Gender, Peace and Security in the Americas: A policy round-table
Thursday, March 17th 2016
9:00am – 11:30am
Hall of the Americas
Organiza on of American States
17th Street and Cons tu on N.W. Washington, D.C
In 2015 the global community celebrated the 15th anniversary of the adop on of United Na ons Security Council Resolu on 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security. This landmark agreement paved the way for signi cant progress in the leadership and par cipa on of women in peace-building, as well as the security sector governance and reform processes. However, a number of challenges remain including, the con nued prevalence of sexual violence in situa ons of con ict and insecurity; and the impunity of both the State and non-State actors that perpetrate these crimes.
The Principality of Liechtenstein, a Permanent Observer State of the OAS since January 2014, places high priority on women’s empowerment and women’s human rights in its foreign policy approach, in par cular at the United Na ons and with regard to the Women, Peace and Security agenda which has its most prominent basis in SC Resolu on 1325. For the rst me it was recognized in this resolu on that armed con icts have an especially serious impact on women. The resolu on also calls for their greater inclusion in peacekeeping and peacebuilding measures. Liechtenstein’s engagement with regard to the empowerment of women includes their par cipa on in media on processes. It also supports the Monthly Ac on Points for the UN Security Council, which show how to be er integrate the WPS into its daily work and subsequently achieve a be er implementa on of SC Resolu on 1325.
This policy round-table, organized jointly by the Principality of Liechtenstein, the O ce of the Assistant Secretary General of the OAS, the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) and the Geneva Centre for the Democra c Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), will focus on iden fying concrete policy and programma c entry points for building and strengthening a gender, peace and security agenda in the Americas. The session will also feature the launch of the Gender and Security Sector Reform Toolkit in Spanish, an ini a ve led by DCAF and UN Women.
