionable atrocities committed against

Burundian women, not the least of which wasrape, used by all parties as a weapon of war. Ageneral culture of violence has been estab-lished, and violations such as early or forcedmarriages, rape, sexual abuse, sexual harass-ment and physical punishment are still com-mon place. In addition, most abuses go unpun-ished, mainly because of a prevailing culture ofsilence. Due to social pressures, tradition andthe pervasive male bias of judicial institutions,

women are also unlikely to seek remedies forthese crimes through the courts. As a memberof the Country Thematic Group on SexualViolence, the Gender Unit is providing capacitydevelopment support to the Ministry of SocialAffairs and Women’s Welfare to create anAction Plan to Stop Sexual Violence. An eco-nomic empowerment programme is also beingdeveloped for the rehabilitation and re-integra-tion of ex-combatants who suffered from sexualabuses and sexual violence during the conflict.This programme also targets women in thepopulation at large who may or may not havebeen victims of sexual violence, thereby creat-ing a culture of support. It is intended that thismodel can be expanded throughout the country.

The Gender Office has established a strongpartnership with the ONUB Human RightsSection and the Conduct and Discipline Office.The Human Rights Section has specialist staffin assessing and monitoring the human rightsstatus in Burundi, and reports from this officeon cases of sexual and gender based violenceare vital to the work of OGA. A stronginformation sharing strategy has beendeveloped between the offices, with twoinformal meetings being held each week whichinclude OCHA, the Gender Unit, the HumanRights Section, the Child Protection Officerand the HIV/AIDS Policy Advisor within themission. These meetings provide OGA withmore comprehensive information on the statusof women in the country and allow ONUB tobetter coordinate its assistance to them. n

Out of the 118 new parliament members, 30 percent are women.

The Gender Unit in UNOCI was established inJanuary 2005, nine months after the establish-ment of the peacekeeping mission. Regrettably,neither the Linas-Marcoussis agreement northe subsequent Pretoria agreement makes anyreference to gender priorities. As little empha-sis was placed on addressing gender issues inthe peace agreements, the Office of the GenderAdviser (OGA) focused on establishing a func-tional structure and a plan for integrating gen-der perspectives into the work of UNOCI in thefirst months of operation the mission.Substantively, the gender programme in UNOCIhas focused on developing capacity for gendermainstreaming within the mission and capaci-ty development for national stakeholders.

DEVELOPING CAPACITY FOR GENDER MAINSTREAMING WITHIN UNOCI

In addition to carrying out regular inductiontraining on gender mainstreaming for all newinternational and local staff, OGA–in collabora-tion with the Public Information Office–broad-casts weekly electronic messages on genderissues throughout the mission, an initiativethat has received generous feedback from themission as a whole and contributed greatly toraising awareness on and interest in genderissues. OGA is also a regular guest on RadioUNOCI, which contributes to raising genderawareness to a broader public in Côte d'Ivoire.In collaboration with Radio UNOCI, the GenderUnit has initiated a series of daily interviewswith prominent women, in a spot named “DeFemme a Femme.” Furthermore, the unit hasbroadcast a series of interviews with key fig-ures from various women’s non-governmentalorganisations (NGOs) such as the Women’sAssociation of Rural Transport, the Associationof African Women and the Association ofWomen Lawyers, on topics ranging fromwomen’s social and economic role in the pre-and post-conflict period, to women’s participa-tion in the peace process.

OGA has also been working closely with theJustice Sector in Côte d'Ivoire. The rule of lawcomponent within the mission, in collaboration

with national actors such as the Women’sAssociation for Jurists and Military Prosecutors,has been instrumental in collecting informationabout violence against women and domesticviolence in Côte d'Ivoire. The rule of law and cor-rections section has also included gender sensi-tive inputs into the questionnaire that is used toevaluate living conditions in prisons, and paysspecial attention to the situation of female pris-oners during regular inspections of prisons.

The OGA initiated a project with UNOCICivilian Police that focused on four mainaeras. As a first step, a specific module

on gender was included in the Civilian Policetraining curriculum. Secondly a strategy forensuring increased recruitment of women intothe Ivorian national police has been developed.Current participation of women in the Ivorianpolice stands at 11.83 percent. The OGA isworking with the relevant Ivorian Authoritiesand UNOCI Civilian Police to multiply this suc-cess in the gendarmerie, which currently has nofemale recruits. Thirdly, the Abidjan Sector ofUNOCI Civilian Police is working with thePrefecture of Police on the creation of a“Community Policing” concept, which incorpo-rates a review of the procedures and conditionson detention in relation to women and children.Fourthly, the Gender Unit also conducts train-ing-of-trainers workshops for the police, armedforces and gendarmerie on methods strategiesfor combating gender based violence. With sup-port from OGA, the Office of the ForceCommander has included a gender trainingcomponent in the induction programme for mil-itary staff and MILOBS. The training empha-sizes respect for women, children, and for localcustoms.

DEMOBILISATION, DISARMAMENT AND REINTEGRATION

As part of the DDR process, the UNOCI GenderUnit has to date trained 600 recruits from oneof the warring parties, the Forces Nouvelles,who will act as security agents on the DDRsites. Furthermore, the Military Division hasmade provisions for the creation of separate

facilities for women and children in the can-tonment sites. In an attempt to raise aware-ness on the participation of women in the DDRprocess, a special broadcast on Radio UNOCIwas dedicated to Women and DDR.

Several meetings have been held with theNational DDR Committee’s VulnerableGroup Unit and Logistics Division.

Outcomes from the meetings included theestablishment of criteria for the identification ofwomen to be involved in the DDR process as wellas the creation of gender sensitive standards forDDR sites. OGA will monitor the implementationof this once the DDR process is launched.

PARTNERSHIPS AND NETWORKING

As part of it is efforts to disseminate informationon and support national implementation SecurityCouncil Resolution 1325, OGA has held a seriesof formal and informal meetings and workshopswith key stakeholders in Côte d'Ivoire. Theseinclude organizations such as the Reseau desFemmes Parlementaires et Ministers de la Côted'Ivoire (REFAMPCI), Association des FemmesJuristes, Coalition des Femmes Leaders, theZonta Club, the Human Rights League and ONEF(which works on Gender Based Violence issues).As part of its capacity development work, OGAhas participated in training and sensitizationevents for two boroughs in Abidjan and is plan-ning to further expand such partnerships in thefuture. More recently the Gender Unit supportedthe creation of a coordination structure of variousmajor NGOs and women’s organizations thataims to prepare women for the upcoming elec-tions. OGA also organized a training-of-trainersprogramme on gender based violence, which wasthe first of its kind in Côte d'Ivoire. Traineesincluded representatives from diverse back-grounds including NGOs, students and teachersunions, police and the gendarmerie.

