Women, Peace and (In)security? Rape, Armed Conflict and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 A Cross-Comparative Analysis

Date of Award

2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Hicks, Barbara

Keywords

Rape, Gender, Armed Conflict

Area of Concentration

Political Science

Abstract

Sexual and gender-based violence has been used as a systematic weapon of war, political violence, terror, and even genocide across geography and time. Yet, only recently have rape and other forms of sexual violence been addressed as deliberate strategies of war and repression in international humanitarian and human rights law. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, passed in 2000, was hailed as a watershed achievement in the incorporation of gender analysis into the emergent human security paradigm. This thesis examines the resolution's ability to redress the gender-specific insecurities of women and girls in armed conflict, particularly mass rape and sexual violence, by conducting a comparative qualitative analysis of its implementation by UN peacekeeping missions across four cases of armed conflict where sexual violence was used as a weapon of armed conflict � Liberia, Timor-Leste, Haiti, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although widespread rape persists in these countries, Resolution 1325 led to important domestic reforms in each country, some more substantial than others. Intervening variables that might determine Resolution 1325's ability to redress sexual violence appear to be levels of security, conflict type, and the moment during the peace process at which Resolution 1325 is introduced. The drafting of Resolution 1325 by a transnational feminist NGO, its adoption by the United Nations Security Council, and its subsequent implementation in these states can be understood as an instance of norm diffusion from the international to state level. This pattern of norm diffusion has implications both for international policies addressing sexual and gender-based violence in armed conflict and, more generally, for international legal and security dialogue.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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