International Organizations

Citation:

O'Neill, William G., and Violette Cassis. 2005. Protecting Two Million Internally Displaced: The Successes and Shortcomings of the African Union in Darfur. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.

Authors: William G. O'Neill, Violette Cassis

Abstract:

Although armed conflict in Darfur continues to leave millions of people homeless, vulnerable to violence, and susceptible to potentially life-threatening diseases, African Union (AU) peacekeeping troops, contrary to popular belief, have made a difference in the region. Their presence has deterred the rape of women, reduced the recruitment of children into armed forces, protected humanitarian corridors and aid convoys, reduced the looting of animals belonging to Arab nomads, and helped displaced persons who returned to their homes. However, the report also finds many shortcomings and offers detailed recommendations to deal with the deteriorating situation in Darfur, including an increase in AU troop strength to at least 20,000.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Displacement & Migration, IDPs, Humanitarian Assistance, International Organizations, Peacekeeping, Security, Human Security, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Sudan

Year: 2005

Citation:

Shepherd, Laura J. 2010. “Women, Armed Conflict and Language – Gender, Violence and Discourse.” International Review of the Red Cross 92 (877): 143–59. doi:10.1017/S1816383110000093.

Author: Laura J. Shepherd

Abstract:

Facilitating critical reflection on the words and concepts used to write policy enables practitioners to avoid unconsciously reproducing the different forms of oppression and exclusion that their policies seek to overcome. In this article, the author provides an analysis of Chapter 5.10 of the United Nations Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Standards, arguing that policy makers, scholars, students and practitioners cannot avoid making and/or changing meaning through their well-meaning interventions, but that this need not lead to political or practical inertia.

Topics: Armed Conflict, DDR, Gender, Women, International Organizations, Violence

Year: 2010

Citation:

Helms, Elissa. 2003. “The ‘Nation-ing’ of Gender?  Donor Policies, Islam and Women’s NGOs in Post-War Bosnia- Herzegovina.” Anthropology of East Europe Review 21 (2): 85–92.

Author: Elissa Helms

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Gendered Discourses, International Organizations, Nationalism, NGOs, Post-Conflict, Religion Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Year: 2003

Citation:

Ackermann, Alice. 2003. “The Idea and Practice of Conflict Prevention.” Journal of Peace Research 40 (3): 339-47.

Author: Alice Ackermann

Abstract:

Interest in conflict prevention blossomed throughout the 1990s, and so did the literature on the subject. Moreover, conflict prevention is rapidly becoming a prominent focus of the new global security and global governance agenda with advocacy of preventive policies by international and regional organizations and nongovernmental actors, and the implementation of conflict prevention within many long-term development and post-conflict assistance programs. Nevertheless, the question of how to move from the rhetoric of conflict prevention to one of institutionalized practice still remains the major concern. Following an overview of conflict prevention in historical and contemporary perspective, this article surveys some of the major themes currently found in the literature on conflict prevention. While there are still skeptical views on the viability, legality, and effectiveness of conflict prevention, some significant strides have already been taken in the direction of creating a new normative international climate that permits increasingly the implementation of preventive action.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Development, Gender, Governance, International Organizations, Peace Processes, Post-Conflict, Security

Year: 2003

Citation:

Stark, Lindsay, Les Roberts, Wendy Wheaton, Anne Acham, Neil Boothby, and Alastair Ager. 2010. “Measuring  Violence against Women amidst War and Displacement in Northern Uganda Using  Neighborhood Mapping.” Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 64 (12): 1056–61.

Authors: Lindsay Stark, Les Roberts, Wendy Wheaton, Anne Acham, Neil Boothby, Alastair Ager

Abstract:

Background: Gender-based violence is viewed as a significant problem in conflict-affected regions throughout the world. However, humanitarian organizations typically have been unable to reliably estimate the incidence of rape, intimate partner violence and other forms of sexual abuse in such settings. Such estimates are required to inform programming in contexts such as Northern Uganda.

Methods: We sought to establish incidence rates for gender-based violence in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Northern Uganda. The assessments involved a ‘neighborhood methodology’, in which adult female heads of household reported about their own experience, their sisters’ experiences, and their neighbors’ experiences. 299 households were selected for interview across four camps using systematic random sampling.

Findings: Interviews were completed by 204 respondents (5 women having declined interview and 90 not having been successfully contacted). These respondents reported on themselves, a total of 268 sisters and 1206 neighbors. Reports with respect to these alternative populations produced estimates of overall incidence of intimate partner violence in the past year of 51.7 % (95% CI 44.8-58.7; respondents), 44.0% (41.2-46.9; respondents’ sisters) and 36.5% (30.7-42.3; respondents’ neighbors) respectively. In the same period estimates of incidence of forced sex by husbands were 41.0% (95% CI 34.2-47.8), 22.1% (17.0-27.2) and 25.1% (22.5-27.6) respectively, with incidence of rape by a perpetrator other than an intimate partner estimated at 5.0% (95% CI 2.0-8.0), 4.2% (1.8-6.6) and 4.3% (3.1-5.5) respectively.

Interpretation: Gender-based violence – particularly intimate partner violence – is commonplace in post-conflict Uganda. The ‘neighborhood method’ provides a promising approach to estimating human right violations in humanitarian settings.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Displacement & Migration, Domestic Violence, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Humanitarian Assistance, International Organizations, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women, Violence Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2010

Citation:

Cervenak, Christine M. 1994. “Promoting Inequality: Gender-Based Discrimination in UNRWA’s Approach to Palestine Refugee Status.” Human Rights Quarterly 16 (2): 300-74.

