Security

Citation:

McLeod, Laura. 2011. “Configurations of Post-Conflict: Impacts of Representations of Conflict and Post-Conflict upon the (Political) Translations of Gender Security within UNSCR 1325.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 13 (4): 594–611.

Author: Laura McLeod

Abstract:

UNSCR 1325 is a Security Council Resolution designed to operate in post-conflict contexts. ‘Post-conflict’ is a discourse with contested temporal and spatial aspects, raising questions about how different perspectives towards ‘post-conflict’ has affected interpretations of UNSCR 1325 on the ground. Given the contestability of ‘post-conflict’, surprisingly little research has focused upon how what is identified as the ‘post-conflict problem’ shapes responses to UNSCR 1325. To address this gap, I contrast configurations of ‘post-conflict’ within three different initiatives in Serbia that have drawn upon UNSCR 1325. The constructions of ‘post-conflict’ are understood through an analytical strategy concerned with the representation of conflict and post-conflict reconstruction within each initiative. Making explicit antagonisms at the heart of ‘post-conflict’ demonstrates how the logic of gender security as it relates to UNSCR 1325 is shaped by the specific problematization of ‘post-conflict’. This article outlines new empirical research on the utilization of UNSCR 1325 within three different political contexts in Serbia to assert the importance of realizing the contestability of ‘post-conflict’ contexts in shaping how we might respond to UNSCR 1325, and indeed, any international policy or ambition intended as a response to post-conflict situations.

Keywords: post-conflict, Serbia, UNSCR 1325, gender security, representations, problematization

Topics: Gender, Women, Post-Conflict, Security, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325 Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Serbia

Year: 2011

Citation:

Azarbaijan-Moghaddam, Sippi. 2009. “The Arrested Development of Afghan Women.” In The Future of Afghanistan, edited by J Alexander Thier, 63–72. Washington D.C.: United States Institute of Peace. http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/resources/foa.pdf.

Author: Sippi Azarbaijan-Moghaddam

Topics: Development, Economies, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Post-Conflict, Rights, Women's Rights, Security, Human Security, Violence Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2009

Citation:

Authors: Sima Wali, Elizabeth Gould, Paul Fitzgerald

Abstract:

“The article examines the link between the crises in women's health and human rights in Afghanistan and the political circumstances that caused them. The wall of silence that separated the political events of Communist era from their human consequences perpetuates humanitarian crises and frustrates relief workers and activists in their efforts to end crimes against humanity. As a result of the division between humanitarian crises and the political discourse that would alter them, conflicts remain unresolved, leaving the victims exposed to multiple abuses.”

(EBSCO host)

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Gender, Women, Gender Balance, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Justice, Crimes against Humanity, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Security, Human Security Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 1999

Citation:

Author: Sima Wali

Abstract:

The United States' foreign policy in Afghanistan has a long history of misguided plans and misplaced trust—a fact that has contributed to the destruction of the social and physical infrastructure of Afghan society. Afghans contend that after having fought as U.S. allies against the Soviet Union—with the price of more than two million dead—the United States swiftly walked away at the end of that bloody, twenty-three-year conflict. The toll of the war on Afghan society reflected in current statistics is so staggering as to be practically unimaginable: 12 million women living in abject poverty, 1 million people handicapped from land mine explosions, an average life expectancy of forty years (lower for women), a mortality rate of 25.7 percent for children under five years old, and an illiteracy rate of 64 percent. These horrific indicators place Afghanistan among the most destitute countries in the world in terms of human development.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Male Combatants, Development, Economies, Poverty, Education, Gender, Gender Analysis, Gender-Based Violence, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Security, Human Security, Violence Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2002

Citation:

Author: Sima Wali

Topics: Combatants, Male Combatants, Gender, Women, Men, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Security Regions: Asia, Central Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2004

Citation:

Authors: Roshmi Goswami, MG Skreekala, Megna Goswami

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Girls, Security Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 2005

Citation:

Sapna K Sangra. 2011. “Lives in Times of Conflict: Locating Women and Accountability of the State in Kashmir.” International Journal or Interdisciplinary Social Sciences 6 (5): 51.

Author: Sapna K Sangra

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Citizenship, Combatants, Gender, Women, Girls, Governance, Post-Conflict Governance, Peacekeeping, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Security Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 2011

Citation:

Author: Nishioka Tsutomu

Topics: Combatants, Male Combatants, Gender, Women, Boys, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Livelihoods, Militarized Livelihoods, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Rights, Women's Rights, Security, Human Security, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, Rape, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Sexual Slavery, SV against Women, Torture, Sexual Torture, Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Japan, South Korea

Year: 2007

Citation:

Author: Na Young Lee

Topics: Armed Conflict, Occupation, Combatants, Male Combatants, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Security, Human Security, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, Rape, SV against Women, Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: South Korea, United States of America

Year: 2007

Citation:

Author: Megan H MacKenzie

Abstract:

Maintaining security in a post-conflict country is often seen to be dependant on peace-building and reconstruction. One can hardly escape terms such as building sustainable peace and post-conflict construction. The disarmament, demobilization, reintegration, and rehabilitation, or DDR-R process for former combatants is being touted as an ideal model for ensuring that post-conflict societies return to peace. These four simple steps to lasting security have been used as a model in war torn countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Angola. The logic is that these steps aid in restoring countries to more secure, stable times. More specifically, this model streamlines former combatants from soldiers to citizens. Given that the task of this process is to encourage combatants to shed their roles as fighters and to return to their former pre-war roles, it seems intuitive that the way that women and girls go through this process is of particular interest. In fact, despite the ascendancy of this DDR-R model, there has been little critical analysis of the implications of this process for women in war-torn countries. Using Sierra Leone as a case study, I explore how women and girls have been included and treated at each phase of this process. I look specifically at the tendency of organizations and agencies operating DDR-R programs to promote a return of women and girls to their pre-war roles and the tension that women and girls feel between the power they gained as combatants and the social pressure to reintegrate. I also examine the implications, for women and girls, of international and national organizations commitment to equating security with the return to pre-war society rather than rethinking relations of power. I include testimonies from 50 former girl soldiers who talk about their roles during the conflict and their hopes for themselves today.

Keywords: women, conflict, development, security, post-conflict, reintegration

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, "New Wars", Combatants, Child Soldiers, Female Combatants, DDR, Gender, Women, Girls, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarization, Post-Conflict, Security, Human Security Regions: Africa Countries: Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone

Year: 2007