Gender, Women and Security Sector Reform

Abstract

Gender has been marginalized in security sector reform (SSR). Policy has changed in recent years, but the gap between policy and practice remains significant. This article examines gender and SSR, critiques some of the current debate on gender in SSR, outlines the challenges of adopting a gender-sensitive SSR approach and discusses the issue of gender-based violence and justice reform. The article concludes that there is a need to refocus gender in SSR discourse. Gender should be treated within the broader SSR context to avoid the separation of gender from other matters in SSR. Gender is not only about women and essentialist assumptions are not useful to the discourse. There is also a critical need to expand the focus on representation to gender mainstreaming and context sensitivity, and to avoid template models for SSR.

Notes

NB. All interviews referred to in this paper have been kept confidential.

OECD–DAC, Handbook on Security System Reform, Supporting Security and Justice, Paris, 2007, p.5.

UN Secretary-General's Report, ‘Women, Peace and Security’, UN doc., S/2002/1154, 16 Oct. 2002.

UN Economic and Social Council, Report of the Secretary-General, ‘Coordination of the Policies and Activities of the Specialised Agencies and Other Bodies of the UN System: Mainstreaming the Gender Perspective into All Policies and Programmes in the UN System’, UN doc., E96IV13, 12 June 1997.

See also Daniel Bendix, ‘A Review of Gender in SSR. Bringing Post-colonial and Gender Theory into the Debate’, in Margarete Jacobs, Daniel Bendix and Ruth Stanely (eds), Engendering SSR: A Workshop Report, Berlin: Free University, 2009, pp.17–20.

See also Kirsten Valasek, ‘SSR and Gender’, in Gender and SSR Toolkit, Geneva: DCAF, OSCE, ODIHR, UN–INSTRAW, 2008, p.3.

See also OECD–DAC (note 1 above), p.66.

FAFO, Gendering Human Security. From Marginalisation to Integration of Women in Peacebuilding, Oslo, 2001.

Valasek (see n.5 above ), p.6.

Report of the Secretary-General, UN doc., A/62/659 – S/2008/39 23 Jan. 2008, p.11, para.36.

Megan Bastick, ‘Integrating Gender in Post-conflict SSR’, Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), Policy Paper No.29, Geneva, 2008, p.7.

For more on local ownership see, e.g., Timothy Donais (ed.), Local Ownership and Security Sector Reform, Hamburg: Lit Verlag, 2008; Laurie Nathan (ed.), ‘No Ownership, No Commitment: A Guide to Local Ownership of Security Sector Reform’, University of Birmingham (commissioned by the SSR Strategy of the UK government's Global Conflict Prevention Pool), 2007.

For more on civil society and SSR see Marina Caparini, ‘Civil Society and the Future of SSR’, in Mark Sedra (ed.), The Future of SSR, Waterloo, Ont.: Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), e-book, forthcoming; Eirin Mobekk, ‘SSR and the Challenges of Ownership’, also in The Future of SSR.

See, e.g., Mark Tran, ‘Iraqi Girl Jailed for Attempted Suicide Bombing’, The Guardian, 6 Aug. 2009 (at: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/06/iraqi-girl-rania-ibrahim-sentenced).

Bendix (see n.4 above), p.11.

Valasek (see n.5 above), p.8.

OECD–DAC (see n.1 above), pp.66,105.

UN Report of the Secretary-General (see n.9 above), p.13.

Karen Barnes, ‘Reform or More of the Same? Gender Mainstreaming and the Changing Nature of UN Peace Operations’, York Center for International Security Studies (YCISS) Working Paper No.41, York University, Ont., Oct. 2006, p.19.

UN Security Council Resolution, S/RES/1820, 19 June 2008, paras.10,12.

UN Report of the Secretary-General, ‘Women, Peace and Security’, S/2004/814, 13 Oct. 2004, p.13, para.62.

Ibid., para.63, p.14. A follow-up report n 2008 reinforces the direct link with SSR. UN Report of the Secretary-General, ‘Women, Peace and Security’, UN doc., S/2008/622, 25 Sept. 2008.

UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations Best Practices Unit, ‘Gender Resource Package for Peacekeeping Operations’, New York, 2004. However, it also deals with gender in other areas besides the security sector.

OECD–DAC (see n.1 above).

Ibid. See, for example, box 3.2, table 3.2, box.4.1, under police 8.10.

UN Report of the Secretary-General, ‘Securing Peace and Development: The Role of the United Nations in Supporting Security Sector Reform’, UN doc., A/62/659–S/2008/39, 23 Jan. 2008, pp.11,13. The UN Report of the Secretary-General, ‘Uniting Our Strengths: Enhancing United Nations Support for the Rule of Law’, UN doc., A/61/636–S/2006/980, 14 Dec. 2006, is critical in addressing support for rule of law reform but touches only superficially on the issue of gender.

It includes 12 tools across the different areas of SSR (see n.5 above).

