Australian National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security 2012 2018

Australian National Action Plan
on Women, Peace and Security 2012–2018

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The document must be attributed as the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs [Australian National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security 2012–2018].

Contact: Australian Government Office for Women at .

Cover image:
Corporal Jenny Sapwell of Mentoring Task Force 2, and an interpreter, chat with local Afghan women during a Female Engagement Team (FET) mission in Sorkh Lez, Uruzgan Province.

Photo: CPL Christopher Dickson 1st Joint Public Affairs Unit

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Minister’s Foreword

The Australian Government recognises that women and girls have vastly different experiences to men and boys when it comes to peace and security. Women and girls often face devastating human rights violations, including high levels of sexual and gender-based violence, in conflict affected settings. Women are also significantly underrepresented and often overlooked in formal peace processes. This is in spite of the fact that women can be powerful agents in preventing conflict and building peace.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325), alongside other resolutions under the United Nations Women, Peace and Security agenda, addresses the impact of conflict on women and girls, and highlights the critical role women can play in preventing, managing and resolving conflict.

Governments have a responsibility to make sure women and girls’ human rights are protected, and that women are empowered to participate in formal peace and security processes.

The Australian Government takes this responsibility very seriously. The Australian National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security 2012–2018 demonstrates Australia’s ongoing support for the United Nations Women, Peace and Security agenda.

The National Action Plan sets out what Australia will do, at home and overseas, to integrate a gender perspective into its peace and security efforts, protect women and girls’ human rights, and promote their participation in conflict prevention, management and resolution. It also commits the Government to report every two years to the Australian Federal Parliament on the progress of this work.

This National Action Plan is a practical step forward in establishing a framework for a coordinated, whole of government approach to implementing UNSCR 1325 and related resolutions. I look forward to working with my Ministerial colleagues and the non-government sector to drive better outcomes for women and girls affected by conflict.

The Hon Julie Collins MP

Minister for Community Services, Minister for Indigenous Employment and Economic Development and Minister for the Status of Women

Acronyms

ACC / Australian Civilian Corps
ADF / Australian Defence Force
ADFA / Australian Defence Force Academy
AFP / Australian Federal Police
AGD / Attorney-General’s Department
ACMC / Australian Civil-Military Centre
APS / Australian Public Service
AusAID / Australian Agency for International Development
CAAFG / Children associated with armed forces and armed groups
DFAT / Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
DPKO / UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations
DRC / Democratic Republic of Congo
FaHCSIA / Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
FET / Female Engagement Teams
GenCap / Gender Standby Capacity Project
IDG / International Deployment Group
IRC / International Rescue Committee
MDG / Millennium Development Goal
NATO / North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
OfW / Office for Women
PM&C / Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
POC / Protection of Civilians
POTC / Peace Operations Training Centre
PPDP / Pacific Police Development Program
RAMSI / Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands
UN / United Nations
UNHCR / United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNITAR / United Nations Institute for Training and Research
UNSC / United Nations Security Council
UNSCR 1325 / United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325

Table of Contents

PART A: The National Action Plan 8

Women, Peace and Security 8

United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security 10

What Australia has done so far 12

Why an Australian National Action Plan? 16

Australian National Action Plan – Thematic Areas 18

Australian National Action Plan – Strategies and Actions 19

Australian National Action Plan – Governance, Reporting and Reviews 28

PART B: Monitoring and Evaluation Framework 30

ANNEXURES 32

ANNEX 1: More of the Australian story 32

Prevention 32

Participation 33

Protection 35

Relief and Recovery 39

Normative 42

APPENDIX 45

APPENDIX A: Definitions 45

Women, Peace and Security agenda 45

APPENDIX B: UNSCR 1325 48

United Nations Security Council S/RES/1325 (2000) Distr.: General 31 October 2000 48

APPENDIX C: Development of International Human Rights, Humanitarian
and Criminal Law in Relation to Gender-based Violence in Armed Conflict 51

PART A: The National Action Plan

1. Women, Peace and Security

Conflict causes great human suffering. It takes people’s lives and destroys families and communities. While people who are affected by conflict have many shared experiences, such as losing loved ones, enduring human rights violations and struggling to meet their basic needs for survival, the impact of conflict is also highly gendered. Overall, women and girls experience conflict very differently from men and boys. These differences are wide-ranging and complex. They arise largely from the often distinct roles that women and men perform in their communities and homes in times of both conflict and peace, and their respective status in society.

Although often not engaged in combat, women and girls can be disproportionately affected by conflict. It has been estimated that up to 90 per cent of casualties in contemporary conflicts are civilians, the majority of whom are women and children.[1]

“It has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in armed conflict”

– former UN Force Commander Major General Patrick Cammaert.[2]

Increasingly, targeted gender-based violence is being used as a weapon of war.[3] Women and children are at heightened risk of gender-based violence during and after conflict. There are many acts that constitute gender-based violence, including rape, sexual slavery, genital mutilation, forced pregnancy, abortion and sterilisation. These acts have particular significance in times of conflict and instability, as they are often used to achieve military or political objectives. The use of this type of violence is a violation of international human rights law and, in situations of armed conflict, international humanitarian law. It has a devastating effect on women, their families and their communities. This devastation can be long‑lasting, extending far beyond the duration of the conflict.

While gender-based violence during war affects women and girls in a particularly horrific way, the impacts of war on women and girls’ lives are broad-ranging. Women and girls face particular challenges in relation to their physical and mental health, well-being and economic security. These are challenges that intersect with, or are resultant from gender‑based violence, or they may be unrelated.

Women and girls are not a homogenous group. Just as women and men have differential experiences of conflict, conflict affects diverse groups of women and girls in very different ways. Women of various ages, women with disability, indigenous women and women from certain religious or cultural backgrounds may be more profoundly affected or more vulnerable than other groups of women. They may find it difficult to access support or infrastructure to meet their specific needs, or be more likely to experience gender-based violence.

