25 / 114
[
] 23
Image: ©Bluewind/Wikipedia commons, 2012
A graffiti detail on the separation barrier in the West Bank depicting Leila Khaled, a former Palestinian resistance fighter
involved. A study undertaken by the United Nations Economic
and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on the role
of institutions in advancing the WPS agenda in the Arab region
has shown that institutions are reinventing themselves in order
to respond to the WPS issues. This includes creating new func-
tions, units and specialities among civilian organizations with
mandates including WPS issues. Security sector institutions are
also increasingly reaching out and coordinating their responses
to WPS with other government and non-government institu-
tions. This coordination is expanding in scope, recurrence and
methods, ranging from joint research on early warning systems
to capacity development on post-conflict governance.
In Lebanon, for instance, the Internal Security Forces has
updated and expanded the training materials for gendarmes,
who are military officers entrusted with internal security issues,
to tackle social and civic issues relating to the influx of refugees
from Syria. This training included several components relating
to human rights, social and economic vulnerabilities, gender-
based violence, and the roles of various institutions which
contribute to peace and security in the country.
Civilian institutions are also making important contribu-
tions to peace and security. For example the Bahraini Supreme
Council for Women played a leading role in the National
Consensus Dialogue following the unrest of 2011, while
Sudan’s Ministry of Social Welfare and Insurance created a
unit mandated to focus on WPS issues. The national women’s
machineries in Jordan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen
and other states are also engaging in discussions to revisit
their priority areas and working methods towards focusing
more on established and emerging WPS issues.
However, progress is not always smooth and accumulative.
It often lurches forwards and then pauses while new capacities
are built and then assimilated into the institutions’ systems
and partner organizations’ work. This is critical to establish
a foundation for WPS work and for creating collaborations
and working interdependencies among these institutions, and
focusing along the three pillars of WPS in tandem. Without
this work, little can be accomplished towards achieving SDG
5 and gender equality in the Arab region noting the challenges
to peace and security the region faces.
Moving forward, the challenges that lie ahead require that
this foundation is firmly established and able to advance
the WPS agenda. The League of Arab States has devised a
regional strategy and action plan on WPS to guide the efforts
of member states and provide an umbrella for policy devel-
opment and institutional development. ESCWA has also
developed a range of technical materials for capacity develop-
ment designed in response to this new paradigm on WPS and
towards reinforcing its policy and institutional foundation.
The training materials include a thematic guide on respond-
ing to Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on WPS, a
report on response options to the WPS agenda, as well as
technical notes on a range of issues of relevance. ESCWA
also delivers direct technical assistance to member countries
based on their demand. This technical assistance ranges from
awareness-raising to capacity development on the design and
implementation of national action plans.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and
do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations.
G
ender
E
quality
and
W
omen
’
s
E
mpowerment