Peacebuilding
Today’s conflicts are mostly civil wars fought in the world’s poorest countries, where state capacity is often weak. Civilians now account for the vast majority of casualties, and are in many cases deliberately targeted by armed groups. Moreover, many countries recovering from conflict are at high risk of relapse within the first five to ten years, because previous recovery processes have failed to address the root causes of conflict and due to lack of effective institutions to provide security, good governance and core services to citizens.
The United Nations has responded by expanding the scope and reach of international peace interventions from traditional peacekeeping operations to more broad-based peacebuilding strategies. Beyond monitoring ceasefire arrangements, these strategies aim to protect civilians under threat of imminent violence, strengthen institutional capacity and establish the foundations for lasting peace.
Peacebuilding efforts vary from country to country, depending on specific circumstances and needs. Peacekeeping missions can work to prevent and resolve conflicts before they begin. They facilitate peace negotiations, which shape decisions on post-conflict recovery and governance, and work to restore effective law and order. UN missions engage local actors in institutional reform and promote national reconciliation.
Activities outside the traditional realm of peacekeeping can include disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR), security sector reform (SSR), protection of human rights and judicial reform, and support in the implementation and monitoring of legitimate electoral processes. Prevention strategies include the development of early warning indicators, which can signal that conflict is at risk of renewal.
Women and Peacebuilding
The importance of including women and gender perspectives in the planning and implementation of peace operations is increasingly recognized. This has led to some milestone achievements, such as the deployment of the first all-female peacekeeping unit in Liberia. However, many critical gaps remain, both at the local and international level.
Women are still significantly underrepresented in most areas of UN peace operations, in peace negotiations and in national governance, particularly at senior levels. Women’s issues are often given low priority and inadequate support. Attitudes towards women’s participation in many countries and organizations pose a significant barrier to progress. Moreover, policies frequently fail to translate into operational targets and effective impact on the situation of women on the ground.
Nevertheless, peacebuilding offers important opportunities to support the advancement of gender equality in conflict-affected countries. Accordingly, efforts must be made to ensure that all peacebuilding strategies and activities consistently and effectively include women and gender perspectives.
UN Women’s Work
UN Women has been a key actor in promoting the role of women in peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts, as well as advocating for the active participation of women at all levels of decision-making. This work builds largely on the resolutions of the UN Security Council on women, peace and security. Some examples of UNIFEM’s (now UN Women) contributions include:
- supporting women’s involvement in peace negotiations, such as recently in mediation efforts to end conflicts in Uganda, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- supporting initiatives aimed at strengthening the presence and capacity of female officers in peace operations, such as in Afghanistan;
- strengthening the development of gender-sensitive early warning strategies to prevent the outbreak of conflict in Colombia and the Solomon Islands;
- advocating for women’s inclusion in the design, implementation and conduct of post-conflict elections in Burundi;
- providing gender expertise in a variety of peace operations.
For more information on these issues and UN Women´s work, see the following pages:
