University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ASSESSING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 1325: THE LIBERIAN CASE BY PAULA ADJO SOLI CONSUEGRA (10636015) THIS DISSERTATION IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE MASTER OF ARTS DEGREE IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS LEGON JULY 2018 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh DECLARATION I, Paula Adjo Soli Consuegra, hereby declare that this dissertation is the result of an original research conducted by me under the supervision of Dr. Hassan Wahab and that no part of this work has been submitted anywhere else for any other purpose. Furthermore, references to the work of other persons or bodies have been duly acknowledged. ……………………………………… ……………………………... PAULA ADJO SOLI CONSUEGRA DR. HASSAN WAHAB (STUDENT) (SUPERVISOR) DATE…………………… DATE…………………….. i University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh DEDICATION To my mother María José Consuegra Domínguez, my sister Berta Soli Consuegra and my grandmother Susana Domínguez Ruiz. ii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my family for giving me the opportunity of taking this course, for their unconditional love and support and for the strength they give me to pursue my studies. My sincere gratitude goes to my supervisor, Dr. Hassan Wahab, for his patience, guidance, continuous source of advice and support and for always trying to get the best out of every student. My gratitude also goes to Professor Joy Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu for granting me the opportunity to interview her. I would also like to thank the faculty and administrators at the Legon Center for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD) for their guidance and assistance throughout my study period at the Center. Finally, I am indebted to Richard Kodjokuma for his help in submitting this work to the graduate school. iii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ........................................................................................................................ i DEDICATION ........................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................. vii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.0 Background to the Research Problem .................................................................................. 1 1.1 Statement of the Research Problem ..................................................................................... 7 1.2 Objectives of the Study ........................................................................................................ 9 1.3 Research Questions ............................................................................................................ 10 1.4 Scope and Limitation of the Study..................................................................................... 10 1.5 Rationale of the Study ........................................................................................................ 11 1.6 Hypothesis.......................................................................................................................... 12 1.7 Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................................... 12 1.8 Literature Review............................................................................................................... 16 1.8.1 The absence of women in peace and security matters ................................................ 16 1.8.2 Assessing the reasons behind the low percentage of women ...................................... 18 1.8.3 Examining the barriers to female participation ........................................................... 20 1.8.4 Feminist praxis in Liberia ........................................................................................... 22 1.9 Conceptual definitions ....................................................................................................... 24 1.9.1 Conflict Resolution. .................................................................................................... 24 1.9.2. Peacekeeping and Peacekeepers................................................................................. 24 1.9.3. Gender. ....................................................................................................................... 24 1.9.4. Gender-balancing and Gender-mainstreaming........................................................... 25 1.9.5. Empowerment. ........................................................................................................... 25 1.10 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 25 1.11 Arrangement of Chapters ................................................................................................. 26 iv University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ENDNOTES ............................................................................................................................ 28 CHAPTER 2 OVERVIEW OF PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS, WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN PEACE PROCESSES 2.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 31 2.1 Peacekeeping...................................................................................................................... 31 2.1.1 Conceptual Definitions .............................................................................................. 32 2.1.2 Core principles of peacekeeping .............................................................................. 34 2.1.3 Evolution of peacekeeping operations: Multidimensional operations ................. 38 2.2 Women’s participation in peacekeeping processes............................................................ 39 2.2.1 The case of Somaliland. ............................................................................................ 39 2.2.2 The case of Guatemala .............................................................................................. 44 2.2.3 The case of DR of Congo .......................................................................................... 47 2.3 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 50 ENDNOTES ............................................................................................................................ 52 CHAPTER 3 BACKGROUND TO LIBERIAN CONFLICT, ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PEACEKEEPING MISSION AND GENDER-INCLUSION IN LIBERIAN PEACE PROCESS 3.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 55 3.1 The Liberian Civil War ...................................................................................................... 55 3.1.1 Origins of the war: History of Liberia ......................................................................... 55 3.1.2 The outbreak and proceedings of the Civil War ......................................................... 56 3.2 The Establishment of the United Nations Mission in Liberia............................................ 58 3.2.1 The Precedent. The United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia .............................. 59 3.2.2 Overview of the Mandate of the Peacekeeping Operation. ......................................... 61 3.3. Process of Implementation of Resolution 1325: The adoption of the Liberia National Action Plan............................................................................................................................... 63 3.3.1 Participation of women in managerial roles at the peacekeeping mission in Liberia. 68 3.3.2 Challenges to the participation of women at the peacekeeping mission in Liberia .... 69 3.3.A Troop Contributing Countries ................................................................................. 69 3.3.B Lack of Sex-Disaggregated Data ............................................................................. 72 v University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3.3.3 Empowerment of women through gender-sensitive training efforts ........................... 74 3.3.4 Assessing the policies of “Adding-up” women in peacekeeping missions ................. 75 3.3.5 Benefits of including female peacekeepers ................................................................. 77 3.4 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 78 ENDNOTES ............................................................................................................................ 79 CHAPTER 4 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 4.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 81 4.1 Summary of Findings ......................................................................................................... 81 4.2 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 83 4.3 Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 85 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................... 87 APPENDIX .............................................................................................................................. 95 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Deployed UN personnel November 2003. ............................................................... 72 Figure 2. Deployed UN personnel September 2013 ................................................................ 72 Figure 3. Deployed UN personnel September 2015 ................................................................ 73 vi University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS DPKO- The Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the United Nations ECOWAS- Economic Community of West African States. FFPU- First Female Police Unit IR- International Relations LNAP- Liberia National Action Plan NAP- National Action Plan NGO- Non-Governmental Organisation RESOLUTION- Security Council Resolution 1325 TCCS- Troop Contributing Countries UN- United Nations UNDAW- United Nations Division for Advancement of Women UNESCO- The United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation UNINSTRAW The United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women UNMIL- United Nations Mission in Liberia vii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh UNOL- The United Nations Office of Support to the Consolidation of Peace in Liberia UNOMIL- United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia UNSC- United Nations Security Council US- United States viii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ABSTRACT Women have not been actively participating in peace and security. After the efforts conducted by women’s group, the UN adopted Resolution 1325 on the 31st October 2000. The Security Council resolution stresses the importance of women’s participation and full involvement in peace and security. There is empirical evidence which demonstrates that the participation of women in peacekeeping operations is beneficial for the mission since due to their participation, a strong peace agreement is more likely to be reached leading to a long-lasting peace in the country. Nevertheless, despite the adoption of the resolution and the evidence, women’s participation in peacekeeping missions remains low. The study examines the United Nations Mission in Liberia, the first peacekeeping mission that made great efforts to implement Resolution 1325. The study employed a qualitative methodology approach which relied on a semi-structured interview as well as on the review of relevant literature regarding the matter. The findings showed how, despite the efforts made by the Liberian government to empower women and to increase their participation, the peacekeeping mission was not gender-balanced. The greater challenges to the enhancement of women included very low percentage of women in the top troop contributing countries to the mission, the absence of sex-disaggregated data, and the lack of local women in Liberian peace and security institutions. The study proposed several recommendations that included encouraging States to increase the number of female peacekeepers, helping governments in the creation of a national action plan, and improving the quality of sex-disaggregated data. It is an imperative necessity to overcome the challenges which still constitute a barrier for women’s participation in peace and security. ix University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.0 Background to the Research Problem By the simple act of glancing over the current news regarding peace and security affairs, women are clearly underrepresented. One just has to take the example of the G8 summits, meetings in which global issues such as security threats are discussed, only two participants out of eight are females. Even the figure of the Secretary General of the United Nations –a key figure on implementing policies for the achievement of global peace and security- has never been personified by a woman. The UN is an international organisation which was founded on 12th October, 1945. The main objective of the UN is to promote and maintain international peace and security in order to avoid catastrophic confrontations among states as it was the case with World War II.1 The need and will to create an entity capable of dealing with the maintenance of peace and security led to the creation of the Security Council in October 1945 by the states which were victorious in World War II - The United States, China, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (which was succeeded in 1990 by the Russian Federation), France and the United Kingdom. Its functions are determined at Article 24 to 26 and its powers are granted by Chapters VI, VII, VIII, and XII of the UN Charter. 2 The focus of attention of the constitutive Charter is set on proceedings and recommendations oriented towards the member States to uphold the stability of the global order and avoid going through the bloody conflicts of the 20th century. As an example, the case of Article 33.1 where the organisation calls for the Pacific Settlement of Disputes –through negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration. In case these proposed diplomatic solutions do not resolve the confrontation, the dispute must be brought out to the attention of the International Court of 1 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Justice as a last appeal. This article reaffirms the will of the UN on maintaining international peace and security and therefore avoiding any violent conflict. By the time of the redaction of the Charter in 1945, inter-state armed conflicts were the only ones that were taken into consideration because of the aftermath of the World Wars. The nature of armed conflicts, however, has shifted from inter-state confrontations to intra-state conflicts like civil wars, where civilians play a major role both as perpetrators and victims.3 The nature of intra-state conflicts involve different rivalries between different ethno-cultural groups or religious divergences. The community that perceives itself as being underprivileged and unfairly mistreated tends to seek to overturn the situation through conflict.4 The victims are no longer comprised of professional fighters, but civilians who are being targeted by other civilians or even governmental forces when the State in conflict decides to intervene.5 The States’ monopoly on the legitimate use force to resolve a dispute inside or outside its territorial boundaries is being questioned due to the emerging civil wars where civilians are the ones principally involved.6 The consequences of such conflicts go beyond losses in the battlefield. It includes population fleeing to safer places, the decrease of a state economic welfare which leads to the impoverishment of the population along with other human rights violations including mass gang rape, systematic torture, sexual mutilation and genocide among other atrocities.7 Targeting civilians during a conflict constitutes a flagrant violation of International Humanitarian Law. 8 The objective of International Humanitarian Law is to regulate the relations among states by limiting the effects of an armed conflict, in order to protect those who do not take part in them.9 In effect, civilians are protected by the norms of Humanitarian Law because they do not have the status of combatants which would allow them to attack and be attacked; thus, civilians 2 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh cannot be targets in a war under any situation whatsoever. Furthermore, the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War was adopted in 1949. This Convention is applicable during inter-states and intra-states armed conflicts, filling somehow the existing normative gap regarding civil wars.10 The shift from inter-state conflicts to intra-state wars has laid out a controversial situation for the international community because of the existence of the principle of territorial sovereignty. This International Law principle establishes that a state exercises its jurisdiction over its territory and population.11 In addition, Article 2.7 of the UN Charter underpins this principle by establishing the principle of non-intervention; no state should interfere in the domestic jurisdiction of any state. Thus, when there is a mass violation of human rights within a state, the UN cannot freely decide to intervene because it would be against International Law. To overcome the problem created by the principle of non-intervention, the UN created the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) under the direct supervision of the Security Council with the objective of restoring peace and stability in critical conflict zones. However, there has to be an acceptance sine qua non of the State that goes under an armed conflict for the UN to be able to deploy its personnel. Consent is therefore one of the three core principles of peacekeeping missions.12 Nonetheless, despite the fact that little could be done about an absence of consent, the UN should continue making sure that civilians are being protected during an armed conflict and that no crimes are being committed. During the course of a conflict, there are differences regarding how war is experienced among civilians. A general statement concerning the nature of conflicts made by The UN Platform for Action described in 1995 how women’s and girls’ needs are more vulnerable during a confrontation. According to the Human Security Report Project in 2003, women and girls are more likely to be subjected to non-lethal violence, such as involuntary disappearance, sexual 3 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh slavery, rape or sexual abuse among other undesirable actions.13 They are more likely to be affected by the long-term consequences of a war. These long-term consequences include shortages of food and resources or lack of medical treatment.14 The violence suffered by women during a conflict has been identified as gender-based violence. This concept refers to the violence perpetuated towards an individual because of their gender roles in society. 15 The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women adopted in 1993 described gender-based violence as “Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.” 16 Even though these hostilities are particularly harmful for women, they have been notably absent from peace and security matters. The absence of women is mainly due -among other factors-, to the association of war and security to a masculine figure. Characteristics such as strength, power, autonomy, independence and rationality are associated with men and women are perceived as peaceful beings that need protection instead of them being the protectors. 17 Great efforts have been made at an international level in order to redress the absence of women. The most notable efforts have been made by women’s peace activists and the NGO Working Group on Women International Peace and Security. As they have argued, women have qualities that can contribute to peace, and therefore should be able to participate in peace processes and post conflict resolutions. 18 The UN has not fallen behind in trying to redress such discrimination. The UN agency focused on women’s’ rights, the Commission on the Status of Women, was created in 1946 and since then, it has campaigned the promotion of women’s active role in the fight for peace. 19 There have also been several conferences to address the problem. The first International Conference 4 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh for Women was held in Mexico in 1975 and was followed by the Women’s Decade in the United Nations (1975-1985) where various instruments were adopted to create a legal framework about women, peace and security. In 1982, UN Resolution 3763 concerning the participation of women in promoting Peace and International Cooperation was adopted. There were subsequent meetings and conferences such as the International Conference for Women held in Beijing in 1995, where an agreement on an Action Plan to prevent violence against women and to reinforce the exiting norms in International Law was reached.20 Aware of the magnitude of the matter, in 1999 the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the United Nations established the Windhoek Declaration and the Namibia Plan of Action to improve gender-balance and gender equality in UN peacekeeping. This legal instrument emphasized women’s participation and called for reaching equality between men and women who served in managerial and decision-making positions in peacekeeping missions.21 These efforts to enhance women’s position in Peace and Security concluded with the adoption in 2000 of UN Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. The Resolution recognizes the serious impact that armed conflicts have on women and children and the important role that women play in conflict prevention, resolution and reconstruction. It states the need for an equal participation and involvement of women to preserve and promote peace and security, and it calls the member states to make sure that women are involved at all decision-making levels.22 As far as the involvement of women at all decision-making levels is concerned, new empirical data states the positive impact of women’s leadership and participation on peace processes. The inclusion of women in such processes is linked to better outcomes including a more durable and stable peace in the given State.23 The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva undertook a research from 2011 to 2015 of 40 peace processes. The findings confirm the statement mentioned before “in cases where women’s groups were able to exercise 5 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh a strong influence on the negotiation progress, there was a much higher chance that an agreement would be reached than when women’s groups exercised weak or no influence” and in fact “in cases of women’s participation and strong influence, an agreement was almost reached.”24 The inclusion of females is beneficial for the protection of women and girls.25According to a study based on the UN missions that were held in Namibia, South Africa and Rwanda, women police peacekeepers were seen by the locals as “less threatening, more willing to listen and better able to diffuse potentially violent situations”. 26 Women who have been victims of sexual abuses are more likely to talk about it and to report incidents of sexual violence to other women, as a result, the presence of female peacekeepers is beneficial since they could provide the needed help that could not be so easily provided by men.27 Furthermore, there is also the presupposition that women could possibly help in the mitigation of the instances of sexual exploitation and abuse. In 1995 a study made by the UN Division for the Advancement of Women reached the outcome that a minimal female presence reduced significantly the cases of rape and prostitution during the peacekeeping missions. 28 The report Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in Multidimensional Peace Operations underpins the argument that women can effectively reduce aggressiveness and hyper masculinity.29 Nonetheless, the fact that women’s presence mitigates sexual aggressions remains a controversial statement since officers at peacekeeping missions argue that this benefit has not been clearly demonstrated yet.30 As the case of study of this work is the analysis of the peacekeeping mission in Liberia, it is necessary to acknowledge the fact that Liberia is a member state of the UN since its creation in 1945.31 According to Article 25 of the Charter of the United Nations, states must carry out the all decisions adopted by the Security Council -being the Resolution 1325 part of those decisions. Therefore, states have an obligation to comply with Security Council resolutions. 6 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Despite the existence of the empirical evidence supporting the benefits of women participation in conflict prevention and conflict resolution, women’s inclusion have often been contested. In effect, in the cases where women actually get the chance to participate, their participation does not always come from the willingness of the parties to establish a gender-balanced negotiating table, but from the support of outsiders to the peace processes such as local women’s movements or international actors.32 1.1 Statement of the Research Problem Women have not been as equally represented as men concerning peace processes. This entails that even though women are the main victims, they “are affected by war but mostly […] react to rather than manage it".33 The former Secretary General Kofi Annan declared in 2002: “One of the greatest challenges is harnessing the energy and activism that many women exhibit in informal [peacebuilding] activities and translating them into their participation and influence in formal activities”.34 Despite the adoption of the Resolution 1325, there is still a low percentage of women participating in peace negotiations in official roles such as negotiators, mediators, signatories or witnesses.35 The UN carried out a study in 2008 analyzing women’s participation in 33 different peace negotiations.36 The findings confirmed the clear absence of females. In effect, there were 11 women out of 280 individuals – only 4% of the participants were women.37 Consequently, women are underrepresented at places and situations where crucial decisions about the conflict, post-conflict recovery and governance are made. As it has been mentioned in the prior section, the parties in the dispute might not consider the inclusion of women as a priority. Therefore, the issues of underrepresentation might continue to go unsolved. On the other hand, the problem of underrepresentation goes beyond the simple 7 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh solution of increasing the number of females, it is about making sure that women participate and that they play an active and effective role in peace negotiations. Otherwise, not only does women’s absence constitute an attempt to the gender-balance objective, but peace outcomes are reached only with the participation of male leaders –the only ones making the important decisions.38 In order to resolve a conflict, it is necessary to have enough information about the local milieu to act in the most suitable way possible. In relation to the peace processes issuing from conflicts –especially in the African continent-, foreigners who do not have the sufficient knowledge and experience to adequately address the conflict, might participate in the peacekeeping mission holding high-ranked positions within the operation.39 This entails that not only masculine is the predominant gender on peace negotiations –following the findings of the reports made about peace negotiations-, but they might also lack of local understanding. When it comes to the role played by military and police female peacekeepers, the percentage remains low. 40 In 2008, out of 77,117 personnel in the UN peacekeeping, only 1,640 were female constituting a scant 2%. This underrepresentation is not the only problem female peacekeepers face. Once they have been sent to a peacekeeping mission, women may be prevented from participating in peacekeeping jobs and they are often deployed to do what is conceived to be “feminine tasks” such as administrative duties. They may also be prevented from interacting with local communities that might be targeted as “too dangerous” for women.41 Furthermore, the fact of increasing the number of females with the expectation that they would come in between men and sexual abuses, perpetrates the existing gender dichotomies and gender roles. As in this example, it reinforces the idea of women being peaceful beings that would be able to counter-balance the unacceptable behavior of their male counterparts. 8 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The lack of a gender-balanced peacekeeping missions, including all levels of participation, results in the foreseeable outcome that missions do not benefit from the positive impact of female personnel. A full implementation of the Resolution 1325 should be done at every peacekeeping mission. Nevertheless, currently there are operations which still face drawbacks in assuring women’s participation.42 This work is focused on the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) due to the fact that it is one of the first countries that has implemented the Resolution 1325 in many aspects of the peace building process. Furthermore, the Government of Liberia has fully implicated itself in adopting National Plans in order to ensure its implementation. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze how the presence of women as well as their contributions were considered as a priority in Liberia by the negotiating parts and not only by external actors. UNMIL could set the example on how to increase women’s participation to other peacekeeping missions which are struggling gender-balancing their units. 1.2 Objectives of the Study 1- To assess the reasons behind the low percentage of women taking active roles in peacekeeping missions. 2- To examine the barriers to female participation in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. 3-To assess the engagement of Liberia on implementing the Resolution 1325 including the actions that were taken at a national level. 4- To make recommendations on how to increase women’s participation in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. 9 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1.3 Research Questions The implementation of the Resolution 1325 and its effectiveness of it might stir up some questions. In this specific case, the study seeks to answer the following questions in order to address the issue: 1-Why have women not been playing leading roles in peacekeeping missions? 2-What are the challenges to implementing Resolution 1325 in order to increase the number of female personnel in the UN peacekeeping mission of Liberia? 3- How has Resolution 1325 been implemented in the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia concerning the inclusion of female personnel? 4- What recommendations must be done in order to increase women’s participation in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations? 1.4 Scope and Limitation of the Study The focus of this study is the analysis of the UN peacekeeping mission that took place in Liberia due to the strong presence of women in the process of negotiating peace as well as in combat. The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was established in September 2003 and on June 30, 2016, the mission of transferring the security responsibilities to the Liberian authorities was completed. The UNSC adopted on December 22, 2016 the Resolution 2333 which extended the Mission’s mandate. In the current time, the mission continues its gradual disengagement from the country and is expected to complete the withdrawal by March 30, 2018.43 The end of UNMIL facilitates the assessment of the effectivity of the mission itself and therefore the implementation of the Resolution. 10 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh In addition, it was the first mission to deploy a female-only police unit and also the very first time that an African woman was appointed as a Special Representative at a peacekeeping mission.44 This demonstrates the level of commitment of the mission regarding the implementation of the Resolution 1325. 1.5 Rationale of the Study The DPKO did not start to specifically ask for the participation of women in its missions until 1994 when the United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali recommended “the target of 50 percent women and men”. Ever since, the inclusion of women in Peace and Security has received special attention. Women can no longer be ignored and their participation has been acknowledged by the Secretary General Kofi Annan: “we can no longer afford to minimize or ignore the contributions of women to all stages of conflict resolution, peacemaking, peace-building, peacekeeping and reconstruction processes. Sustainable peace will not be achieved without full and equal participation of women and men”.45 The Resolution 1325 calls for an increased percentage of women in Peace and Security. Since implementing a Security Council Resolution is not an easy task, a meticulous work on how the Resolution 1325 was adopted at the peacekeeping mission in Liberia is not only needed but recommendable. In addition, such research can contribute to the existing literature on the role of women in Peace and Security as well as to formulate recommendations which might help to fully implement the Resolution. 11 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1.6 Hypothesis This study hypothesizes that increasing the number of female personnel in peacekeeping missions is beneficial for making the operation successful and establishing a long-lasting peace. 1.7 Theoretical Framework The concept of gender and what it is conceived as gender (Vid- infra Conceptual Definitions) is an important factor in order to understand how military institutions work as well as the different roles men and women might deploy within these institutions. The preconceived ideas of what the different sexes ought to do helps in the persistence of the gender dichotomies that little reflect reality. The idea of gender and how societies are perceived is extremely linked –if not the core idea- to the different feminist theories. As a general definition of feminism, it could be said that it is a theory and a social movement that seeks to correct the power relations between men and women.46 According to the Webster dictionary, feminism is “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes” as well as the “organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests”. There are many varieties of feminist theories but they all share two common objectives. The first one being descriptive because it aims at revealing both obvious and subtle gender inequalities, and the second one being change-oriented aimed at eliminating those inequalities.47 Despite these common points, feminist scholars differ on the causes of women’s subordination, on the alternative to supersede the actual patriarchal society and on the path to follow in order to redress this situation.48 Out of the existing feminist theories, the theory that best fits in the framework of this study is the critical feminist theory. The phrase critical feminist theory evokes different meanings. It 12 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh could be used as a suggestion that all feminist theories criticize the misogynistic view of women in society. On the other hand, it could be used as a suggestion that the feminist theory has not gone far or deep enough to counter the subordination lived by women in society. 49 For the purpose of the present work, critical feminist theory must be understood as the second assertion. Even though critical feminist theory and feminist theory focus on economic and social inequalities, these two traditions have developed independently. In effect, while the feminist theory uses sex and gender as the crux of their analysis, critical theorists also focus on sex and gender, but they lay emphasis on class and how this interacts with other identities such as ethnicity, race, religion and sexuality. 50 Its critique includes other critical theories such as the dominance feminist theory which views society as a place where women are abused by men due to power imbalance, or the critical race feminism which focuses on black women since a lot of feminist theories assume all women are the same and share whiteness as common trait. 51 The critical theory seeks to skew the dichotomization of concepts such as male and female, masculine and feminine or rationality and emotionality. It argues that such concepts have been socially constructed and are misleading and ambiguous. Therefore, they need to be deconstructed. Likewise, the elements linked with “the feminine” are generally devalued meanwhile those linked to men happen to have a greater value. For instance, being emotional vs. rational or being weak/soft vs. strong. 52 Alongside feminist theories, the critical theory criticizes patriarchal forms of hierarchical hegemony. In addition, critical theorists have declared their discomfort regarding the forms of elitism where some researchers in the matter are speaking for the disadvantaged. 53It is important not to overshadow the experiences and voices of the less represented. 13 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The critical theory also criticizes a series of change strategies adopted –at a first glance- to attain gender equality. The first strategy is the “Fixing individual women” by which women must learn to act as men if they aspire to work at male-dominated jobs. 54 Nonetheless, as it has been previously stated regarding the devaluation of “feminine traits”, what is considered assertive for a man is considered aggressive for a woman. Women would succeed in the given jobs because they have learned to act like men; they have assimilated male norms. Nonetheless, they face way more criticism and their work is submitted to extreme scrutiny. 55 The strategy is often focused on managerial posts and the beneficiaries would mainly be white, middle class women since working class women have fewer opportunities for promoting into managerial roles. 56 Some critical theorists argue that feminist theory is only focused on the concern of middle class white women who want to have more access to well-paid managerial posts. In addition, it would assume the immutability of hierarchy, the division of labor, capitalism and class. 57 Women who do not share the same characteristics, - women pertaining to a racial, religious or ethnic minorities- suffer the double jeopardy of sex and other forms of discrimination.58 The second critique entails the “Adding women and stirring”. This strategy produces minimal structural change since there are just a few rules and practices that are modified in order to allow women into positions that were previously closed to them. However, the hierarchical form of organisation and the gendered organization norms are left untouched. 59 The “adding women and stirring” strategy believes that by hiring women into previously male-dominated jobs gives them an equal opportunity to succeed. Nevertheless, there are other aspects that are not taken into account like the fact that most women are not able to work extra-hours or travel that often since they are also responsible for most of the housework and childcare. 60 Women who work in those positions also face more criticism and her performance will be more scrutinized. 61 14 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The critical theory argues that there is the need to make small but deep cultural changes, to change “small” aspects of the culture of an organization. For instance, allowing “flex-hours” so personnel can work from home, or rotating leadership permitting some women to hold leadership roles for the first time. 62 The given theory also receives criticism. The main criticism is that it constitutes a “weak” theory since, despite assessing what must be changed there is no accepted solution to the problem of how to achieve the change of the system/society. 63 The UN has shown an advance in the feminist discourse by adopting a feminist concept of intersectionality which can be defined as “an analytical tool for studying, understanding and responding to the ways in which gender intersects with other identities and how these intersections contribute to unique experiences and privilege”.64 This fact could be translated into ceasing the practice of treating women as a homogenous category of analysis and not taking into consideration how different experiences, social status or physical features may put women into a position of subordination or privilege. 65 In effect, this is the approach used by the critical feminists while arguing that feminism must not only include the experiences of a specific group of women. When it comes to peacekeeping missions, if there is a notable presence of women because of the implementation of the Resolution, it might be considered as an effective policy according to the feminist theories. However, if all these women come from the same spectrum, there is no such thing as women empowerment. Since the UN is aware of this concept, the role of women in peace building missions should be analyzed under the scope of a theory that takes into consideration the existing differences of women without falling into the pathology of treating them as homogenous bloc. 15 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1.8 Literature Review 1.8.1 The absence of women in peace and security matters The absence of women in Peace and Security has always been present. Even so, due to the recent acknowledgement of it –in concreto at the end of the 20th century where the UN and women’s movements began to make visible women’s underrepresentation-, the attention has currently shifted towards adopting and implementing policies to overcome the problem. Glancing over some historical examples, it is a well-known fact how the underrepresentation affects women. For instance, the most important peace agreements have been signed with the absence of women. Starting with the Treaty of Versailles signed in January 1919, by which time World War I was considered to be over, out of the fifty individuals involved in the drafting and signing, none of them was a woman.66 Hence, the future of Europe was in the hands of just a few men. Following the second major event of the 20th century, the technical end of World War II was established by the adoption of the San Francisco Treaty at the Peace Conference celebrated on the 8th September 1951. In effect, the representatives of 48 States signed the treaty which envisaged- in an official manner- the peace between Japan and the Allied Powers in order to promote their common welfare and interests as well as to maintain international peace and security. 67 Once again, the key actors on such important global matters were exclusively men. Furthermore, the examples gleaned at the preceding paragraphs do not constitute the only evidences of the discrimination women have suffered through the years regarding promoting peace. During the negotiation of the peace agreement that put an end to the worst conflict in Europe since World War II, female participants were also absent. 16 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The Bosnian War started with the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the attempt of Bosnia and Herzegovina to separate itself in 1992 according to a referendum which came out as affirmative. It escalated into violence since Bosnian, Croat and Serbian forces fought to take over the adjoining territories. Serbian forces began an ethnic cleansing – otherwise defined as a genocide- of Muslim Bosnian and Croats. The conflict ended with over 100.000 casualties and over 2 million people displaced. The European and Russian leaders at that time implicitly understood that they were men, were the ones who signed the Dayton agreements in December 1995. Not a single woman was accounted to have participated in the peacebuilding process. The same situation occurred during the resolution of the Rwandan Genocide. From the month of the 7th April to the 15th July 1994, the Hutu population –the ethnic majority in the country- systematically murder over 800.000 mostly of the Tutsi minority who held the political power as well as moderate Hutu civilians. Starting from the capital of Kigali, the brutality extended to other parts of the country forcing thousands of people to flee as refuges to the bordering Sates. 68 By the time the killings stopped and the Tutsi political party, the Patriotic Front, had controlled over the country following a military offensive a coalition government was formed with the Hutu Pasteur Bizimungu as the Head of Government and the Tutsi Paul Kagame as Vice President and Defense Minister.69 The UN established a peacekeeping operation in Rwanda (UNAMIR) from October 1993, after the adoption of the Arusha Accords to March 1996. However, this mission failed to provide what was needed due to a lack of equipment and resources including insufficient medical supplies and no money to restock them.70 To legally sanction the perpetrators of such atrocities, the Security Council instituted the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) which began the trials in 1995. Female presence at this ad hoc tribunal is controversial due to the following reasons. The judges to this Court are selected by the UN General Assembly for four 17 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh years after consultation with the Presidents of the UNSCR and the Assembly. A priori it may seem a very neutral manner of appointing the judges. Nonetheless, out of the 23 current judges, only 3 are women, which demonstrate, once again, the discrimination and underrepresentation of women in peace and security matters.71 In 1999 the United Nations published two reports which highlighted the failure on both preventing the genocide in Rwanda and protecting the population of Srebrenica. Secretary- General Kofi Anan decided to appoint a panel on United Nations Peace Operations to review the peace and security activities carried out by the UN and to “present a clear set of specific, concrete and practical recommendations to assist the United Nations in conducting such activities [peacebuilding operations] in the future”.72The outcome of the panel’s work is the Brahimi Report which contained recommendations to improve the capacity of such missions. Out of the 74 pages, the word “women” was not featured even once, despite the adoption of the Resolution 1325 the same year. Hence, the inclusion of women was not a conceivable idea to improve peace and security activities. Furthermore, out of the 10 people that formed the panel on United Nations Peace Operations, only 2 were women.73 Unfortunately, their presence could not make an impact on the outcome regarding female visibility and representation. 1.8.2 Assessing the reasons behind the low percentage of women As women have been absent from Peace and Security affairs, several research studies have been conducted in order to provide an answer and to find a reason for such absence. J. Ann Tickner (1992) argues that masculinity and politics are closely related and that this contributes to the absence of women. As Eleanor Roosevelt observed, International Relations is a man’s world: “Too often the great decisions are originated and given form in bodies made up wholly of men, or so completely dominated by them that whatever of special value women have to 18 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh offer is shunted aside without expression.”74 This follows the idea that some men have about the inabilities of women to deal with global affairs. As Donald Regan –the White House chief of staff at that time- declared before the Geneva superpower summit in 1985, “women would not understand the issues at stake at that meeting”.75 J. Ann Tickner states that the absence of women can also be found in military institutions which are closely associated with men and masculinity. In effect, since women are perceived to be “naïve and weak”, military-policy making has been made exclusively by men.76 This perception however is gradually changing and women are being allowed to participate in military matters. Women have been “officially allowed” to participate in peacekeeping since the year 1994; 24 years out of the 70 years of existence of the DPKO. However, despite their inclusion, gender dichotomies are still heavy rooted within the institution. As an example of such conception, there is still a reticence or resistance on women participating in combat duties.77 Eric M. Blanchard (2003) argues that women’s participation in the military has been considered as a “security risk” because “women are often seen as nationalist wombs too valuable as reproducers to be wasted in combat”.78 Succeeding the upcoming impossibility for women to take action in a combat zone by the reason of their sex, Sabrina Karim and Kyle Beardsley (2013) argue that because of the existence of gender stereotypes, women would not be able to fully deploy their potential in peacekeeping missions.79 For instance, women may be sent to the places which are labelled as “less-dangerous” within a specific area. In addition, some States do think twice before sending females to peacekeeping missions because the presence of females in the hardest missions might cause a political risk to a Government –especially in 19 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh the cases of casualties. This is due to the way war and gender are constructing the meaning that war “is no place for women” because they are tagged as the “weaker-sex”.80 According to Jean Elshtain (1992), the way war is constructed has its basis on the idea that males are warriors and women are peaceful beings, or as he states, “beautiful souls”.81 Effectively, men are considered to be “just Christian warriors, fighters and defenders of righteous causes” and women are “beautiful souls” who happen to be very delicate. Men are the ones who fight wars for women and children. Such stereotypes would give legitimacy to the masculine domination within the institution.82 Furthermore, women in the role of “beautiful souls” are beings who oppose violence and war and they avoid interfering in this type of conflict. The passivity that is expected from women is linked to the idea that they are indeed irrelevant to a war because they would not even want to take part. 83 The expectation or even assumption that women should be absent concerning the matters of a conflict is once again a gender-constructed belief. To begin with, the main role of a woman is considered to be that of a mother and not a warrior, secondly, women are seen as the ones which need protection and lastly, women are pacifists by nature and they have been tagged as beings who should be ignored concerning security affairs because of their ignorance.84 Consequently, this could be considered a catch 22 situation. Women are not learning about conflict because they are not active players due to the fact that they are being marginalized, and the same marginalization is used against them to prove their ignorance and therefore, legitimatize their exclusion. 1.8.3 Examining the barriers to female participation Not only do women find it difficult to be considered as protectors and not just as porcelain dolls that should be kept in a “war free” zone, but the challenges begin even before they have 20 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh been sent to conflict zones. Sahana Dharmapuri (2013) identifies some of the reasons that might have a direct cause to the low percentage of women in peacekeeping operations. It begins pointing out at the lack of understanding of the Resolution itself. Based on the study she has conducted, an important aspect that was highlighted was the fact that UN member States are aware of the Resolution “but most do not understand its full implications for UN peacekeeping beyond increasing women’s presence in missions”.85 Some member States feel there is a lack of information on how such gender-balancing goals should be implemented as well as a lack of motivation to implement them in the DPKO. Regarding the actions that the DPKO should take itself, like appointing a gender advisor, take too long–or don’t even happen at all. On the other hand, some might add that the argument which states that women’s participation increases the operational effectiveness of missions it is not strong enough. Thus, the Resolution might be considered a “policy speak” which is quite hard to put into practice in real life.86 Since the UN does not have an army of its own, it is necessary that the member States contribute by sending personnel. These are the troop-contributing countries (TCCs). However, the difficulty towards the inclusion of women lies on the fact that the countries which are considered to be “more progressive” when it comes to gender equality are not always the ones that are going to be sending the largest number of personnel. The top three TCCS since the year 2000 have been India, Bangladesh and Pakistan and these countries do not have an important number of women within their personnel. 87 Additionally, to the mentioned obstacles, there is another barrier that ought to be considered. There is a great gap in data and analysis concerning the legislation of the member States that seek to allow the participation of women in their national armed forces. Therefore, there exists a lack of information regarding the female personnel that could serve as Blue Helmets. Furthermore, some States do not have specific policies for recruiting women or those policies are not enough to satisfy the purpose of the Resolution. In addition, the reports indicating the 21 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh percentage of participants from a country in a specific mission do not always provide a sex- disaggregated analysis on the performance of women. 88 1.8.4 Feminist praxis in Liberia Issued from the difficulties faced by women, feminists are working towards the adjustment of peace and security and the role women have been assigned –or rather not assigned at all. Using the term “feminism/feminist” in the African context either as a social movement or a theory might be rather controversial. Simidele Dosekun (2017) argues that there is a claim that “feminism is not African”. It is believed that it has been brought from the West and its existence in the continent threatens to overrun what it is believed to be the “true” African values. Those arguments portray feminism as a form of colonialism or imperialism. 89 By arguing that feminism has no cultural roots in Africa, it takes African traditions and cultures as given and absolute. However, cultures are not fixed. In addition, since the vast majority of African cultures have –historically or traditionally-been patriarchal, there is no proof that there has not been any type of resistance to patriarchy. 90 The problem of feminism in Africa lays on the conception of feminism or feminists itself. The concept originated in Europe in the late 19th century,91 and it has evolved according to the experiences and the social and historical context of Western women. Oyèrónké Oyěwùmí (1997) states that Western theories tend to become tools of hegemony who are meant to be applied universally.92 Consequently, it might be difficult -under some circumstances- that black women identify entirely with white women or with “universal feminism” since they do not share the same experiences.93 For instance, the stereotypes of feminists –angry man-haters women who burn their bras or expose their bodies during protests-are very unlikely to be found in the traditional African values and practices. 94 22 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Nonetheless, this does not mean that the feminist praxis of fighting oppression has never existed in Africa. Otherwise, it would imply that “real African women” are content with their role of being a subordinate. 95 In effect, it is not about wondering if the actual practices carried out by the Westerners exist in the continent, but in which ways and why African women have fought against the situations that oppressed them as women. Peace A. Medie (2013) advances how Liberian women not only advocated for peace at the outbreak of the civil war in 1989, 96 but they also fought crime impunity. During war, women in Liberia were systematically exposed to rape and other types of violence.97 The majority of crimes were not reported –due to unofficial fees and courts dissuading people from doing it-, and those who were reported did not provide justice for the victim. As a response to impunity, women’s groups mobilized themselves seeking for the prevention of rape and justice. 98 This is not the only example of actions taken by Liberian women in order to overturn an oppressive situation. Robtel Neajai Pailey (2014) assesses the ruling of the first African female Head of State, Ms. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She was elected in Liberia in 2005 after defeating 21 male candidates. 99 The President tore down the false dichotomies which separated the private spheres from the public spheres of influence.100 Ms. Johnson Sirleaf increased the profile of market women, thus, empowering them. She also appointed several women to senior posts. Likewise, she adopted institutional reforms which responded to the needs of Liberian women and girls. Some examples of those reforms are the Rape Law, the National Gender-based Violence Plan or the Liberia Action Plan for the Implementation of Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. 101 These examples demonstrate that feminist praxis aiming at fighting oppression and ending security threats are also embedded in Africa. In addition, it demonstrates the will of Liberian women to ameliorate their situation. 23 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh However, as it has been stated in the Theoretical Framework, an “adding up” or a “universal feminism” approach is not enough to change the situation of women in peace and security matters. It is necessary to adopt an intersectional vision which not only contains the different sources of oppression faced by women -including African women-, but which also eradicates gendered dichotomies and hierarchies as well as the patriarchal structural violence. Only by doing this a gender inclusive concept of peace and security will be attained.102 1.9 Conceptual definitions In order to avoid any sort of confusion regarding the terms that are used in this study, a conceptual definition is being provided for clarity purposes. 1.9.1 Conflict Resolution. It involves the series of processes taken at a national, regional or international level in order to initiate peace in an armed conflict. 103 1.9.2. Peacekeeping and Peacekeepers. It comprises the maintenance of international peace and security by the deployment of military forces in a particular area. 104 There are three principles for the peacekeeping operations: Consent of the parties, Impartiality, Non-use of force except in self-defense and defense of the mandate. 105 The term Peacekeepers refers to the military troops, the police personnel as well as the civilians appointed to a peacekeeping mission. 1.9.3. Gender. It refers to the socially constructed characteristics of women and men –such as norms, roles and relationships of and between groups of women and men. It varies from society to society and can be changed. While most people are born either male or female, they are taught appropriate norms and behaviors.106 According to a feminist use of this term, it refers to a number of culturally shaped and defined characteristics that have been associated with masculinity and femininity.107 24 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1.9.4. Gender-balancing and Gender-mainstreaming. In order to achieve the inclusion of women and therefore gender- equality in peacekeeping and the DPKO, gender-balancing and gender-mainstreaming are the two main objectives to be attained according to the UN. To begin with, gender balance is commonly used in reference to human resources and equal participation of women and men in all areas of work, projects or programmes. 108 It refers to a certain given degree to which women and men participate within the activities that are associated with the UN.109 On the other hand, gender mainstreaming has been defined by the UN Economic and Social Council as “the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all spheres, so that women and men benefit equally, and inequality is not perpetuated."110 1.9.5. Empowerment. According to the World Bank, empowerment is “the expansion of assets and capabilities of poor people to participate in, negotiate with, influence, control, and hold accountable institutions that affect their lives”.111 1.10 Methodology The methodology conducting this study is qualitative research. The research made use of qualitative research design which constitutes primarily an exploratory research method. The appropriateness of this approach lays on the fact that this study seeks to explain or define an event, in the given case, the presence of women in peace and security. The study relied predominantly on secondary sources. This included the analysis of relevant work by scholars in the field regarding peace and security institutions, peacekeeping missions, 25 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh peace processes and feminist theories. Likewise, journal articles, websites, reports, and graphics provided by the United Nations, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and other pertinent actors were also taken into consideration. Primary sources were also used in the present study. The aim of using primary data was to get first-hand information from the interviewee. For the purpose of the work, the target for the interviews were participants of peacekeeping operations. The researcher conducted an interview with the first African women to be appointed as a Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General Special to a peacekeeping mission. The participant was on a purposive sample because of her experience and knowledge of the areas concerning women, peace and security. The study employed one-on-one in depth interview. The depth interview sought to obtain a deep understanding of the case being studied. An interview guide was used to help asking the questions. The interview supported two-way communication since both the interviewer and the interviewee could ask questions and request an explanation when the issue in question was not understood. The interviewer used an interview guide. The permission of the interviewee was solicited to record the whole interview in an audio format with the use of a mobile phone. Subsequently, the interview was recorded, transcribed into a word document and interpreted. During the time data was being collected, another participant of a peacekeeping mission was not able to facilitate an interview due to major personal drawbacks occurred during the given period. 1.11 Arrangement of Chapters Chapter one constitutes the Research Design. Chapter two provides a background to the creation of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Secondly, it includes the participation 26 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh of women in the peace processes of Somaliland, Guatemala and DR Congo. Chapter three covers the civil wars in Liberia, the establishment of the United Nations Mission in Liberia and the implementation of the Resolution within the peacekeeping mission. Chapter four summarizes the findings, draws conclusions and gives recommendations on the implementation of the Resolution. 27 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ENDNOTES 1 Nations, United. "Overview." http://www.un.org/en/sections/about-un/overview/index.html. 2 Fidler, David P. "Caught between Traditions: The Security Council in Philosophical Conundrum," Indiana University Maurer School of Law (1996). p.417 3 United Nations, "United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Principles and Guidelines," in Peacekeeping Best Practices Section. Department of Peacekeeping Operations: United Nations (2010). p.8 4 Yilmaz Muzaffer, Ercan. "Inta-State Conflicts in the Post-Cold War Era”. JStor: Professors World Peace Academy (2007) p.11 5 Mjaaland, Siv. "United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security:" University of Oslo (2016).p.8 6 Ibid. 7 Williams, Alex J; Griffin Bellamy, Paul D. Stuart Understanding Peacekeeping. Cambridge: UK:Polity, (2010). p.6-7 8 ICCR. "La Guerre Et Le Droit International Humanitaire." https://www.icrc.org/fre/war-and-law/overview-war- and-law.htm. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. 11 Guadin, Hélène. Droit des relations extérieures. Université Toulouse 1 Capitole. (2017) 12 DPKO. "What Is Peacekeeping?" https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/what-is-peacekeeping. 13 McKay, Susan. "The Effects of Armed Conflict on Girls and Women," Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology 4, no. 4 (2009). p.383 14 Cohen, Dara Kay. "Explaining Rape During Civil War: Cross-National Evidence (1980–2009)." American Political Science Review 107, no. 3 (2013) p.2 15 Carpenter,Charli.R. "Recognizing Gender-Based Violence against Civilian Men and Boys in Conflict Situations," SAGE: International Peace Research Institute (2006).p.4 16 Health and Human Rights Info, "Selected Links on Gender Based Violence," http://www.hhri.org/thematic/gender_based_violence.html. 17 Tickner. J.Ann. "Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global Security," Columbia University Press (1992).p.2 18 Karim, Sabrina; Beardsley, Kyle. "Female Peacekeepers and Gender Balancing: Token Gestures or Informed Policy Making?". International Interactions 39 (2013): 461-88. p.465 19Coomaraswamy, Radhika. "A Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325," United Nations Women: United Nations (2015). p.28 20 Mesa,Manuela. "Mujer, Paz Y Seguridad: La Resolución 1325 En Su Décimo Aniversario " CEIPAZ (2010).p.45 21 Dharmaouri, Sahana. "Not Just a Numbers Game: Increasing Women's Participation in Un Peacekeeping," in Providing for Peacekeeping. New York: International Peace Institute (2013).p.2 22 Ibid. 23 Coomaraswamy, "A Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325."p. 28 24 Ibid. 25 Beardsley, Sabrina; Karim, Kyle. "Female Peacekeepers and Gender Balancing: Token Gestures or Informed Policy Making?," International Interactions (2013).p.471 26 Dharmaouri, Sahana. "Not Just a Numbers Game: Increasing Women's Participation in Un Peacekeeping." (2013) p.7 27 Ibid. 28 Ibid. 29 Ibid. 30 Valenius, Johanna. "A Few Kind Women: Gender Essentialism and Nordic Peacekeeping Operations." International Peacekeeping 14, no. 4 (2007): p.515 31 "Liberia," http://www.imuna.org/resources/country-profiles/liberia. 32 Valenius, Johanna. "A Few Kind Women: Gender Essentialism and Nordic Peacekeeping Operations," Tandfonline (2007). p.515 33 Stiehm,Judith. Women and Men's Wars. New York: Pergamon Press (1983). p.245 34 The Secretary-General, Women, Peace and Security: Study Submitted by the Secretary-General Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1325 ¶212, U.N. Doc. E.03.IV.1 (2002). 28 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 35 Coomaraswamy, Radhika "A Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325." 418: United Nations Women (2015). p.47 36 Castillo Diaz,Pablo; Tordjman, Simon. "Women’s Participation in Peace Negotiations: Connections between Presence and Influence," UNIFEM: United Nations (2012).p. 5 37 Coomaraswamy, "A Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325.".p.41 38 Ibid. 39 Hudson, Heidi. "Decolonizing the Mainstreaming of Gender in Peacebuilding: Toward an Agenda for Africa," Working Papers (2016). p.2 40 Bertolazzi, Francesco. "Women with a Blue Helmet: The Integration of Women and Gender Issues in Un Peacekeeping Missions," in Working Paper Series. UNINSTRAW: UN (2010). p.24 41 Thompson, Lyndsay B. "Gender Equality in International Institutions: Progress and Challenges in Moving toward Gender Parity," Inquiries Journal 9 (2017). p. 124-125. 42 For instance, The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) does not providing the necessary detailed information in order to analyze the presence of women among the different categories of staff. Therefore, the percentage of women participating remains unclear. In addition, there is still a lack of understanding regarding how to implement the Resolution 1325 as well as a lack of understanding among the peacekeepers at lower levels of the importance of such Resolution. 43 Information about the peacekeeping missions: https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/where-we-operate 44Coomaraswamy, "A Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325."p.6-8 45 Declaration of Kofi Annan: https://www.studentredaksjonen.com/gjesteartikler/women-and-peacebuilding 46 Notes from Gender in International Relations. (2017/2018) P. Medie. LECIAD 47 Martin, Joanne. "Feminist Theory and Critical Theory: Unexplored Synergies," Sage Publications (2002). p.2 48Arat, Zehra F. Kabasakal. "Feminisms, Women's Rights, and the Un: Would Achieving Gender Equality Empower Women?". American Political Science Review 109, no. 4 (2015) p.674 49 Wildman, Stephanie M. " Critical Feminist Theory," Encyclopedia of Law & Society: American and Global Perspectives (2007). p.3 50 Martin, "Feminist Theory and Critical Theory: Unexplored Synergies." p.3 51 Wildman, " Critical Feminist Theory." p.4, p.6 52 Martin, "Feminist Theory and Critical Theory: Unexplored Synergies." p.4 53 Ibid. p.7 54 Ibid. p.11 55 Ibid. 56 Ibid. p.11 57 Ibid. p. 24 58 Ibid. 12 59 Ibid. 14 60 Ibid. 61 Ibid. p.15 62 Ibid. 16 63 Ibid. p.7 64 Z Arat, "Women's Rights, and the Un: Would Achieving Gender Equality Empower Women?," 109(4) (2015) p.680 65 Ibid. 66 Sénat de la France, "20 Janvier 1919, Le Banquet Wilson : Les Signataires Du Traité De Versailles," https://www.senat.fr/histoire/le_banquet_wilson/traite/liste_des_signataires.html. 67 C. Peter Chen, "San Francisco Peace Conference https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=316. 68 United to end Genocide, "The Rwandan Genocide," http://endgenocide.org/learn/past-genocides/the-rwandan- genocide/. 69 Ibid. 70 Ibid. 71 United Nations Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, "Judges," http://www.unmict.org/en/about/judges. 72 United Nations, "Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations," in Conferences, Meetings and Events. United Nations: Security Council (2000). 73 UnitedNations, ""Brahimi Report" Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations (2000)," http://www.un.org/en/events/pastevents/brahimi_report.shtml. 74 Tickner, "Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global Security." p.3 75 Ibid. 29 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 76 Ibid. 77 Information about the DPKO: https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/department-of-peacekeeping-operations 78 Blanchard, Eric, xa, and M. "Gender, International Relations, and the Development of Feminist Security Theory." Signs 28, no. 4 (2003): p. 14 79 Karim, "Female Peacekeepers and Gender Balancing: Token Gestures or Informed Policy Making?." p.467,468- 469. 80 Ibid. 81 Charlers, J. Daryl. “War, Women and Political wisdom: Jean Bethke Elshtain on the Countours of Justice, The Journal of Religious Ethics 34, no.2 (2006) p.351-352 82 Sjoberg, Laura. "Gendered Realities of the Immunity Principle: Why Gender Analysis Needs Feminism." International Studies Quarterly 50, no. 4 (2006) p.895 83 Ibid. 84 Ibid. 85 Dharmaouri, Sahana. "Not Just a Numbers Game: Increasing Women's Participation in Un Peacekeeping." (2013). p.12 86 Ibid. 87 Ibid. p.3 88 Ibid. p.16 89 Dosekun, Simidele. "Defending Feminism in Africa," postamble 3, no. 1 (2007).p.41 90 Ibid. p.42 91 Ibid. p.43 92 Oyěwùmí,Oyèrónké. "The Invention of Women Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses", NED - New edition ed. University of Minnesota Press (1997) p.11 93 Ibid. 94 Dosekun, "Defending Feminism in Africa."p.43 95 Ibid. 96 Medie, Peace A. "Women’s and Feminist Activism in West Africa" (2016). p.1,2,3. 97 Medie, Peace A. "Fighting Gender-Based Violence: The Women's Movement and the Enforcement of Rape Law in Liberia " African Affairs: Oxford University Press (2013). p.385 98 Ibid. 99 Pailey, Robtel Neajai. "Patriarchy, Power Distance, and Female Presidency in Liberia," in Leadership in Postcolonial Africa. Springer (2014).p.171 100 Ibid. p.175 101 Ibid. 180 102Blanchard, Eric, xa, and M. "Gender, International Relations, and the Development of Feminist Security Theory." Signs 28, no. 4 (2003) p. 14 103 Mjaaland, Siv "United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security " University of Oslo (2016) p.21 104 Definition: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/peacekeeping 105 Principles: https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/principles-of-peacekeeping 106 Definition: http://www.who.int/gender-equity-rights/understanding/gender-definition/en/ 107 Mjaaland, Siv "United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security: " University of Oslo (2016) p.21 108 Definition: http://eige.europa.eu/rdc/thesaurus/terms/1148 109 Mjaaland, Siv "United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security:" University of Oslo (2016) p.22 110 Bertolazzi, "Women with a Blue Helmet: The Integration of Women and Gender Issues in Un Peacekeeping Missions." p.9 111 Zehra Arat F.Kabasakal, "Feminisms ,Women's Rights, and the Un: Would Achieving Gender Equality Empower Women?," Cambridge Universiy Press 109 (2015). p.681 30 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER 2 OVERVIEW OF PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS, WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN PEACE PROCESSES 2.0 Introduction This chapter provides a broader definition of what is conceived to be peacekeeping, the main features of such activity as well the evolution of its nature towards a more encompassing approach. It also provides empirical examples in where women have effectuated great efforts to participate in peacekeeping processes. 2.1 Peacekeeping Since International Organisations (IO) do not enjoy from International Legal Personality, these entities are created by the adoption of a Constitutive Charter. In the adoption of an IO, States convene in order to establish the aim the organisation should achieve as well as the powers granted to attain such objective. Consequently, the actions an IO can deploy in the international community are limited to the ones listed in the Constitutive Charter. The competences the States have decided to give to the given entity are called competences of attribution1 If an IO engages in an activity that is not explicitly stated in the charter, such organisation would be overstepping its boundaries since the States that created it did not agree on that matter. However, due to the fact that in the 20th century IO became a predominant actor in the international system, there has been a shift in the way these organisations are able to deploy functions which have not been explicitly agreed upon by States. 31 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The shift has been made by the jurisprudence of International Courts of Law. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the advisory opinion on the Legality of the use by a State of nuclear weapons in armed conflict in 1996, adopted the notion of attributed powers regarding the competences IO were able to exercise. The Court declared that IO are governed by the principle of speciality which is constituted by “powers which […] are conferred upon [the Organisation] by necessary implication as being essential to the performance of its duties”.2 The reconnaissance of the principle of speciality implies that IO are able to exercise and deploy a series of powers which, were not explicitly contained in the Constitutive Charter, but that are considered to be necessary in order to attain their aim.3 Regarding the actions carried out by the Security Council, it is important to highlight the fact the UN Charter does not explicitly include the permission of establishing peacekeeping operations since the term “peacekeeping” –or “peace keeper”- is not mentioned whatsoever.4 This absence would therefore imply that such missions are not a conceivable option because the UN –and in this specific case the Security Council- would overstep its boundaries. Nevertheless, since Peacekeeping operations are a needed feature in maintaining international peace and security, the UN is legally competent to establish peacekeeping missions to reinstate peace. Following the same argumentation, it legitimizes the fact that the Security Council was capable of creating International Criminal Courts such as the ones in Yugoslavia and Rwanda.5 2.1.1 Conceptual Definitions In order to proceed to effectuate a further analysis on the peacekeeping activity carried out by the UN, it is necessary to define the notion of peacekeeping and therefore differentiate it from other similar existing notions. Peacekeeping has no standard definition. The report of the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Principles and Guidelines conceives peacekeeping as a technique which has been 32 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh designed to maintain peace and to provide assistance in the implementation of the agreements achieved by the peacemakers. 6 The United Nations Police Handbook presents peacekeeping operations as the ones that have been endorsed by the international community in order to put an end to a conflict or crisis. On the other hand, peacekeeping is understood as the presence of the UN in the field –which mainly involves military, police and civilian personnel- with the consent of the given parties in order to implement or supervise the implementation of peace agreements.7 Furthermore, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, in the report concerning preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and peacekeeping defined the concept as “the deployment of a United Nations presence in the field, hitherto with the consent of all the parties concerned, normally involving United Nations military and/or police personnel and frequently civilians as well.” 8 Peacekeeping is one of the key activities carried out by the UN to maintain international peace and security. Nonetheless, there are other notions that are present with peacekeeping yet they are not the same. Peacemaking constitutes the different measures existing to address a conflict in progress. It usually involves diplomatic action in order to achieve a negotiated agreement. The UN Secretary-General –after the request of the UNSCR- might exercise the diplomatic practice of good offices which is close to the exercise of mediation to put an end to the conflict. The actors involved in peacemaking can be international actors such as States, or subnational actors like envoys, governments or regional organisations.9 Peace enforcement concerns the application of coercive measures under the authorization of the UNSC. Those measures include the use of military force and they can be used in situations where the UNSC has explicitly determined the existence of a threat to peace and security, a breach of peace or an act of aggression. Lastly, Peacebuilding is a range of actions taken 33 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh towards reducing the risk of a conflict by strengthening the available national capacities at all levels. It is a long-term process due to the fact that it lays the necessary conditions to restore peace and make it last. In addition, the measures taken seek to address issues that directly affect how society in the given State works as well as ameliorating the capacity of that State to effectively deploy its sovereign functions. 10 The lines that distinguish these notions are becoming less defined. The reason for this rapprochement lies on the fact that Peace operations are rarely limited to a single type of activity. In effect, peacekeeping operations go beyond the simple fact of reaching an agreement and implement it, the missions carry out activities which are also important for peacemaking and peacebuilding processes.11 2.1.2 Core principles of peacekeeping There are three basic principles that all UN peacekeeping missions are bound to respect in order to be lawful. The first principle is the consent of the parties. This principle implies that the UN can only deploy a peacekeeping operation if the main parties to the conflict have given their consent. The approval allows the mission to take action in the field implementing the mandate and restoring peace. Furthermore, while implementing the mandate, it is necessary that the mission ensures that it does not lose the consent previously granted by the parties. 12 Any action taken by the UN without the consent of the parties would violate the norm of International Law concerning the respect of the national affairs of a sovereign State within the limits of its territory contained in Article 2.7 of the Charter.13 As an example, Philippines rejected UN intervention in the “War against Drugs”. During the confrontation, 58 people were killed by November 23, 2000. Furthermore, the legal advisor of the Government was the first suspect on the list of responsible people for such atrocities. 14However, because the 34 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Government considered they were perfectly dealing with the situation on their own and did not extend the needed consent, the UN was not able to act in the country. In addition, an absence of an explicit consent from the parties entails that the peacekeeping mission risks of becoming an additional party to the conflict, which would clearly violate the second principle-- impartiality. 15 The implementation of the operation’s mandate should be accomplished without favoring or prejudicing any party. As it has been previously observed, impartiality is crucial in order to maintain the consent of the parties involved. Failure to remain impartial would weaken the peacekeeping mission’s legitimacy and credibility following the removal of consent.16 Impartiality ought not to be confused with neutrality. UN peacekeepers have to remain impartial while dealing with the parties, but they should not adopt a neutral attitude while executing the mission’s mandate. 17As a referee who has to be impartial in doing the job but must not hesitate in penalizing infractions to the rules, the mission should not tolerate actions that jeopardize the principles and values of the UN or the peace process. On the other hand, impartiality should not be a synonym for omission in case of a violation of the norms contained in International Law and International Humanitarian Law. 19 For instance, if one of the parties is committing crimes against civilians, or even peace keepers, the UN has to intervene in order to cease such attacks. The last core principle is the prohibition of the use of force except in cases of self-defense and defense of the mandate. The importance of this principle lies on the fact that the missions do not constitute an enforcement tool. However, peacekeepers are authorized to use force at a tactical level –under the approval of the UNSC “as a measure of last resort or when other methods of persuasion have been exhausted”.18 The prohibition to use the force has caused some serious problems in peacekeeping missions. In effect, peacekeepers are meant to protect people so they are sent to areas where civilians are in danger. Civilians are threatened by the 35 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh presence of criminal gangs, militias, guerrillas or even terrorists cohabitating in the same geographical area as them.19 Since peacekeepers are not allowed to use the force and therefore start a fight against them to expel them from the territory, this normally results in casualties from the UN side since the others do not hesitate in attacking UN personnel.20 A current example of such dilemma is the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) where there is the presence of ISIS fighters who are attacking civilians and peacekeepers. Hence, interfering in the implementation of the mandate. The countries in the Sahel, in order to find a solution to this problem, have decided to create a coalition capable of using the force when necessary to deter the terrorists in the field. 21 In addition, the Security Council has given an authorization in 2016 to the mission allowing peacekeepers to “use all the means necessary” to eliminate any further attempt that would put in danger the stability of the given State including the protection of civilians of an imminent threat. 22 The core principles of peacekeeping assure a successful deployment of the missions’ activities. Nonetheless, there are other factors that ought to be taken into consideration. Peacekeeping operations have to be perceived as legitimate and credible especially from a local perspective. Legitimacy is a core asset in peacekeeping missions. International legitimacy is given by the authorization of the UNSCR –the main organ charged with the maintenance of international peace and security- and the following mandate which is adopted by such entity. The fact that the operations are directed by the UN Secretary General –an international ombudsman and respected figured in the international community- also underpins the legitimacy of it. In relation with the perception of the locals, the manner by which the mandate is implemented in a firm and fair way, the discipline and the norms peacekeepers must obey and the respect the personnel should have to local traditions as well as national institutions and laws, would also have an effect upon the perception of legitimacy of the mission. 23 36 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Peacekeeping missions are often deployed in a critical war zone area where the environment would be classified as tense and unstable. Instability and the lack of security leads to the feeling of mistrust, since the law is not correctly enforced as it should be–or as it was in peacetimes- and insecurity is on the increase in the absence of a peace agreement. The legitimacy of the UN peacekeeping operations is linked to the quality and the conduct of civilian, military and police personnel in containing these sensitive situations and implementing the missions’ mandates.24 Credibility is another key factor for a successful operation. In order to be credible, the mission should be put in place when it is most needed and in a rapid manner, with the resources that are necessary and maintain a confident and capable posture–unlike the mission that took place in Rwanda. 25 During the process of a conflict, the State’s institutions might not work properly to respond to the national’s needs. Hence, in some cases the mission is required to assume, for a certain amount of time, the sovereign functions belonging to a State –as it was the case in Liberia. Other situations may require less intrusive actions in order to attain stability. However, during the implementation of the mandate, the necessary efforts ought to be made in order to promote national and local ownership among national actors –this being another key factor of success.26 By empowering national institutions, the mission reinforces its legitimacy and helps in ensuring a long-lasting peace once the operation withdraws from the country. In the partnership with local actors, gender-mainstreaming must be present in order to promote and protect women’s rights not only during the conflict but after the implementation of the peace agreement. Furthermore, the missions are bound to recognize and respect the divergent opinions that might co-exist in the State, and such opinions should all be understood and taken into consideration 37 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh in order to avoid listening only to a small elite group. National ownership begins by understanding the local context including the political and socio-economic situation. 27 2.1.3 Evolution of peacekeeping operations: Multidimensional operations Through the years, peacekeeping operations have evolved from being primarily a military model deployed to cease fire to a more complex model of operations incorporating novel elements –police, civilians and military- that work together in order to restore peace and security.28 There is no consensus on when was the first peacekeeping operation deployed. 29However, the official position of the UN consists of recognizing the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) as the first peacekeeping operation.30 The mission consisted of non- armed military observers who were sent to Palestine in 1948 in order to monitor the Armistice between Israel and the Arab neighboring countries. A year later, the UN deployed a similar mission to India and Pakistan in January 1949.31 A major innovation was the introduction of armed troops at the mission deployed in Egypt –the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) due to the attacks the country suffered by the British, French and Israeli troops. 32 The end of the Cold War constituted the start of a new era in peacekeeping operations. The increase of civil wars and the secession of some States led to acts of violence that urged the intervention of the UN which ended up with the increase of the number of operations deployed. 33 Traditional peacekeeping focused on taking control of a conflict after an inter-State confrontation. Nonetheless, the new peacekeeping missions do not only deal with inter-State wars but also intra-States wars. In addition, participants to these missions do not only hold the status of “observers” as the other ones, but their deployment has had the objective of protecting civilians and ending hostilities by peace enforcement. 34 38 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The Department of Peacekeeping Operations was established in 1992 in order to design, monitor and manage the numerous upcoming missions. This Department is in charge of recruiting peacekeepers and deploying the resources to the field. 35 Over the years, the nature and scope of peacekeeping operations continue to expand and the involvement of the UN within’ States is becoming more expansive and complex. The actions of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of the parties (DDR) which include strengthening the rule of law, ensuring the respect of human rights as well as empowering of the State’s capability on restoring peace have been included in the peacekeeping missions. Peace operations which require several actions in order to restore peace –as the DDR cited before- have been labelled “multi-dimensional” expressing the change in the nature and the scope. 36 2.2 Women’s participation in peacekeeping processes There is a small number of women participating in peacemaking negotiations and making effective contributions despite the adoption of Resolution 1325. From 1992 to 2011, women only constituted 15% of the total peace negotiating committee at the UN.37 Up to the current date, women are still underrepresented in peace and security since peacekeeping operations are not equally gender-balanced. Nevertheless, this does not mean that women have not been doing anything to improve their participation. In the present chapter, there is going to be an analysis of 3 specific cases (Somalia, Guatemala and DR Congo) which prove the efforts made by women and women’s group to increase the number of female participants in peace and security. 2.2.1 The case of Somaliland. Somaliland is an autonomous region of Somalia 38 located in East Africa. Even though this region possesses the dictated elements according to Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention to be considered a State in International Law; defined territory, permanent population, government and the capacity to engage in relations with other international actors but the lack 39 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh of recognition does not permit Somaliland to fully deploy its foreign policy vis-à-vis other States. 39 With a population of approximately four million people, there are five major clans, women making up to a sixty percent of the population. 40 Despite its independence from Somalia, the State has not been able to ameliorate its economic welfare and those of its citizens. In 2014 the World Bank reported that Somaliland had the fourth-lowest GDP per capita in the world.41 Regarding the situation of women, notwithstanding what it is contained on the Constitution condemning any form of discrimination against women and promoting equality for all its citizens42, Somaliland’s society remains a patriarchal one where “women will continue to have no right to self-determination and be excluded from the decision-making process at all levels” due to the customary law which govern the community. 43 Such discrimination towards women could be seen in the decision-making during the resolution of the conflict due to the fact that the Guurti –the Council of Elders- were the competent individuals to take decisions. However they were exclusively males.44 In current times, the highest political house of the Legislature, the House of Elders, is formed only by men. A women was included in 2012, but it was because she had to cover for her husband –who had previously resigned. 45 As a historical review on the formation of the State, the British Somaliland Protectorate gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1960. Shortly after, a territorial annexation was conducted with the Italian Trusteeship of Somalia forming the Republic of Somalia. From the coup d’État in 1969 to 1991, Somalia was ruled by President Siad Barre who eventually became a sort of dictator on account of the human rights violations committed to Somalians as well as the creation of a one socialist party. 