October 2015: The UN has published a global study on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace, and security, highlighting good practices, implementation gaps and challenges, and emerging trends and priorities for action. The study, titled ‘Preventing Conflict, Transforming Justice, Securing Peace – A Global Study on the Implementation of the UN Security Council 1325,’ was commissioned by the UN Secretary-General as precursor to the High-level Review that marked the 15th anniversary of the adoption of Resolution 1325, which took place in October 2015.

The Global Study was led by Radhika Coomaraswamy, former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict and former Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women. Coomaraswamy and a High-Level Advisory Group held global consultations with UN Member States and stakeholders,through which 60 Member States, international and regional organizations made submissions to the Global Study and 47 civil society organizations, academics and research institutes provided inputs via a public website. In addition, a survey of civil society organizations generated responses from 317 organizations in 71 countries.

The consultations converged in a set of guiding principles, including: prevention of conflict should be prioritized over the use of force; women’s participation is key to sustainable peace; perpetrators must be held accountable and justice must be transformative; localization of approaches and inclusive and participatory processes are crucial to national and international peace efforts; supporting women peacebuilders and respecting their autonomy is important for countering extremism; all key actors must play their role; a gender lens must be introduced into all aspects of the work of the UN Security Council; the failure to adequately finance the women, peace and security agenda must be addressed; and a strong gender architecture at the UN is essential.

In light of these guiding principles, the study makes key recommendations, including that: an Assistant Secretary-General, with dedicated resources, should be appointed at UN Women to deal with crises, conflict and emergencies; greater resources must be allocated to UN Women in general, to support its work in conflict settings; there must be a senior gender advisor at the D1 level in the office of every Special Representative of the Secretary-General, with hybrid technical gender experts in thematic units; the gender divisions of the UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA) at headquarters should be strengthened; UN Women, DPKO and DPA should jointly provide technical, political and policy expertise to the gender staffing of peacekeeping and special political missions; and there should be discussions with all stakeholders with regard to the feasibility of setting up an International Tribunal for Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN peacekeepers and UN staff in the field.

The Global Study is structured in 14 chapters, including on: The normative framework for women, peace and security; Protecting and promoting the rights and leadership of women and girls in humanitarian settings; Countering violent extremism while respecting the rights and autonomy of women and their communities; Key actors for women, peace and security: monitoring and accountability; Women, peace and security and the UN Security Council; and Financing of the women, peace and security agenda. The study sets out detailed recommendations under every chapter and under each theme, and it concludes with a set of general recommendations for policy guidance and advocacy.

UN Women commissioned research papers for the Global Study, which will be published separately in an accompanying volume. [UN Women Website] [Publication: Preventing Conflict, Transforming Justice, Securing Peace – A Global Study on the Implementation of the UN Security Council 1325] [IISD RS Story on High-level Review of 1325 Resolution]