GOVERNMENTS SHOULD seize opportunities arising out of post-conflict or disaster recovery to address gender inequalities, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The recommendation is made in the UNFPA’s annual “State of the World Population” report, which was launched yesterday. This year’s report examines how “conflict and protracted humanitarian emergencies affect women and girls – and men and boys”.
The 116-page document, titled From Conflict and Crisis to Renewal: Generations of Change, uses the stories of individuals caught up in conflict or natural disasters across the world to illustrate how communities and civil society are “healing old wounds and moving forward”. It also explores how women are often excluded from the decision-making involved in recovery and peace-building.
Countries featured in the report include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Haiti, Iraq, Jordan, Liberia, the Palestinian territories, Timor-Leste and Uganda.
“Governments need to seize opportunities arising out of post-conflict recovery or emerging from natural disasters to increase the chances that countries are not just rebuilt, but built back better, and renewed, with women and men on equal footing,” the report says.
Speaking at the Dublin launch yesterday, Seán Hand of the UNFPA said that while conflict and disaster can deepen inequalities between men and women, the recovery process presents a “unique opportunity” to “rectify inequalities, ensure equal protection under the law, and create space for positive change”. The Dublin launch was hosted by the Irish Family Planning Association, UNFPA’s partner in Ireland. The event was one of more than 140 such events taking place in as many countries worldwide to mark the report’s release.
“When women and girls suffer deep discrimination, they are more vulnerable to the worst effects of disaster or war, including rape, and less likely to contribute to peacebuilding, which threatens long-term recovery,” Mr Hand said. The report coincides with the 10th anniversary of the UN Security Council’s resolution 1325, which aimed to put a stop to sexual violence against women and girls in armed conflict and to encourage greater participation by women in peace-building initiatives.
Dr Nata Duvvury, co-director of the global women’s studies programme at NUI Galway and one of the report’s authors, said resolution 1325 and other subsequent resolutions had helped create awareness of the need to pay more attention to women and their experience in the context of rebuilding societies.
“But there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure the transformative potential of these resolutions,” she added. “There needs to be greater attention paid to the transformation of gender norms, institutions and ideologies.”
Mr Hand said: “Maintaining previous levels of financial support for UNFPA will be difficult, but Ireland has a proud record of helping those in need, those less fortunate and those most deserving, even during tough economic times.”