46 Due to the adopted socialist form of government and ideology, Barre effectuated a new interpretation of the Islamic Law in order to promote 40 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh gender equality. Nonetheless, in January 1991 Barre was overthrown by the opposition party United Somalia Congress (USC) .47 In May 1991 Somaliland declared its independence after the Somali National Movement (SNM) took control over the territory. However, it should be mentioned that attaining independence was not the initial objective. In effect, the SNM during the preceding months to such declaration had the only aim of taking control of the north and setting peace among the different clans on the northern region.48 It was during the celebration of the Burao Conference that “a declaration that the northern regions would establish a separate administration without links to Mogadishu” was made by the elder components of the different clans.49 After the declaration, even some members of the SNM were clearly against it. However, by the time the conference ended in April 1991 an overwhelming sentiment in favor of independence extended through the region. In addition, such independence did not only foresee the creation of a separate form of administration but it implied going back to the sovereign status held right after the decolonization by the United Kingdom in 1960. 50 After independence, there were several intra conflicts in the given northern region in 1992, notably in order to gain control of strategic landmarks such as the port or over the region in general between the Isaaq clan and other sub-clans. 51 Consequently, there was the need to hold a conference in order to bring peace as well as to establish how subsequent conflicts should be resolved. Hence, the Sheekh conference was held in October 1992. 52 It should be mentioned that the clan of the Guurti and women’s groups played a very important role in the initiation and proceedings of the process. Despite the efforts women did for the conference to be celebrated, women were excluded. As a consequence, women’s groups started pacific campaigns (including singing, holding prayer meetings, walks with banner asking for 41 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh peace and the reciting of poems) by which they demanded to be included in the peace negotiations. 53 The following peace conference, the Grand Conference on National Reconciliation of Boroma in 1993 tried to address somehow the grievances that could not be managed in the previous conferences, including allowing women’s participation. This Conference was made up by the traditional set up of the Guurti alongside 150 clan representatives with the right to vote. In addition, 2000 people attended the summitry as observers (without the right to vote) and among this category there were 17 women who were included as a recognition of the great and notable efforts done prior to the Conference. The recognition of the efforts made by women did not entail their active participation at the Conference since they were only granted with the Status of observers. 54 During the given conference, women organisations had three demands: “Peace and coexistence among Somaliland’s clans, the continuation of the conference until a solution and agreement was reached to address al grievances, and agreement providing a solid foundation for the future of Somaliland”. 55 The outcome of this event entailed the adoption of a Peace Charter and a National Charter for the State. This document recognized the traditional role of the Guurti and it granted them the possibility to serve at an upper house of a bicameral Parliament.56 As it can be glanced from the previous paragraphs, women played a vital core in organizing the peace Conferences and protesting for peace. They started their campaign of protests in 1980 against the regime of President Barre and they did it continuously after Somaliland’s independence. It should be mentioned that female diaspora networks provide the needed funds in order to deal with the expenses of the activities planned. The diaspora constitutes a great number of Somaliland’s population who fled the country because of the armed conflict. The expatriates’ community existed even before the collapse of Barre’s regime. Estimates done by 42 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh the International Organisation for Migration stated that there are up to three million citizens living outside the State (as in 2008). 57 Despite the low status of observer, it was the first time that women’s group were officially included in the peace process of Somaliland. As the Elders declared: “women have to fend for themselves. That is the reason for our breach of the traditional code”; the traditional code being only the participation of males. 58 Consequently, in spite of the patriarchal attitude adopted towards women, there has been a change in the Somaliland traditional roles that could lead to an increase of women participation from observers to active participants since the groups’ activism is starting to be acknowledged. Concerning the peacekeeping operations undertaken in Somalia, the UN established two peacekeeping operations in the country: United Nations Operation in Somalia I (1992-1993)59 and United Nations Operation in Somalia II (1993-1995)60. The data provided by the DPKO regarding the first operation has not undergone the sex-disaggregated action that needs to be done to analyze female participation. 61 Nonetheless, despite the fact that the information provided by the DPKO of the second peacekeeping mission does not include the percentage of female peacekeepers either, the document published by the Division for the Advancement of Women in 1995 details the low percentage of women in the mission; out of 29.703 personnel, female constituted a 15.3 %.62 In the current mission of the DPKO, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia, established on 2013 -and whose mandate is valid until the 31 March 2019-, 63 there are 64 females out of 553 personnel. 64 However, even though the number of women might be lower than in the precedent operation, it is important to address the impact these women are having. In effect, on the 21 November 2018, the Ghanaian female police Officer Ms. Phyllis Osei was awarded the 2018 UN Female Police Officer Award, thanks to the efforts she made in 43 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh “enhancing the protection of women and girls, sparking initiatives to promote women’s rights in the Jubaland state police force, and successfully initiating adult literacy training for 49 police officers”. 65 She also trained staff in order to tackle gender issues, established gender desks in the host state police and facilitate the training regarding Sexual Gender-Based Violence. 66 Hence, this proves the many benefits female peacekeepers can bring to the peacekeeping mission. 2.2.2 The case of Guatemala Guatemala is a State located in the central region of Latin America. It gained independence from Spain in 1821 and approximately sixty percent of its population derives from one of the 22 different Mayan groups. Estimates realized by the Central Intelligence Agency states that poverty is especially notable among the Mayan population with up to 73% living below the poverty line. 67 In addition, Gender-Based violence towards women is a serious concern since women constitute the 92% (2017 data) of the victims in cases regarding domestic violence alongside having the third highest rate of women murdered in the world.68 Corning the conflict occurred in Guatemala between the Guatemalan government and the guerrilla movements, it could be traced back to the coup d’État of 1954 which was supported by the United States Government. Hence, opening a new framework of American interventionist policy in Latin America.69 The strike overthrown the democratic Government of Jacobo Arbenz who had previously initiated land reforms which were not supported by American investors and landowners. As a consequence, and in relation to the Cold War approach the US had towards this region of the American continent, an anti-socialist military leadership favorable to the States’ ideology as well as friendly to foreign investors was adopted. Such events triggered the creation of guerrilla movements. 70 44 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh In 1960 Violence started to be present in the Guatemalan society. Fights between the Government and the guerillas groups began in Guatemala City and spread to the surrounding regions. The guerrillas effectuated economic sabotages to the government as well as violent attacks to the members who were related to it. On the other hand, extreme right-winged pro- government paramilitaries murdered and tortured guerrilla’s components. 71 In the following decades up until the mid-1980s, the civil war escalated and spread towards areas mainly populated by Mayan communities. The Government perceived these communities as guerrillas’ allies, and as a response, it indiscriminately abducted and tortured individuals. Furthermore, and as a possible response towards the Government’s massive killings, the four largest guerrilla groups started to gain more devotees. In 1982 the different guerrilla groups decided to unite. Thus, creating a coalition named the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG under the Spanish acronym).72 In 1996 the war ended. The estimated number of casualties approaches the 200.0000 people killed, being a great number of these individuals victims from the Mayan communities.73 The same year an Agreement on a Firm and Lasting Peace was signed by the parties, previous agreements were brought into effect such as the 1994 Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights which called “for the establishment of a UN mission to verify all human rights violations and to establish national human rights institutions.”74 Nonetheless, due to the request of the parties and without waiting for a ceasefire, the United Nations Missions for the Verification on Human Rights was established on 19 September 1994. 75 The main objective of the mission was to conduct a verification of human rights and institution- building activities in Guatemala. In addition, and unlike most of the others peacekeeping operations, this was primarily a civilian and humanitarian mission. Over 250 human rights monitors, indigenous specialists, police and legal experts were posted throughout the country.76 45 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh In 1994 the Assembly of Civil Society was created by Bishop Quezada Toruño.77 It worked in parallel with the UN-mediated peace negotiations and its principal task consisted of providing recommendations to the peace negotiations that were celebrated.78 In the case study of Guatemala, local women had the opportunity to participate in the peace process negotiations through women’s groups and civil societies included in the Assembly. The key factors that allowed women’s groups to influence on the peace processes included the success of a coalition building within’ the Women’s Sector Assembly of Civil Society –made out of a total of 32 different women’s organisations-, the advocacy strategies taken by the Assembly to include women’s rights and gender equality issues, as well as the role played by the UN mediator in the peace negotiations.79 Women actively participated in the negotiation processes by transferring proposals–on behalf of the Assembly- to the UN mediated negotiations. While the formal transfer of proposal was made by the group, an informal transfer was made by Luz Mendez –a member of the URNG and the National Union of Guatemalan Women. Through this via, Luz Mendez presented recommendations made by the Women’s Groups to the URN which would be later transmitted to the UN mediator. Such transfer strategies resulted in the inclusion of gender perspectives in 11 out of the 13 accords of the peace agreements that were reached.80 However, it was not a direct participations since the final decision of accepting such proposals was made by the main negotiating parties. After the ceasefire agreement was signed in 1996, the UNSC adopted the Resolution 1094 in 1997 incorporating to the existing UN mission a group of 155 military observers and medical personnel for three months. The mission of the observer group was to verify the compliance 46 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh by the URNG and the Government of Guatemala regarding the ceasefire agreement –including the cessation of hostilities, disarmament and demobilization of URNG combatants. 81 Despite the fact there was no information concerning the percentage of females who were incorporated into the mission in 1997, according to the report made by the Division for the Advancement of Women, during May 1995, women constituted a 48.7 % of the total personnel. 82 The peacekeeping mission ended in 2004, and even though violence was still present throughout the peace process, the United Nations Missions for the Verification on Human Rights – a mission constituted of a very high percentage of female personnel - was declared one the most successful examples of peace building missions. As Kofi Annan stated: “Here in Guatemala, the United Nations Verification Mission stands as a successful example of UN peace-building, with valuable lessons for operations in other parts of the world”. 83 2.2.3 The case of DR of Congo The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), formerly known as Zaire84, was a Belgium colonial administration until 1960, the year of its independence. Differently to other African countries that were colonized by the Europeans, in this given case, from 1885 to 1908 the State was the private property of King Leopold II of Belgium who ruled the territory as he pleased. Regarding gender-equality, the State holds the 153rd of 159 position according to the 2016 Gender Inequality Index. In addition, and this being a common denominator with a great number of conflicts, over half of the female population had experienced GVB over the course of the conflict. Nowadays, women and girls encounter more problems while trying to enroll in an academic institution, over half of the Congolese women have no formal education and 65% do not know how to read and/or write.85 The DRC disposes of valuable natural resources –notably gold, diamonds, uranium and oil among others); this might somehow have contributed to the intensification of the wars. In 47 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh effect, since its independence in 1960, the DRC has undergone long periods of conflicts causing political instability and mass violence. 86 Colonel Joseph-Desiré Mobutu ruled as the President from 1965 –after a coup d’État- up until 1997 when General Laurent-Desiré Kabila toppled the former regime.87 The State went through two civil wars, the first one starting in September 1996 and ending in May 1997 and the second one starting in August 1998 until the adoption of the Lusaka Peace Agreement in 1999. The second war is considered to be one of the deadliest confrontations since World War II. 3.3 million people were killed with children constituting the 47% of the casualties 88. After a series of negotiations with the Government and the opposition groups, a last negotiation was concluded in 2003 where the parties signed the Final Act, therefore putting an end to the Inter-Congolese Dialogue and the second war. 89 Concerning the role played by local women, these were present in all type of delegations –from the Government to the three additional entities that were positioned against the regime. In effect, the Government and one of the opposition groups, the RDC-Goma, had the highest percentage of female participants within its bodies. .90 Women participated in the Inter- Congolese Dialogue via two different modalities. The first one being the direct representation at the negotiating table after the pressure made by women’s groups. The second type of modality comprised the inclusion of women in a high-level problem-solving workshop for females before the celebration of the mentioned Dialogue. The Lusaka Ceasefire Accord, which led to the mandate of the Dialogue, did not establish how the delegates should be selected. Consequently, the delegates representing the main parties went through an internal selection of their members. Even though there was no quota for the participation of women and having no women’s delegation, women participated as individual members in all the delegations attaining 11% in the Pretoria and Sun City conferences. 91 48 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Women who participated in the negotiations decided to form coalitions in order to increment the presence of women and their effectivity as peace negotiators. Furthermore, 40 female delegates (out 362) were included in the exiting subcommittees and in the plenary –where the decisions of the Dialogue were taken. Nonetheless, gender-related issues were only brought into the table by the Committee for Humanitarian, Social and Cultural Affairs; being this the same committee chaired by President Ellen-Johnson Sirleaf. 92 An important accomplishment made by the female delegates was the pressure the group made into the creation of a Ministry of Women and Family as well as the formation of a human chain in Sun City in 2002 locking all the negotiators inside the venue until the agreement was signed.93 As women in the DRC are traditionally excluded from the political institutions, a series of workshops were created by Women as Partners for Peace in Africa-DRC, the Nairobi Peace Initiative, Femmes Africa Solidarité and the United Nations Development Fund for Women. The workshops had the objective of increasing the number of female participants in the negotiations. They included 64 women with different backgrounds, from officials of the government to members of armed groups and women’s groups. At the beginning of the workshops, women were willing to represent their divergent groups. Nevertheless, eventually, they started working together towards for a common agenda.94 Furthermore, women adopted the Nairobi Declaration and Action Plan which contained recommendations in relation to the peace process and a recommendation for an effective transitional democratic process. An open letter was also written to the facilitator of the Dialogue as a reminder of the State’s commitment to the UN Resolutions 1325 and 2000. Effectively, the participation in the DRC was possible due to a strong coalition of women who overcame their differences and due to the strategies carried out in order to be included –such as open letters and raising awareness during the negotiations. 95 49 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The UN established in 2010 the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in DR Congo whose mandate, as well as personnel, has been extended through the years. The last extension agreed upon lasts until the 31 March 2019. 96 The data provided by the “Summary of Troop Contributions to UN Peacekeeping Operations by Mission, Post and Gender” published the 31 December 2018 indicates how out of a total of 17.213 personnel, 758 were females; only a 4.4%.97 Regardless of such notable difference, being a minority has not stopped women who are participating from making a positive impact. As an example, on November 2017 the United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award was given to Major Seitebatso, a South African who served at the peacekeeping mission from July 2016 to 2017 as an Information Operations Officer.98 Major Sietebatso invested her personal time to train staff to be more aware of gender dynamics within the peacekeeping mission. In addition, she interacted with civilians in order to better understand their concerns and consequently, knowing how these should be addressed. She also developed a Mission-wide SMS campaign on Sexual Gender-Based Violence to reach communities who were not easily accessible. 99 2.3 Conclusion The examples of peace negotiations in Somaliland, Guatemala and DR Congo show how women have had the opportunity to participate in peace processes and peace negotiations. Nevertheless, the participation of local women has only been attained after the advocacy of women’s groups –or even after the formation of a strong coalition- since they would not be directly included at the majority of negotiations. In addition, the contributions made by women during the negotiations primarily involved gender matters. Consequently, it may seem as if gender-equality was a subject to be treated only by females since, in the absence of women’s movement, gender affairs would have not been relevant to the negotiations. 50 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Concerning the participation of women in peacekeeping operations, despite the fact these were not gender-balanced, women have managed to make positive contributions vis-à-vis the mission and the local communities. However, it is still an undeniable fact that female peacekeepers constitute a minority and their contributions could be enhanced if only their presence was higher. 51 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ENDNOTES 1Gaudin, Hélène. "Law of International Relations," Université Toulouse 1 Capitole (2017). 2 Gadkowski, Andrzej. "The Doctrine of Implied Powers of International Organizations in the Case Law of International Tribunals," Adam Mickiewicz University Law Review 6 (2016). p.52 3 Ibid. 4 Department of Peacekeeping Operations, "Mandates and the Legal Basis for Peacekeeping " https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mandates-and-legal-basis-peacekeeping. 5 Gaudin, "Law of International Relations." 6 Nations, "United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Principles and Guidelines." p.19 7 Kroeker, Mark. "United Nations Police Handbook," United Nations (2005). p.7 8 Boutros Boutros Ghali, "An Agenda for Peace. Preventive Diplomacy, Peacemaking and Peace-Keeping," United Nations (1992). 9Nations, "United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Principles and Guidelines." p. 17 10 Ibid. p.19 11 Ibid. p.19 12 Ibid. p.21 13 Gaudin, "Law of International Relations." 14 Paterno, Esmaquel II. "Ph Rejects 'Interference' of UN in 'Household Affairs'," https://www.rappler.com/nation/143661-philippines-united-nations-investigation-drug-killings. 15 Nations, "United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Principles and Guidelines." p.33 16 Ibid. 18 Ibid. p.33 19 Ibid. 17 Ibid. p.33 18 Ibid. p.31 19 Ibid. 20 In 2017, 15 peacekeepers were killed in the peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, and in 2018 there have already been 4 casualties in the peacekeeping mission in Mali. 21 Cooke, Jennifer G. "Understanding the G5 Sahel Joint Force: Fighting Terror, Building Regional Security?," https://www.csis.org/analysis/understanding-g5-sahel-joint-force-fighting-terror-building-regional-security. 22 UN, "Security Council Adopts Resolution 2295 (2016), Authorizing ‘More Proactive and Robust’ Mandate for United Nations Mission in Mali," https://www.un.org/press/en/2016/sc12426.doc.htm; Nations, "United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Principles and Guidelines." 23 "United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Principles and Guidelines." p.36 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid. p.37 26 Ibid p.38 27 Ibid p.39 28 Ibid. 29 Goulding, Marrack. "The Evolution of United Nations Peacekeeping," International Affairs (1993). p. 452 30 Ibid. 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid. 33 Usden, Rebecca; Juergenliemk, Hubertus. "History of Un Peacekeeping," Global Governance Institute (2012). p.1 34 Ibid. 35 Ibid. p.2 36United Nations, "Principles of Peacekeeping," in Peacekeeping Best Practices Section (New York: United Nations, 2010). p.22 37 UN women, "Facts and Figures: Peace and Security," UN Women, http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we- do/peace-and-security/facts-and-figures. 