Security & Justice
War creates serious challenges in regard to security, justice and accountability, which tend to persist long after fighting has ended. Left unaddressed, these challenges pose barriers to post-conflict recovery and increase the risk of countries relapsing into conflict.
Small arms, responsible for the majority of direct casualties during wartime, represent one of these challenges. Even after the cease of hostilities, their widespread availability increases the risk of civilians becoming victims of violent crimes, including sexual and gender-based violence. Landmines are another devastating legacy of conflict. They kill and maim people, limit access to waterways and agricultural lands, and restrict opportunities for development.
Conflict also leads to mass displacement of civilians, with women and children accounting for 80 percent of displaced populations. Displacement increases the vulnerability of civilians to many crimes, including forcible recruitment into armed groups, sexual and gender-based violence, enforced prostitution and human trafficking.
When conflict ends, peace operations implement policies to address these and other security issues in an effort to support early recovery and promote long-term stability. Early interventions focus on the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of combatants, which consist of collecting weapons, disbanding armed groups, and reintegrating former combatants into communities.
In the medium to long term, these policies are complemented by security sector reform (SSR), which aims to build the capacity of security actors and institutions, restore trust in the security sector, enhance civilian oversight and strengthen rule of law. Other key priorities include the resettlement of displaced populations and the removal of landmines. Transitional justice mechanisms are set up to address crimes committed during conflict and promote national reconciliation.
Women, Security & Justice
Each of these issues has distinct implications for women, yet policy makers often ignore them and implement gender-blind policies that inadequately consider women’s needs and capacities.
For instance, economic support is often provided to reintegrating combatants, while women associated with armed groups are ignored. Moreover, victims of conflict often receive little or no assistance at all. Mine clearance policies often fail to consider places where women and girls collect water and food. In some cases, ex-combatants who are known to have committed rape or other crimes against civilians during conflict have been integrated into security sector institutions. And ineffectively designed transitional justice mechanisms discourage women from testifying about crimes like sexual violence before truth commissions or war crimes courts.
Such failures increase insecurity for all, reinforce socio-economic divides between men and women, and prevent women from realizing their potential.
UN Women’s Work
Recognizing these critical challenges, UN Women has made key contributions to strengthening advocacy and gender-sensitive programming on security and justice. Examples of UN Women’s work include:
- Providing gender expertise and technical assistance to the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in Liberia and Sierra Leone and the Commission of Inquiry for Guinea.
- Supporting local Afghan initiatives to strengthen the participation of women and the inclusion of gender perspectives in transitional justice mechanisms.
- Amplifying the voices of women displaced by conflict in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
- Organizing workshops on security sector reform to share best practices from across the world.
For more information on these issues and UN Women’s work, see the following pages:
