United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325)

Source: Make Every Woman Count (MEWC)
The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security was unanimously adopted on the 31st of October 2000 during the Namibian presidency of the UN Security Council.

The adoption of this landmark resolution marks the first time that the Security Council addressed the role and experiences of women and girls in armed conflicts. The UNSCR 1325 acknowledge the importance of the participation of women and the inclusion of gender perspectives in peace negotiations, humanitarian planning, peacekeeping operations, post-conflict peace-building and governance.

The UNSCR 1325 has four “pillars” that support the goals of the Resolution, which are: Participation, Protection, Prevention, and Relief Recovery.

The resolution 1325 calls all UN bodies, Governments and all parties to conflict to take special measures in order to:

protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, in situations of armed conflict
respect the rights of women and girls in conflict and post-conflict;
increase women participation and gender perspectives in all conflict resolution, peacekeeping and peace-building, planning of refugee camps and reconstruction.
end impunity by prosecuting perpetrators of sexual and other violence on women and girls;

The UN Security Council subsequently adopted four additional resolutions on women, peace and security: 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009) and 1960 (2010). These five resolutions taken together, form United Nations framework related to women, peace and security.

National Action Plan:

In relation to the implementation of the resolution, in its Presidential Statements S/PRST/2004/40 and S/PRST/2005/52, the Security Council called on Member States to continue to implement resolution 1325 (2000), including through the development of national action plans or other national level strategies. The creation of an action plan provides an opportunity to initiate strategic actions, identify priorities and resources, and determine the responsibilities and time frames. The whole process of developing a plan is also a process of awareness-raising and capacity-building in order to overcome gaps and challenges to the full implementation of resolution 1325 (2000).

There are currently 24 countries that have adopted a National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325. So far, only nine countries in Africa have adopted a National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 in Africa:

Côte d’Ivoire (2007) ;
Liberia (2009)
Democratic Republic of Congo (2010)
Rwanda (2010)
Uganda (2008)
Sierra Leone (2010)
Guinea (2011)
Senegal (2011)
Guinea Bissau (2010)