On Wednesday 15 February guests from the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (UNDPPA), UN Office of Counterterrorism (UNOCT) and UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) joined the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) and women peacebuilders in the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL) for a special consultation on the UN Secretary-General’s “New Agenda for Peace”.
ICAN’s Senior Program Officer, Rosalie Fransen provides a gendered analysis of emerging trends and threats in the CT and P/CVE landscape.
The international community needs to take urgent action to ensure Afghan women and girls across all ethnic and religious communities, in urban and rural areas, feel safe and have equal rights and opportunities to a life of dignity, peace, safety and justice.
To achieve this overarching goal, and to ensure that there is no regression in the context of the impending humanitarian crisis, we have stated four key outcomes and offered specific actions by international actors and specific actions by the Taliban.
Given the gendered segregation of society that the Taliban has already instigated, the delivery of aid to women and girls will be even more highly dependent on female Afghan aid workers and local women-led civil society organizations (CSOs). Such organizations have traditionally been the key conduits to reaching the most needy and marginalized sectors of society. They are more essential now.
We have offered 10 practical steps that the UN and other international humanitarian actors can take in designing and implementing their humanitarian response.
As we celebrate the International Day of UN Peacekeepers 2021 ICAN emphasize the importance of effective recruitment and systematic and sustained inclusion of women peacekeepers.
Our Better Peace Initiative (BPI) resource ‘10 Steps to Increase Women’s Participation in Peacekeeping and Reduce Sexual Exploitation and Abuse’ provides concrete recommendations from women-led civil society to improve community security and eradicate Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) from peacekeeping missions through effective recruitment and deployment of women. Available in English and French.