![]() ![]() “Civilians, fighters, caregivers, prisoners, mothers, daughters - the realities of women in conflict are all-too-often invisible, disregarded.” “As respect for gender equality declines, violence rises,” she said, noting that ICRC sees the brutal impact on armed conflict in its daily work - from women and girls exposed to sexual violence at the barrel of a gun, to those who are displaced or recruited to fight as soldiers and those who die giving birth at home without medical care. Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), agreed that hard-won generational gains on gender equality are being reversed around the globe against the backdrop of more than 100 armed conflicts. Calling on countries to push forward a radical and urgent change in direction, she also emphasized the need for women themselves to help drive that shift, imploring: “I ask that your plans be characterized by mandates, conditions, quotas, funding earmarks, incentives and consequences for non-compliance.” ![]() Noting the spread of online misogyny, she recalled that in 2020 - against the backdrop of a new pandemic that revealed the enormous value of caregivers and the importance of investing in health, education, food security and social protection - “we had hoped that countries would heed the lessons from decades of activism by women peacebuilders, and rethink military spending”. Many of those situations have seen civic space for women activists shrink dramatically, if not close all together, she said. Recent years have seen numerous military coups - from the Sahel region to Sudan and Myanmar - as well as the outbreak of fighting in Ethiopia, the invasion of Ukraine and the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War, and the resurgence of “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan. “But we neither significantly changed the composition of peace tables, nor the impunity enjoyed by those who commit atrocities against women and girls,” she stressed, adding that the resolution’s twentieth anniversary, in 2020, “was not a celebration, but a wake-up call”. ![]() Sima Bahous, Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), said the first two decades since the Council adopted resolution 1325 (2000) saw several historic firsts for gender equality. However, many lamented that, two years shy of the resolution’s twenty-fifth anniversary, progress in protecting women and embedding their voices in the decision-making processes that shape their lives remains woefully insufficient. ![]() Delegates focused on strides made since the Council adopted its landmark resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security, such as the growing number of States tackling the nexus of gender and security in national action plans. More than 90 speakers took the floor over the day-long meeting, emphasizing the challenges faced by women in the world’s increasingly complex conflict zones, from Syria to Mali, Yemen, Ukraine, South Sudan and beyond. As Agenda Nears Twenty-Fifth Anniversary, Gains on Gender Equality Shrinking Worldwide, Women Still Suffering from Brutal Armed Conflicts, and “Gender Apartheid”įrom freedoms vanishing under Afghanistan’s Taliban regime to sexual violence committed against the backdrop of war in Ukraine, the rights of women around the globe remain under threat more than two decades after the Security Council first decided to crystalize the issue on its agenda, delegates heard today, during a ministerial-level debate on women, peace and security. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |