The Implementation of Protection and Prevention pillars of UNSCR 1325 on Gender-Based Violence in Conflict-Affected Areas

The Implementation of Protection and Prevention pillars of UNSCR 1325 on Gender-Based
Violence in Conflict-Affected Areas

Introduction
In the 23 years since the declaration of the United Nations Security Council Resolution
(UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (the WPS Agenda), national and international
implementations have had both successes and failures in upholding the agenda. By evaluating the
progress that has been made, we can better understand how to move forward with better
solutions for the future.
UNSCR 1325 identifies four basic pillars to which all mandates are intended to relate:
participation, protection, prevention, and relief & recovery. This research will focus specifically
on the protection and prevention pillars. These pillars have impacted conflict-affected regions in
various ways, including through National Action Plans (NAPs), international statutes, and
organizations. The following terms will be used to describe the issues of gender-based violence
(GBV) in conflict: gender-based violence, sexual-based violence (SBV), and conflict-related
sexual violence (CRSV). This study found that the protection and prevention pillars of UNSCR
1325 have provided some guidelines for combating gender and sexual-based violence in
conflict-affected regions, in particular relating to NAPs, however, there has simply not been
enough progress, as most implementations lack specificity, and surrounding circumstances in
conflict regions often preclude any success.

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Background
To evaluate the impact of the protection and prevention pillars of UNSCR 1325, the
pillars first must be defined. The protection pillar calls for the “protection of women and girls
from sexual and gender-based violence” in emergency situations such as conflict zones and
humanitarian situations, such as refugee camps. The protection pillar emphasizes gender-based
violence in general, sexual violence in relation to conflict, and the specific protective needs of
refugees or internally displaced women and girls. The prevention pillar of UNSCR 1325 calls for
“improving intervention strategies in the prevention of violence against women'' which includes
prosecuting those responsible for violations of international law, emphasizing women’s rights
under national law, and supporting local women’s peace and conflict resolution initiatives. Often
overlooked, the prevention pillar also addresses implementing measures to prevent gender-based
violence. This is done through fighting impunity and increasing prosecutions of conflict‐related
sexual violence, as well as strategies focused on challenging discriminatory gender norms.
Successful Actions Taken
Since the adoption of UNSCR 1325 in 2000, a variety of initiatives have been successful
in addressing protection and prevention in the context of combating gender-based violence in
conflict-affected regions. For instance, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court was
enacted in 2002 and outlines a comprehensive list of crimes against women. Additionally, the
statute codified and expanded upon previous understandings of gender-based crimes and
persecution. This was the first international criminal law to recognize forms of sexual and
gender-based violences as distinct war crimes, which is significant in combating gender and
sexual-based violence in conflict-affected regions.

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Another noteworthy action taken after the adoption of UNSCR 1325 has been the
appointment of a Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict by the UN
Secretary-General. The Special Representative serves as the United Nations’ spokesperson and
advocate on conflict-related sexual violence. Progress made by the office since its creation in
2021 includes greater awareness of issues through the deployment of the Secretary-General's
Annual Report on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, as well as “more strategic and structured
engagement with the security and justice sectors,” as part of the prevention strategy. The annual
report is significant because it is presented by the Secretary-General on behalf of the UN, and
therefore is a reflection of how the UN intends to address the issue at large. Special
Representative Pramila Patten has also asserted her priorities for combatting conflict-related
sexual violence which include emphasizing a culture of justice and accountability, taking a
survivor-centered approach to responses, and addressing the root causes of CRSV such as
structural gender inequality, poverty, and marginalization. Making these assertions helps to
illustrate an awareness of the need to address the issue, and while this is not necessarily
indicative of successful action, it does depict some awareness and intent by the United Nations to
address conflict-related sexual violence.
In addition to novel initiatives, the expansion and improvement of past implementations
also reflect the success of UNSCR 1325 in adhering to its protection and prevention pillars. For
instance, The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) first
issued General Recommendation 19 in 1992, explaining obligations to prevent, investigate and
punish violence against women. In 2013, the Committee adopted General Recommendation 30
on women in conflict prevention, conflict, and post-conflict. The Recommendation outlines the
specific obligations to eliminate discrimination against women in conflict-affected settings to

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ensure women's human rights are protected before, during and after conflict. It also affirms
CEDAW's linkages with the Security Council Women, Peace, and Security Agenda. This
illustrates the successful improvement of previous implementations, providing some guidelines
for addressing conflict-related sexual violence.
The guidelines of National Action Plans (NAPs) in many countries have also shown a
general upward trend in including the prevention pillar. According to raw data analysis on the
presence of the UNSCR 1325 pillars’ in NAPs, while the participation pillar has been referenced
the most over time, since 2016 there has been a vast increase in broad references to prevention of
conflict which could be an indication that more NAPs are working to address conflict-related
sexual violence. Furthermore, in recent years there has been an increase in NAPs asserting the
concept of a “whole-of-government approach”. This means that there is a broad coalition of
departments with the responsibility to carry out the implementation of the WPS agenda, of which
some of the countries include the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Belgium, and Norway. While
Foreign Affairs and Gender/Women continue to be the most prominent departments holding
responsibility for these issues, the growth is significant because it indicates that some countries
are beginning to see the issue of gender and conflict as relevant in all government departments.
This is essential to creating long lasting implementations of the protection and prevention pillars
that are respected across the whole of a government, which is necessary to create collective
solutions to combatting conflict-related sexual violence.
Failed Implementations and Obstacles to Successful Implementations
Failed Implementations and Obstacles to Successful Implementations
While some strides have been made in addressing the protection of women and
prevention of violence against women in conflict-affected areas, there have also been

