The first UN Security Council Resolution on Women Peace and Security (WPS), SCR 1325, was adopted in October 2000. It is the first resolution to link women to the peace and security agenda and acknowledge that armed conflicts impact women and girls differently from men and boys, as well as the need for women’s active and effective participation in peacemaking, including peace processes and peacebuilding.
SCR 1325 consists of four pillars
- The role of women in conflict prevention;
- Women’s participation in peacemaking and peacebuilding;
- The protection of women’s rights during and after conflict; and
- Women’s specific needs during repatriation, resettlement, rehabilitation, reintegration and post-conflict reconstruction.
Following SCR 1325, the Security Council has adopted nine additional resolutions on WPS, the most recent in October 2019. These resolutions are often referred to as belonging to two sets of categories.
The first group of resolutions promotes women’s active and effective participation in peacemaking and peacebuilding: SCR 1325 (2000), SCR 1889 (2013), SCR 2122 (2013), SCR 2242 (2015) and SCR 2493 (2019).
The second group, beginning with the adoption of SCR 1820 in 2008, aims to prevent and address conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV): S/RES/1820 (2008), S/RES/1888 (2009), S/RES/1960 (2010), S/RES/2106 (2013), and S/RES/2467 (2019).
SCR 1820 (2008) acknowledges that sexual violence, when used as a tactic of war, can be a threat to international peace and security. Rape and other forms of sexual violence are no longer considered an inevitable byproduct of armed conflict and, depending on the context, may constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity or an act of genocide.
