Overview
The presidential statement was released in response to the Secretary-General’s report on UNAMID (S/2017/1113). UNAMID’s mandate requires the Secretary-General to report to the Security Council every 60 days. The statement focuses on the security situation, in particular the slow implementation of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), the displacement crisis and the increase in human rights abuses and violations.
The presidential statement references women, peace, and security in a generic, nonspecific way. The presidential statement broadly discusses sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in relation to the overwhelming human rights violations, and calls for the integration of a gender perspective in all transition planning. In contrast, the recent report on UNAMID (S/2017/1113) makes numerous references to the women, peace, and security agenda, reporting on the number of violations of sexual and gender-based violence, women’s participation in security sector reform, capacity building, mining training, and human rights.
Reference to WPS
There are three references to women, peace, and security (WPS). The Council “further emphasizes the importance of integrating a gender perspective, into all transition planning.”[1]S/PRST/2018/4, Paragraph 7 Second, the Council “emphasizes the necessity to accompany the weapons-collection campaign with comprehensive disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) and with full adherence to international human rights and humanitarian law and with full attention to the needs of women and children.”[2]Id. at Paragraph 10. Further, there is one reference in para. 4 of the statement, which broadly references SGBV.
Missed Opportunities
There are many missed opportunities to discuss women, peace, and security. The Security Council fails to explicitly call for women’s involvement in the various stages of the peace processes, which include translating the DDPD into practice. Further, the Council does not reiterate the language from Resolution 2363, such as urging the mission to “assist in harnessing the capacity of women to participate in the peace process, including through political representation…”. The Council also misses an opportunity to give guidance on how UNAMID, with the cooperation of the Sudanese Government and civil society, can incorporate women’s participation in all transition planning phases. Moreover, the Council does not emphasize the importance of women’s participation in the security sector reform, capacity building, mining training, and human rights. In many ways, the Council continues to largely ignore and essentialize women as victims in need of protection, thus silencing women’s voices and contributions to peace.
References