Peacekeeping

Women, War, Peace and Peacekeeping

“The primary challenge in the mission is to overcome the view that gender and human rights are ‘soft’ issues that take resources away from the ‘core’ functions of the mission’s mandate, such as establishing a judiciary or a power authority.” ~ Sherrill Whittington, UNTAET

Introduction

Although the word ‘peacekeeping’ is not in the UN Charter, the UN Security Council has deployed over 60 peacekeeping operations into conflict and post-conflict areas since 1948. Known as “blue helmets” or “blue berets” UN peacekeeping personnel is made up of contingents from a number of countries who are tasked with patrolling buffer zones between hostile parties, monitoring ceasefires and assisting the hostile populations in their search for durable peace.

In recent years, the scope of peacekeeping has widened to include larger numbers of civilians as civilian police officers, electoral experts and observers, deminers, human rights monitors and specialists in civil affairs and communications. Their responsibilities range from protecting and delivering humanitarian assistance, to helping former opponents carry out complicated peace agreements; from assisting with the demobilization of former fighters and their return to normal life, to supervising and conducting elections; from training civilian police, to monitoring respect for human rights and investigating alleged violations.

As of early 2007, there were nearly 92,200 personnel from 112 countries serving in 18 DPKO-led peace operations in Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Europe and Asia.  More than 1,650 military and civilian peacekeepers have died while serving in United Nations operations. more...

The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations concludes that women make a positive difference to peacekeeping. In contemporary peacekeeping environments, military and civilian personnel are taking on new functions that increase their contact with women; both in providing protection and in supporting women’s role in peace building. Military observers are taking on more complex responsibilities traditionally carried out by civilian, humanitarian and human rights officers, e.g. humanitarian assessments in inaccessible areas. Women do more than act as gender advisers in peace operations, and participate throughout, although not in senior positions. more...

Peacekeeping operations perform various tasks including:

  • Observer missions, deployed to monitor ceasefire agreements and investigate and report violations, based on the consent of opposing parties and with the use of force only for self-defense. It prevents the outbreak or the spill-over of conflict.

  • Peacekeeping operations, deployed to stabilize conflict situations after a ceasefire to create an environment for the parties to reach a lasting peace agreement or to assist implementation of peace agreements.

  • Enforcement operations, which are based on the Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which gives UN Member States the authority to take all necessary measures to achieve international peace and stability. Consent of the parties is not necessarily required. Examples include Rwanda , Somalia , Haiti and Bosnia and Herzegovina .

  • 'Nation building' missions, which lead states or territories through a transition to stable government based on democratic principles, good governance and economic development.

The following components comprise most peacekeeping operations:

  • Military: Military peacekeepers’ role includes stabilizing the security situation, monitoring cease-fires, overseeing the withdrawal of armed forces, disarming combatants, protecting the population in demilitarized zones, and protecting humanitarian aid delivery.

  • Civilian police (CIVPOL): CIVPOL's role includes establishing the rule of law, restructuring and supporting national police and judicial systems in accordance with international standards of criminal justice, human rights, and democracy.

  • Civilian components: The role includes electoral supervision, administrative components, human rights monitoring.

  • Humanitarian affairs: Humanitarian assistance—both food and services are provided under the coordination of OCHA.

Key Terms

Gender Adviser or Unit: In general, gender advisers and units are responsible for ensuring that gender concerns are integrated into all of the mission's programmes and activities; raising gender awareness among international staff at all levels of authority; reaching out to groups of women at the grassroots level; conducting gender training for peacekeepers, military observers and civilian police; and in some cases, assisting in building the capacity of women to participate in the peace process and helping form a national machinery for women.

Gender mainstreaming: “Mainstreaming a gender perspective in multidimensional peacekeeping … [means] that gender issues, such as increased equality and observing gender specific needs, become a natural element in all parts of the peacekeeping mission. Gender issues will not be handled by a special department alone but rather be a part of the work of the existing organization, both in the field and at the headquarters.”

Peacekeepers: The UN Security Council creates, defines and authorizes a peacekeeping mission mandate under the UN Charter, Chapters V, VI, and VII. The Department of Political Affairs (DPA), Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) advise Secretary-General and Special Representative of Secretary-General (SRSG) in charge of the operation on structuring the operation. Peace operations are based on voluntary contribution of resources, personnel and equipment by the member states. International or regional peacekeeping operations are also created and formed by regional organizations such as NATO, OSCE, ECOWAS, or international coalitions.  

Peacekeeping operation: For detailed background description of peacekeeping operations, visit the DPKO website.

International Organizations

  • The UN Department of Peacekeping Operations (DPKO): more...

  • The UN Peacekeeping Best Practices Unit - GenderPage: more..

  • International Association of Peacekeping Training Centres: more... 

  • Pearson Peacekeeping Centre: English, French

UNIFEM Action & Analysis

“UNIFEM has initiated an important collaborative effort with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), UNICEF and Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), to integrate gender training into the pre-deployment induction courses for peace keepers and military observers assigned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). At the global level, UNIFEM is a partner in an initiative to develop gender training modules for peacekeepers, being coordinated by the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre in Canada . Additionally UNIFEM is collaborating with the Lessons Learned Division of DPKO, in an effort to develop policy and operational guidelines to engender peacekeeping operations around the world.” more...

In the area of protection, UNIFEM West Africa Regional Office has supported gender responsive community based care for HIV/AIDS sufferers in the peacekeeping environment in Sierra Leone and worked to mainstream gender in HIV/AIDS programming throughout the UN’s mission. UNIFEM has partnered with UNFPA, UNAIDS and DPKO to assess the intersections of gender, conflict and HIV/AIDS in Sierra Leone.

Tools & Checklists

UN Documents

 

Independent Experts' Assessment & Recommendations

The Independent Experts' Assessment on Women, War, Peace and Peacekeeping and the accompanying recommendations can be accessed in this archive:  Peacekeeping Archive