A hectic, but also very inspiring, weekend at the gigantic women’s rights conference Nordiskt Forum Malmö 2014 is over and Operation 1325 is now back at the office in Stockholm. By participating in and arranging a number of sessions surrounding the women, peace and security agenda at the forum we come back with perspectives and new insight on our work. Now, Operation 1325 and a Nordic 1325-network want to share these insights with the Nordic governments and today a joint statement with recommendations and demands on the Nordic countries’ implementation of Resolution 1325 will be sent to the Nordic ministers.
During the spring, an intense cooperation between actors in the Nordic civil society has taken place. The focus has been to plan a seminar and workshop at Nordiskt Forum Malmö 2014 with the aim to gather the Nordic civil society working with Resolution 1325 and highlight the Nordic countries’ implementation of the women, peace and security agenda. With base in a fresh Finnish study that evaluates the Nordic national actions plans and their implementation we raised topics like: Where do we, the Nordic countries, stand today? Are we still leading the way? And how can we improve and become even more effective in our implementation?
The seminar “Women, Peace and Security: Are the Nordic countries leading the way?” attracted a large audience that actively joined the discussion of the invited panel of experts and civil society actors. The discussions then continued in our Sunday workshop “A United North for UNSCR 1325” where Nordic civil society actors was invited to take part in a more interactive session moderated by Madeleine Rees, Secretary General at Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
To summarie the discussions raised at Nordiskt Forum and also the insights gained from this spring’s Nordic cooperation and project, the Nordic wokring group decided to formulate a joint statement. In order to remain at the forefront, it is time for the Nordic countries to step up their efforts and unite for new and more decisive actions. The statement therefore concludes our, Nordic civil society actors working with Resolution 1325, recommendations and demands how the Nordic governments should act to advance their work for women, peace and security. This document will today be sent to all the Nordic ministers and a broad representation of Nordic civil society have endorsed it. Some of the recommendations include:
- Revise and strengthen the national action plans in a transparent process that includes input from the civil society and implementing actors in every step of the process. The action plans must be evidence-based and include clear objectives and activities, defined time frames, earmarked funding and result-driven mechanisms for evaluation.
- Require all relevant agencies, including ministries, to annually report their efforts to implement Resolution 1325 and set up a civil society-government task force to review and monitor the implementation of the national action plans.
- Share the responsibility of implementation between the different government departments and make sure that the ministries have clear responsibilities, division of labor, and adequate human and financial resources.
- Make sure Nordic delegations and Ministries for Foreign Affairs in diplomatic relations, including within the UN and the EU, actively raise the importance of Resolution 1325 and demand women’s participation in all peace negotiations and peace processes.
- Lead by example to ensure women’s equal representation at all levels of diplomatic and peacekeeping operations. Such a policy requires governmental agencies to intensify efforts to recruit and train women for international peacekeeping operations, so that women are equally represented at all levels, including at the senior and management level.
- Increase long term and core funding of civil society organizations, national and international, working on Resolution 1325.
*****
The whole statement can be found attached on top of this page to the right. For questions and further information about the project and the joint statement, please contact Åsa Eldén, director at Operation 1325, at asa.elden@operation1325.se or +46 70 331 77 75.
