Source: Ghana News Agency
A Guideline for the Development and Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, was on Tuesday launched with the hope it would deepen women's contributions in peace-building efforts.

UNSCR 1325, which was adopted in October 2000 by the Council, is a legal document which calls for the adoption of a gender perspective that include the special needs of women and girls during repatriation and resettlement, rehabilitation, reintegration and post-conflict reconstruction.

It was the first formal document from the Council that required parties in a conflict to respect women's rights and to support their participation in peace negotiations and in post-conflict reconstruction.

Speaking at the launch in Accra, Hajia Hawawu Boya Gariba, Deputy Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, expressed the hope that implementation of an action plan on the UNSCR would increase the level of deployment of women to peace support operations, augment women's participation in early warning, conflict prevention and resolution structures and promote mechanisms to ensure increased recruitment, retention and advancement of women insecurity institutions.

She expressed the country's commitment towards the Resolution saying "Ghana will commence the implementation of the action plan immediately after the national launch with an advocacy, sensitisation and education programme, involving the security sector institutions as well as the Judiciary.

The Ghana National Action Plan 1325 is expected to be launched in October 31 to coincide with the 12th Anniversary of the adoption of the UNSCR 1325.

Mr Emmanuel Bombande, Executive Director of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), expressed the hope that the guideline would contribute to the discourse on women, peace and security in West Africa as well as to fast track the implementation of UNSCR 1325.

Air Vice Marshall Christian Edem Kobla Dovlo, Commandant at the Kofi Annan Peace Keeping Training Centre, said the Centre in collaboration with other partners, had instituted the Women, Peace and Security Institute (WPSI) to support the implementation of UNSCR 1325.

"The Institute is a knowledge centre for expanding the technical capacity of women for training and policy research and analysis on women, peace and security in order to better-inform the broader peace and security agenda in Africa.

"It is in furtherance of this objective that WPSI has collaborated with WANEP in the development of the WANEP-led "Guideline for the Development and Implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325" in an effort to accelerate the realisation of UNSCR in Africa," he said.