38 The sovereignty and International Legal Personality of Somaliland has been contested in the international community. 39 Gaudin, "Law of International Relations." 40 Inclusive Peace and Transition Initiative, "Women in Peace and Transition Processes Somaliland (1993)," (The Graduate Institute of Geneva: The Graduate Institute of Geneva, 2017).p.1 52 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 41 Ibid.p.2 42 Article 8 of the Constitution of Somaliland. 43 M.B. Tungaraza and Nagaad Umbrella Organisation, Women's Human Rights in Somaliland NAGAAD, (2010).p. 94 44 Initiative, "Women in Peace and Transition Processes Somaliland (1993)." p.2 45 Ibid. 46 Instraw, "Women, Peace and Security in Somalia: Implementation of Un Security Council Resolution 1325," (United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women 2008). 47 Ibid. p.3 48 Michael Walls, "The Emergence of a Somali State: Building Peace from Civil War in Somaliland," African Affairs 108, no. 432 (2009). p.377 49 Ibid. 50 Ibid.p.380 51 Initiative, "Women in Peace and Transition Processes Somaliland (1993)." p.3 52 Ibid. 53 Ibid. 54 Ibid. p.4 55 Ibid. 56 Ibid. p.5 57 Instraw, "Women, Peace and Security in Somalia: Implementation of Un Security Council Resolution 1325."p.23 58 Initiative, "Women in Peace and Transition Processes Somaliland (1993)."p.6 59 Department of Public Information, "United Nations Operation in Somalia I," Department of Public Information, http://www.un.org/Depts/DPKO/Missions/unosomi.htm. 60 "United Nations Operation in Somalia Ii," Department of Public Information, http://www.un.org/Depts/DPKO/Missions/unosom2b.htm. 61 DPKO, "Facts and Figures," DPKO, https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/past/unosom1facts.html. 62 Division for the Advancement of Women, "The Role of Women in United Nations Peacekeeping Missions," in Women2000. Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development (1995). p.8 63 DPKO, "Mandate," https://unsom.unmissions.org/mandate. 64 "Summary of Troop Contributions to Un Peacekeeping Operations by Mission , Post and Gender," DPKO: DPKO (2018). 65 "UN Police Officer Recognized for Protecting Vulnerable Somali Women from Abuse," https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/11/1026181. 66 Ibid. 67 Inclusive Peace and Transition Initiave, "Women in Peace and Transition Processes Guatemala (1994-1999)," Graduate Institute Geneva: Graduate Institute Geneva (2017). p.1 68 Ibid.p.2 69 Molden, Berthold. "La Guerra Civil Guatemalteca: Historias Y Memorias Cruzadas En El Entorno Global De La Guerra Fría," Dialnet 41 (2015). p.69 70 Initiave, "Women in Peace and Transition Processes Guatemala (1994-1999)." p.2 71 Ibid. 72 Ibid.p.3 73 Ibid. p.5 74 Peacemaker, "Document Retrieval-Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights," UN, https://peacemaker.un.org/guatemala-humanrightsagreement94. 75 DPKO, "Background," DPKO, https://peacekeeping.un.org/mission/past/minuguabackgr.html. 76 Ibid. 77 He was the Executive Director at the Human Rights Office of the archbishopric and an active activist for peace in Guatemala. He participated in the different peace negotiations and was engaged in the peace process since 1980. 78 Ibid. 79 Ibid. 80 Ibid. 81 Ibid. 82 Women, "The Role of Women in United Nations Peacekeeping Missions." p.8 83 UN, "Guatemaa Mission Succesful Example of Un Peace-Building, with Lessons for Other Operations, Says Secretary-General in Message to Closing Ceremony " UN, https://www.un.org/press/en/2004/sgsm9595.doc.htm. 53 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 84 The DRC went through an official modification of its official name in 1971 to Zaire by Colonel Joseph-Desiré Mobutu, name that would be eventually modified by Kabila to the current one in 1997. 85 Inclusive Peace and Transition Initiative, "Women in Peace and Transition Processes: Democratic Republic of the Congo (2001-2003)," Graduate Institute Geneva: Graduate Institute Geneva (2017). p.1 86 Ibid. p.2 87 Ibid. 88 Ibid. p.3 89 Ibid. p.4 90Ibid. p.5 91 Ibid. p.6 92 Ibid. 93 Ibid. 94 Ibid 95 Ibid. p.8 96 DPKO, "Mandate".p. 97 "Summary of Troop Contributions to Un Peacekeeping Operations by Mission , Post and Gender." 98 "Woman Peacekeeper Wins the United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award " DPKO, https://monusco.unmissions.org/en/woman-peacekeeper-wins-united-nations-military-gender- advocate-year-award. 99 Ibid. 54 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER 3 BACKGROUND TO LIBERIAN CONFLICT, ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PEACEKEEPING MISSION AND GENDER-INCLUSION IN LIBERIAN PEACE PROCESS 3.0 Introduction This chapter discusses the background of the civil war in Liberia, which led the establishment of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). It also looks at the actions taken by the Government of Liberia in order implement and support the objectives comprised in Resolution 1325. 3.1 The Liberian Civil War In order to comprehend the outbreak of the civil war is it necessary to apprehend the history of this West-African State. 3.1.1 Origins of the war: History of Liberia The civil war finds its roots in the unresolved issues existing in the country regarding ethnic and political differences among the population. Liberia was founded as a colony of freed slaves from the United States of America (US) by the American Colonization Society.1 The first ship arrived to the Liberian coast in January 1822 after the Cape Mesurado area, the actual Monrovia, was purchased from the chiefs who owned the land. 2 This event marks the beginning of the history of Liberia. The freed slaves, also known as Americo-Liberians, dominated the economic, political and social affairs of Liberia for almost 150 years. Nevertheless, it ought to be mentioned that the territory was not uninhabited by the 55 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh time the Americans came to Liberia; in fact, there were over 12 different ethnic groups already coexisting before their arrival. 3 The tensions between the newcomers and those who were already in the territory escalated after the settlement of the freed slaves, especially, in relation to the purchase of the Cape Mesurado area in which they attempted to impose their economic, political and socio-cultural heritage to the natives. The indigenes rebelled against such imposition, however, the rebellion did not succeed, due to the lack of unity among them. In effect, there were a lot of disputes among the different ethnic groups. Whereas unity was the missing element for a successful insurrection, it was the strong point of the settlers since they understood that they needed to stay united in order to survive and face the attacks of the natives. 4 On the July 26, 1847 Liberia became independent and with it, the question about the nature of the Liberian society, regarding the relation native-settlers, made a come-back. Subsequently, the newcomers set an oligarchic form of Government. It was a regime established in order to benefit those who belonged to the category of Americo-Liberians. They were the elite and they saw themselves as the “civilized and wealthy” ones in detriment of the indigenous whose civil and political rights were neglected. 5 In effect, as the Liberian Constitution of 1947 stated, the people of Liberia were the ones originating from the US. Consequently, the rights and prerogatives were only to be enjoyed by the settlers. However, the absence of the status of citizenships did not entail the exemption of contributing to the national budget since natives were bound to pay taxes. 6 3.1.2 The outbreak and proceedings of the Civil War The Americo-Liberians continued to maintain their status of being the political elite of the State until the 12 of April 1980 when the Non-Commissioned Military Officers stroke a successful 56 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Coup d’État. It was led by Master Sergeant Samuel Doe, an original inhabitant from the Krahn ethnic group. 7 With the former Government gone, there was the impression that a shift in the balance of power from the settlers to the natives was about to happen. Nonetheless, Doe adopted policies which directly benefitted the ethnic group he belonged to, over the other ethnic groups of the country. For instance, the Armed Forced of Liberia was constituted as a neutral armed force until Doe turned it into an army of his ethnic group which served him in eliminating his political opponents during the war.8 In 1988, Doe modified the Constitution of 1986- which was adopted after the legislative elections in which he was elected President- in order to grant him an unlimited term being the Head of the Executive Power. The bad governance, including Doe’s inability to address fundamental drawbacks such as social and economic problems, led to an almost bankrupted country that year.9 During this delicate economic and political stage in Liberia, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia of Liberia (NPFL) led by Charles Taylor launched an attack against the Doe’s Government with the objective of overthrowing it in 1989. The desire to topple Doe’s regime was also an act of personal vengeance for Charles Taylor because he had been previously exiled to US by Doe’s regime. In addition, it was also an act of vengeance regarding his mentor, Quiwonkpa, who was assassinated when he tried to stage a coup d’État against Doe in 1985.10 The attacks launched by Charles Taylor marked the outbreak of the first Liberian war. There were different ethnic groups supporting the insurgents on one side, and the National Army and other ethnic groups supporting Doe on the other side. Following the intensification of the attacks and the increase of casualties, the Liberian Inter-Faith Mediation Committee began a mediation process in 1990. However, Charles Taylor refused the proposals given by this Committee- which included a ceasefire and the establishment of an interim government- and 57 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh he continued fighting until Doe’s death. Once the former President was dead, Charles Taylor formed an Interim Government. With this Government in place, a peace agreement was reached and the first democratic elections were held in 1990. Charles Taylor was the new President of Liberia. 11 The conflicts, however, continued in order to take control of the capital city Monrovia until a ceasefire and peace negotiations occurred in 1995. New elections were held in 1997; Charles Taylor became, once again, the President of Liberia. Following the victory of Taylor, there was the emergence of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy formed by Liberian refugees under the Government of Taylor. The mission of the group was to stage a coup d’État against Taylor. The fighting began with the rebels controlling the local diamond fields; the response of the President was to create warring factions to fight the rebels. This marks the beginning of the second Liberian War. The intensification of ethnic rivalries and the emergence of new warring factors created more confusion to the existing situation. Therefore, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and, subsequently, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) had to intervene in order to supervise a ceasefire. 12 According to the United Nations sources, over 250,000 people were killed and 500,000 were sent into exile during the Liberian second civil war.13 3.2 The Establishment of the United Nations Mission in Liberia Before the establishment of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) in 2003, there were other attempts in order to have a ceasefire, adopt a peace agreement and begin the democratization process in the country. Nevertheless, such efforts were not enough to put an end to the ongoing war. 58 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3.2.1 The Precedent. The United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia Since the outbreak of the conflict, ECOWAS undertook several initiatives to finish with the war using peaceful means; that means no military intervention. The UN supported the initiatives of ECOWAS such as the establishment of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group in 1990. In 1992, the United Nations Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Liberia. Furthermore, the former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali appointed a Special Representative in order to facilitate the talks between ECOWAS and the belligerent parties. 14 In 1993, through to the mediation process carried out by ECOWAS, a peace agreement was reached in Cotonou. Subsequently, the Security Council established the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL). UNOMIL was the first peacekeeping mission undertaken in cooperation with a mission that was already established by another organisation.15 Due to delays in the implementation of the peace agreement and the resumption of the fights between the waring factors, the planned elections for February-March 1994 could not be celebrated. During the following months, complementary peace agreements were negotiated. These modified and gave clarity to the Cotonou agreement. After the ceasefire, in July 1997, the UN supervised the elections, in which Charles Taylor was elected President. The new Head of Government and Head of State constituted a new Government and promulgated a policy of reconciliation and national unity.16 UNOMIL had therefore achieved its main objective in the country; its democratization. Once the mandate of UNOMIL concluded, the UN established in November 1997 the United Nations Office of Support to the Consolidation of Peace in Liberia (UNOL) headed by a 59 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Representative of the Secretary General. The main function for such office was to help the Government in the consolidation of peace after the elections of 1997. With the support of the Security Council, UNOL facilitated the promotion of national reconciliation and good governance and helped mobilize international assistance for the implementation of reconstruction and development programs.17 However, the efforts to consolidate the peace were affected by the inability of the Government and the opposition leaders to resolve their differences on the fundamental aspects of public management. At the same time, the systematic violations of human rights, the policy of exclusion against members of the opposition as well as the lack of a reform of the security sector undermined their work to promote national reconciliation. Those events contributed to the resumption of the civil war in Liberia, which led the international community to call on the belligerent parties to seek a negotiated solution to the conflict.18 On the 8th July 2003, following the intensification of the fights between Government forces and various warring factions, and facing the threat of a humanitarian tragedy, the Secretary- General decided to appoint Jacques Paul Klein as the Special Representative for Liberia. The task of the Special Representative was to coordinate the activities of the UN agencies in the country and to support the transition agreements. In addition, on the 29th July 2003, the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan proposed the deployment of international troops in Liberia in three phases, which would later become a multidimensional mission of the UN for the maintenance of peace. Mr. Annan also indicated that, since there was the willingness of establishing a peacekeeping mission in Liberia, the mandate of UNOL should be terminated.19 After the declaration of the UN Secretary General, the situation in Liberia evolved rapidly. On the 1st August 2003, the Security Council adopted Resolution 1497 which authorized the 60 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh establishment of a multinational force in Liberia and declared its willingness to deploy a UN stabilization force no later than the 1st of October 2003. Later in August, the Liberian parties signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Accra. With the adoption of the Agreement, the parties requested the UN to deploy a force in Liberia, in accordance with Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, to support the National Transitional Government of Liberia and to promote the implementation of the Agreement. With the subsequent deployment of the ECOWAS mission in Liberia, the security situation in the country improved.20 3.2.2 Overview of the Mandate of the Peacekeeping Operation. On the 19th September 2003, the Security Council approved by unanimity Resolution 1509 (2003) by which the UN organ, acting under the granted powers contained in Chapter VII of the Charter of the UN, officially established UNMIL. 21 As it is stated in the document, the peacekeeping mandate would last for 12 months 22and it requests the UN Secretary General to “transfer the authority from ECOWAS-led ECOMIL forces to UNMIL on 1 October 2003, and further decides that UNMIL will consist of up to 15,000 United Nations military personnel, including up to 250 military observers and 160 staff officers, and up to 1,115 civilian police officers, including formed units to assist in the maintenance of law and order throughout Liberia, and the appropriate civilian component”.23 A Special Representative for Liberia, appointed by the Secretary General, would direct the operations of the mission and coordinate UN activities in the country.24 The mandate of Resolution 1509 (2003) indicates that UNMIL will support the implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement that had been adopted on August 2003. The mission would also investigate possible violations and support the work of the Joint Monitoring Committee; an organ charged with the supervision of the implementation of the Agreement. 25 61 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh The mandate included a series of prerogative and orders. UN Staff, Civilians and the Facilities used to carry out its mission should be protected. Free movement of people within the mission should be granted. UNMIL shall support Humanitarian assistance and protect Human Rights. This includes helping in the establishment of the optimal security conditions, contributing in the efforts made by the international community in the protection and promotion of Human Rights, and providing the capacity and expertise within the operation to protect, promote and monitor activities to safeguard Human Rights. 26 Moreover, the mission shall provide advice, training and assistance to the law enforcement agencies of Liberia and other criminal justice institutions; provide assistance to the transitional Government for the implementation of a disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program; assist in the preparations for the elections; assist the transnational Government in restructuring the police force and the military and assist in the re-establishment of the public order and a national authority with an effective control over the territory and its administrations –national and local.27 The 1st October 2003, UNMIL took over the peacekeeping functions of ECOWAS.28 On the 30th of June 2016 the transfer of the security responsibilities from the peacekeeping mission to the Liberian authorities was completed, due to the country’s capability of ensuring security and stability and due to the Presidential elections planned for 2017. The mission completed the withdrawal of its troops by the 30th of Mars 2018. 29 62 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3.3. Process of Implementation of Resolution 1325: The adoption of the Liberia National Action Plan The greatest challenge after the adoption of a policy at an international level is its implementation; turning the information contained in the document into reality. The lack of effectiveness is the obstacle that several UN mandates have encountered through the years, especially with regard to women’s rights and gender equality. 30 The United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UNINSTRAW) was the pioneer organisation to publish a guide which provides assistance to Governments while developing national action plans to implement Resolution 1325. 31 In effect, the purpose of the guide is to facilitate the development of action plans dedicated, in this given case, to women, peace and security. Furthermore, the document of UNINSTRAW contains recommendations on how to create it and the benefits it entails to women and gender-equality. 32 To begin with, it is important to assess what an action plan is. A plan of action is “a written document that describes the efforts and resources required in order to implement a goal, law, mandate, or policy within a specific period of time”. 33 One of the most important assets about this document is the fact that it states the responsible for the implementation of every activity comprised in the plan. 34 In addition to this definition, the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation describes the creation of an action plan as “translating the policies into executable, measurable and accountable actions”.35 Even though most states as well as the UN and Non-Governmental Organisations working towards the empowerment of women agree on the fact that it is necessary to create an action plan to fully implement the Resolution, there is a debate going on in the international arena.36 The argument against the creation of an action plan follows the idea that there is a risk of 63 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh splitting women’s concerns into different arenas which will receive separate treatment. 37 Following this argument, by creating action plans, the more actors would there be and the more difficult would it be to correctly implement gender-mainstreaming policies. Conversely, the advocates who position themselves in favor of action plans state that without the creation of separate policies, there is the risk that gender-mainstreaming will not be implemented and will only remain “alive” in paper. 38 The guide of UNINSTRAW contains the benefits of creating a Women, Peace and Security Action Plan. As it has been previously mentioned, the existing barriers to the correct implementation of the Resolution 1325 were the lack of information on how to implement it, misunderstandings and a gap on the provided data among others. Consequently, comprehensiveness is the first advantage contained. By developing an action plan, a comprehensive approach on how to implement the given policy can be accomplished avoiding possible misconceptions and gaps. Coordination and Awareness-raising are accomplished though the creation of separate actions. In effect, there is the need to gather the competent actors in the field to ensure the effectivity of the action plan. In addition to this fact, the process of drafting the document is also a period of rising awareness and capacity-building for the cause.39 When a state or organisation decides to adopt an action plan, it follows a sense of ownership and responsibility regarding the implementation of a policy which seeks to empower women in peace and security. Arising from this last advantage, it comes the benefit of accountability. Due to the fact that the action plan provides the information of the institutions who are in charge of implementing the policy, in a case of a misconduct, the actors involved can be hold accountable. As a last advantage, an action plan would facilitate the monitoring and evaluation process in order to assess if the implementation is being successful or to analyze and ameliorate possible flaws that makes it unsuccessful. 