United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (S/RES/1325), on women, peace, and security, was adopted unanimously by the

UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

on 31 October 2000, after recalling resolutions 1261 (1999),

1265 Year 1265 ( MCCLXV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * January 20 – In Westminster, the first elected English parliament (called Montfort's Parliament) conducts its first meeting i ...

(1999),

1296 Year 1296 ( MCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * March 30 – Capture of Berwick: King Edward I of England storms and captures Berwick-upon-Tweed, sacking what is at this t ...

(2000), and

1314 Events January – March * January 17 – Queen Oljath, who had been the Queen consort of the Kingdom of Georgia as wife of King Vakhtang II (d. 1292), and then his cousin, King David VIII (d. 1302), marries a third time, taking ...

(2000). The resolution acknowledged the disproportionate and unique impact of

armed conflict War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

on women and girls. It calls for the adoption of a gender perspective to consider the special needs of women and girls during conflict,

repatriation Repatriation is the return of a thing or person to its or their country of origin, respectively. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as the return of mi ...

and resettlement, rehabilitation, reintegration, and post-conflict reconstruction. Resolution 1325 was the first formal and legal document from the Security Council that required parties in a conflict to prevent violations of

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

, to support women's participation in peace negotiations and in post-conflict reconstruction, and to protect women and girls from

wartime sexual violence Wartime sexual violence is rape or other forms of sexual violence committed by combatants during an armed conflict, war, or military occupation often as War looting, spoils of war, but sometimes, particularly in ethnic conflict, the phenomen ...

. It was also the first

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

resolution to specifically mention the impact of conflict on women. The resolution has since become an organizing framework for the women, peace, and security agenda, which focuses on advancing the components of Resolution 1325.

Resolution

Observations

The observations highlight how the Council considers the issue of women and armed conflict important to international peace and security. They express the Council's concern about

civilian A civilian is a person who is not a member of an armed force. It is war crime, illegal under the law of armed conflict to target civilians with military attacks, along with numerous other considerations for civilians during times of war. If a civi ...

s in armed conflict, particularly women and children, who constitute most of the victims of conflict and who are increasingly targeted by armed groups. Attacks against civilians, particularly women and children, negatively impact peace and reconciliation. More specifically, the observations: * Reaffirm the important role that women play in conflict prevention, conflict resolution, and peace-building. * Emphasize the importance of women's equal involvement in peace and security and the need for women's increased participation in conflict prevention and peace-building. * Reaffirm the importance of international humanitarian and

human rights law International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law is primarily made up of treaties, ag ...

in the protection of women and their rights. * Recognize the need to adopt a gender perspective in

peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities, especially military ones, intended to create conditions that favor lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed w ...

operations and training of peacekeeping personnel on the special needs of women and children in conflict and humanitarian settings. * Recognizes that the protection of women and girls and their participation in peace processes is important to international peace and security.

Acts

The operational items in Resolution 1325 broadly call upon

member states A member state is a state that is a member of an international organization or of a federation or confederation. Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include some members that are not sovereign states ...

to address the needs of women and girls in armed conflict and support their participation in peace negotiations. The key components and recommendations of the resolution are: * Preventing sexual and gender-based violence in armed conflict: Resolution 1325 calls upon all parties to conflict to take special measures to protect women and girls from violence in armed conflict, particularly sexual and gender-based violence. It also calls for states to end

impunity Impunity is the ability to act with exemption from punishments, losses, or other negative consequences. In the international law of human rights, impunity is failure to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice and, as such, itsel ...

for

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

, particularly

sexual violence Sexual violence is any harmful or unwanted Human sexual activity, sexual act, an attempt to obtain a sexual act through violence or coercion, or an act directed against a person's sexuality without their consent, by any individual regardless of ...

, and prosecute offenders. * Peace negotiations: The resolution calls for including a gender perspective in peace negotiations and increasing women's participation in peace negotiation, with particular attention to supporting local women's peace initiatives. * Protection of women and girls in refugee settings: The resolution calls upon parties to conflict to consider the special needs of women in girls in designing and administering

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for in ...

s. *

Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration Disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR), or disarmament, demobilisation, repatriation, reintegration and resettlement (DDRRR) are strategies used as a component of peace processes, and is generally the strategy employed by all UN Peace ...

