UN Security Council Resolution 1325 was passed unanimously on 31 October 2000. Resolution (S/RES/1325) was the first resolution ever passed by the Security Council that specifically addressed the impact of war on women, and women’s contributions to conflict resolution and sustainable peace.

IWDA intern Jasmine Kim Westendorf has drafted a paper on

UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security:
Implications, Implementation, and Future Directions for Australia

Executive Summary

What makes 1325 unique is not only that it (finally) addresses women, war and security, or that its scope is expansive and its implications radical; what makes 1325 unique is that it is both the product of and the armature for a massive mobilization of women’s political energies.

As the nature of war has changed over the last half century, with the advent of irregular and asymmetrical warfare, so too has the effect of armed conflict on women. Sexual and genderbased violence have become defining characteristics of modern warfare, and women, often seen as the vessels of cultural identity, are increasingly considered legitimate strategic targets by armed forces, especially where conflicts revolve around identity politics.  In response to the changing nature of war and the growing number of civilian casualties in conflicts, numerous instruments of international law have been developed which aim to protect civilians from the excesses of violent conflict, culminating in 2000 in the adoption of UNSCR 1325. This was the first UN document to explicitly address the role of women in peace-building processes and the particular challenges faced by women during conflict and post-conflict phases. Although states bear primary responsibility for the implementation of UNSCR 1325, the resolution, though binding, lacks enforcement mechanisms, and a number of states have therefore endeavoured to systematise the resolution’s implementation through the development and adoption of National Action Plans (NAPs). These plans can guide and ensure the proper implementation of the resolution’s mandates by relevant actors, thereby improving coordination, policy coherence and accountability.

UNSCR 1325 has implications in four interrelated areas, namely the participation of women in decision-making and peace-processes, the incorporation of gender perspectives and training in peacekeeping, the protection of women, and gender mainstreaming in UN reporting and implementation mechanisms. The responsibility for the resolution’s implementation lies with a collection of actors, including national governments, international organizations, and civil society. These actors have undertaken a range of initiatives to implement the resolution, but much work remains to be done to implement UNSCR 1325 in full.

As a policy with such broad scope and wide ranging implications, it is unsurprising that there are numerous challenges and impediments to the comprehensive implementation of UNSCR 1325. A lack of political will to shift the gendered distribution of power is one such impediment, and it is a false security to assume that a resolution alone is enough to effect significant behavioural changes such as those implied by UNSCR 1325.

NAPs can serve to operationalise and ensure adherence to the resolution at the national level, and can also lead to the strengthening of an international normative regime around women, peace and security issues. Such a regime can influence action and compel compliance, making it more difficult for nations to act outside the normative framework without being held to account. Australia should undertake to develop and adopt an NAP, in line with its public statements calling for practical steps to be taken that give effect to UNSCR 1325. A major benefit of this would be increased comprehensiveness, coordination, policy coherence and consistency, awareness raising, accountability, and monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of UNSCR 1325’s mandates by Australian actors and stakeholders. …

To read the full paper download the PDF

IWDA 1325 Position Paper (PDF format)