UN Women calls attention to exclusion of women from peace processes

Source: Xinhua| 2019-10-30 05:00:12|Editor: Mu Xuequan
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UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- UN Women's Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on Tuesday called attention to the exclusion of women from peace processes despite a resolution passed in 2000 to promote their participation.

Mlambo-Ngcuka made the remarks while presenting to the Security Council the secretary-general's latest Women, Peace and Security report, an annual assessment of the implementation of Resolution 1325.

Mlambo-Ngcuka said several recent peace talks had largely excluded or sidelined women, underlining the tolerance to women's continued exclusion from peace and political process and institutions.

She pointed out after conflict, men dominate large-scale reconstruction while economic recovery for women is overwhelmingly limited to small-scale activities like micro-enterprises.

"Feminist organization's repeated calls for disarmament, arms control and shifting military spending to social investment go unanswered," said Mlambo-Ngcuka.

"We need your political will to demand women's direct and meaningful participation in peace talks," she stressed, observing that fewer than 8 percent of agreements reached contained gender-related provisions, down from 39 percent in 2015.

She cited a recent analysis on Colombia's 2016 peace accord that showed around half of the 130 gender-related provisions in the agreement have not been initiated.

Before Mlambo-Ngcuka spoke, the Security Council passed Resolution 2493 to reinforce the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in the lead up to the commemoration of its 20th anniversary.

In the resolution, the council urged member states to facilitate women's inclusion and participation in peace talks from the outset, both in negotiating parties' delegations and in the mechanisms set up to implement and monitor agreements.

At the same meeting, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also lamented the slow progress in women participation in peace processes.

He noted nearly two decades since Resolution 1325 was adopted, women still face exclusion from so many peace and political processes, and that peace agreements are still adopted without provisions considering the needs and priorities of women and girls.

A pitifully small 0.2 percent of bilateral aid to fragile and conflict-affected situations goes to women's organizations, he said, adding that the number of attacks against women human rights defenders, humanitarians and peacebuilders continues to rise.

Sexual and gender-based violence continues to be used as a weapon of war, and this year alone, millions of women and girls were in need of life-saving sexual and reproductive health services, Guterres said.

Nevertheless, the secretary-general voiced determination to speed up improvement. He warned failure to act on women's rights and the principles of the women, peace and security agenda brings enormous costs, and called upon the international community to work together to change the narrative and improve by implementation the situation on the ground."

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