UN Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. What Difference has the UN Made? – Join the openDemocracy Debate.

Has the UN let women down? When a scandal erupted in the DRC in 2004, Nicola Dahrendorf was sent in to sort out the mess. Today, she tells openDemocracy what she found, and what can be done to make a difference in the Congo.

(PRWEB) October 29, 2005 -- In October 2000, Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security called for full and equal participation of women in conflict prevention, peace processes and peace building, as decision-makers in international organisations, in the deliberations that form the basis for democracy –- women in areas often reserved for men. It also called for an end to impunity for gender-based violence and the protection of women’s human rights.

openDemocracy -– the online magazine of politics and culture -– has launched a major debate to mark the fifth anniversary of UN Resolution 1325, including a blog with participants from Colombia to Sierra Leone: “Women Making a Difference” asks: how does 1325 affect us? Has it made any difference, and what difference could it make?

As women are delegated from around the world to go to New York and advocate for the full implementation of 1325, a Washington-based group has questioned the UN’s ability to keep its own peacekeepers in order in a report entitled, “Must Boys Be Boys? Ending Sexual Exploitation & Abuse in UN Peacekeeping Missions.”

Has the UN let women down? When this scandal erupted in the DRC in 2004, Nicola Dahrendorf* was sent in to sort out the mess. Today, she tells openDemocracy what she found, and what can be done to make a difference in the Congo.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-resolution_1325/congo_2964.jsp

In addition, International Alert’s Senior Policy Advisor, Nicola Johnston-Coeterier, gave us her assessment of the effectivity of 5 years of SCR 1325, before she left for New York.

In 1999, International Alert, with over 200 organisations worldwide, launched a global campaign to raise international awareness and secure a resolution from the UN Security Council highlighting women’s peacebuilding roles and contributions. Since their success in October 2000, has the rhetoric translated into reality?

http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-resolution_1325/power_2952.jsp