Due to the stalemate in the political process inCôte d'Ivoire in recent months, the DDR processhas been stalled and a timeline for the electionshas not yet been finalized. Consequently, OGAhas had to revise its work plan accordingly. n

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The Gender Unit in MONUC was established in2002 at Mission Headquarters in Kinshasa. Inearly 2005, in an effort to broaden the out-reach of this office to the war-affected parts ofEastern DRC, an Office of Gender Affairs (OGA)was opened in Bukavu. MONUC’s gender strat-egy to date has focused in particular on thefollowing: collaboration with national andinternational partners; capacity developmentand training; elections; addressing gender-based violence; and the Disarmament,Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR)process. To broaden the impact of its work andto set it on a sustainable footing, OGA inMONUC invests in building strategic partner-ships with key stakeholders at the nationallevel as well as with UN partners.

DISARMAMENT, DEMOBILISATION AND REINTEGRATION

The OGA has been advocating for a gender sen-sitive approach to the DDR programme in theDRC, which is under the coordination of theNational Commission for the Demobilizationand Reintegration of Congolese Combatants(CONADER). In March, a training-of-trainersworkshop was held for a team from the Military,the National Police, CONADER, MONUC, UNDP,UNIFEM, Civil Society, the Ministry of Women’sAffairs, and the Ministry of Human Rights, withthe support of the OGA. The objective of thetraining was to equip participants with thetools needed to support CONADER staffthroughout the DRC to integrate gender per-spectives in their DDR work. The DDR processwas to some extent a missed opportunity forthe women of the DRC, as the national DDRprogramme failed to take into consideration thecategory of women associated with fightingforces, who played the roles of porters, cooksand sex slaves. In order to rectify this situation,CONADER and the OGA subsequently focusedon working for the inclusion of women in theongoing reintegration phase, as a means ofextending support to some of the women whowere overlooked at the stage of disarmamentand demobilisation. As a member of theTechnical Group on Gender and DDR, the OGAconceived a project titled “Identification ofWomen Associated with Armed Groups in the

Democratic Republic of Congo,” which aims toensure that women who lost out on the firsttwo stages of the DDR process will be ade-quately integrated into the reintegration stage.To date, it has been extremely difficult to targetwomen at this late stage, and to this end OGAhas worked with CONADER to design a ques-

tionnaire that is being used to identify womencombatants, and women associated with thefighting forces, so as to ensure a greater par-ticipation of women in the reintegrationprocess.

The Gender office has also worked withthe Military Chief of Staff of theCongolese Army, in order to appoint a

focal point in the Military who would act as thefirst point of contact for the OGA on pertinentissues regarding the new army, as well as onthe process of integrating ex-combatants intothe army after the DDR process.

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

Gender based violence is a pervasive problemin the DRC, requiring multi-sectoral andbroad-based programmes to prevent andrespond to this challenge. In supporting effortsto address gender based violence, the MONUCgender unit serves on the technical committeeof the Inter-Agencies Joint Initiative Project onSexual Violence. Furthermore, as a response towidespread incidences of gender based vio-lence in the Uvira region, the Gender Office inBukavu supported a conference to reviewstrategies for addressing the problem. The“Ligue des femmes pour la Paix et LeDevelopment dans les pays du Grand Lac,” inpartnership with the OGA brought togetherwomen from Rwanda, Burundian and the DRC,as part of an effort to design a regionalresponse to the problem. MONUC was repre-sented at the highest level in the conference,with the participation of the SRSG, theCommander of the Pakistani Contingent and

the head of the Bukavu Office.

The protection of the rights of Congolesewomen through the legal system remainslargely unsatisfactory. This is in part due

to a general lack of knowledge on the part oflegal practitioners on relevant international

human rights instruments, such as theConvention for the Elimination of all Forms ofDiscrimination against Women (ratified by theDemocratic Republic of Congo in 1986) and UNSecurity Council Resolution 1325 on Women,Peace and Security. More recently however, theprovisions of the new draft Constitution whichrecognizes the principle of gender equality andthe responsibility of the state to sanction sexu-al and other forms of gender based violence,provide cause for optimism. With funds fromthe DPKO gender facility, the Office of GenderAffairs is preparing to train trainers who willin turn train magistrates, lawyers and legalauxiliaries (including representatives of thearmed forces responsible for public securitythroughout the country) in "gender and jus-tice." The implementation of the project willinvolve close collaboration between the OGAand MONUC’s Rule of Law Section. The latter isalready responsible for preparing a schedule ofcourses for military magistrates in Goma,Bukavu and other regions.

THE POLICE

One of the main recommendations that cameout of a seminar held in March 2005 inKisangani on the implementation of SCR 1325in Congo, was the need for women to getinvolved in discussions around the formationof a new and modernized Congolese ArmedForce and Police. Participants discussed thefact that women’s security will never be guar-anteed unless a new concept of policing wasdeveloped that takes into account the rights ofwomen. The high incidences of domestic vio-lence and sexual abuse in the post-conflict

The outcome of the training and sensitization programme saw asignificant shift in the perception of male parliamentarians.

DDEEMMOOCCRRAATTIICC RREEPPUUBBLLIICC OOFF TTHHEE CCOONNGGOOUNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION MISSION IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

period necessitate the formation of specialunits within police stations to deal with crimesagainst women. The OGA has participated inseveral training sessions for the CongoleseNational Police, and is playing a larger role insupporting gender sensitive approaches toSecurity Sector Reform within MONUC.

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ELECTORAL PROCESSES

One of the recent achievements of the OGAresulted from a collaboration with nationalpartners that facilitated the adoption of a gen-der sensitive Law on the Identification andRegistration of Voters. As a result of lobbyingfrom women’s constituencies and other stake-holders, including OGA, the new law guaran-tees the full participation of women in the voterregistration process. Furthermore, it takesaccount of the special needs of pregnantwomen, and women with war-related disabili-ties. Another important victory for the women ofthe DRC is evident from the provisions of thedraft Constitution adopted by the TransitionalParliament on 13 May 2005. Paragraph 14 ofthe draft Constitution includes important provi-sions for ensuring women’s participation indecision-making and politics.

Addressing the security concerns of women inrelation to the forthcoming elections has beenone of the key priorities of OGA. Thus in moni-toring course of voter registration for the forth-coming elections, the fact that young womencame forward to register in relatively largenumbers, whilst older or otherwise incapaci-tated women were less visible, prompted OGA

to highlight the issue to key stakeholders. Thisinspired collaborative efforts between OGA,counterparts in MONUC and national authori-ties to ensure that the regulations stipulatedin the Law on Registration, such as the priorityof pregnant women and the elderly in registra-tion queues is adhered to. OGA has also high-lighted the need to adhere to the 30 percentquota of female electoral staff, a provisionthat was initially widely ignored.

At a related level, the OGA also providedsupport for the incorporation of gender-sensitive provisions in the Electoral Law,

which stipulated the nature of the electoral sys-tem to be put in place in the DRC. As part ofthis effort, OGA held several meetings withcounterparts in other countries emerging fromconflicts (South Africa, Sierra Leone, Rwanda,Burundi and Afghanistan) in order to exploresystems that favour minority groups andwomen. Currently, Congolese women politiciansare advocating for a ProportionalRepresentation System with closed lists. It ishoped that this will address the issue of genderparity as stipulated in the draft constitution.

