Eli Stamnes

Women, Peace and Security in MONUSCO: Trends, Lessons and Emerging Practices

For nearly 25 years, the United Nations (UN) has had a peacekeeping mission deployed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) was deployed in 1999. The deployment of MONUC coincided with an evolution taking place in the UN Security Council regarding the centrality of women’s political participation in peace processes and the importance of considering women’s protection needs as part of the maintenance of international peace and security. The adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325 and the establishment of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda in the year 2000 would have an instrumental impact on the mandates of UN peacekeeping missions, including those deployed in the DRC over the following two decades. This report examines how MONUSCO has worked to implement the WPS dimensions of its mandate in the period 2010 to 2021. Assessing the approach to the mandate and its more recent implementation offers insights into the contribution and limitations of UN peacekeeping when it comes to advancing women’s protection and meaningful participation in a conflict-affected environment. MONUSCO’s approach to WPS has evolved in the period under study. The mandate had a rather narrow understanding of WPS at the outset, with provisions to address violence and threats towards women, reflective of the insecurity and gendered threats within the DRC. These threats have remained, as have more comprehensive provisions in the mandate to address them, but the mandate has also evolved in recent years to include a more substantive focus on women’s participation in conflict prevention and political processes. The mission has developed a range of innovative practices targeted at improving women’s security and equality in the country, as part of the WPS provisions in MONUSCO’s mandate. These have included developing a women mediators’ network, mapping security threats to women, supporting initiatives to address discriminatory media coverage, and implementing positive masculinity programmes. This report offers recommendations to MONUSCO, UN Headquarters, the Security Council and Member States, troop- and police-contributing countries (T/PCCs), and the national authorities when it comes to strengthening the implementation of the WPS aspects of the mission’s mandate in the DRC, with wider lessons for other UN peacekeeping missions in terms of their approach to WPS.

Women, Peace and Security in MONUSCO: Trends, Lessons and Emerging Practices

For nearly 25 years, the United Nations (UN) has had a peacekeeping mission deployed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) was deployed in 1999. The deployment of MONUC coincided with an evolution taking place in the UN Security Council regarding the centrality of women’s political participation in peace processes and the importance of considering women’s protection needs as part of the maintenance of international peace and security. The adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325 and the establishment of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda in the year 2000 would have an instrumental impact on the mandates of UN peacekeeping missions, including those deployed in the DRC over the following two decades. This report examines how MONUSCO has worked to implement the WPS dimensions of its mandate in the period 2010 to 2021. This is based on an analysis of the mandate resolution texts during this time to identify trends over time and key themes, as well as an analysis of documents and interviews with MONUSCO personnel carried out in 2021. Assessing the approach to the mandate and its more recent implementation offers insights into the contribution and limitations of UN peacekeeping when it comes to advancing women’s protection and meaningful participation in a conflict-affected environment. MONUSCO’s approach to WPS has evolved in the period under study. The mandate had a rather narrow understanding of WPS at the outset, with provisions to address violence and threats towards women, reflective of the insecurity and gendered threats within the DRC. These threats have remained, as have more comprehensive provisions in the mandate to address them, but the mandate has also evolved in recent years to include a more substantive focus on women’s participation in conflict prevention and political processes. The report offers recommendations to MONUSCO, UN Headquarters, the Security Council and Member States, troop- and police-contributing countries (T/PCCs), and the national authorities when it comes to strengthening the implementation of the WPS aspects of the mission’s mandate in the DRC, with wider lessons for other UN peacekeeping missions in terms of their approach to WPS.

Security Council Resolution 1325 at 20: What Next for the Women Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda?

This policy brief takes stock of the achievements of the WPS agenda since the passing of its founding Security Resolution 1325, twenty years ago. It outlines the challenges it currently faces like the implementation gap; the global push-back against women’s rights and multilateral cooperation; the increase of a strongly gendered nationalist populism; the political climate amongst UN member states and within the Security Council; and the Covid-19 pandemic. It discusses whether this challenging situation points towards prioritising the maintenance of the gains achieved in the field of WPS since the passing of Security Council Resolution 1325, instead of pushing for progressive changes. It puts forward the argument that the current situation makes it more relevant and necessary than ever to apply a more comprehensive understanding of what gender entails and how it is integral to politics, conflicts and peace efforts. It is argued that this approach must form the basis for analyses of conflict situations, as well as for understanding the challenges that the WPS agenda currently faces. Hence, the promotion and utilisation of such an approach should be a priority for the WPS agenda in the years to come.

WPS and Female Peacekeepers

The chapter provides an overview of the participation of female peacekeeping personnel in UN missions, tracing key target and agenda- setting policy events, as well as examining causes for the slow progress in female participation. The chapter considers female participation in the military, police, and civilian components of UN peacekeeping operations. It then critically discusses the drawbacks of the “gender- balancing” agenda advanced by the UN, which critics argue has often amounted to “tokenism.” This necessary, but insufficient goal of increasing numbers alone, has been prioritized over the more comprehensive and potentially transformative goal of gender mainstreaming. Gender mainstreaming in peacekeeping is defined as “a way of guaranteeing that the concerns, requirements and opinions of women and men are included equally into every aspect of peacekeeping.” Moreover, each component of the mission should include a “gender perspective in all its functions and tasks from start- up to draw- down” (United Nations 2014: 21– 22). Failing to address the complexity of gender relations and the militarized, masculine, institutional structures within peacekeeping missions themselves will ultimately constrain gender equality. Seeking to situate the WPS agenda within the broader context of UN peace operations, the chapter concludes by reflecting on some of the possible implications of the trend toward militarization and securitization within peacekeeping which will have consequences for women’s active and quality participation in peacekeeping.

The Human Rights Pillar of the United Nations: Challenges and the Way Ahead

Last year the United Nations (UN) turned 70 years old, and this year marks the tenth anniversary of the Human Rights Council and the 50th anniversary of the two international human rights covenants. As the organisation is in the process of choosing its ninth Secretary-General, who will take office on 1st January 2017, it is timely to take stock of the UN human rights pillar and to identify areas that can be improved in order to make this pillar more suited for fulfilling its intended purpose and for dealing with contemporary challenges. This policy brief offers suggestions as to what the next UN Secretary-General can do to consolidate and strengthen the human rights pillar.

Rethinking the Humanitarian-Development Nexus

In this policy brief, the author outlines the first steps taken in the rethinking of the humanitarian-development nexus. The next Secretary-General would be advised to continue on the same path in order to make sure that the recent commitments made by member states and expressed in various documents are realised. The author sums up five areas the next Secretary-General should prioritize. This policy brief is to a large extent based on the seminar titled Rethinking the humanitarian-development nexus, which was held at NUPI on 15 March 2016. The seminar was co-organised by NUPI, the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as part of the UN 70: A new Agenda project.

Introduction: Assessing the impact of the UN Peacebuilding Architecture

The future of the UN Peacebuilding Architecture