(DDR): It also calls for considering gender in DDR, particularly the different needs of male and female ex-

combatant Combatant is the legal status of a person entitled to directly participate in hostilities during an armed conflict, and may be intentionally targeted by an adverse party for their participation in the armed conflict. Combatants are not afforded i ...

s. * Women's political participation: The resolution calls upon member states to increase women's participation at all levels of decision-making in national, regional, and international institutions. * Incorporate a gender perspective into peacekeeping operations, consider gender in Security Council missions, and consult with international and local women's organizations. * Provide training for the UN and member states on the protection, rights, and needs of women; gender sensitivity; and the importance of involving women in peacekeeping and peace-building measures. * Gender balancing in the UN: Increase women's representation as Special Representatives and envoys, and in field operations, particularly among military observers, police, and human rights and humanitarian personnel. * Reporting: The resolution requests that the

UN Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

conduct a study on the impact of armed conflict on women and girls, the role of women in peace-building, the gender dimensions of peace processes and conflict resolution, and on gender mainstreaming in UN peacekeeping missions. It also invites the Secretary-General to report the findings of these studies to the Security Council. The resolution also calls upon all countries to fully respect international law applicable to the rights and protection of women and girls, in particular the obligation under the Geneva Convention of 1949 and Additional Protocol thereto of 1977, the

1951 Refugee Convention The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, also known as the 1951 Refugee Convention or the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951 is a United Nations multilateral treaty that defines who a refugee is and sets out the rights of individuals ...

and the Protocol thereto of 1967, the

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is an international treaty adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly. Described as an international bill of rights for women, it was instituted ...

(CEDAW) and its Optional Protocol, and the

Convention on the Rights of the Child The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of ch ...

and both its

Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC), also known as the child soldier treaty, is a multilateral treaty whereby states agree to: 1) prohibit the conscription ...

and its

Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography The Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography is a protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and requires parties to prohibit the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. ...

, and finally to bear in mind the provisions of the

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998Michael P. Scharf (August 1998)''Results of the R ...

History

The resolution was passed unanimously in October 2000 after extensive lobbying by th
NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security (NGO WG)
and

United Nations Development Fund for Women The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, , ) was established in December 1976 originally as the Voluntary Fund for the United Nations Decade for Women in the International Women's Year. Its first director was Margaret C. Snyder. U ...

(UNIFEM; now succeeded by

UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity charged with working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women is charged with advocating for the righ ...

Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah Ndemupelila Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah (born 29October 1952), nicknamed NNN, is a Namibian politician who is the fifth and current president of Namibia since 21 March 2025. She is the country's first female president. Previously, she served as the th ...

, then Minister of Women's Affairs in

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, initiated the resolution when the country took its turn chairing the Security Council. Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury, representing

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

at the Council, also made significant contributions by using Bangladesh's role as Council President to bring attention to women's contributions to peace and security. Chowdhury has remained a vocal and active advocate for full implementation of Resolution 1325. The NGO Working Group played a critical role in successfully lobbying the Council to hold open sessions on women, peace, and security, consulting with Council members on the resolution, and providing them with applicable information. The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action contained an entire chapter focused on women, peace, and security. During the 1990s, the

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

community was increasingly concerned about the negative impacts of war on women, particularly widespread sexual violence seen in civil wars in

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, West Africa, and

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

. Activists were also upset that women faced significant barriers to entering peace talks and the negative impacts that women experienced post-conflict. The Beijing Conference's 5th anniversary (Beijing+5) provided critical momentum for progress on women, peace, and security issues at the UN. The resolution's history and passage is notable for the level of involvement by NGOs and

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.

Implementation

United Nations

The two main components of Resolution 1325 are addressing sexual violence in armed conflict and increasing women's participation in peace processes and political institutions. Within the United Nations, the resolution has led to an increased attention to gender mainstreaming, or assessing a policy's different impacts for women and men. The main programs implementing the resolution are UN Women and the

Department of Peacekeeping Operations The Department of Peace Operations (DPO) (French: ''Département des opérations de maintien de la paix'') is a department of the United Nations charged with the planning, preparation, management, and direction of United Nations peacekeeping, ...