40 64 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Liberia decided to create an action plan for the implementation of Resolution. This decision is reasonable since the country went through two devastating civil wars which resulted in a lack of governmental stability among other consequences. Liberia was not in a position to integrate the essentials of Resolutions 1325 into the domestic legal system; consequently, the Liberian National Action Plan was adopted. UNMIL is considered to be the first peacekeeping mission to have implemented, at a large scale, Resolution 1325. The success of the peacekeeping operations lies on the involvement of the Government of Liberia into the implementation of the national action plan (NAP). The realization of the NAP, also known as Liberian National Action Plan (LNAP), was advocated by the first female Head of State in Africa, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in response of the call made by the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for the development and implementation of Action Plans. 41 The outcome is a four year “living” document (2009-2013) with the capacity of adapting to the changes in the Liberian context. The LNAP comprises specific actions which are needed to encourage the inclusion of women in all processes affecting their peace and security, as well as the promotion of gender-equality and gender mainstreaming domestic policies. Furthermore, it reinforces the work directed towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal, which seeks to Promote Gender-Equality and the empowerment of women.42 The development of the action plan included a process of comprehensive consultation and participation which involved roundtable negotiations and discussions as well as two-sided interviews (Government actors and civil societies). The core subjects on the discussions and interviews were the issues which affected the peace and security of women and the identification of national projects which had a direct or indirect relation to Resolution 1325. These actions also served to raise awareness and to promote the needed knowledge on the 65 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh subject of Resolution 1325 and the principles concerning the issues of women’s peace and security. 43 In the matter of the participants who contributed in the drafting of the LNAP, there were three different groups: The leading Agents, the Involved Parties and the Civil Society Involvement. The agent who led the development of LNAP was the Ministry of Gender and in Development. This Ministry constituted the key institution in the promotion of women’s rights and gender equality in the country. The Government ordered the Ministry to supervise the creation of the LNAP and the implementation of Resolution 1325.44 The other involved parties pertaining to the national administrative bodies were the Representatives of 12 Government ministries, local authorities, Agencies of national Security, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Women’s Committee and the Liberian Institute for Statistics and Geo-Information Services.45 An advantage of the creation of an action plan is the possibility to designate individuals and/or institutions who have the main responsibility of implementing the plan. On the contrary, these could be held accountable for an omission. Effectively, in this given case, the LNAP provides a list of responsible for the implementation. The lead agent being President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and her Cabinet. In addition to the Head of State, there is also a list of the responsible Ministries of the State; the list involves the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Justice, Agriculture, Planning and Economic Affairs among others. 46 Monitoring and Evaluation are a core activity during the process. Consequently, a Technical Monitoring and Evaluation Task Force was put in place in order to assess and verify the advancements and proceedings of the LNAP implementation. In addition, in order to control the process, a report had to be sent yearly to the Head of State, another report had to be sent to 66 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh the President and the Cabinet after 18 months, and a final report had to be sent to the same individuals at the end of the implementation period, this being after 48 months. 47 Civil societies also took part in the process of drafting and implementing the LNAP. An Observatory was created which was formed by women’s organisations and NGO’s. Its main task was the preparation of a report after the 4 year term of the action plan.48 The Civil Society Monitoring Report stated in the conclusion that great efforts were done in order to implement the action plan, to include women in senior-level and to address sexual violence. Nonetheless, there were some challenges that persisted and needed to be surpasses. For instance, the lower the budget of the Ministry of Gender and Development, the lower level of awareness among the population and Liberian NGOs which made difficult the implementation was, or the slow results of the monitoring and evaluation instruments. 49 The question concerning how the LNAP was constructed in order to implement Resolution 1325 might come up. The action plan is built on 4 principal Pillars, each of them connected to Resolution 1325 and containing a collection of Strategic Issues. Pillar 1 is dedicated to Protection, more especially, the protection of women and girls from Gender-Based Violence attacks they might encounter during and after the conflict. The Strategic Issues provide psychological aid and policies in order to strengthen their security. Pillar 2, Prevention, seeks to create an environment free of violence against women and girls, and other types of crimes that might occur to them, such as human trafficking or forced prostitution. It also includes the prevention from Gender-Based Violence. 50 Pillar 3 comprises the Participation and Empowerment of women. With the Strategic Issues of this Pillar, the action plan seeks to promote the participation of women in peace processes (conflict prevention, peace building and post conflict negotiations). At a last instance, Pillar 4 is about Promotion. This entails the creation of strategies to guarantee the implementation of 67 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh the action plan. Its Strategic Issues include the promotion of women’s participation in women’s groups and peace processes through the provision of training and education. It also includes the enhancement of the capacities of institutions and women’s groups to correctly implement LNAP, and to promote the total participation of governmental and civil society actors concerning the control and evaluation of the implementation of the action plan. 51 It ought to be highlighted the fact that for this case study, the most important Pillars are the third one and the fourth one which, due to their relevance, are going to be assessed in the following section. 3.3.1 Participation of women in managerial roles at the peacekeeping mission in Liberia. Concerning Pillar 3, its first Strategic Issue is the increase of women’s presence in peace processes, which is directly linked to Resolution 1325. During the adoption of the resolution on the 31st of October 2000, the Security Council urged: “Member States to ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict”. 52 Professor Henrietta Joy Abena Nyarko Mensa-Bonsu served at UNMIL as the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General for 4 years (2007-2011). During her time served, she acknowledged a great presence of women in leadership roles, especially in the civilian side: The Head of Department, the Head of Civil Affairs, the Head of Legal Affairs and the Head of the Gender office were all female. This constitutes a great advancement since one of the main barriers to surpass was the appointing of women to leading roles. In accordance with the critical theory, the “Fixing individual women” strategy would apply to this situation because it is about women in managerial posts. However, the interviewee addressed the fact that her condition as a woman in a managerial/senior post did not make her 68 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh feel uncomfortable vis-à-vis her colleagues. She was efficient in her job, thus, nobody complained about her appointment. Likewise, she highlighted the fact that there was also local staff and not only international appointees. This proves that the tendency of only appointing privileged white women to such posts is shifting into a more inclusive approach where other women are being taken into consideration. In addition, the fact that she was not alone –as a woman with a senior position- helps building a more gender-friendly working environment. 3.3.2 Challenges to the participation of women at the peacekeeping mission in Liberia Professor stated during the interview that there was a great number of women on the civilian side but there was little female presence on the military and police side. “There is still a lot work to do because of the prevalence of gender stereotypes” she declared. The main challenges to increase the percentage of women lays on the Troop Contributing Countries and the lack of sex-disaggregated data. 3.3. A Troop Contributing Countries Resolution 1508 (2003) states the importance of introducing a gender perspective in the peacekeeping mission in Liberia and it recalls the existing need to end violence against women and girls. 53 Nonetheless, the implementation of Resolution 1325 entails the surpassing of challenges and obstacles which are, most certainly, present in every peacekeeping operation. The UN does not have an army of its own. Consequently, the personnel who participates in peacekeeping operations is provided by the member states of the organisation. The UN personnel is composed by the military, known as the Blue Helmets, the UN Police and civilians. 69 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh According to the DPKO, there are more than 100.000 uniformed personnel working for the UN who come from over 120 different countries.54 The Office of Military Affairs emphasizes on the need of increasing the representation of female peacekeeping missions. Nonetheless, the difficulty regarding the inclusion of female lays on the fact that the percentage of women in the national armies of the largest Troops Contributing Countries (TCCs) is very low. The top three TCCs in 2015 were Bangladesh, India and Pakistan; countries who have a small number of females in their armies. 55 Professor Mensa-Bonsu stated that “some contingents to the mission had no women in their forces at all, especially those from Muslim countries”. She added that in the cases where there was the presence of females, these were not appointed to senior roles. In effect, as it has been previously mentioned, the prevalence of gender serotypes in military institutions comes between women and their recruitment to the national forces. Professor declared that in some countries, parents were against letting their daughters join the national forces. Women who decide to join the military forces have to fight the patriarchal heritage which is rooted in such institutions since men are considered to be the ones who ought to be sent to war to protect their wives, the vulnerable ones. 56 Conversely, the countries which are the most progressive concerning the inclusion of women in the military, and as a consequence, have a higher percentage of females in their national forces, do not contribute in a large scale to peacekeeping missions.57 For instance, the countries in North America and Europe with up to 20% of females in their troops rather contribute to the European Union or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization than to UN peacekeeping operations. 58 Nonetheless, exceptions to this rule exist. There are some countries in Africa who have a significant number of female personnel such as Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria or South Africa which participate in UN mission. However, the percentage still needs to be increased. 59 70 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Despite the challenges existing to a full implementation of the Resolution 1325 in Liberia concerning military and police personnel, efforts were made to redress the gender-imbalance drawback. In effect, as Resolution 1508 (2008) emphasized about the need and importance of implementing Resolution 1325, in 2007 India deployed the First All-Female Police Unit (FFPU) composed by 105 female Indian police officers. 60 It consisted of an experimental unit which might have served as an answer to the global issue of the absence of female peacekeepers and an incentive to incorporate more women into the contingents. They were posted in a Base in Congo Town of the capital city and their specific task was to provide 24/7 guard of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and to conduct night patrols around Monrovia.61 Subsequently, after the first few months, the positive impact was already noticeable since they served as role models and inspiration to local women. As a consequence, there was an increase of women who wanted to join the local police as well as an increase in the willingness from those women to report crimes and sexual abuses.62 As the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon declared in the speech delivered on the 12th February 2016 in New York: “Through their work, they managed criminality, deterred sexual and gender-based violence and helped rebuild safety and confidence among the population.” 63 Since 2007, and due to the positive feedback, there have been 9 rotations of FFPU from India, and the idea has been extrapolated to other UN peacekeeping missions such as the ones in Timor-Leste or Haiti. 64 It ought to be mentioned that with the deployment of the All-Female Police Unit, Liberian women embodied up to 17% of the Liberian security sector –before the deployment, women made up to 6%. 65 Professor Mensa-Bonsu declared during the interview, UNMIL had the target of recruiting 20% of females into the police. Nonetheless, by the time she left the peacekeeping mission in 2011, the target had not been accomplished. 71 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3.3. B Lack of Sex-Disaggregated Data The DPKO provides a chart of the number of personnel deployed for every peacekeeping mission that has been undertaken by the UN since 1990. Effectively, there is the possibility to filter the data by personnel type, country and mission.66 For the purpose of the given study, it is suitable to collect the data from the charts in relation to the peacekeeping mission in Liberia. This is necessary in order to assess the implementation of Resolution 1325 regarding the increase of female participants. Details of the UN personnel deployed to UNMIL in specific months in the years 2003, 2013 and 2015 can be found below. Figure 1. 67 United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Liberia Deployed Personnel- NOVEMBER 2003 Source: Department of 1595 Peacekeeping 1107 Operations 650 NIGERIA BANGLADESH GUINEA-BISSAU United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Liberia Deployed Personnel- SEPTEMBER 2013 Figure 2.68 MALE FEMALE Source: 2009 Department of 1505 Peacekeeping Operations 720 8 108 25 PAKISTAN NIGERIA GHANA 72 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Figure 3.69 United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Liberia Deployed Personnel -SEPTEMBER 2015 Source: MALE FEMALE Department of Peacekeeping 1451 Operations 783 652 122 20 122 NIGERIA CHINA GHANA Figure 1, Figure 2 and Figure 3 represent the top 3 TCCs to UNMIL in 3 different years. The countries which on average provided the largest number of personnel were Nigeria, Pakistan and Ghana. Yet, Nigeria and Ghana were the only states that deployed several women.70 In effect, these were states which recruited females into their national forces and decided to send them to serve at the peacekeeping mission. However, the percentage remains very much low vis-à-vis the one regarding men. Despite the fact that the International Peace Institute assures in its study that the UN started to collect sex-disaggregated data on its peacekeeping missions from 2000 71, the charts published on the page of the DPKO only contain sex-disaggregated data from 2009 onwards. That is the reason why in the first graphic, there is no distinction Male-Female. It ought to be mentioned that the lack of sex-aggregated data constituted a barrier to the implementation of Resolution 1325. 72 Such gap on the data complicates the realization of cross-regional comparisons and the production of accurate information in relation to the participants to peacekeeping missions,73 which translates into the invisibility of the issue of women’s underrepresentation. In effect, only by showing the enormous difference of male and female participants, one can realize the 73 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh magnitude of the problem and comprehend that something needs to be done in order to address it. 3.3.3 Empowerment of women through gender-sensitive training efforts In order to overcome the problem presented by the TCCs, it is important to encourage local women to join the military and police forces. This is exactly what the LNAP aimed at attaining regarding Liberian girls and women. The Strategic Issues stated in Pilar 4 of the LNAP engaged in the promotion and participation of women and girls in the areas of conflict prevention, peace security and post-conflict reestablishment through education and training. 74 Professor Mensa-Bonsu declared that local women did not have the needed education to join the police forces of the country. Consequently, the UN Police started a program with one local institution that helped women in their pre-qualification in order to take the high school exam since many of them were high school drop outs. In addition, the Emergency Response Unit, a Special Force Unit of the Liberian Police, was created in order to provide the required knowledge to be part of the national police. As the UN Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics stated in 2011 “Children in poor, remote areas, those affected by conflict, or those belonging to ethnic, racial and linguistic minorities are denied an opportunity for schooling,”75 In 2016, Liberia was “home to the highest proportion of out-of-school children”. Schools shut down due to conflict or the Ebola crisis.76 When it comes to girls, this situation only gets worse. They constitute the higher percentage of school drop-outs. This is due to different factors: girls are often put to work around the home, 74 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh the lack of adequate toilets and bathrooms –which is a problem especially while menstruating- and teenage pregnancies. 77 In such cases there is a pattern which is recurrent: Poverty. The poorer the region, the more school drop-outs there are going to be. The critical feminist theory, by laying emphasis on class, seeks to visualize how it is not possible to address the question of gender equality and the empowerment of women without taking into consideration the different social class and how this interacts with race, ethnicity and religion among other identities. The LNAP, while encouraging the Government of Liberia to promote the participation of women and girls through education and training, provided a bottom-up approach by which local women could participate in the reconstruction of their country. By using this Strategic Issue, not only women were able to obtain a higher level of education –which was once denied because of a multiplicity of factors- but the focus was laid on local women, a key element in every peacekeeping mission. The interviewee backed up this statement by acknowledging the fact UNMIL had a sizeable number of national staff. In addition, the gender-sensitive training efforts could be compared to the realization of “small but deep cultural changes” stated by the critical feminist theory. By providing the required education, it allowed women to enter the national police force. 3.3.4 Assessing the policies of “Adding-up” women in peacekeeping missions There is the need to increase the percentage of women participating in peace processes. However, it is not exclusively about the numbers; gender-equality and women empowerment 75 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh cannot be accomplished by exclusively creating policies that “add-up” women. As the critical feminist theory argues, it might create a false utopia of equality and empowerment. The policy of “adding-up” does not always play in favor of women. In some occasions, women might be able to participate at a peacekeeping mission but their roles could be described as “feminine” roles. For instance, women may be working as nurses or cooks. If it was all about the numbers, the given peacekeeping mission would be portrayed as one that effectively implements Resolution 1325 since there are women who have been recruited. This is called Tokenism.78 Nevertheless, the question that one needs to formulate is what position these women are holding as well as what is their background – class, race, ethnicity and religion- instead of what is the exact number of women working at a given place. Furthermore, as former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan declared, women’s contributions in peace negotiations are rather minimized or ignored. 79 This might be a reality at the peacekeeping operations where they are bringing unexperienced or incompetent women to the mission to perform a duty they are not capable of doing. As Professor Mensa-Bonsu declared: “sometimes people [...] embark on self-fulfilling policies. You put incompetent women on a body so that you’ll be able to conclude that women are useless anyways”. As a consequence, the idea that might be spread is that women are not useful in peace processes because of their lack of understanding. Another example provided by the interviewee is women are brought to peace negotiations because they can be helpful, yet they do not speak English, so they will not even understand what is going on nor they will be able to contribute to the discussion. As a consequence, the question once again is, what type of women are being brought to the mission? At the peacekeeping operations where tokenism might be present, there is the need to empower women, so that they will be prepared and capable of performing duties other than the “feminine” tasks. 76 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh If women are empowered with the necessary means which will help them to attain a high level of education, there would be no place for tokenism. Professor-Mensa Bonsu clearly stated that when one is a professional and the respect of the colleagues is earned through hard work, little does it matter the gender of the person. So not only bringing capable women to a peacekeeping mission would disprove some misunderstandings about women, peace and security, but it would also be beneficial for the peacekeeping mission and the country. 