UK National action plan on women, peace & security - executive summary

Purpose

The UK National Action Plan (NAP) for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) on Women, Peace and Security is intended to strengthen our ability to reduce the impact of conflict on women and girls and to promote their inclusion in conflict resolution.

It provides a framework to ensure that the provisions of UNSCR 1325 are incorporated into the Government‟s work on conflict in our defence, diplomatic and development activity.

UK Government National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 Women, Peace & Security

Objectives

The aims of the revised NAP are to provide a clear framework for our work on Women, Peace and Security; to maximise the impact of UK efforts by focusing on where we have the most influence; to ensure cross departmental working; to ensure that UK action covers the four UN pillars of UNSCR 1325 (prevention, protection, participation, and relief and recovery); to strengthen our annual reporting and monitoring process; and to work more closely with civil society to improve the plan on an ongoing basis.

Commitments

The plan makes commitments to further implementation of UNSCR 1325 in three main areas of our activity:

National Action sets out how the FCO, MoD and DfID will integrate "Women, Peace and Security" into our conflict policy. The main commitments are:

• Training Gender considerations will be incorporated into our training on conflict in the FCO, DfID, Stabilisation Unit and MoD.
• Programmes Our programmes to address conflict will consider the needs of women and girls.

Operations

We will work to mainstream gender considerations into core working practices (e.g. the deployment of Female Engagement Officers in support of UK battle groups, to improve military engagement with female Afghan civilians)

Bilateral Action sets out actions being taken on the ground in priority conflict or post-conflict countries, by means of individual country plans delivered by our network of embassies and country offices. Country plans have been developed for three countries initially and we aim to increase this during the life of the NAP. Initial plans have been developed by Posts in:

• Afghanistan - includes actions to support Afghan women's civil society organisations, the influence of Afghan women in public life and to enhance their protection through support to legal reforms and SSR programmes.
• The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) - includes actions to improve protection of women protection through programmes that support reforms in security and legal services; increase the influence of women in public life and help survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
• Nepal - includes actions to support the Government‟s attempts to strengthen implementation of UNSCR 1325, programmes to increase women‟s participation in public life and assistance for survivors of sexual or gender-based violence.

Multilateral Action sets out how our actions in multilateral and regional organisations such as the UN, EU and NATO will strengthen implementation of UNSCR 1325 at a global level. The main commitments are:

• To provide political support, through the UN Security Council for measures to enhance the UN‟s institutional approach to UNSCR 1325, including through UN peacekeeping mission mandates, its ability to measure progress and ensuring a prominent profile for UNSCR 1325 in the Security Council.
• To provide political support for measures to incorporate UNSCR 1325 into the political and operational activities of the EU and NATO.

Monitoring and accountability

Mr Bellingham announced the publication of the Annual Review of the UK Government National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 Women, Peace and Security through a Written Ministerial Statement on 26 October 2011

The National Action Plan will be reviewed annually, incorporating feedback from civil society focus groups. Progress will be reported to Parliament and civil society through the Associate Parliamentary Group on Women, Peace and Security.

A full evaluation of the plan will be carried out after three years.

Development and consultation

The Government published a National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 Women, Peace and Security on 25 November 2010, and we committed at that time to Revising the Plan in 2012. The revision has been undertaken by the three key departments; Foreign Office, Ministry of Defence and Department for International Development.

The Associate Parliamentary Group on Women, Peace and Security (APG WPS) and the civil society organisation Gender Action on Peace and Security (GAPS), were consulted during a number of Focus Groups in 2011 and submitted to the government a Shadow Report of the first Annual Review ‘UK National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security: A year on’. 

On 28 February 2012, Mr Bellingham announced the publication of the UK Government Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 Women, Peace and Security, 2012 Revision through a Written Ministerial Statement.

The 2012 revision of the Plan includes for the first time a Regional Action Plan for the Middle East and North Africa, to focus efforts on Women, Peace and Security issues following the Arab Spring. The Plan also includes a number of new commitments for this government’s National, Multilateral and Bilateral Action over the coming year, including on existing priority countries, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nepal.