• Gender overview
• International standards and gender
• Other international standards
• Resources

Conflict tends to affect men and women differently. In particular, ethnic minority men have often been targeted for ‘ethnic cleansing' or genocide; and women, particularly ethnic minority women, have often been targeted for rape, ethnic cleansing, and/or genocide.

In particular, minority and indigenous women are targeted by militias and government armies as a deliberate tool of war. This has occurred in many conflicts and genocides, including Bosnia, Rwanda and currently in Darfur, Sudan. Rape, sexual abuse and forcible impregnation of minority women are usually perpetrated in an attempt to weaken the morale of the minority community as a whole.

States have a duty to protect and promote the rights of minority and indigenous women and men. If these rights are not protected, there is a greater risk that tensions will develop and lead to greater violence and conflict. Some rights can be demanded from outside of their communities – i.e from the State or majority communities – while others need to be demanded from within their communities.

In addition, women may encourage men to fight on behalf of the community. This is often the case in resource-poor communities, such as the pastoralists in East Africa. Women therefore may have a strong say in whether conflict goes ahead, and may also fight themselves – both directly and via support services to armies, militias, or freedom movements.

International standards and gender

Resolution 1325 offers no specific gender-based perspectives on the prevention of genocide, although it acknowledges women as victims of violence within a general reaffirmation of the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peacebuilding. Specifically on this matter, UNSC Resolution 1325:

"Emphasises the responsibility of all States to put an end to impunity and prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes including those relating to sexual and other violence against women and girls and in this regard stresses the need to exclude these crimes, where feasible from amnesty provisions."

"Invites the Secretary-General to carry out a study on the impact of armed conflict on women and girls and the role of women in peacebuilding and the gender dimensions of peace processes and conflict resolution, and further invites him to submit a report to the Security Council on the results of this study and to make this available to all Member States of the United Nations".

Resolution 1820, adopted on 19 June 2008, marked a significant step forward in recognizing the gender dimensions structuring patterns of violence against members of a certain community or ethnic group. The resolution notes that:

"...women and girls are particularly targeted by the use of sexual violence, including as a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instil fear in disperse and/or forcibly relocate civilian members of a community or ethnic group; and that sexual violence perpetrated in this manner may in some instances persist after the cessation of hostilities ..."

Resolution 1820 also specifically recognizes that sexual violence could be used as a tactic of war targeting civilians, or as part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilian populations, and suggests it can be a "constitutive act to genocide". The resolution:

"Notes that rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity, or a constitutive act with respect to genocide, stresses the need for the exclusion of sexual violence crimes from amnesty provisions in the context of conflict resolution processes, and calls upon Member States to comply with their obligations for prosecuting persons responsible for such acts, to ensure that all victims of sexual violence, particularly women and girls, have equal protection under the law and equal access to justice, and stresses the importance of ending impunity for such acts as part of a comprehensive approach to seeking sustainable peace, justice, truth, and national reconciliation ..."

In 2009, the Security Council further adopted two resolutions which built on such previous landmarks, indicating increasing recognition of women and their specific needs for protection in both armed conflict and post-conflict situations.

Resolution 1888, adopted on 30 September 2009, recalls--as Resolution 1820 does--the responsibilities of States to end impunity and to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other egregious crimes perpetrated against civilians, and further notes that only limited numbers of perpetrators of sexual violence have been effectively brought to justice. Specifically, Resolution 1888:

"Reaffirms that sexual violence, when used or commissioned as a tactic of war in order to deliberately target civilians or as a part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilian populations, can significantly exacerbate situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of international peace and security; affirms in this regard that effective steps to prevent and respond to such acts of sexual violence can significantly contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security; and expresses its readiness, when considering situations on the agenda of the Council, to take, where necessary, appropriate steps to address widespread or systematic sexual violence in situations of armed conflict;

Reiterates its demand for the complete cessation by all parties to armed conflict of all acts of sexual violence with immediate effect;

Demands that all parties to armed conflict immediately take appropriate measures to protect civilians, including women and children, from all forms of sexual violence, including measures such as, inter alia, enforcing appropriate military disciplinary measures and upholding the principle of command responsibility, training troops on the categorical prohibition of all forms of sexual violence against civilians, debunking myths that fuel sexual violence and vetting candidates for national armies and security forces to ensure the exclusion of those associated with serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, including sexual violence...

In addition to mandating peacekeeping missions to protect women and girls from sexual violence in armed conflict, the resolution also set a precedent by requesting that the Secretary-General create a new post for a Special Representative, who would address and coordinate matters related to sexual violence against women and girls, both on the field and at UN Headquarters.

Resolution 1889, adopted on 5 October 2009, reaffirmed UNSC 1325 and condemned continuing sexual violence against women in conflict and post-conflict situations, urging Member States, UN bodies, donors and civil society to ensure that women's protection and empowerment were taken into account during post-conflict needs assessment and planning, and factored into subsequent funding and programming.

While UNSC Resolution 1325 recognized that armed conflict has specific impacts on women and girls, there was no specific recognition of the unique dynamics of violence and its manifestation characterized by the genocide of females. Resolutions 1820, 1888 and 1889 have only now begun to shape this idea by its condemnation of sexual violence as a tactic of war against civilian populations, and its specific implications for women. At the same time, the effective implementation of these resolutions and its subsequent monitoring remain a big question in the way forward.

Other international standards

Other international standards relating to gender and conflict prevention similarly do not draw attention to genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity and its specific impact on women. However, in general terms on "conflict prevention" the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action specifically calls for women's participation in "conflict resolution" at decision-making levels' to be increased. The 2000 Windhoek Declaration also seeks to mainstream gender issues in conflict resolution. This declaration calls, among other things, for:

• the provisions of CEDAW to be integrated into any UN peace support mission;
• for more women to be appointed to relevant, senior posts within the UN and within field staff;
• and for senior UN staff to receive in-depth gender training.

Nations have also expressed resolve in such texts as the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, including by ending impunity and by ensuring the protection of civilians, in particular women and girls, during and after armed conflicts, as well as the outcome document of the twenty-third Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly entitled "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century" (A/S-23/10/Rev.1), which followed up on the progress made in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action.

Despite such standards on women's rights around conflict and conflict resolution, there is little evidence that these are being implemented. In a comment on the conflicts in the DRC, Sudan and Uganda, the International Crisis Group, writes:

"There have been no large-scale organised efforts to explain its contents to the three governments or to civil society organisations not expressly involved in working with women, and it has had little if any, impact on development of new policy, government spending and security sector reform."

Resources

• Resolution 1325 (2000)
• Resolution 1820 (2008)
• Resolution 1882 (2009)
• Resolution 1888 (2009)
• Resolution 1889 (2009)

For further information on details contained in this fact sheet visit:

• Minority Rights Group
• NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security
• "Bystanders to Genocide," The Atlantic
• International Crisis Group
• Jones, Adam. "Genocide and Humanitarian Intervention: Incorporating the Gender Variable". Paper to the Fourth International Bi-Annual Conference of the Association of Genocide Scholars, Minneapolis, MN, June 10-12, 2001.
• Porter, Jack Nusan. The Genocidal Mind: Sociological and Sexual Perspectives. University Press of American/Rowman and Littlefield, 2006.