Even after almost seven years since UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security was passed, much still needs to be done in achieving its vision. Women’s organisations and peace activists, particularly those based in the global South, remain committed to ensuring its full implementation.

Discussions and debates on national and international security has been defined traditionally by patriarchal high politics—giving priority to the survival of the nation state and the gendered hierarchies on which it is based. This has brought feminist organisations and peace activists to pose the question: “just who is being secured by security policies?”  

Overcoming barriers to implementation

In June 2006, despite Security Council Resolution (SCR) 1325 being in place, the UN Under-Secretary-General, Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, otherwise known as the “father of SCR 1325,” lamented the absence of gender perspectives in new Security Council resolutions and peace-keeping missions. He recommended the establishment of a full-time institutional advocate for SCR 1325 so that barriers to the Resolution’s implementation could be overcome.

Among these barriers are as follows:
- the Security Council’s resistance to integrate gender perspectives into its mandate and its refusal to address the structural causes of armed conflict;
- the international community’s often selective and politicised consideration of and intervention in regional conflicts, especially after 9/11;
- the lack of any explicit reference to SCR 1325 in the General Assembly and Security Council resolutions establishing the Peacebuilding Commission and the absence of an institutional mechanism for mainstreaming gender perspectives into the Commission’s work;  
- the widespread failure to adopt National Action Plans and consult local women’s organisations on the establishment of peace building agendas;
- the failure to grasp tensions between academic and activist approaches to SCR 1325; and
- the marginalisation of SCR 1325 advocacies in social movement spaces, such as the World Social Forum.

To surmount these obstacles and actualise SCR 1325’s transformative vision, Southern feminist organisations and grassroots activists continue to infuse the Resolution with women’s experiences of conflict, peace, and order; encourage men’s participation in and support for SCR 1325 advocacies and mainstreaming activities at all levels; and champion committed women’s advocates operating within the UN, who are working towards productive institutional change.  

The power of feminist communications

Since its adoption in 2000, SCR 1325 has been translated into 79 languages, celebrated annually, and employed as a practical advocacy tool by grassroots activists. Feminist information and communications organisations and networks from the South have strategically used the Resolution to gain access to governmental and intergovernmental arenas. Additionally, it was utilised to raise awareness about women’s right to participate in political decision making processes, particularly those that relate to conflict resolution and peace building.

Among such initiatives include:
(1) Women’s International Network of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC-WIN) celebrated International Women’s Day 2007 and marked the 7th anniversary of SCR 1325 by broadcasting interviews, dialogues, poetry, and music produced by community radio stations, which addressed the continuing relevance of the Resolution to women living in war zones.
(2) femLINKPACIFIC not only established femTALK 1325, a magazine that highlights SCR 1325 advocacies undertaken by regional women’s movements, but also developed a mobile community radio unit, which provides Fijian women with a space in which to discuss their experiences of conflict and their hopes for peace.  
(3) Isis International-Manila, collaborating with International Women’s Tribune Centre (IWTC) and others, broadcasted a local language programme series entitled “Women Talk Peace” to mark the 6th anniversary of SCR 1325 and highlight women’s engagement in peace processes in Mindanao, Philippines.   
(4)  Isis-Women's International Cross-Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE) and IWTC, on July 30, 2002, provided part of on advocacy training on implementation of the Resolution1325 at international and national levels through case studies.

Breaching the walls of the Security Council

Prior to SCR 1325, women received very little attention in Security Council resolutions, and when they were mentioned, their interests and experiences were treated as being linked to that of children.

It took 55 years, on October 31, 2000, for the UN Security Council to finally address women’s experiences in conflict and post-conflict zones as well as recognise their vital contributions to conflict prevention, resolution, and peace building.

Sources:
“NGO Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security, Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security - Six Years On Report” (New York: NGO Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security, 2006).
“Nongovernmental Organizations' Role in the Buildup and Implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325,” <http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/SIGNS/journal/issues/v28n4/042809/042809.web.pdf>.  “Mainstreaming Gender in UN Security Policy: A Path to Political Transformation?”,
<http://www.genderandsecurity.org/Cohn.pdf>.
“Report on Involving Men in the Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security”, <http://www.peacewomen.org/resources/1325/Men&1325.pdf>.
“Women, Peace, and Security: Resolution 1325” in International Feminist Journal of Politics, Volume 6, Number 1.