https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / News / All News RSS ← Back
Africa|Cutting|Power|SECURITY|Training|Infrastructure
Africa|Cutting|Power|SECURITY|Training|Infrastructure
africa|cutting|power|security|training|infrastructure
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

Women, Peace and Security Resolution celebrates 20th anniversary

Close

Embed Video

Women, Peace and Security Resolution celebrates 20th anniversary

Women, Peace and Security Resolution celebrates 20th anniversary
Photo by Bloomberg

16th October 2020

By: Sane Dhlamini
Creamer Media Senior Contributing Editor and Researcher

ARTICLE ENQUIRY      SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security is celebrating its twentieth anniversary and continuing advocacy of peace on the African continent has been vowed.

Addressing a virtual media briefing Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues at the US Department of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues Kelley Currie said the anniversary is a big landmark of two decades of women, peace and security being enshrined in the Security Council’s agenda.

Advertisement

When asked about what her department had done for women in Africa, she said women were being included in conflict prevention and peacebuilding processes.

In Kenya and East Africa, Currie’s department is working with a programme involving women preventing violent extremism with the US Institute of Peace. 

Advertisement

The programme supports the network Sisters Without Borders, which is preventing and countering violent extremism and supporting women who are working in this area across the Horn of Africa.

The initiative entails everything from street art with murals in cities to training and videos that help raise awareness and provide women with tools to engage in different peace processes. 

In Sudan, which Currie said was a country of great concern to her office, Sudanese women are taught to prevent and mitigate violence and conflict by partnering with existing civil society networks.   

“We work with local women’s organisations to see what they need and help provide them with the tools that will give them the power and the agency to drive forward their own agendas. Because this is not really about us; it’s about making sure that the women on the ground in these fragile and conflict-affected States have the tools that they need and the support that they need,” she explained.

The Office of Global Women’s Issues is also facilitating a Women and Girls Empowered programme, which addresses cross-cutting issues and everything from sexual and gender-based violence to countering violent extremism. 

Commenting on how Rwanda was doing in terms of promoting peacekeeping, Currie said the country had been a major troop contributing country and commended it for what she said was a tremendous job, including supporting women in peacekeeping.

“We’ve seen very critically that when women do participate in peacekeeping, levels of sexual and gender-related violence go down; levels of sexual exploitation and abuse go down,” she pointed out.

However she said there were still challenges with sexual abuse and exploitation in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

She mentioned that her organisation had made a concerted effort with peacekeeping and increased the number of women who were directly involved, not just as individual peacekeepers but all the way up the command chain.

The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 has also facilitated working closely with women in countries like Tanzania and Zimbabwe, as they head into their respective elections during the Covid-19 pandemic.  

Currie said her organisation was tracking all the electoral contexts with great concern. 

She said they work very closely in partnership with the US Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and regional organisations to ensure that all electoral processes are inclusive and that women have the opportunity to take part.

“And so again, this is a critical component of women, peace and security because if women aren’t allowed to fully participate in electoral processes, if they’re not allowed to run as candidates, if they’re not allowed to be fully engaged in political parties and be part of the infrastructure of political power in these countries, then how can they possibly make their voices heard?” she said.

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE ARTICLE ENQUIRY

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options
Free daily email newsletter Register Now