The Foreign Service Journal, April 2011

A P R I L 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 37 lected by member-states. In fact, women in civil society organiza- tions have done much more to ad- vance 1325’s intended norms and practices. And that suggests a car- dinal lesson for the future: the vi- tality of the resolution will come from villages and neighborhoods, not from capitals. States pay homage to the women-and-security resolutions, but the results after a decade suggest this is diplomatic lip service. Such an inert response is not confined to some developing countries where gender roles are “traditional” and a more prominent role for women in security might be considered disruptive. The major industrial states have also failed. Consider the multitude of special en- voys and negotiators dispatched by the European gov- ernments and the United States to help resolve conflicts in the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia (Aceh) and elsewhere. There’s nary a female in sight. Imple- mentation of peace accords is equally male-dominated. The protection aspect of UNSCR 1325 gets more ac- tion, but even here civil society groups are well ahead of officialdom. Women’s groups have focused sharply on preventing and punishing sexual violence, and have been building awareness and support through information campaigns. Governments have been less stalwart. One of the little-discussed outcomes of the war in Iraq, for example, is the prevalence of sexual crimes. Yet, as a Human Rights Watch report noted in 2009, “even in high-profile cases involving police or security forces, prosecutions are rare.” In Afghanistan, says journalist Anna Badhken, a national stability and reconciliation law enacted last year conveyed amnesty for rape and other crimes as the price for warlord cooperation. So the major states have much to answer for, both on the participation and protection agendas of 1325. But better efforts may be in the offing. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced last October that the United States would develop a 1325 Action Plan, a wor- thy, leading-by-example initiative. Perhaps more important, U.S. diplomats, aid workers and others can play a crucial role by support- ing the efforts of the women on the ground who have undertaken im- portant, related work — some- times at great personal risk — but need the legitimacy and resources that only international actors can provide. Among the questions the international community should try to answer is why some Security Council reso- lutions are pursued avidly and others are not. The sanc- tions regime on Iran, for example, is implemented with great vigor by the United States and several other mem- ber-states. Why that one and not others? If any U.N. Se- curity Council resolution can be safely ignored, the legiti- macy of the body is eroded. This dimension of the UNSCR 1325 discourse has been clouded by the wide- spread avowals to “do better,” but the failure to imple- ment for a decade is no less real. What We Found The International Civil Society Action Network and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Inter- national Studies commissioned six case studies in late 2009 to assess how well UNSCR 1325 has been implemented. The six cases — Aceh (in Indonesia), Sri Lanka, Liberia, Uganda, Colombia and Israel/Palestine— represent coun- tries that have recently emerged from conflict or are still experiencing it. The researchers were women indigenous to, or longtime practitioners in, the countries being stud- ied. They asked political leaders, civil society organizations, journalists and others basic questions about UNSCR 1325 — what it meant politically in the country, what specific measures were being enacted and implemented by the state, what international actors were accomplishing, and what were the roles of private actors, particularly women’s groups, in advancing the process. Not surprisingly, the findings did not reflect well on member-states. Too many officials were unaware of even the basic provisions of the resolution. (This was also true of important international actors and some civil society organizations.) Plans for implementing it have been hap- hazard, too. Some countries, such as Colombia, had F O C U S States pay homage to the women and security resolutions, but the results after a decade suggest this is diplomatic lip service. John Tirman is executive director and principal research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cen- ter for International Studies. His newest book, The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America’s Wars , will be published by Oxford University Press in June.