With the legal framework in place, OGA movedto support women of the DRC to take fulladvantage of the opportunities providedthrough the recently adapted laws, whilst alsoencouraging them to make inputs into thedrafting process of new ones. As part of thisprocess a training and sensitization pro-gramme was convened for the Parliament. Over600 individuals, 10 percent of whom were

women, participated in the programme whereGender Advisers from UNDP, UNIFEM andMONUC OGA served as resource persons. Theoutcome of the training and sensitization pro-gramme saw a significant shift in the percep-tion of male parliamentarians who whollyembraced the principle of women's participa-tion in political processes and contributedpractical and concrete ideas to move thisagenda forward. Another positive outcomeresulted from the fact that the trained parlia-mentarians subsequently engaged withwomen’s constituencies in the country tostrengthen the language in the relevant articleof the Transitional Constitution regardingwomen’s participation in political processes.

The OGA’s work has also been focused ondeveloping leadership capacity of women inthe DRC, thereby expanding the pool fromwhich women candidates for political officecould be drawn. In June 2005, with technicalsupport from UNDP and MONUC, theIndependent Electoral Commission convened aworkshop aimed at developing capacity forwomen leaders, entitled “Women: Leadership,Negotiation and Advocacy.” Having realizedthat the mechanisms in place so far wereinadequate for ensuring the participation ofwomen, the Electoral Commission extendedthis partnership to UN agencies and MONUCand organized a follow-up National Conferencein August 2005, in which over 200 womenleaders from political parties, governmentministries, the senate, the National Assemblyand professional circles participated. n

The United Nation’s involvement in Haitistarted in February 1993 when the jointUnited Nations/Organization of American

States International Civilian Mission in Haitiwas deployed. The current PeacekeepingMission, MINUSTAH, was deployed in 2004. Theparticipation of a gender advisor in the needsassessment mission to Haiti in March 2004 toplan for the new peacekeeping mission

ensured that the Office of Gender Affairs (OGA)was included in MINUSTAH’s staffing tableright from the beginning. Since its inception,the work of the unit has focused on the follow-ing key activities: gender training and aware-ness raising for MINUSTAH and UN staff;capacity development to ensure the integrationof gender issues into the main activities of thepeacekeeping mission; capacity development

and information sharing with key nationalcounterparts including government and civilsociety groups; ensuring a sustainableDemobilization, Disarmament andReintegration (DDR) programme with particu-lar attention to women and children associat-ed with fighting forces; and ensuring the par-ticipation of Haitien women in political deci-sion making and the electoral process.

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PARTNERSHIPS FOR GENDER MAINSTREAMINGIN MINUSTAH

As part of the process of implementing the pro-visions outlined in the Gender ResourcePackage, the Senior Gender Advisor has workedwith the various functional units and offices inMINUSTAH to appoint gender focal points. Thusthe appointment of a gender focal point in thepublic information office has for exampleensured a strengthened collaboration betweenthe two offices for raising awareness on genderrelated issues. Moreover, focal points from theCivil Affairs Division have been appointed in the10 regional offices throughout the country.These focal points have all received gendertraining and will assist the gender unit indecentralizing its gender mainstreamingefforts. A Focal Point for Women has beenappointed in the mission, to support the SpecialRepresentative of the Secretary-General (SRSG)to fulfil his responsibility for increasing thenumbers of female personnel, maintaining andpromoting a work environment conducive to thefull and equal participation of women.

In partnership with the Integrated MissionTraining Centre and the United NationsTraining and Research centre (UNITAR), the

gender unit organized a training programme for“Personnel in Peacekeeping Operations” on thesubject of “the Special Needs of Women andChildren in Conflict.” The training consisted ofa two-day programme which addressed the fol-lowing topics: gender and peacekeeping; pro-tection of children post-conflict; sexualexploitation and abuse; and the women andwar project by the International Committee ofthe Red Cross. Upon the request of the UNResident Representative/Deputy SpecialRepresentative of the Secretary-General(DSRSG), the OGA delivered training on genderissues and sexual exploitation to all categoriesof staff from all UN Agencies present in Haiti.Training was provided in English, French andHaitian Creole, and included everyone from top-level managers to drivers and support staff.The training sessions were well-received by allcategories of personnel and demonstrated thatlack of understanding on gender issues andsexual exploitation and abuse can be defusedthrough regular training and sensitization.

OGA has played an instrumental role in con-tributing to the UN Inter-Agency National Plan onViolence against Women. Violence againstWomen, including domestic violence, is all toocommon in Haiti and according to the latest fig-ures from women’s organisations, incidents ofrape against young women are on the rise. Inorder to address these issues, the Inter-Agencygroup held a workshop under the leadership ofthe Ministry for the Status of Women aimed atdeveloping a national strategy on preventingand developing measures to tackle violenceagainst women, with a particular focus on sexu-al violence. The participants agreed on a seriesof measures: a) the creation of a standard formin French and Haitian Creole to record cases ofviolence against women; b) the development ofa standardized training module for doctors andnurses who deal with victims of violence; c) thedevelopment of a communication plan for theprevention of violence against women and d) thestrengthening of data collection on cases ofwomen victims of violence with the aim of get-ting accurate figures to facilitate betterresponses. Implementation of the national strat-

egy is being monitored by all partners. Moreover,OGA is working with MINUSTAH’s Civilian Policein order to provide security to civilians in themore violent areas of the capital.

As a result of the ongoing work of the Office ofGender Affairs, the strategy on gender main-streaming in MINUSTAH is starting to bear fruit.Several components (including the DDR Unit,the Public Information Office, Electoral Divisionand Civilian Police) are already taking initia-tives to involve women in their work activities.

DISARMAMENT, DEMOBILIZATION AND REINTEGRATION

The Senior Gender Advisor was requested by theHead of the MINUSTAH DDR Section to assist inintegrating a gender perspective into the “DraftProgramme for National Disarmament,Demobilization and Reintegration.” The objec-tive was to ensure that women and girls - eitherdirectly or indirectly associated with fighting

forces – will be included in the DDR pro-gramme. On the occasion of the InternationalWomen’s Day 2005, the DDR Section took theinitiative of organizing a peaceful march in theSouthern town of Les Cayes. Around 400 repre-sentatives from local women’s organizationsparticipated in the march, displaying placardsthat read “The violence of weapons makeswomen suffer.” Furthermore, with the participa-tion of the gender unit, the DDR Section organ-ized a two-day training course for Haitianwomen on “The role of women in the reductionof violence, peace building and disarmament”in the Gonaïves region.

COOPERATION WITH THE CIVILIAN POLICE ANDHAITIAN NATIONAL POLICE

With the aim of improving facilities in police sta-tions to ensure that they better cater to victimsof violence, the Office of Gender Affairs is work-ing with MINUSTAH’s Civilian Police to assist theHaitian National Police in refurbishing police sta-tions in the capital and in a few selected regions.The refurbishment programme includes the cre-ation of separate rooms in the police stations

that will allow women victims to visit and lodgeconfidential reports to the police in a private andsecure space. The Senior Gender Advisor has heldworking sessions with the “Special Programmes”section of the Civilian Police component of themission to prepare for this project and has alsoworked with the Civilian Police and women’sorganizations to prepare a curriculum for trainingof trainers for female and male police officerswho will staff these police units.