, although many other programs also apply it to their work.

Four pillars of implementation

In 2009, Resolution 1889 called on the Secretary-General to develop a set of indicators to track the implementation of Resolution 1325. The indicators are used for UN programming, but have also been adopted by member states and NGOs. The indicators developed are the four pillars of prevention, protection, participation, and relief and recovery. * Prevention focuses on preventing sexual and gender-based violence, as well as gender awareness in conflict prevention and early warning systems. This includes preventing sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeeping forces. * Protection involves improving women and girls' safety, physical and mental health,

economic security Economic security or financial security is the condition of having stable income or other resources to support a standard of living now and in the foreseeable future. It includes: * probable continued solvency * predictability of the future cash ...

, and overall well-being. It also focuses on improving the rights of women and girls and their legal protections. * Participation refers to promoting women's participation in peace processes, increasing the numbers of women at all levels of decision-making institutions, and increasing partnerships with local women's organizations. Participation also includes increasing women's participation in the UN in senior positions, as Special Representatives and in peacekeeping missions and operations. * Relief and recovery efforts should ensure the equal distribution of

aid In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Th ...

to women and girls and incorporate gender perspectives into relief and recovery efforts. Specific indicators include tracking numbers related to outcomes, such as the number of women in peace negotiations, the number of military manuals that include measures on women's protection, or the number of cases investigated on violence against women.

National Action Plans

Two years after Resolution 1325 launched, the Security Council began encouraging the development of National Action Plans (NAPs) as a tool that member states could use to detail steps that they will take to fulfill the resolution's objectives. As of September 2016
63 countries
have adopted such plans. NAPs address political, social, and

human security Human security is a paradigm for understanding global social vulnerability, vulnerabilities whose proponents challenge the traditional notion of national security through military security by arguing that the proper referent for security should be ...

policies and often require interagency coordination. Many donor country NAPs tend to be externally focused, outlining and documenting their commitments to promoting Resolution 1325's principles in focal countries; developing and conflict-affected countries generally use NAPs to support women's internal participation in politics and peace processes, as well as outline internal commitments on protection from sexual and gender-based violence. Currently, Europe (27) and Africa (19) are the regions with the highest number of National Action Plans. While the number of NAP countries rapidly increased in the lead up to both the 10th (in 2010) and 15th (in 2015) anniversaries of Resolution 1325, only 32% of UN member states have implemented NAPs in 2016, and 101 countries as of early 2024. A major gap is in troop contributing countries (TCC) and police contributing countries (PCC) to peacekeeping missions—the top four countries providing police, military experts, and troops do not yet have national action plans.

Challenges to implementation

In order to hold implementers accountable, Resolution 1325 NAPs ought to contain a monitoring and evaluation framework that outlines specific progress indicators and assigns clear roles and responsibilities for monitoring and reporting activities. Also, few NAPs have actual allocated funding for development or implementation: a 2014 survey of NAPs revealed that funding most commonly went to addressing sexual and gender-based violence and increasing women's involvement in peace processes, while the most common funding gap was security sector reform and access to justice.

Local Action Plans and Regional Action Plans

Local Action Plans (LAPs) are a way to operationalize the resolution at the local and community levels. Countries such as

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

, and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

have implemented local level mechanisms for implementing the resolution and NAPs. Several regional organizations have adopted Regional Action Plans (RAPs), including the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermat ...

(NATO),

Economic Community of West African States The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as CEDEAO in French and Portuguese) is a regional political and economic union of twelve countries of West Africa. Collectively, the present and former members comprise an area ...

(ECOWAS), and the

Pacific Islands Forum The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) is an inter-governmental organisation that aims to enhance cooperation among countries and territories of Oceania, including formation of a trade bloc and regional peacekeeping operations. It was founded in 197 ...

. RAPs coordinate regional priorities on women, peace, and security and help direct and prioritize regional organizations' programming and funding on the topic. NATO has used Resolution 1325 to increase the levels of women in the military and has influenced seven NATO member states to have increasing women's participation in the military as a goal in implementing the resolution.