Eric Van Ween, ‘Reverse Stakeholder Mapping: On the Need for Actor-Based SSR Strategizing in Post-conflict Environments’, Journal of Security Sector Management, Vol.6, No.2, 2008, pp.1–13.

Jeffery Gettleman, ‘Symbol of Unhealed Congo: Male Rape Victims’, New York Times, 4 Aug. 2009 (at: www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/world/africa/05congo.html?_r=2).

OECD–DAC (see n.1 above) p.21.

UN Report of the Secretary-General (see n.20 above), p.7.

Author's interviews with Gender Units in Haiti June 2006 and April 2008, Timor-Leste Nov. 2008, Burundi Sept. 2006 and May 2009 and the Democratic Republic of Congo Oct. 2006 and April 2009.

Telephone interview with Gender Unit in Haiti, June 2007, and interview with Gender Unit, Dili, Timor-Leste, Dec. 2008.

See, e.g., Heiner Hänggi and Vincenza Scherrer (eds), SSR and UN Integrated Missions: Experiences from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and Kosovo, Geneva: LIT Verlag/DCAF, 2008.

Interviews by author with donor practitioners in Europe, April/May 2009.

In Burundi the Arusha Agreement's statement that no one involved in genocide, war crimes or gross human rights violations should be included in the new force has not been respected. Arusha Agreement, Chapter II, Defence and Security Forces, article 14 (1)(e) (at: www.issafrica.org/AF/profiles/Burundi/arusha.pdf).

DPKO, Gender Statistics by Mission, 31 May 2009 (at www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/contributors/gender/2009gender/may09.pdf).

Ibid.

Valasek (see n.5 above) p. 8.

DPKO, ‘UN Police Deployment’ (at: www.un.org/Depts/dpko/police/map.pdf).

Interview with UNIFEM representative, Dili, Timor-Leste, Nov. 2008.

This was found in the police force in Haiti: MINUSTAH, Gender Unit, Quarterly Report, Feb./Mar. UN Mission in Haiti, 2007, p.4.

Interview with gender specialist, London, June 2008.

Tara Denham, Police Reform and Gender, Gender and SSR Toolkit, UN-INSTRAW, DCAF, Geneva, 2008, p.4.

Bastick (see n.10 above), pp.6–7.

Bendix (see n.4 above), p.18.

See also Sanam Anderlini and Camille Conaway, ‘Security Sector Reform’, in Inclusive Security, Sutainable Peace: A Toolkit for Advocacy and Action, Women Waging Peace Network, 2004, p.35.

For an in-depth assessment of the VPUs see Chris Styles-Power, Carolyn Hamilton and Erica Hall, The Vulnerable Persons Unit in Timor-Leste: An Independent Assessment of Its Role and Function, New York: UNICEF, 2008; Henri Myrttinen, ‘Poster-boys No More – Gender and SSR in Timor-Leste’, Working Paper, DCAF, Geneva, 2008.

OHCHR and UNMIT, ‘Report on Human Rights Developments in Timor-Leste: The Security Sector and Access to Justice’, 1 Sept. 2007 to 30 June 2008’, Geneva and Dili, Timor-Leste, 2008, p.11.

Report of the Expert Mission to Timor-Leste on Policing, 17 to 27 Mar. 2008, UN doc., S/2008/329, 16 May 2008.

Bendix (see n.4 above), p.17.

This is the case in for example Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Timor-Leste.

Interview with human rights organization, Cibitoke, Burundi, Oct. 2006. A local NGO reported that 80 per cent of the rapes in their area were committed by military forces. Confidential interview, Rutshuru, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sept. 2006.

OHCHR and UMIT (see n. 48 above), p.11.

Myrttinen (see n.47 above).

For more on GBV in Timor-Leste see, e.g., UN Population Fund (UNFPA), ‘Gender-Based Violence in Timor-Leste. A Case Study’, Women, Peace and Security, Technical Support Division, New York, 2005.

Interview with consultant conducting study on armed gangs and violence for ActionAid, Port-au-Prince, June 2006.

Interviews with local and international NGOs in the Democratic Republic of Congo Sept. 2006 and May 2009 and Burundi Oct. 2006 and April 2009. See also, e.g., UNIFEM and WomenWarPeace, ‘Gender Profile of the Conflict in Burundi’, 2005.

Gettleman (see n.28 above).

Interviews with women's organizations, Bujumbura, Burundi, Oct. 2006, Kinshasa and Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sept. 2006.

Interviews with MONUC representatives and local women's organizations, Kinshasa and Eastern Congo, Sept. 2006.

See, e.g., Martin Patience, ‘Afghan Women Who Turn to Immolation’, BBC News, 19 Mar. 2009 (at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7942819.stm Afghanistan); Conflict Monitor, ‘Self-Immolation on the Rise among Women’, 9 Sept. 2008) (at: www.afghanconflictmonitor.org/2008/09/self-immolation.html).

For further discussions on traditional justice systems see, e.g., Rachel Kerr and Eirin Mobekk, Peace and Justice: Seeking Accountability after War, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2007, ch.8.