ELECTIONS

OGA has embarked on a range of initiatives inorder to develop the capacity of women andsupport their participation in the process lead-ing up to the elections. As a first step, theSenior Gender Advisor initiated a series of con-sultations with prominent women from themain political parties to discuss the involve-ment of women in the electoral process – bothas voters and candidates for political office.Together with the women’s organization Famn

“The violence of weapons makes women suffer.”

Yo La, the gender unit also took the lead insupporting capacity development activities forwomen in political parties who would like torun for office but who are either undecided orlack the confidence to do so. Given the factthat Haitian woman have traditionally beenexcluded from the political arena, women whoare currently seeking office lack experience,expertise, the necessary required political skillsand competencies, as well as confidence andself-esteem. The Gender Unit is working in col-laboration with the Integrated Mission TrainingCell and the Electoral Assistance Division to

deliver capacity development and training onthe subject of women and leadership, whichinclude topics such as conflict resolution, com-munication, planning and organization andpresentation skills. Under the guidance of OGA,and as a means of strengthening the trainingand capacity development support, a group ofwomen candidates created the “Reseau desFemmes Candidates pour Gagner,” meaning“the Network of Women Candidates for Winningthe Elections.” Moreover, OGA, upon instruc-tions from the SRSG, has created a workinggroup with the Electoral Assistance Division,

which amongst other things has worked on thedesign and distribution of posters for voter reg-istration. A gender perspective was integratedinto the motto of the posters to ensure thatboth women and men would register. The mottoreads: “Haitian people, women and men, go toregister.” The Network’s weekly TV and radiobroadcasting activities are currently supportedby MINUSTAH in order to promote the involve-ment of women as candidates, make their dailywork visible, and demonstrate to the generalpublic that women can succeed in the politicalrealm. n

UNMIK was established in June 1999 but itwas not until mid-2003 that the Office ofGender Affairs (OGA) began operating as afull-fledged advisory unit on gender equalityissues. At the end of 2004, OGA was movedunder the umbrella of the Office of the SpecialRepresentative of the Secretary-General(SRSG). The OGA focuses its activities aroundfive main components: (1) mainstreaming agender equality approach in the monitoring ofthe Standards for Kosovo and the joint imple-mentation of the Standards ImplementationPlan; (2) coordination of gender mainstream-ing activities in UNMIK’s pillars (police andjustice, civil administration, democratizationand institutional building, reconstruction andeconomy) and promoting a consistentapproach to gender mainstreaming within theUN system in Kosovo; (3) strengthening thecapacity of the Provisional Institutions for SelfGovernment to address gender issues at thecentral and local levels; (4) promotion ofminority women's interests and encourage-ment of cross-cultural understanding andinter-ethnic acceptance; (5) and empowermentof local women’s organizations.

MAINSTREAMING GENDER EQUALITY IN THEPOLITICAL AGENDA

To ensure that the gender equality objectivesas defined in the Standards for Kosovo areefficiently pursued, OGA has developed specif-ic checklists which serve as a roadmap for

ensuring equal opportunities between men andwomen and the advancement of women andgirls in Kosovo. OGA has also participated inthe eight Standards Implementation WorkingGroups–set up as mechanisms for monitoringand joint implementation–by offering technicalassistance to ensure that a gender equalityapproach is used throughout the exercise.Moreover, the Office of Gender Affairs hasdeveloped a series of gender-sensitive indica-tors to facilitate monitoring activities. Toenhance the capacity of local institutions tofulfil the gender equality objectives in theStandards for Kosovo, OGA has regularly deliv-ered training workshops to all levels of civilservants.

To strengthen local mechanisms for genderequality in the execution of the Law onGender Equality and the Standards

Implementation Plan, OGA provides politicaladvice, technical guidance, and on-the-jobtraining to the Division for Gender Equality with-in the Prime Minister’s Office, the Inter-ministe-rial Working Group for the Achievement ofGender Equality, and Municipal Gender Officers.In addition, OGA has assisted the PrimeMinister’s Office in setting up the Office forGender Equality, defining its priorities andboosting coordination with reserved areas in thefield of gender mainstreaming.

As an initiative of OGA, the SRSG has held

quarterly meetings with Kosovo women leadersfrom all areas of society and communities.These discussions have brought to the tablevarious issues of common concern, comprisingproblems faced by women's organizations andwomen leaders for their full participation inthe current political process. The exchange ofviews has also included legislative and execu-tive matters leading to the eradication of gen-der-based violence and trafficking in women.All these items have been linked to the imple-mentation of the Standards for Kosovo.

MAINSTREAMING GENDER EQUALITY IN UNMIKAND THE UN SYSTEM

In order to ensure a consistent approach tomainstreaming gender equality issues in theoperations of UNMIK, OGA has functionallysupervised gender focal points and depart-ments with dedicated capacity on gender issuesthroughout the Mission, providing technicalguidance and fostering coordination. For thispurpose, collective and bilateral meetings havebeen held regularly and a set of joint activitieshas been outlined and systematized into 11thematic clusters, namely: justice, penal sys-tem, civilian police, domestic violence, traffick-ing, local governance, democratization, institu-tion-building, electoral system, economy, andreturns and the rights of communities.

To enhance coherence to the efforts of the UNsystem in Kosovo in the promotion of gender

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equality in institutions and society at large,the UN (MIK inter-pillar and inter-agency)Gender Task Force (UNGTF) has been chairedby the OGA using revised Terms of Referenceformalized by the SRSG and the ResidentCoordinator of the UN System in Kosovo. A newstructure has also been launched through theofficial appointment of representatives fromUNMIK pillars and UN agencies. The actionsagreed upon have included a common plancontributing to the implementation of the Lawon Gender Equality, as well as the develop-ment of strategies in support of the eradica-tion of gender-based violence. The UNGTF hasalso proven to be a powerful network to pro-mote gender related issues and initiatives inthe legislative field.

Atraining program on “Applying tools forgender mainstreaming” has beendesigned and implemented to enhance

the capacity of staff members to integrate agender-based approach in the substantivework of UNMIK. This training program hasserved as a means to further disseminate theDPKO Gender Resource Package forPeacekeeping Operations. The content of thetraining sessions has focused on the imple-mentation of the UNSCR 1325, the fulfilmentof the gender equality objectives of theStandards for Kosovo, the promotion of gender-sensitive legislative initiatives and the inte-gration of returnee and internally displacedwomen in decision-making processes.Representatives from the Provisional Institutesfor Self Government (PISG) and women'sorganizations have been involved in the deliv-ery of the training and their contributions haveallowed the enhancement of the responsive-ness of key UNMIK staff to local women'sdemands. Due to the success of this program,workshops will be held on a bimonthly basis.

PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE ENHANCEMENT OFGENDER EQUALITY

The Office for Gender Affairs has pursuedmeasures to support local women leaders andcivil society women’s organizations. To thisend, it has run a series of consultations lead-ing to the definition of strategic initiatives forwomen’s empowerment and the promotion ofthe gender equality agenda in Kosovo. The

agreements reached include the provision oftechnical assistance, the delivery of trainingactivities, the funding of research projects andother advocacy and brokerage actions in thefield of human rights.

In particular, a strategy has been designedwith the Kosovo Women’s Initiative (KWI) tointegrate gender perspectives in local com-

munities and enhance the capacity for LocalWomen’s Councils to hold municipal institu-tions accountable for the fulfilment of the pro-visions of the Law on Gender Equality andother relevant instruments for the advance-ment of women.

OGA has also supported the publication of anannual report of the Centre for the Protectionof Women and Children, a leading KosovanNGO in the field of gender-based violence. Thisreport presents key data to assess the dimen-sions of domestic violence and trafficking ofhuman beings. The Office of Gender Affairshas contributed to this publication with theaim of putting updated information at the dis-posal of local institutions for the identificationof actions instrumental to the implementationof the UNMIK Regulation on Protection AgainstDomestic Violence. The Office of Gender Affairsin collaboration with Crossing Bridges, a

media production company led by young pro-fessional women, has designed a publicawareness campaign on gender-based vio-lence targeting youth and aimed at transform-ing behaviours that lead to violent practicesbased on gender discrimination. The campaignwas conceived on the basis of qualitativeresearch on youth perceptions of gender-basedviolence carried out in association with a localresearch institute with a strong linkages toyouth groups.

With the goal of creating an enabling environ-ment to enhance the role of women in busi-ness, the Office of Gender Affairs has under-taken a survey of women entrepreneurs

Kosovo-wide with the local women organiza-tion SHE-ERA. This is the first research of itskind and it will serve to educate all stakehold-ers on the needs of women in business ven-tures and to define measures to increasewomen’s access to equal opportunities.Furthermore, a collaboration has been initiatedwith the Chamber of Commerce on issuesrelated to the enhancement of women entre-preneurs and the creation of capacities tomainstream a gender equality approach in theactivities of the Chamber of Commerce, involv-ing staff at different levels.

In order to enable media professionals to playan instrumental role in eradicating genderbased stereotypes and to promote equitablegender roles in society, the Office of GenderAffairs has developed a prototype training ses-sion, which has been delivered to women jour-nalists in Kosovo. As a result of the technicalsupport provided, a Steering Committee of theKosovo Women Journalists Association hasbeen established to advise women journalistsand media professionals, as well as monitorhow women are represented and how genderbias is reproduced in media.

The Office of Gender Affairs has sponsored thesecond edition of the statistical research

“Women and Men in Kosovo” in close coopera-tion with the Statistical Office of Kosovo (SOK)and other local institutions. This publicationrepresents a sizeable step towards updatingthe gender-disaggregated data at the disposalof policy-makers and civil society. With theaim to boost the capacity of the SOK, aWorking Group on Gender Statistics has beenset up and a comprehensive training programdelivered by the Office of Gender Affairs. n

As an initiative of OGA, the SRSG has held quarterly meetings withKosovo women leaders from all areas of society and communities.

UNMIL was the first UN Peacekeeping Missionto include an explicit gender mandate.Established in accordance with SecurityCouncil Resolution 1509 of 19 September2003, the mandate “reaffirms the importanceof a gender perspective in peacekeeping oper-ations and post-conflict peace-building inaccordance with resolution 1325 (2000),recalls the need to address violence againstwomen and girls as a tool of warfare, andencourages UNMIL as well as the Liberian par-ties to actively address these issues.” Thework of UNMIL’s Office of Gender Affairs (OGA)during the period under review has focused onthe following priorities: the Disarmament,Demobilization, Rehabilitation andReintegration (DDRR) process, collaborationwith the police, addressing gender-based vio-lence and support to the electoral process.

DISARMAMENT, DEMOBILIZATION, REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

The DDRR process in Liberia was significant inensuring outreach to women who had beenengaged in combat as well as those whoassumed support roles to combatants. In thisregard, one of the fundamental factors thatcontributed to the success of the DD processin UNMIL was, in the first instance, theacceptance of the category “Women Associatedwith Fighting Forces” (WAFF). As a next step,the OGA advocated for a broadening of thedefinition to include not only active fightersbut also women who supported the fighters inany other role, including as sexual slaves. Thisensured that women associated with the fight-ing forces where eligible to participate in theDDRR process, provided they could presenteither a weapon or at least 150 rounds ofammunition. The agreement was based oninformation received by OGA that women inrebel groups often shared one weapon betweenmultiple fighters such that if weapons alonehad been used as the sole criteria for accept-ing women into DDRR process, those unable topresent a weapon would have been excludedfrom the programme.

In order to encourage women to come forward

and participate in the DDRR process a strongawareness campaign was initiated. Gender-specific public information messages (printand radio) were designed in collaboration withthe Ministry of Gender and Development andvarious women’s groups. This information wasdisseminated widely throughout the country bythe Public Information section of UNMIL. As aresult, over 21,000 women and girls have beendisarmed and demobilized, 19,000 more thanthe 2,000 that had been estimated by theassessment mission at the start of theprocess.

Furthermore, the Office of the GenderAdviser conducted regular assessmentmissions to the DDRR sites to monitor

the situation of women and girls in the campsand inspect the physical structure and layoutof the camps. The findings and recommenda-tions from these assessment missions werecirculated to the office of the SRSG, UN agen-cies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs)and relevant partners. As a result, a gender-sensitive system for site layout, proceduresand practices was employed for the design ofnew cantonment sites across the country.One of the main shortcomings of the DDRRprocess was however the dearth of female mil-itary observers to oversee the disarmamentand demobilisation of women ex-combatants.The use of female Military Observers (MILOBS),proved to be more appropriate for ensuring aneffective screening process of women ex-com-batants.

As part of its contribution to the RR process, asubstantial part of the OGA’s work has been toprovide input into the Social ReintegrationTraining Package for ex-combatants, makingsure that the materials included training onwomen’s rights, issues of property ownershipresulting from the new Inheritance Act, andthe rights of women in relation to the legalityof marriage. Involving the communities in theRR planning phase served as another impor-tant strategy. Furthermore, the OGA throughmembership on the Quick Impact Project

Committee (QUIPS), has been able to promoteproject applications from women’s groups,thereby providing women with opportunities tocreate sustainable economic livelihoods forthemselves and their families. For instance,through funding from QUIPS, women in theBong County have embarked on a roofing andrenovation project of a local school thatemployed local women and men to providelabour and expertise.