Author: Christine M. Cervenak

Abstract:

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), an influential body with the power to regulate access to health and social services, has established a patrilineal model for establishing refugee status. Palestinian refugee women who marry non-refugees may maintain their status, but their children cannot be considered as refugees and all family members are ineligible for most UNRWA benefits. In contrast, refugee men who marry non-refugees may pass on refugee status to their children and the family is eligible for UNRWA services, even if they are not needed. In addition to medical and social welfare benefits, UNRWA refugee status confers the right to residence in Lebanon which is not available to stateless Palestinians. Of concern is the perpetuation of gender discrimination if the UNRWA definition of Palestinian refugees forms the basis of a comprehensive peace settlement. Moreover, there are legal concerns as to whether UNRWA's standard violates international human rights codes, including those established by the UN. UNRWA apparently justifies its gender discrimination on the basis of the assumption that refugee women married to non-refugee men will follow their husbands; as in Arab culture, the system is structured around the male head of the family. The emerging Palestinian women's movement is espousing an alternate model based on the ideals of gender equality outlined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women adopted by the UN in 1979. The UNRWA has justified its standard on the grounds of budgetary limitations. More appropriate would be restrictions on assistance to those who are not in need and an extension of services to non-refugees without other sources of access to essential services. Attention to UNRWA's discriminatory policies is essential at this time since the infrastructure of the future Palestinian state is being developed.

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Humanitarian Assistance, International Organizations Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Palestine / Occupied Palestinian Territories

Year: 1994

Citation:

Patrick, Erin. 2007. “Sexual Violence and Firewood Collection in Darfur.” Forced Migration Review 27: 40–1.

Author: Erin Patrick

Topics: Displacement & Migration, IDPs, Refugees, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gender, Women, International Organizations, NGOs, Security, Human Security, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Sudan

Year: 2007

Relevant Links: http://www.fmreview.org/issues/copyright

Citation:

Bertolazzi, Francesco. 2010. “Women with a Blue Helmet: The Integration of Women and Gender Issues in UN Peacekeeping Missions.” UN-INSTRAW Working Paper Series, UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, Washington, DC.

Author: Francesco Bertolazzi

Abstract:

As the mandates of peacekeeping missions have become more and more complex, there has been an increasing recognition that a gendered approach to peacekeeping is essential to adequately respond to the needs of women, men, boys and girls who have been affected differently by armed conflict. The integration of gender into peacekeeping missions has taken two approaches: mainstreaming gender into the mandates, policies and practices of peacekeeping missions and increasing the number of women working in peacekeeping operations. As of 2008, only 2 per cent of military personnel in UN peacekeeping were female. This paper aims to enhance understanding of the challenges that stand in the way of realizing the goals of achieving a gender balance in peacekeeping operations, looking at recruitment of women, the impact of women peacekeepers, and training and capacity-building activities.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Girls, Boys, Gender Mainstreaming, International Organizations, Peacekeeping

Year: 2010

Citation:

Krasniqi, Vjollca. 2007. “Imagery, Gender and Power: The Politics of Representation in Post-War Kosovo.” Feminist Review 86 (1): 1–23.

Author: Vjollca Krasniqi

Abstract:

The article focuses on the politics of representation in Kosova since the United Nations took over 'peace management' in 1999. It uses UN propaganda posters (political pedagogy) and local nationalist political advertising as a way to read the multiple gendered discourses of representation. It shows how gender is used relationally between competing forces-the 'international community' and nationalists-as a tool to ensure UN's imposition of Western policies and norms and as a mechanism for local politicians to consolidate their domination of the domestic/private sphere. Moreover, it discusses the price paid to mimic the West: how Kosovar politicians have sought to 'undo' national identity in favour of a Western self-representation through a gendered abnegation of Islam. Thus, as an intrinsic part of the discourse of 'peace-building', these images represent the site of power production, domination, negotiation, and rejection, involving the collaboration of different actors, institutions, and individuals. Three specific points will be made: first, the article seeks to show that a Western political modernization discourse has, paradoxically, reinforced patriarchal relations of power and traditional gender roles in Kosova through the subjugation of women. Second, it explains the inability to resolve competing Albanian narratives — one relying on the legacy of peaceful resistance and the other on the armed struggle against Serbian domination during the 1990s. Third, through the intermeshing of international peace-keepers and local nationalist patriarchs, it will show how the militarization of culture is perpetuated through, and in relationship togender.

Keywords: Kosova, Gender, peacekeeping, images, representations, patriarchies

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, International Organizations, Peacebuilding, Post-Conflict Reconstruction Regions: Europe, Baltic states, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Albania, Kosovo

Year: 2007

Citation:

Odanović, Gorana. 2010. “Participation of Women in UN Peacekeeping Operations.” Western Balkans Security Observer 5 (16): 70–79.

Author: Gorana Odanović

Abstract:

Participation of women in the UN peacekeeping operations, as one of necessary preconditions for their effective and successful implementation, has become more widely accepted only during the past ten years. Although women’s contribution in the peacekeeping operations is multifaceted (the level of security among the local women increases, the trust of the local community in the mission grows, the contact with the female population is easier to establish, etc.), the percentage of women who participate in these operations is at the low level, especially when it comes to police and military troops. The greatest obstacles to higher involvement of women in peacekeeping operations are in the fact that there are very few women in police and military units in the states which participate in the UN peacekeeping operations, but also in gender discrimination based on prejudice and stereotypes that women do not have required psychological and physical abilities to perform successfully in the peacekeeping operations. These are, at the same time, the reasons why so few women are involved in the UN peacekeeping operations in which the Serbian police and military units are participating.

Topics: Gender, Women, International Organizations, Peacekeeping Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Serbia

Year: 2010