19 years after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, the first Security Council resolution to specifically address the impact of armed conflict on women, and women’s contribution to conflict resolution and sustainable peace a lot has been achieved in terms of better understanding of the relevance of a gender perspective within the overall international peace and security discourse.
Peace Research Institute - Plovdiv was invited to provide input into the development of the First Bulgarian National Action Plan (NAP) by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria. Our submission calls for:
1. National Action Plan should focus on conflict prevention and make commitments for particular policies, or develop localised initiatives to translate words into an impact on the ground. Specific recommendation: Plan and organise a seminar for the exchange of best practices with experts from Ireland on the topic of development of programmes for conflict prevention. Develop programs that train and empower women from both Roma and ethnic Bulgarian origin to be mediators in their respective communities when ethnic tension arises.
2. National Action Plan should focus on conflict prevention - including regulation of the arms trade and disarmament and it should identifies arms and specifically small arms and light weapons as a risk to women’s security. Specific recommendation: Integrate a gender perspective in planning and carrying out disarmament and arms control projects.
3. Since 2000 new challenges have arisen in global peace and security, such as climate change, the increasing number of refugees and violent extremism. Migrant women typically have numerous vulnerabilities that need to be addressed such as health issues, being single parents, the risk of trafficking and exploitation, limited access to the labour market due to residency status, childcare responsibility, etc.,
Specific recommendation: Include a gender perspective when developing humanitarian and development aid policies and programs. Such foreign policy programs should pro-actively call for the invitation of women to participate in discussions pertinent to the prevention and resolution of conflict, the maintenance of peace and security and countering violent extremism.
4. The 2015 Global Study on UNSCR 1325 found, there is a “consistent, striking disparity between policy commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment, and the financial allocations to achieve them” (p. 372)
Specific recommendation: To ensure smooth implementation of the National Action
Plan we call for a concrete financial allocation and it source to be included in the
plan.
5. In December 2016 the UNSC adopted resolution 2250 on youth, peace and security. In June 2018 the UNSC adopted resolution 2419, reaffirming its commitment to the implementation of UNSCR 2250. It has an additional focus on the inclusive representation of youth for the prevention and resolution of conflict, including when negotiating and implementing peace agreements.
Peace Research Institute - Plovdiv has been established in 2016. In 2017 we launched
the program Academy ‘Ekaterina Karavelova’ which focuses on girls and women’s
empowerment through the development and implementation of training programs. Our award winning social format 'SHE in...' runs every month in 4 different Bulgarian cities and reaches hundreds of girls and women.
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