COLLABORATION WITH THE POLICE

The OGA has supported UNMIL’s Civilian Policecontingent and the Liberian National Police inthe development of:a Gender Policy for theNational Police and a gender training manualfor police training. This training programme isnow part of the Academy’s accelerated trainingprogramme for new recruits into the newLiberia Police Service. Moreover, gender train-ing has been formally instituted as part of theAcademy’s curriculum.

In working to promote greater democraticpolicing in Liberia, the OGA developed a con-cept paper for UNMIL’s Civilian Police that laidthe foundation for the establishment of aWomen and Children’s Unit in the NationalPolice Force. A fact-finding mission to Ghanaand Sierra Leone was undertaken by theCivilian police , to draw lessons from the oper-ations of the existing Women and ChildProtection Systems in both countries. The out-comes of this review informed the design ofLiberia’s unit. The Women and Children’s Unitof the Liberian National Police was recentlylaunched in collaboration with UNICEF, whichcurrently funds the unit and has providedtraining for the 25 officers appointed to theunit, 10 of whom are women.

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

In early July, 2005, UNMIL’s Office of GenderAffairs, in partnership with the Human RightsOffice, the Legal and Judicial Support Service,the Civilian Police and the Public InformationOffice, as well as key international and nation-al NGOs, and the Ministries of Gender and

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Development and Internal Affairs, joinedtogether to launch a national campaign onviolence against women. The objectives of thecampaign included advocacy to ensure thepassing of an amended rape bill, the estab-lishment of a fast track court to prosecute andexpedite rape cases; and raising awarenessamong the general public on sexual and gen-der-based violence. A matrix of activities hasbeen developed as part of the campaignimplementation process. These activities rangefrom radio programmes, training of healthworkers, cultural and community awareness-raising, and distribution of DVD and videomessages throughout the country. The OGA, incollaboration with the inter-agency task force,which includes county-level units, will contin-ue to monitor implementation of the activitiesas outlined in the matrix.

The OGA is also working closely withUNMIL’s Legal and Judicial System andSupport Division (LJSSD) to reform the

Rape Law in Liberia. In this regard, OGA partic-ipated in a consultative forum on LegislativeReform organized by the Ministry of Justice incollaboration with LJSSD. Of particular concernto OGA at the forum was the review of the RapeLaw and its implication for the increased pro-tection of women and girls as victims of rape,the protection of married women against mari-tal rape, the enforcement procedures, and theseverity of punishments. With increasing levelsof reported rape incidences, the OGA continueto monitor this process.

COLLABORATION WITH THE OFFICE OF THEFORCE COMMANDER

In addition to conducting regular inductionsessions for incoming military personnel inmission, training activities facilitated by theOGA have largely emphasised training of train-ers programs on sexual exploitation and abuse(SEA) for Sector Commanders in the variouscontingents/battalions. These trainings wereinitiated in response to the Office of the ForceCommander’s directive that CommandingOfficers will be held responsible for SEA alle-gations involving officers within their com-mand structure. In addition, the trainingserves as a strategy for the prevention of SEAthrough awareness creation. A training guide

on Gender and SEA has been developed andwill be used by the Sector Commanders toreplicate the course for other military officers.As a result of the continued collaborationbetween OGA and the Force Commanders’Office, a gender focal point for the military has

been appointed at mission Headquarters and will function as a liaisonbetween the offices. The Gender Focal Pointwill also contribute to the establishment of apilot gender cell within the military, which willfacilitate, support and systematically monitorthe integration of gender issues within themilitary operations of the mission.

ELECTORAL PROCESS

The emphasis of the OGA’s support to the elec-tions process in Liberia has been threefold: voterregistration, representation of women in politicalprocesses and civic and voter education.

Among the first initiatives supported bythe OGA with respect to the elections,was to advocate strongly for the adop-

tion of legal provisions to ensure a 30 percentrepresentation of women on all political partylists. This was done in close collaboration withUNMIL’s Electoral Affairs Division, the NationalElectoral Commission, the Ministry of Genderand Development and other stakeholders inthe electoral process, including women’sgroups. Although the Electoral Reform Law didnot include any quotas, the Political Parties’Guidelines to the legislation provided for the30 percent quota for women. The second majorintervention supported by the OGA was to pro-vide women with the capacity to fill the quota.In this regard the OGA, in collaboration withthe Ministry of Gender, convened a workshop todevelop a women’s manifesto for the elections,as well as an election strategy to strengthenthe newly established Women’s Political Forum,and to help them implement the women’sstrategy. Throughout the year, OGA continuedto support activities and to provide technicalexpertise and advice to women’s constituen-

cies with a view to enhancing women’s partici-pation in the electoral process.

Another key task undertaken by the OGA inrelation to the elections was a voters’ registra-tion exercise. Initial figures showed that only

25-30 percent of Liberian women registered tovote. In order to understand why the percent-age of women was so low, the OGA sent out ateam to interview registrants and subsequent-ly shared the results of the analysis of the sur-vey with key stakeholders. As a result, theLiberian Provisional Government, in coopera-tion with various women’s groups, conducted anation-wide awareness campaign encouragingwomen to register. The result was that 50 per-cent of eligible registered voters were women.

As a member of the Recruitment Committee ofthe Electoral Process, the OGA has been ableto advocate for gender equality in the recruit-ment of registrars and administrators, and tomonitor its implementation. Furthermore, theOGA has used its membership on the Civic andVoter Education Sub-Committee to ensure thatwomen were portrayed fairly and positively onall civic and voter education materials pre-pared by the National Electoral Commissionand its partners. The OGA provided UNMIL’sElectoral Assistance Division with contactinformation of civil society women’s con-stituencies in Liberia, in order to ensure thatcivic and voter education might reach womenwho otherwise would be marginalized. By theend of the OGA’s civic and voter educationtraining, more than 50 women’s groups in thecountry had been provided with training, while107 women candidates had been prepared forcampaigning and running for elections. In col-laboration with UNIFEM, two workshops havebeen organized and 56 women candidatesfrom across political party lines have beenprovided with leadership skills training tostrengthen their prospect for winning the elections. n

Over 21,000 women and girls have been disarmed and demobilized,19,000 more than the 2,000 that had been estimated.

Until January 2005, coordination of gender main-streaming activities in UNAMSIL was the respon-sibility of a Gender Specialist in the HumanRights Division. Since then however, a GenderAdviser has been appointed to the Office of theSpecial Representative of the Secretary-General(SRSG). UNAMSIL is currently in a draw-downphase and as such a considerable portion of theGender Adviser’s work in the period under reviewhas been to facilitate the implementation of anexit strategy through ensuring, that structuresare in place and capacity has been built to sust-ian gender mainstreaming after the departure ofthe UN Peacekeeping Mission.

GENDER MAINSTREAMING AND THE TRANSITIONAL PLAN

A joint UNAMSIL and United Nations CountryTeam (UNCT) Transitional Plan has been devel-oped to facilitate a smooth handover processfrom the UN Peacekeeping Mission to the UNCountry Team. The Gender Adviser has beenworking to ensure that gender issues are ade-quately incorporated into the plan. In the initialdrafts, gender issues were only mentioned infour of the twenty seven areas of the transitionstrategy: public information, women, educationand gender mainstreaming. Moreover, genderwas presented as a separate sector, ratherthan as a cross cutting issue to be main-streamed throughout the plan. To rectify this,the Gender Adviser in collaboration withUNIFEM developed a checklist to ensure theinclusion of gender issues in the plan. It isexpected that the application of the checklistwill ensure adequate attention to gender issuesinto the transition strategy of UNCT.