Non-governmental organizations

NGOs play an important role in implementing Resolution 1325. NGOs have lobbied their national governments to develop National Action Plans and many NAPs have a NGO oversight body to hold governments accountable to their commitments. Grassroots NGOs, particularly women's organizations, also use UNSCR 1325 in conflict-affected countries to lobby their governments to comply with the resolution on the issues of including women in conflict negotiations or holding peacekeeping missions accountable for sexual abuse and exploitation. Established international NGOs play an important role in disseminating information on the resolution to grassroots organizations and training local actors on the resolution and how to use it.

Impact

Recognition and scope

Resolution 1325 is used around the world as a policy tool to implement gender-sensitive conflict-related policies. It is also used as an organizing framework for actors outside of the United Nations, such as states, NGOs, and researchers, in a way that no other Security Council resolution has been used. For example, it is the only resolution to have its anniversary celebrated with reports, conferences, and special sessions of the Security Council, as well as the only resolution with NGOs dedicated to its implementation. Since 2000, women, peace, and security has become an important topic in international politics, undoubtedly fueled by the resolution's passage and subsequent advocacy for its implementation, as well as increased attention to sexual violence in armed conflict. Another major landmark was the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, awarded to

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ellen Eugenia Johnson Sirleaf (born 29 October 1938) is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa. Sirleaf was born in Monrovia to a Gol ...

Leymah Gbowee Leymah Roberta Gbowee (born 1 February 1972) is a Liberian peace activist responsible for leading a women's non-violent peace movement, Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace that helped bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Her ...

, and

Tawakkol Karman Tawakkol Abdel-Salam Khalid Karman (; ; born 7 February 1979) is a Yemeni journalist, politician, and human rights activist. She co-founded and leads 'Women Journalists Without Chains', a group established in 2005 to advocate for press freedom ...

"for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work". As the topic of women and war became more prominent, more policy-making bodies turned to the resolution and supported it. Within the UN, the resolution precipitated increased attention to the issue of women and conflict. Prior to Resolution 1325, the Security Council rarely considered women apart from the occasional passing reference to women and children as vulnerable groups in conflict in need of protection. Since its passage, the Security Council has passed six more resolutions related to the topic of women and armed conflict. Furthermore, there has been a significant change in rhetoric, with more and more UN agencies, representatives, and member states discussing how gender inequality impacts peace and security. However, it has been suggested that these changes have been limited, with only 33 out of 225 Security Council resolutions passed in the three years after the passage of Resolution 1325 mentioning the words "gender" or "women".

Outcomes

Assessments of Resolution 1325 include annual Secretary-General reports in 2013 and 2014 and a conducted ten-year review of Resolution 1325 implementation conducted by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations looking at twelve UN peacekeeping missions and reported outcomes across the components of the resolution. Findings include: * Women's political participation has had largely positive outcomes, with host countries seeing higher rates of female voters and politicians, as well as increased legal provisions to support gender equality. * There continued to be low levels of women in peace negotiations, with women comprising less than 10% of those formally involved across all missions. ** Academic research found that women were significantly more likely to be mentioned in peace processes and agreements after Resolution 1325. ** The majority of UN-supported peace processes in 2011–2013 held regular consultations with women's organizations, and, in 2012 and 2013, all UN support teams included women. * Security sector institutions saw limited gains in female uniformed personnel, despite increases in the number of uniformed women in peacekeeping missions. * More peacekeeping operations missions have gender advisors—as of 2014, nine of the sixteen missions have gender advisors. * There are mixed results in gender mainstreaming in DDR—some missions increased the numbers of women demobilized, but these gains were uneven across missions and reintegration remains a challenge. * Sexual and gender-based violence continues to be widespread with impunity for those who commit it, despite increases in training and legislation. ** Reports of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeeping forces continue to rise, despite increased attention to this problem within the UN. ** Furthermore, women peace-builders and activists are regularly victims of violence and lack protection. * Missions made a greater effort to protect women in refugee and

internally displaced person An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the legal definitions of a refugee. I ...