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shortcomings to implementations. For one, while there have been some successful aspects of
NAPs as previously discussed, most NAPs lack specificity when it comes to addressing the
issues at large. Notably, often little is stated regarding concrete actions or what is meant by each
state when they reference pillars. Furthermore, when pillars are directly mentioned in NAPs, the
reference is often skewed towards participation more than any other, with few referencing
protection or prevention as a primary pillar. While participation is certainly an essential issue to
be addressed, NAPs often lack a well-rounded representation of the WPS Agenda and therefore
are not always universal in assertions to combat gender and sexual-based violence, which in turn
makes progress variable across conflict regions and countries.
An interesting perspective to the prevention pillar and its implementation is the idea of
the prevention paradox. As proposed by Laura Shepherd, in relation to women, peace and
security in the context of conflict, this concept asserts that prevention actions are often
contradictory in themselves in conflict-affected areas. This is because often the conceptions of
methods of prevention in conflict rely on the logistics of military and security institutions. Thus,
when it comes to implementing the WPS Agenda, and specifically conflict-related issues,
militarism often dominates solutions and undermines the logic of peaceful solutions evident in
the construction of prevention in the WPS agenda. Recognizing this paradox is important
because it depicts a pitfall in how prevention of gender and sexual based violence is represented,
which has been a hindrance to successful implementations of preventative measures.
Furthermore, surrounding circumstances that greatly affect violence against women in
conflict-affected areas have been an obstacle to successful implementation of the prevention and
protection pillars. This includes the spike in violence against women and children that occurs
during humanitarian and public health emergencies. In terms of public health, the COVID-19

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pandemic has shown the ways in which a public health crisis affects women and often leads to an
increase in gender-based violence, while at the same time support services are heavily strained
due to the pandemic. Thus, not only have public health crises been shown to lead to an increase
in women’s exposure to violence, but they also have proven to be an obstacle to protection
services. Similarly, this can be seen in other humanitarian emergencies such as in the Democratic
Republic of Congo and regions in East Africa in which chronic conflicts leading to increased
violence are combined with climate and economic crises that often hinder attempts to prevent
and protect women from gender-based violence and conflict-related sexual violence. It is
important to recognize that surrounding circumstances often affect implementations of methods
of protection and prevention, and therefore must be taken into account in order to bring about
more successful solutions and policies.
Lastly, the ways in which the ideals of the protection and prevention pillars to combat
conflict-related sexual violence have been addressed and implemented have presented a huge
obstacle to progress. For instance, Security Council Resolution 1820 was adopted in 2008 and
calls for an end to widespread conflict-related sexual violence. However, the United Nations
often argues that it is the responsibility of member states to address conflict-related sexual
violence, and because of differing political and cultural views, as well as a lack of funding
among many states, especially during times of conflict, responses for protection and prevention
are often limited and structural inequalities that contribute to this violence remain in many cases.
Furthermore, the view of sexual violence as a individual issue at times by the UN ignores the
systemic problems of inequality that contribute to the violence, which once again is a limitation
to implementing protectitive and preventitive measures for combatting conflict related sexual
violence.

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Conclusion and Recommendations
In combatting conflict-related sexual violence, the protection and prevention pillars of
UNSCR 1325 have provided some guidelines for actions addressing the issue at hand in conflict
regions, however, these guidelines, especially in relation to NAPs have been limited, and the
ways in which the pillars themselves and subsequent Security Council Reccommendations are
structured limit the success of implementations, often lacking specificity and emphasizing
military solutions rather the peaceful logic depicted in the WPS pillars. Additionally, conflicts
themselves and their resulting circumstances often hinder the effectiveness of any aims at
protecting women from violence and preventing it in the first place.
It is therefore important to look for ways to improve the effectiveness in addressing the
protection and prevention pillars of UNSCR 1325 and mitigate the obstacles to implementation.
Greater emphasis should be placed on preventive measures such as warning systems and
preemptive discussions rather than simply resorting to increased militarization at the local,
national, and international levels. Furthermore, with increasingly complex conflict zones, WPS
officials should advocate for international humanitarian law and equal protection for all victims
of conflict as well as ensuring that the clear prohibition of sexual violence is integrated into national
law, military doctrines and training. When it comes to National Action Plans, through which many
aspects of the protection and prevention pillars are supposed to be executed, these plans should
address specific funding and resource allocations as well as inclusive measures and systemic
monitoring put in place.
For instance, 2022 marked the first year of the Generation Equality Action Coalitions and
its monitoring framework to identify progress, opportunities for collaboration, and gaps in
progress of WPS initiatives according to the UN Secretary General’ss’ 2022 Report on Women,
Peace and Security, . Systems such as these should continue to be used to evaluate current

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implementations and find ways to improve how gender and sexual-based violence in conflict
zones is addressed. Furthermore, efforts should continue to be made to encourage collaboration of
states and organizations with civil society entities when it comes to combatting conflict-related
sexual violence as they are often undervalued, yet are effective in implementing conflict resolutions.
These recommendations are not exhaustive in addressing the implementation of the protection and
prevention pillars in relation to conflict-related sexual violence, but they are nonetheless an important
starting point in advocating for increased protective and preventitive measures for women who
continue to suffer in conflict regions both during and post-conflict.