The Gender Adviser’s efforts have also focusedon building capacity for government counter-parts and civil society organizations to promotewomen’s rights and gender equality. From initialconsultations with key stakeholders in the gov-ernment, the Gender Adviser noted a generallack of understanding on gender issues and theneed therefore to create and strengthen capaci-ty for the development of a national action planon gender mainstreaming in accordance withSecurity Council Resolution 1325 on Women

Peace and Security. As a consequence, theGender Adviser, with support from various otherfunctional offices of UNAMSIL, such as thePublic Information Office, the Office of HumanRights, the Office of the Child ProtectionAdviser, has undertaken a number of initiativesincluding the translation SCR 1325 into Creole,developing radio programs to raise awarenessabout the resolution and conducting extensivetraining sessions for Government staff.

Another main area of focus of the work ofthe Gender Adviser has been the provisionof training to the Sierra Leonean Police.

The Gender Adviser regularly attends the train-ing sessions of the Sierra Leone PoliceCommand and gives lectures on gender andwomen’s rights to all new recruits at the PoliceTraining School in Freetown.

Together with the Deputy SpecialRepresentative of the Secretary-General(DSRSG) and UNAMSIL Civilian Police, theGender Adviser has worked with the SierraLeonean Prison Services to ensure adequatefacilities and care for female detainees.During a visit to Pademba Maximum Prison inCentral Freetown, the UNAMSIL team learnedthat 26 female prisoners lived amongst 772male prisoners. Two of the women in the facili-ty were pregnant, and another two were livingwith their babies. The prison had no femaleward and the pregnant female detainees, andthe youngest children, were treated in a cellthat had been converted into a makeshiftante-natal and under-five clinic. In an effort toaddress the situation, UNAMSIL Civilian Police,with technical assistance from the GenderAdviser, is working with the Prison Services inthe recruitment, capacity building and trainingof both female and male prison officers. Theaim is to achieve a 30 percent recruitment offemale candidates, an important first step inbetter caring for the female detainees.

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

As an important step to protect the women ofSierra Leone, the national Law ReformCommission is in the process of developing a

law on domestic violence. The Gender Adviserhas been a key resource person in this process.The Law Reform Commission, is charged withreviewing Sierra Leone’s legal framework, andhas noted the limitations of the current frame-work to protect women and children againstdomestic violence. As a first step in addressingthis issue the Commission sought to identify thecauses of domestic violence and found, amongstother things, that one of the main causes forthis kind of ongoing violence is that the policedo not treat reports of domestic violence as seri-ously as other forms of violence and therefore aculture of silence is perpetuated. Training of thepolice, as already undertaken by the GenderAdviser, was recognized as an important strate-gy to rectify this situation. In addition to devel-oping a law on domestic violence, the LawReform Commission has also been charged withthe important task of producing draft bills onsexual offences, inheritance and succession,and the law on marriage. These bills have beenhanded to the government and are under review.

Another major initiative supported by theGender Adviser in the fight against genderbased violence is an International RescueCommittee (IRC) project that has seen the creation of Sexual Assault Referral Centres indifferent parts of the country. The centres provide survivors of sexual assault with free andconfidential medical treatment, in addition tocounselling and legal advocacy. Such efforts,coupled with wide-scale community sensitiza-tion and training of the police is yielding positiveresults in the fight against gender based violence, and is helping increase the rate ofprosecution of perpetrators. Nevertheless, muchawareness-raising and confidence-building workstill needs to be undertaken, as most of the victims using the centres are children in the agerange of 0 to 15 years, with older women beingless likely to report abuses due to a culture ofstigma, shame, retribution, and powerlessness.The awareness-raising and capacity-develop-ment work of the Gender Adviser, in collabora-tion with the Public Information Office, is animportant tool in providing information to thesewomen on available resources. n

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SSUUDDAANNUNITED NATIONS MISSION IN THE SUDAN (UNMIS)The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS)was established in April 2005 and as such isthe most recent of DPKO’s PeacekeepingMissions. The Office of Gender Affairs wasestablished at the outset, thereby ensuringincorporation of a gender perspective through-out the planning and pre-deployment phase.Since its inception in April, OGA has developedworking relationships with the Peacekeepingcomponents of UNMIS, particularly HumanRights, Civil Affairs, HIV/AIDS, DDR, Rule ofLaw, the Military, and Civilian Police. TheSenior Gender Adviser also currently serves asthe interim Focal Point for Sexual Exploitationand Abuse pending the appointment of aPersonnel Conduct Officer. OGA’s work in thisperiod has focused on providing support toUNMIS staff on gender mainstreaming in theirfunctional components, and developing a gen-der strategy for Sudan.

GENDER MAINSTREAMING WITHIN UNMIS

As part of its effort to mainstream a genderperspective within UNMIS, OGA is developingGuiding Principles on gender mainstreamingfor the different components of the Mission.The Guiding Principles, based on the GenderResource Package for PeacekeepingOperations, are meant to assist staff membersin mainstreaming gender perspectives intotheir daily work. To-date, the guidelines havebeen created for the Police, Public Information,and Human Rights components. OGA will con-tinuously monitor the use of these GuidingPrinciples.

To support gender mainstreaming withinUNMIS, OGA established an ElectronicResource Centre, providing a central

repository for gender documents and tools,accessible to all mission staff. All new staffmembers are informed about the ResourceCentre during induction training.

In the coming months, the OGA will be estab-lishing nine offices around the country, includ-ing in Darfur, the South and the East. Oncefully operational, the UNMIS OGA will be the

largest of DPKO’s gender units.

DEVELOPING A GENDER STRATEGY FOR SUDAN

A central task of OGA is to develop a strategyfor mainstreaming a gender perspective in theimplementation of the Comprehensive PeaceAgreement (CPA). To this end, OGA has con-ducted meetings and consultations with avariety of stakeholders, including women’s civilsociety organizations, the Sudan People’sLiberation Movement (SPLM), the Governmentof National Unity, and various regional organi-zations. The meetings have served as anopportunity for OGA to explain its role and workin Sudan, and for the stakeholders to provide

invaluable inputs to OGA to inform its currentand future activities. This consultative process has revealed a needfor capacity development and trainingthroughout Sudan, at all levels, including thegovernmental level. There is also a need toensure full participation and inclusion ofwomen in the DDR and RRR processes as wellas to urgently adopt a strategy to end sexualand gender-based violence, particularly in theDarfur region. OGA is in the process of devis-ing methods for providing technical support toall relevant stakeholders.