settings through increased patrols and escorts, but resources for these protections were limited. The 2014 Secretary-General's report on implementation of Resolution 1325 found that, while gender seems to be increasingly integrated into United Nations operations, challenges remain in fully implementing the resolution at the operational level. Within the UN, women, peace, and security is part of the rhetoric on peace and security: Security Council resolutions increasingly mention gender, UN Mission reports frequently mention women, peace, and security, and there is increased reporting on these issues in UN bodies. However, there continued to be widespread reports of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeeping operations, despite increased attention to the issue within the UN. In honor of the resolution's 15th anniversary in 2015, the United Nations held a High-level Review of Resolution 1325 "to assess progress and accelerate action" at the Security Council's Open Debate on Women, Peace, and Security on 13 October 2015. Following the debate, UN Women published ''Preventing Conflict, Transforming Justice, Securing the Peace: A Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325''. The report covers progress and challenges, and makes recommendations for advancing the goals of the resolution across societal sectors. In April 2016, UN Women and the Inclusive Peace and Transition Initiative, led by peace process expert Thania Paffenholz, issued a report initially prepared as an input for the High-Level Review, assessing women's inclusion and influence on peace negotiations.

Criticisms

Gender essentialism

Some

feminists Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

criticize Resolution 1325 for relying on essentialist portrayals of women, rendering women as perpetual victims, and ignoring women's agency to bring about both violence and peace. For example, reports of violence against civilians tend to emphasize "women and children" as victims to illustrate the brutal nature of violence. Conversely, this framing also implies that men are not victims, despite male victims of sexual violence or the gender-based violence of killing men because they are men.

Gender essentialism Gender essentialism is a theory which attributes distinct, intrinsic qualities to women and men. Based in essentialism, it holds that there are certain universal, innate, biologically (or psychologically) based features of gender that are at the ro ...

also assumes that women are innately peaceful, usually due to their experience as mothers, which is one of the main reasons that people use to argue for including women in peace processes. Another frequently cited gender essentialist argument is that women are natural coalition builders and are more likely to work with members of other groups. Resolution 1325 incorporates these assumptions and they are frequently cited in the Secretary-General Reports, advocacy movements, and National Action Plans. The result is that women often feel the need to conform to certain

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalization, generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can ...

s and that women who do not fit these ideals are marginalized in politics and policy.

Exclusive focus on women

A related criticism to that of gender essentialism is that by focusing exclusively on women the role of men is overlooked. According to this line of criticism, the values and attitudes among both men and women are more important than biological sex for violence and peace. Both men and women who hold feminist values, and thus are positive to gender equality, tend to be less warlike and intolerant. Since gender does not equal biological sex it is more relevant to focus on masculinities and femininities. For example, a study of political activists in Thailand found that men who identify with ideals of manhood emphasizing male superiority over women and the need for real men to be fierce and tough are more likely to participate in political violence.

Gender mainstreaming

Resolution 1325 supports

gender mainstreaming Gender mainstreaming is the public policy concept of assessing the implications for people of different genders of a planned policy action, including legislation and programmes. The concept of gender mainstreaming was first proposed at the 1985 ...

, or the incorporation of a gender perspective into all policies and programs, in peacekeeping missions and other UN programs related to peace and security. Critics argue that other parts of the resolutions, such as having a Senior Gender Advisor, lead to the segregation of women's rights from all other peace and security issues, with women's issues thus becoming sidelined in a "gender ghetto" and remaining outside of the mainstream.Puechguirbal, Nadine. "Peacekeeping, Peace building and Post-conflict Reconstruction". In ''Gender Matters in Global Politics'', edited by Katharine Sarikakis and Leslie Regan Shade, 161–175. London and New York: Routledge, 2010. By limiting women's issues to Gender Advisers or offices, security institutions continue to view gender issues as a niche topic and the institutions remain male-dominated systems.

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

initially did not implement a 1325 National Action Plan for this reason, arguing that it had mainstreamed gender concerns into its government agencies and policies, although it later implemented one in 2012.

