UNIFEM LAUNCHES WEB PORTAL ON WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY

Portal Launched to Commemorate Third Anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security

United Nations, New York - A web portal, launched today by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), aims to be a centralized repository of information on the impact of armed conflict on women, and women's role in peace-building. Targeted at policy-makers, practitioners, researchers and the media, the portal will offer gender profiles of conflict countries, briefs on issues that affect women and girls just before, during and after conflict, and information on UN gender programming in conflict zones.

On October 31st 2000, the Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1325, calling for the prosecution of crimes against women, increased protection of women and children during war, appointments of more women to peacekeeping operations, and ensuring that more women participate in peace-building decision-making processes. The Resolution also noted a need to consolidate data on the impact of conflict on women and girls. Three years on, there has not been a dramatic increase in the quantity or quality of reporting on women in conflict and post-conflict zones, and existing data is scarce and scattered. A recent study conducted by the UN Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues revealed that of the 264 Secretary-General reports submitted to the Security Council from January 2000 to the present, only 17.8 per cent make references to gender concerns.

Speaking at a press conference today, Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of UNIFEM, said that the portal was an attempt to address the information gap, and help track progress towards implementing 1325. "Security Council Resolution 1325 is a watershed political framework that makes women - and a gender perspective - relevant to negotiating peace agreements, planning refugee camps, programmes and peacekeeping operations, and reconstructing war-torn societies. None of this can be achieved without accurate information and analysis," she said.

www.WomenWarPeace.org is also a follow-up to an Independent Experts' Assessment, commissioned by UNIFEM in 2002 to assess the impact of armed conflict on women. Two experts, Elisabeth Rehn and Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson, went to 14 conflict zones and found shocking evidence of an epidemic of violence against women and girls. The report, among its key recommendations, re-iterated the need for a systematic collection, analysis and sharing of information on women and conflict to ensure that gender concerns are consistently included in decisions and actions on conflict prevention and peace-building.

The Independent Experts' Assessment on Women, War and Peace can be found online at www.unifem.org and www.womenwarpeace.org .

UNIFEM is the women's fund at the United Nations, providing financial support and technical assistance to innovative programs promoting women's human rights, their economic and political empowerment, and gender equality in over 100 countries. For more information, visit www.unifem.org .

UNIFEM, 304 East 45th St, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10017, tel: 212-906-6400, fax: 212-906-6705