In early September, the UNMIS Gender Unithosted a workshop on “Engendering the PeaceProcess after the CPA,” in collaboration withAhfad University for Women/Institute forWomen, Gender and Development (IWGD), todevelop a gender strategy for UNMIS. Theapproximately 70 participants, representingthe Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the SPLM, UN agencies, DPKO Headquarters, politicalparties, and national NGOs, among others,examined the needs, priorities for action, andthe role of UNMIS, specifically the Gender Unit,in the areas of Demobilization, Disarmament,

Repatriation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation,and Reconciliation, combating violenceagainst women with a special focus on Darfur,gender mainstreaming, and women in decision-making. OGA is in the process of consolidating the outcomes of the workshop inorder to elaborate its gender strategy.

Prior to the workshop, Ms. RachelMayanja, Assistant Secretary-Generaland Special Adviser to the Secretary-

General on Gender Issues and Advancement ofWomen, visited Sudan in order to get a first-hand understanding of the situation of womenand girls in Sudan, including the level of

women’s participation in the implementationof the CPA, and the situation in the Darfurregion. During her visit and in her many meet-ings, the Special Adviser drew attention to theBeijing Platform for Action, Security CouncilResolution 1325, and the Convention on theElimination of all forms of DiscriminationAgainst Women (CEDAW), as well as the situa-tion of refugee and internally displacedwomen, amongst others, thereby giving furtherweight to the importance of mainstreaminggender issues throughout the implementationof the CPA . n

In the coming months, the OGA will be establishing nine officesaround the country, including in Darfur, the South and the East.

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TTIIMMOORR--LLEESSTTEEUNITED NATIONS OFFICE IN TIMOR-LESTE (UNOTIL)The peacekeeping mission in Timor-Leste wasfirst established as a TransitionalAdministration for East Timor (UNTAET) withpeacekeeping forces from December 1999 toMay 2002. When Timor-Leste gained its inde-pendence in May 2002, UNTAET was replacedby the United Nations Mission of Support inEast Timor (UNMISET), which had a mandatethat called for capacity-development aimed atlaying the foundation for sustainable demo-cratic governance. In May 2005, UNMISET suc-cessfully completed its mandate and wasreplaced by the UN Office in Timor-Leste(UNOTIL), a Special Political Mission with nopeacekeeping functions, led by the Departmentof Political Affairs (DPA) and managed by theDepartment of Peacekeeping Operations(DPKO). UNOTIL has a one-year mandate toconsolidate the transfer of skills and knowl-edge to key state institutions and developmentpartners. As the transition and hand-overprocess to the UN System agencies and donorcommunity in Timor-Leste is finalized, the goalof the mandate is to facilitate the establish-ment of a sustainable development framework.

The gender unit of UNTAET was estab-lished in December 2000, the first unit ofits kind to be established in a peace-

keeping mission. It was instrumental in main-streaming gender in all functional areas of themission’s work and in supporting the creationof a national women’s movement. The genderunit continued to facilitate gender main-streaming work under UNMISET. UNMISET’sfinal year of existence was exclusively dedicat-ed to strengthening the gender mainstreaming

functions of UN system agencies and the workof the UNMISET Task Force on Sexual Abuseand Exploitation.

MAINSTREAMING GENDER ISSUES WITHIN THEUN COUNTRY TEAM

With the completion of UNMISET’s mandateand the commencement of UNOTIL’s one yearmandate, the main aspect of the gender unit’swork is focused on providing direct technicalsupport to the UN Country Team, in particularthe UN Theme Group on Gender, a processwhich has been successful for the most part.

The gender unit has surveyed existingmechanisms, tools and resources tofacilitate gender mainstreaming in the

mission, the UN system and in Timor-Leste atlarge. To address some of the existing gaps,the Gender Unit developed a gender-trainingprogramme and compiled a Gender Briefing Kitfor the UN system in Timor Leste. The BriefingKit provides an overview of “Who’s Who andWho’s Doing What” on gender and gives a pro-file of the women’s movement in Timor-Leste.The gender kit has also been translated intoTetum (Timor-Leste’s vernacular language) tofacilitate dissemination and usage at thenational level. The gender-training programmehas been delivered in various training ses-sions, such as for instance, the CivilianAdviser Group (a group of 50 advisers postedin key ministries of Timor-Leste’s government),the Human Rights Unit and the UNMISETNetwork of Gender Focal Points.

UNOTIL’s Gender Unit recently merged with theHIV/AIDS unit and the Gender Adviser now actsas the HIV/AIDS Focal Point, thus encouraginga policy dialogue between the UN SystemAgencies and the Ministry of Health.

The Gender Unit has overseen the translationinto Tetum of Security Council Resolution 1325and of selected sections of the Gender

Resource Package, including the Secretary-General’s Bulletin on the Prevention of SexualExploitation and Abuse, so that the materialsmay be used in advocacy and training ses-sions.

WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS

The Office of the Gender Adviser in UNMISETwas instrumental in initiating a joint UN TaskForce to support the work of the Office ofPromotion of Equality in drafting the DomesticViolence Law Bill. UNOTIL’s Gender Advisercontinues to monitor amendments to the billbefore its final approval (tabled for January2006). Violence against women is alsoaddressed through ongoing support of the UNTheme Group on Gender to the Office ofPromotion of Equality, currently chaired byUNFPA as part of the exit strategy.

The functions of the Gender Adviser alsoinclude raising awareness on the prevention ofsexual exploitation and abuse, and as a resulta series of targeted briefing sessions wereconducted on this topic to all components ofthe mission. When UNMISET closed in May2005, 400 international staff members hadbeen made aware of DPKO’s Code of Conductstrategy. More recently, UNOTIL co-facilitatedwith UNIFEM, a series of consultations on adraft policy review for assistance to victims ofgender based violence. Furthermore, UNOTIL’sgender unit developed a training module ongender based violence and sexual exploitationand abuse for UNICEF staff. The same trainingmaterial has been translated into Tetum andpresented to UNICEF national programme andgeneral service staff.

UNOTIL is initiating the implementation of aproject on civic education for women’s rightsat the district level as a joint collaborationbetween the Office of Promotion of Equalityand the Ministry of Justice. This is being sup-ported with funds from the gender facility atDPKO Headquarters. n

The Office of the Gender Adviser in UNMISET was instrumental ininitiating a joint UN Task Force to support the work of the Office ofPromotion of Equality in drafting the Domestic Violence Law Bill.

“For us Haitian women,the good governance we dream of,the fight against corruption we are taking a lead in,promoting women’s strategic interests in the elections,and the creation of a just and equalitarian society,can only be reached through the full participation of women at all levels of the political process.”

Ms. Marie-Laurence Jocelyn-Lassegues, Secretary General of the Haitian Women's organization Fanm Yo La

At a fund-raising event for the “Network of Women Candidates for Winning the Elections", October 2005

Contact Information: Gender Unit Peacekeeping Best Practices Section The Department of Peacekeeping Operations United Nations Secretariat, Room 3035 New York, NY 10017 Cover photos: UN; Evan Schneider/UN; Eric Kanalstein/UNMIL