Role of Policy-makers in the Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and National Action Planning

Ambassador Herman Schaper

February 24^th, 2011

Introduction ? Why is 1325 important?

Today we came together to discuss the landmark Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security which addresses the importance of women’s participation in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and reconstruction. The Netherlands has always put its full weight behind the implementation of this resolution. These reasons for this are simple:

Full and equal participation of men and women in the basis of societies which are thriving, economically and politically. Because diversity at the top, perspectives from both men and women, leads to better decisions. That’s why multinationals and banks invest in attracting women and that is why we took it upon ourselves, as one of the first o draw up a National Action Plan.

Dutch NAP

The Dutch NAP was adopted in December 2007. It describes the implementation of the Dutch integrated approach at country level on women, peace and security. Example are our support for political participation of women in Afghanistan, for integrating gender training with Security Sector Development in Burundi, and for including sexual violence in support to the Congolese security sector.

In reaching these goals, the Dutch prefer to be concrete and specific and you will see this within our Action Plan. It identifies 71 actions to be taken ant its mentions that is responsible for which action, to ensure that there is ownership and accountability? And finally, to show our commitment, we are financing our Action Plan with a total of 23 Million Euro.

A second important characteristic of our approach is inclusiveness. In the Netherlands, the Action Plan is a joint responsibility of both government and civil society. We involved our experts in the field of gender, security, and development, but also our civil society actors, such as NGOs, academics and lobbyists. They all actively took part in the process and took up commitments of their own.

In the actual execution of the action Plan, we attempt to reach the same inclusiveness. To this end, we follow the 3D approach of Defence, Diplomacy, and Development. In this approach, we do not only strive towards military success, we also aim at economics development, good governance and inclusive political structures, bringing these elements together in an integratd approach. This means that Dutch military personnel work together with civil authorities, NGOs and local women’s organizations. 

Military training

Furthermore, we realized that a successful implementation of our Action Plan was only possible when the people in the field put their heart into it. They have to be truly convinced of the fact that including a gender perspective is not only a required element of their work, but often offer the best way to achieve lasting results.

That is why we have provided almost 200 colleagues from different ministries, as well as 30 from civil society, with thorough training in the field of women, peace and security. And in 2009 only, more than 800 of our men and women in uniform received at least one gender class. In this regard, I would also like to highlight our cooperation with Spain on creating military and civil gender capacity for operations and missions.

Gender adviser

A great example of using the topic of gender in conflict countries has been the deployment of a gender adviser to Kabul, Lieutenant-Commander Ella van den Heuvel. Her duty was to ensure that our military mission in the province of Uruzgan focused more on women in Afghanistan ?not only providing them with greater protection but also encouraging them to play an active role in the country’s reconstruction.

But there was also another reason for her deployment, and that gender sensitivity could make our military efforts to help stabilize the country more effective. For example, when you want information from local people about the situation in a village or the region, talking to local men will only get you half the information. Women and men see and experience things from different perspectives. So involving women will lead to more complete information and to a more precise and effective strategy.

Defence

And that is also why at this moment, we count among our troops: female generals, frigate and battalion commanders, and high ranking officers at the management level. From this year on, two seats per year will also be reserved for female officers to try and qualify for the rank of general. The Ministry of Defence is specifically targeting women in our recruitment campaigns. We are providing more possibilities for men and women to combine work and care, to study part-time and to accommodate children at day-care centres. We pursue these policies in order to recruit more women, but also to keep them with us for a longer period of time.

Gender awareness directly improves the output of our military forces. It improves the quality of our missions and also increases the safety of our troops.

Sexual violence

Another important part of 1325 is the safety of women in conflict situation. Sexual violence is still insufficiently addressed in post-conflict governance. For example, the report of the Secretary-General of last September included a global study that found only eight cases in which sexual violence constituted a ceasefire violation. Another example is the fact that only a small part of the money spent in post-conflict countries goes to activities such as building safe environnements for sexual violence survivors or enabling access to justice and law-enforcement for women.

And finally, let us not forget, sexual violence is still consistently used as a weapon of war.

In order to address this issue, there is currently a project of two Dutch twin sisters underway in the Democratic Republic of Congo, sponsored by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These sisters use film documentaries featuring women have been victim of sexual violence, to reach and educate the Congolese public. They show how these women go through hell twice: first the act itself, second the rejection by their husbands and their community.

They followed up their first film “Fighting the silence”, by making another ‘Weapon of War’, but from a very different perspective. In their second film they interviewed the men responsible, the perpetrators, in order to answer the question: “what drives men to commit such horrible acts?”. Both films were sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and are not only increasing awareness among the Congolese public, but are also being used as teaching material for Congolese soldiers.

Peace Process and Peace Building

As the Secretary General has stated, to deliver a full measure on the promise of 1325, we must also ensure an increased presence of women in leadership positions, appointed and elected, to improve peace processes and peace building. This is the main subject of our discussion today.

This was also an important recommendation of the impact study on the implementation of 1325 and our own mid-term review. We have to focus our attention and commitment on a few crucial points, and one of these focus points for us has become women’s leadership and political in Afghanistan, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.

A great example of the work being done in Sudan is the Netherlands-Darfur foundation for the Organization of Women, a Dutch organization set up by women originally from Darfur. They organize training courses and discuss peace building and political participation with women from different ethnic minorities in Darfur. Because of its success, the foundation has set up a permanent platform for women’s organisations in Darfur. Twenty-six of these organisations have currently joined their platform to boost the capacity of women’s organisations so that they are better platform to boost the capacity of women’s organisations so that they are better equipped to participate in the Darfur peace process and to stand up for women’s rights.

Why is 1325 smart?

So to conclude, women have their own unique insights and expertise, and these different perspectives enable a more complete analysis of the situation and better outcomes, benefiting activities as diverse as peace process, reconstruction activities and military operations.

And this is the crucial point of today’s subject. Not only is including women the right thing to do, and should women, without question, have the same rights as men, it is also a fundamental part of making better decision. So it is not just the right thing to do, it is also the rational and smart thing to do.