AFWG Action on UN SCR Resolution 1325

In a recent submission, the Australian Federation of Graduate Women (AFGW) congratulated their Government for producing a draft National Action Plan (NAP) designed to achieve the aims of UN Security Council Resolution SCR1325 and subsequent SCR Resolutions related to Women and Peacekeeping. AFGW was among the organizations participating in the 2009 consultation on the NAP and wrote independently to the Government about the need for Australia to proceed with producing such a plan.

In this newest submission, AFGW provides feedback on the draft NAP and includes references to AFGW and GWI policy resolutions calling for members to advocate in support of UNSCR 1325 and related UN Resolutions. AFGW suggests that greater attention needs to be paid in the NAP to improving the educational and economic situation of women, since economic status is a powerful factor in determining whose voices will be heard in decision-making. AFGW suggests that the Millennium Development Goals be added to the Beijing Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elmination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) as relevant for developing a gender framework of the NAP.

They further urge that care needs to be taken so that programs – for instance on leadership – do not cater for the ‘exceptional’ woman while doing little to change the situation of the majority of women. They note that it is unlikely that such programs will have large-scale effects unless they co-exist with programs to improve the general socio-economic status of women. For the full of the AFGW submission, see www.graduatewomen.org/docs/2011_AFGW_1325_NAP_submission.pdf.

AFGW is to be congratulated on their success and persistence.

Margaret Tait, Convener GWI Resolutions Committee