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UNSCR 1325: The Promise and Limitations of National Action Plans in Asia

19 January 2016

UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) on women, peace and security is considered a landmark resolution, but its promise to transform women from victims to peacebuilders has not been realised in practice. WILPF and other civil society organisations have routinely called for clearer monitoring and evaluation of the resolution by the UN and its Member States.

In 2002, a Security Council Presidential Statement called on UN Member States to develop national level initiatives to help to implement UNSCR 1325. Globally, a number of donor states as well as countries emerging from extended periods of armed conflict have taken steps to develop National Action Plans (NAPs). WILPF’s Women, Peace and Security programme (PeaceWomen) actively monitors UNSCR 1325’s implementation and has traced the development of NAPs.

Initially driven by Northern European States, the tenth anniversary saw a spike in the development of NAPs globally, and the Philippines became the first Asian state to adopt such a plan in 2010 followed shortly after by Nepal in 2011. In 2014 the Republic of Korea (South Korea) adopted a NAP followed in 2015 by Afghanistan and Japan.

Given that many countries across Asia have experienced significant political upheaval and instability as a result of armed conflict, UNSCR 1325 is an important resolution for the region but it took a decade before the formal adoption of any national level initiative. Why hasn’t UNSCR 1325 had much traction in Asia?

Women, Peace and Security in Asia
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UNSCR 1325 is highly relevant to Asian contexts, but the resolution is met with resistance. Photo: Amy Barrow.

UNSCR 1325 is highly relevant to Asian contexts, but the resolution is met with resistance. Asia is incredibly diverse as a region, with multiple cultures, ethnicities and languages. Asia’s colonial history also heavily weighs on the region, with out-dated, colonial penal laws remaining on the books in many states. Several states have experienced sustained periods of armed conflict including Nepal and the Philippines. Territorial disputes in the South China Sea pose an ongoing risk to peace and security in the region. It remains to be seen how the recent election of Taiwan’s first female president Tsai Ing-wen will impact upon cross-strait relations between China and Taiwan.

Women continue to be deeply affected by armed conflict and its aftermath across the region. South Korean ‘comfort’ women who were engaged in sexual slavery during World War II have waited decades for a formal apology and compensation from the Japanese Government. More than half a century of repressive military rule and fighting in Myanmar’s ethnic peripheries has triggered mass migration of Karen refugees across the border to Thailand. Women combatants actively participated in the decade-long Maoist insurgency against the Nepalese government. How can UNSCR 1325 be effectively implemented in Asian contexts?

Asia is increasingly important as a region with the growing prominence of China and India in global affairs. Several countries including India, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines contribute a significant number of police and troops to international peacekeeping operations. But, unlike Europe or Africa, there is no region-wide human rights body.

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is the only recognisable international body, yet it operates differently to the European Union and relations between ASEAN Member States are based on the principles of consensus and non-interference. With no institutional momentum to drive forward national responses to UNSCR 1325, the resolution’s successful implementation is reliant on the political will of individual countries.

ASEAN’s ten Member States include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – many of which have a chequered human rights record. Although ASEAN has taken steps to tackle gender-based violence within South East Asia including human trafficking, to date only the Philippines has proactively taken steps to implement UNSCR 1325. Indonesia rejected the development of a NAP and instead adopted a Presidential Decree on the protection of women and children during civil conflict in 2014.

Asian National Action Plans
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The Government of Nepal launched its National Action Plan on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820 (NAP) in February 2011. The plan is the second plan of its kind in Asia, and it seeks to address women, peace and security issues in the post-conflict context of Nepal. Photo: Stephan Bachenheimer/World Bank/Flickr

Globally, the first generation of NAPs on Women, Peace and Security were adopted by donor states including Denmark and the UK and were ‘outward’ looking. These initiatives largely focused on participation in international peacekeeping operations and bilateral programmes with conflict countries. In contrast, both the Philippines and Nepal’s NAPs are ‘inward’ looking and context-specific.

The Philippines and Nepal’s NAPs broadly reflect UNSCR 1325’s three basic pillars of prevention, participation and protection, though each has several unique features. The Philippines includes small arms within the scope of the plan, recognising how a proliferation of small arms and a culture of gun violence in Filipino society may pose a potential threat to women’s peace and security. The Nepal plan recognises fourteen categories of conflict-affected women including single women (widows) and disabled women.

Importantly, each NAP includes indicators such as the number of women in peace negotiations or the number of women candidates in elections as one method of measuring women’s participation. For both the Philippines and Nepal, a lack of resources and underdevelopment pose serious challenges to the successful implementation of the NAPs. Nepal recognises that the support of donors will be important to put the plan into action.

South Korea launched its NAP in 2014 when it was a non-permanent member of the Security Council. Though the country is not actively engaged in armed conflict with North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) tensions between sides continue. Given South Korea’s developed market and role as an international donor, the NAP is both ‘outward’ and ‘inward’ looking. Significantly, historical human rights violations are recognised, with the NAP including support services to women survivors of the ‘comfort system.’

Making UNSCR 1325 Relevant in Asian Contexts

UNSCR 1325 is highly relevant to Asian contexts, but the resolution is met with resistance. The slow rate of adoption of NAPs across the region may relate to reluctance on the part of Asian states to transplant universal norms into domestic contexts. Though ASEAN states, at least on paper, have all committed to CEDAW and have adopted resolutions on violence against women and children.

Globally, the role and effectiveness of National Action Plans remains to be seen. Many first generation plans lacked adequate monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, repeating UNSCR 1325’s own flaws.

The Philippines and Nepal National Action Plans present a useful illustration of how Asian states can make the women, peace and security agenda relevant to national contexts by linking UNSCR 1325 with broader developmental goals and gender equality. It is clear however, without adequate financial resources and political will to implement UNSCR 1325 these ambitious National Action Plans are also at risk of foundering.

/by Amy Barrow [ba-divider style=”solid” color=”#000000″]

About the author

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Amy Barrow

Amy Barrow is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where she is a founding member of the Centre for Rights and Justice (CRJ) as well as a member of the Gender Research Centre and the Centre for Civil Society Studies.

Amy’s research expertise includes UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the development of norms on women, peace and security; gender and the law; human rights; institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women, and socio-legal research methods. Amy has a keen interest in how international law filters down to the grass-roots level, and is used by multiple actors in society. Amy is a member of the WILPF 1325 Working Group.

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Melissa Torres

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Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

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Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

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Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.

WILPF Afghanistan

In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region. 

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Demilitarisation

WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.

Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.

Militarised masculinity

Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.

WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.

Feminist peace​

In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.

In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.

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