IANSA

8th anniversary of UN SCR 1325 - 31 October 2008


UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security
The IANSA Women's Network (WN) recognises that the implementation of SCR 1325 is vital tool for the prevention of armed conflict and the inclusion of gender in the discourse on peace and security. Although small arms are not specifically mentioned in the Resolution, 1325 connects the inter-related issues of small arms violence with women’s peace and security.

Using SCR 1325, the WN advocates for measures to reduce small arms misuse and regulate access to weapons. For some governments the easiest way into the gender aspect of small arms is via SCR 1325, even though 1325 is not mentioned in the UN 2001 Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PoA). During the Review Conference in 2006, WN members advocated for text related to 1325 to be included in the outcome document. WN members are consistently encouraged to link the PoA process to that of the implementation of SCR 1325. This focus continued during the Biennial Meeting of States on Small Arms (14-18 July 2008).

Members of the WN have worked to implement SCR 1325 through advancing small arms control policies with noteworthy examples in Burundi, Liberia, Senegal, the Solomon Islands, and Uganda. Inspired by SCR 1325, WN members led programmes of awareness raising, participated in regional and national conferences and sensitised communities to about the disarmament process. They developed incentives and strategies to convince people to hand over their weapons and receive gender-sensitive training on weapons safety and collection.

For further information, see: http://www.peacewomen.org/un/anniversaryindex.html