Impacts

Despite the attention to implementing Resolution 1325 and developing indicators, there is little evidence of impacts in conflict-affected countries. The UN's own evaluations show limited progress only in a few areas, most notably women's political participation. Furthermore, the resolution depends on many unproven assumptions, such as the potential for women's participation to have a transformational effect on peace and security. However, recent initiatives have emphasized the need for more data to track results, including the upcoming High-Level Review of the resolution, which will likely provide more thorough analysis of its implementation and effects.

Related groups

The NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security is a coalition of eighteen NGOs, which collectively advocate for the equal and full participation of women in all efforts to create and maintain international peace and security. Formed in 2000 to call for a Security Council resolution on women, peace, and security, original members were: *

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...

(WILPF) *

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

(AI) *

International Alert International Alert is a global peacebuilding charity established in 1986. It aims to promote dialogue, training, research, policy analysis, advocacy, and outreach activities. The organization addresses the root causes of conflict by working wi ...

(IA) * Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children (WCRWC) * Hague Appeal for Peace (HAP) The NGO Working Group now focuses on implementation of all Security Council resolutions that address women, peace, and security. The group is still active, producing a monthly action points on the women, peace, and security issues affecting countries on Council's agenda. PeaceWomen—one of the founding members of the NGO Working Group—is a project sponsored by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom to promote the implementation of Resolution 1325, through providing a centralized hub of information on information related to women, peace, and security. The Friends of 1325 is an informal or ''ad hoc'' group of UN member states who formed to advocate for the implementation of Resolution 1325; it is organized by

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. October 2020 saw the publication of a glossary entitled "Glossary of terms used in Resolution 1325 of the United Nations Security Council and its related resolutions on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda", translated from the original (French) into English by Claire Mazuhelli, edited by Tove Ivergård and Lina Hjärtström of

(WILPF) Sweden, by author Annie Matundu Mbambi, gender and development consultant, Africa Regional Representative of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and former President of the Board of Directors of the same organization in the Democratic Republic of Congo (WILPF DRC).

Related resolutions

Resolution 1325 is related to several other resolutions related to the topic of women, peace, and security, passed since 2000. These include: * Resolution 1820 (2008), which condemns sexual violence as a weapon of war and declares

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

and other forms of sexual violence as

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

s. * Resolution 1888 (2009), which mandates that peacekeeping missions prevent and respond to sexual violence and which led to the creation of The Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict. * Resolution 1889 (2009) on increasing women's participation in peace processes. This requests that the Secretary-General develop indicators to track the implementation of 1325, and establishes Women Protection Advisors to be deployed with peacekeeping missions. * Resolution 1960 (2010) focuses on ending impunity for sexual violence in armed conflict by calling on the Secretary-General to "name and shame" armed groups that perpetrate sexual violence and for sanctions to deter conflict-related sexual violence. * Resolution 2106 (2013) to address impunity on sexual violence in armed conflict and operationalize past resolutions. It also recognizes that sexual violence in conflict can also affect men and boys, as well as the community-wide trauma that sexual violence can inflict. * Resolution 2122 (2013) reaffirms the Council's commitment to combating sexual violence in armed conflict and the full implementation of Resolution 1325 and other resolutions on women, peace, and security.
Resolution 2242
(2015) establishes the Security Council's Informal Experts Group on Women, Peace and Security and focuses on greater integration of the agendas on women, peace and security with the UN's work on counter-terrorism and countering violent extremism.
Resolution 2467
(2019) positions conflict-related sexual violence as firmly rooted in the broader women, peace and security agenda, calls for support and protection to women’s civil society organizations, and calls for attention to the issue of children born of rape.
Resolution 2493
(2019) calls for full implementation of all previous resolutions on women, peace and security and requests the UN to develop context-specific approaches for women's participation in all UN-supported peace processes.

References

External links

*
Text of the Resolution at undocs.org

United States Institute of Peace, "What is U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 and Why is it so Critical Today?"

at the Transitional Justice Institute
Resources on Resolution 1325

''Statement''
from National Security Advisor Robert C. O'Brien on the 20th Anniversary of UNSCR 1325 (30 October 2020) {{Authority control 1325 Women's rights instruments * * October 2000