This all being said, it is important to emphasise that women and girls are not only victims needing protection in the context of conflict. They are also active agents in both perpetuating conflict and building peace. The stereotyping of women as fundamentally peaceful in discourse about peace and security should be avoided—some women and girls operate as aggressive combatants in war. However, many women and girls make significant contributions to conflict prevention and peacebuilding. This is particularly prevalent at a community level. Unfortunately, women are often excluded from formal decision‑making processes around preventing conflict, building peace and relief and recovery efforts. This is particularly concerning because the disproportionate and devastating impact that conflict has on women and girls translates to them having a very high stake in the outcomes of these processes. This exclusion can result in the experiences of women and girls not being adequately considered in these decisions and, subsequently, their needs not being met. It also means that the role women play as agents of change in times of conflict is often under‑recognised and under‑valued.

The violence, inequalities and underrepresentation that women and girls face in conflict‑affected settings do not exist in a vacuum. Women and girls’ differential experiences in conflict are shaped by gender roles and their relative status in society in times of peace. Women and girls rarely have the same resources, political rights, authority or control over their environment that men and boys do, and this is exacerbated in armed conflict.[4]

Men and boys have an important role to play in ensuring women and girls’ security. They can be advocates for gender equality and through their own behaviour reduce and prevent violence against women. Male police and members of defence forces have a key role to play in promoting gender equality and preventing violence against women in conflict and in post-conflict settings. Men can also advocate for and ensure that women’s needs are taken into account and included as crucial elements in peace negotiations and at international fora.

The benefits of advancing gender equality are far reaching and operate on a number of levels. Gender equality is essential for ensuring that women and girls’ needs are met and human rights are protected, in times of both peace and conflict. It enables men to break away from often limiting and rigid gender roles and expectations of masculinity, which can be amplified in conflict-affected settings. It helps communities to raise healthier, better educated children and enhances countries’ economic prosperity.[5] Notably, equality between women and men is also a pre‑requisite for sustainable peace, security and development.[6]

“The equal access and full participation of women in power structures and their full involvement in all efforts for the prevention and resolution of conflicts are essential for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security.”

– United Nations Security Council Statement, International Women’s Day 2000.[7]

See APPENDIX A for definitions relating to Women, Peace and Security.

2. United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR1325) on Women, Peace and Security was adopted unanimously by the United Nations Security Council in October2000. UNSCR1325 recognises that the experiences and needs of women and girls differ from those of men and boys in conflict and post‑conflict situations, and underlines the essential role of women in conflict prevention, peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction efforts. UNSCR1325 tasks the UN system and its Member States with thoroughly integrating a gender perspective into all peacekeeping operations, peace processes and return, resettlement, and reintegration programs in post-conflict settings. UNSCR1325 is provided at APPENDIX B.

The UN Secretary-General’s 2004 report on the implementation of UNSCR1325 called for the development of national action plans to implement UNSCR1325. Since then, the UN has established a Women, Peace and Security agenda by passing additional Security Council resolutions 1820, 1888, 1889 and 1960.[8]

UNSCR1820 (2008) condemns the use of rape and other forms of sexual violence in conflict situations, stating that rape can constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity, or a constitutive act with respect to genocide. The Resolution calls on Member States to comply with their obligations to prosecute the perpetrators of sexual violence, to ensure that all victims of sexual violence have equal protection under the law and equal access to justice, and to end impunity for sexual violence.
UNSCR 1888 (2009) complements UNSCR1820 and asks the UNSecretary‑General to rapidly deploy a team of experts to situations of particular concern regarding sexual violence. The Resolution further calls for the appointment of a special representative to lead efforts to end conflict-related sexual violence against women and girls, and to include information about the prevalence of sexual violence in a report to the UN Security Council by UN peacekeeping missions.
UNSCR 1889 (2009) reaffirms the provisions of UNSCR1325, encouraging Member States to continue to pursue implementation of this Resolution. UNSCR1889 calls on the Secretary-General to develop a strategy, including through appropriate training, to increase the number of women appointed to pursue ‘good offices,’ particularly as Special Representatives and Special Envoys, on the Secretary-General’s behalf and to submit within six months a set of indicators to track implementation of UNSCR1325.[9]
In 2010, in response to UNSCR 1889, the UN Secretary-General proposed specific performance indicators to the Security Council, to track and provide guidance to the implementation of UNSCR 1325. These indicators were endorsed by the UN Security Council in a Presidential Statement issued on 26 October 2010. While these indicators are not all applicable to the national efforts of all Member States, they offer inspiration for the identification of specific and measureable ways in which Member States can monitor their own performance.
UNSCR 1960 (2010), building on UNSCRs 1820 and 1888, calls for an end to sexual violence in armed conflict and provides measures aimed at ending impunity for perpetrators of sexual violence. The Resolution also encourages Member States to deploy a greater numbers of women military and police personnel and provide appropriate training to all personnel on sexual and gender-based violence within their UN peacekeeping operations.

3. What Australia has done so far

Australia has supported the full implementation of UNSCR 1325 since its adoption in 2000 and was a co‑sponsor of UNSCR 1820 in 2008, UNSCRs 1888 and 1889 in 2009, and UNSCR1960 in 2010.[10]

Demonstrating its commitment to the principles of UNSCRs 1325, 1820, 1888, 1889 and 1960, Australia has undertaken a broad program of work to integrate a gender perspective into its peace and security efforts, protect women and girls’ human rights and promote their participation in conflict prevention, management and resolution. This work has been taken forward in both domestic agencies and international settings, within and across governments, and through engagement with the non-government sector and civil society.