3.3.5 Benefits of including female peacekeepers The research conducted by the Graduate Studies Institute of Geneva and Development Studies concluded that women’s participation, in the majority of the cases analyzed, implied a peace agreement and long-lasting peace. Professor Mensa Bonsu declared: "This is due to the fact that, the more competent actors are involved in the adoption and implementation of the peace agreement (including women negotiators, women’s group and civil societies) the more possibilities of success there are". That is the reason why the UN encourages communities to participate in peace agreements, using a bottom up approach, rather than just having the warlords (men) negotiate it. This constitutes another benefit of the implementation of the LNAP since the inclusion of women in the peace process leaded to a long-lasting peace. In effect, Liberia has not suffered any war ever since. 77 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3.4 Conclusion The Liberian civil wars caused a lack of institutional stability in the country. The different ethnic groups coexisting in the area as well as the oligarchic form of government triggered successive attacks and numerous coup d’État. The international community had to intervene in the area in order to facilitate the democratization process and the re-establishment of peace. Under such circumstances, the UN established the UNMIL in the country and the peace process began. As it has been explicitly stated in Resolution 1325, it is necessary to fully and effectively implement this resolution in order to increase women’s participation in peace and security. Liberia, in order to conform to the orders, developed a national plan of action whose main objective was to protect women and girls from coming dangers and to increase women’s participation in peace processes which would ultimately lead to their empowerment. The action plan adopted in Liberia, not only did support the nomination of female to senior positions at the peacekeeping mission but encouraged local women to get the needed qualification to participate in the peace process, too. It avoids the predominance of women of one social class or race. In effect, gender-equality in this context ought to be attained by increasing the number of females in peace and security and developing policies which will help the disadvantageous groups and minorities. 78 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ENDNOTES 1 The American Colonization Society was created in 1816. It promoted the manumission of enslaved Americans and their settlement, once they are free black, in West Africa, in concreto in Liberia. 2Wekem Kotia, Emmanuel. "Liberia: History of the Origins of War and Profile of Actors," Kennesaw State University (2012). p.1 3 Ibid. p.2 4 Ibid. 5 Unangst, Matthew. "History of Liberian Women and How the Liberian Second Civil War Affected Sociality’s View of Women," History 105 (2015). p.1 6 Wekem Kotia, "Liberia: History of the Origins of War and Profile of Actors." p.6 7 Ibid. p.14 8 Ibid. p.19 9 Ibid. p.21 10 Ibid. p.24-25 11 Ibid. p.32 12 Ibid. p. 34 13 Unangst, "History of Liberian Women and How the Liberian Second Civil War Affected Sociality’s View of Women." p.3 14 UN Peacekeeping, "Unmil," http://www.un.org/es/peacekeeping/missions/unmil/background.shtml. 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid. 17 Ibid. 18 Ibid. 19 Ibid. 20 Ibid. 21 Resolution 1508. S/RES/1509 (2003) p.3 22 Even though the initial mandate was only for 12 months, on a year basis the Security Council adopted a Resolution by which the mandate was extended for 12 more months. Finally, on the 23rd of December 2016, the Security Council adopted the Resolution 233 (2016) by which the mandate of UNMIL for a final period until 30 March 2018. 23 Ibid. 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid. p.2 26 Ibid. p.4 27 Peacekeeping, "Unmil". 28 Ibid. 29 Information about the peacekeeping missions: https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/where-we-operate 30 Valasek, Kristin. "A Guide to Policy and Planning on Women, Peace and Security United Nations” International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, (2006) p.1 31 Pournik, Barbara; Miller, Milad; Swaine, Aisling. "Women in Peace and Security through United Nations Security Resolution 1325: Literature Review, Content Analysis of National Action Plans, and Implementation," Institute for Global and International studies (2014).p.413 32 Valasek, Kristin. "A Guide to Policy and Planning on Women, Peace and Security (Un Scr 1325)," (www.un- instraw.org: United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women 2006). p.1 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid. 35 Ibid. 36 Ibid. 37 Miller, "Women in Peace and Security through United Nations Security Resolution 1325: Literature Review, Content Analysis of National Action Plans, and Implementation." p.411 38 Ibid. 39 Valasek, "A Guide to Policy and Planning on Women, Peace and Security (Un Scr 1325)." p.5 40 Ibid. 41Government of Liberia. "The Liberia National Action Plan for the Implementation of United Nations 1325." Ministry of Gender and Development, (2009) p.7 42 Ibid. p.8 79 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 43 Ibid. 44 Ibid. p.11 45 "National Action Plan: Liberia ", Women's International League of Peace and Freedom, http://www.peacewomen.org/nap-liberia. 46 Ibid. 47 Ibid. 48 Ibid. 49 Luppino, Elana; Webbe, Victoria. "Security Council Resolution 1325: Civil Society Monitoring Report 2011: Liberia." Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, (2011) p.132 50 "National Action Plan: Liberia ". 51 Government of Liberia, "The Liberia National Action Plan for the Implementation of United Nations 1325," Peacewomen.org: Ministry of Gender and Development (2009). p.13 52 Ibid. p.30 53 Resolution 1508. S/RES/1509 (2003) p.5 54 DPKO, "Military," DPKO, https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/military. 55 Coomaraswamy, "A Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325." p.139 56 Dharmaouri, "Not Just a Numbers Game: Increasing Women's Participation in Un Peacekeeping." p. 13 57 Ibid. 58 Coomaraswamy, "A Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325." p.139 59 Ibid. 60 Bishwambhar, Ghimire. "Contributions and Challenges: Female Participations in Un Peacekeeping Missions," International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 7, no. 3 (2017).p.210 61 Huber, Laura. "Power in Numbers? The Impact of Female Formed Police Units on Women’s Empowerment," Honors Theses (2014). p.1 62 Ibid. 63 UNMIL, "Hailed as "Role Models", All- Female Indian Police Unit Departs Un Mission in Liberia " https://unmil.unmissions.org/hailed-%E2%80%98role-models%E2%80%99-all-female-indian-police-unit- departs-un-mission-liberia. 64 Huber, "Power in Numbers? The Impact of Female Formed Police Units on Women’s Empowerment." p.1 65 UNMIL, "Hailed as "Role Models", All- Female Indian Police Unit Departs Un Mission in Liberia ". 66 UN-DPKO, "Troop and Police Contributions," https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/troop-and-police-contributors. 67DPKO, "Un Mission's Summary Detailed by Country," The United Nations, https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/november2003_3.pdf. 68 DPKO, "Un Mission's Summary Detailed by Country " United Nations, https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/sep13_3.pdf 69 DPKO, "Un Mission's Summary Detailed by Country " The United Nations, https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/sep15_3.pdf. 70 According to the information provided by Professor Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Pakistan brought females doctors to the mission in Liberia but not female military nor police personnel. 71 Dharmaouri, "Not Just a Numbers Game: Increasing Women's Participation in Un Peacekeeping." p.1 72 Ibid. p.17 73 Ibid. 74 Ibid. p.39 75 UNESCO, "Despite Slight Drop, Number of Children Missing out on School Remains High, Un Agency Reports," UNESCO, https://news.un.org/en/story/2013/06/441872-despite-slight-drop-number-children-missing- out-school-remains-high-un-agency. 76 UNICEF, "In 10 Countries with Highest out-of-School Rates, 40 Per Cent of Children Are Not Accessing Basic Education," https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/10-countries-highest-out-school-rates-40-cent-children-are- not-accessing-basic. 77 "The Situation for Children in Liberia," https://www.unicef.org/liberia/situation-children-liberia. 78 Action which are the result of pretending to provide an advantage to the minority or groups in society who are discriminated, but just to give the appearance of fairness. 79 Declaration of Kofi Annan: https://www.studentredaksjonen.com/gjesteartikler/women-and-peacebuilding 80 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh CHAPTER 4 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 4.0 Introduction This chapter presents a summary of findings regarding the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia, conclusions and recommendations are to improve women participation in UN peacekeeping missions, as prescribed by Resolution 1325. 4.1 Summary of Findings Resolution 1325 was implemented considerably at the peacekeeping mission in Liberia. Since the adoption of the mandate establishing the operation, the country has shown interest in increasing women’s participation in peace and security. This is an important and necessary commitment which all member states of the UN must take to adhere to the Resolutions dictated by the Security Council. The research findings included:  There was an important division between the percentages of women in the military, the police and the civilian side.  States were less reluctant to send women to civilian posts rather than military or police ones.  There were some experimental actions undertaken during the peacekeeping mission involving the exclusive participation of police women. 81 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh  The small number of women in military and police mirrored the prevalence of gender stereotypes deeply rooted in peace and security institutions.  Several women held high-ranking positions at the peacekeeping mission.  The mission included personnel pertaining to other races or ethnicities other than white.  Poverty was an important factor leading to the low presence of Liberian women in the peace and security institutions.  The Liberian National Action Plan included the Strategic Issues needed to increase women’s participation.  There were actions taken by the Liberian government in order to increase women’s participation.  Local staff was able to participate in the peace process of their country.  Education is key for the empowerment of local women.  Tokenism could have been present in peacekeeping missions.  The countries which deployed the larger number of personnel to the peacekeeping mission in Liberia had a very low percentage of women.  Countries with a high percentage of women peacekeepers did not send a large number of personnel to Liberia.  The data regarding peacekeepers was not sex-disaggregated until 2009.  Even though after 2009 data was sex-disaggregated, women’s roles were not detailed.  Women’s participation was beneficial for the peacekeeping mission.  The policy of adding-up women does not entail gender equality or the empowerment of women. 82 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4.2 Conclusion The UN was created in the aftermath of World War II to maintain international peace and security. The raison d’être of this International Organisation is to avoid subsequent inter-State confrontations such as the two major occurred in the 20th century. Nevertheless, the conflicts which trouble the peace of the international community as a whole in the current days, occur within the boundaries of States. Consequently, due to the existence the prohibition of interfering in the domestic affairs of a State in detriment of its sovereignty, there was the need to come with a new system to restore the peace and democracy. Despite the fact the term “peacekeeping” is not explicitly contained in the UN Charter, the UN –acting through the Security Council-considered a necessity to establish peacekeeping missions in order to comply with its mandate. Women and girls are the main victims during and after a conflict due to the fact that they are the principal targets of gender-based violence among other consequences and attacks that they undergo. Nonetheless, women have been notably absent from peace and security matters. Great efforts have been done in the international community to avoid the continuation of gender- stereotypes leading to the underrepresentation of women in peace and security. The Security Council adopted on the 31st October 2000 the Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. It stresses the importance of women’s participation and full involvement in peace and security matters. It called for an expansion of the role and contribution of women in peacekeeping missions which includes females as peacekeepers (military, police and civilian personnel) as well as in positions of leadership. Notwithstanding, even though the resolutions adopted by the Security Council have to be implemented by the member States, there is a remarkable disparity between what it is stated on paper and the application of that paper to reality; especially with regards to women’s rights. Consequently, states undergoing a 83 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh peacekeeping mission need to adopt domestic measures to implement Resolution 1325 and avoid its unfulfillment. Liberia adopted a national action plan after the establishment of the peacekeeping mission in the country. The hypothesis of this work is that increasing the number of female personnel is beneficial for the peacekeeping mission, making the operation successful and establishing a long-lasting peace. This hypothesis has been upheld since UNMIL has effectively benefited from the presence of women. The deployment of female police has been directly related to the decrease of criminality in the country, and gender-based violence attacks have been deterred. Furthermore, it has also been beneficial towards individuals not pertaining to the mission (civilians), since female peacekeepers have helped rebuilt safety and have inspired local women. Liberia, being the first country, which effectively implemented Resolution 1325, having a strong presence of females in top-ranked positions, reached a peace agreement and as a consequence, the state benefits from a political and institutional stability ever since. In effect, UNMIL is considered one of the most successful peacekeeping operations in recent times. Despite the fact that women are starting to be able to participate in peace processes, and even if states are starting to adopt policies to implement Resolution 1325, there are still some challenges that must be addressed. The inclusion of women has been stimulated because of the empirical evidence supporting that their presence is beneficial for a peacekeeping mission. This demonstrates that women are participating just because the ones that have been sent before them have deployed their functions satisfactorily. Only after the evidence of the benefits resulting from the deployment of the first all-female police unit, the other female units were sent. 84 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Women who are currently participating in peace processes are working under a spotlight and their participation is conditioned to the outcome, their work is submitted to extreme scrutiny; as if they need to be examined for working in a milieu that is not properly theirs. If it is considered that women have been useful and favorable, then more women would be allowed to participate. On the contrary, if women are found “useless” for a specific assignment or position, then the conclusion would be that women are not “suitable” for this specific context. That is being practiced through tokenism; when women who are not qualified for a position are being appointed to make evident the fact that women –as a whole category of individuals- are not efficient. Unlike men, women have to prove that they deserve to be included in peace and security affairs and they must perform correctly in order to uphold such claim. The only reason this is occurring is because gender stereotypes are not dispel yet. Consequently, there is the need to move away from these misconceptions. Women must not be sent to peacekeeping missions in an “experimental way” to see if they perform correctly; they must be sent because of their expertise and capabilities without the need of constantly demonstrating that they can be more than just the vulnerable individuals during a conflict. Only then, women would be empowered and gender-equality would be one step closer to being achieved. 4.3 Recommendations According to the findings and the conclusions, there are a series of recommendations that ought to be presented in order to increase women’s participation in peace and security:  To encourage member States to include a higher percentage of females in their contingents. The UN needs to provide incentives to member states, and especially the Troop Contributing Countries and The Department of Peacekeeping Operations must establish a 85 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh quota of females for each country, so that it would reduce the number of only male peacekeepers to allow women’s participation.  To help national entities in the adoption of an action plan in order to properly implement Resolution 1325. The UN and the DPKO should provide assistance to the States that want to adopt such measure.  To consult women’s groups and other civil society organisations throughout the process of drafting the action plan. The UN and the DPKO must not forget to consult these entities, otherwise women’s issues might not be properly addressed.  To enhance communication among the UN, the country that underwent a war and the country who is currently suffering from a conflict is key in order to avoid common mistakes and to learn from previous experiences which have been successful.  To improve the quality of the data for a subsequent analysis. The DPKO must make sure that there is sex-disaggregated data which explicitly states the position and roles played by women at the peacekeeping mission.  To create “bottom-up” approaches aimed at empowering local women through education. Local governments must create incentives to help women enter peace and security institutions. 86 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh BIBLIOGRAPHY A. BOOKS Bellamy, Alex J. Williams, Paul D. Griffin, Stuart "Understanding Peacekeeping." Cambridge: Polity Press, 2010. Stiehm, Judith. Women and Men's Wars. 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Dialnet 41 (2015): 67-91. N. Geisinger, Brandi. "Critical Feminist Theory, Rape, and Hooking Up." Graduate Theses and Dissertations 12123 (2011). Oyěwùmí, Oyèrónké. The Invention of Women Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses, NED - New edition ed. (University of Minnesota Press, 1997). Robtel Neajai Pailey, "Patriarchy, Power Distance, and Female Presidency in Liberia," in Leadership in Postcolonial Africa (Springer, 2014) Sjoberg, Laura "Gendered Realities of the Immunity Principle: Why Gender Analysis Needs Feminism." International Studies Quarterly 50, no. 4 (2006): 889-910. Thompson, Lyndsay B. "Gender Equality in International Institutions: Progress and Challenges in Moving toward Gender Parity." Inquiries Journal 9 (2017) Unangst, Matthew. "History of Liberian Women and How the Liberian Second Civil War Affected Sociality’s View of Women." History 105 (2015) Valenius, Johanna. "A Few Kind Women: Gender Essentialism and Nordic Peacekeeping Operations." International Peacekeeping 14, no. 4 (2007): 510-23 Walls, Michael. "The Emergence of a Somali State: Building Peace from Civil War in Somaliland." African Affairs 108, no. 432 (2009): 371-89. Wildman,Stephanie M. " Critical Feminist Theory," Encyclopedia of Law & Society: American and Global Perspectives (2007). C. DOCUMENTS Bertolazzi, Francesco "Women with a Blue Helmet: The Integration of Women and Gender Issues in Un Peacekeeping Missions." In Working Paper Series. UNINSTRAW: UN, (2010) 89 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Castillo Diaz, Pablo and Tordjman, Simon "Women’s Participation in Peace Negotiations: Connections between Presence and Influence." UNIFEM: United Nations, (2012). Coomaraswamy, Radhika "A Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325." United Nations Women: United Nations, (2015). Dharmaouri, Sahana. "Not Just a Numbers Game: Increasing Women's Participation in UN Peacekeeping." In Providing for Peacekeeping. New York: International Peace Institute, (2013) Ghali, Boutros Boutros. "An Agenda for Peace. Preventive Diplomacy, Peacemaking and Peace Keeping." United Nations, (1992) Initiave Inclusive Peace and Transition. "Women in Peace and Transition Processes Guatemala (1994-1999)." Graduate Institute Geneva, (2017) Initiative Inclusive Peace and Transition. "Women in Peace and Transition Processes: Democratic Republic of the Congo (2001-2003)." The Graduate Institute Geneva, (2017) InitiativeInclusive Peace and Transition. "Women in Peace and Transition Processes Somaliland (1993)." The Graduate Institute of Geneva, (2017) Instraw. "Women, Peace and Security in Somalia: Implementation of Un Security Council Resolution 1325." United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, (2008) Government of Liberia. "The Liberia National Action Plan for the Implementation of United Nations 1325." Ministry of Gender and Development, (2009) Luppino, Elana; Webbe, Victoria "Security Council Resolution 1325: Civil Society Monitoring Report 2011: Liberia." Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, (2011) Mjaaland, Siv. "United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security:" University of Oslo, (2016). 90 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Resolution 1325 Resolution 1509 Tungaraza, M.B., and Nagaad Umbrella Organisation. Women's Human Rights in Somaliland. NAGAAD, (2010) United Nations. "Principles of Peacekeeping." In Peacekeeping Best Practices Section. New York: United Nations, (2010) United Nations "Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations." Security Council (2000). Valasek, Kristin. "A Guide to Policy and Planning on Women, Peace and Security United Nations” International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, (2006) D. INTERNET Brahimi Report http://www.un.org/en/events/pastevents/brahimi_report.shtml. Accessed on 20th March 2018 Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights https://peacemaker.un.org/guatemala- humanrightsagreement94 Accessed on 12th February 2018 Definition Gender Based Violence. http://www.hhri.org/thematic/gender_based_violence.html. Accessed on 6th February 2018 Hailed as "Role Models", All- Female Indian Police Unit Departs UN Mission in Liberia https://unmil.unmissions.org/hailed-%E2%80%98role-models%E2%80%99-all-female- indian-police-unit-departs-un-mission-liberia. Accessed on 25th June 2018 91 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Liberia Country Profile http://www.imuna.org/resources/country-profiles/liberia. Accessed on 13th June 2018. Mandates and the Legal Basis for Peacekeeping https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mandates-and- legal-basis-peacekeeping. Accessed on 15th April 2018 MINUGUA https://peacekeeping.un.org/mission/past/minuguabackgr.html Accessed on 12th February 2019 MONUSCO https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mission/monusco Accessed on 12th February 2019 https://monusco.unmissions.org/en/woman-peacekeeper-wins-united-nations-military-gender- advocate-year-award Accessed on 12th February 2019 National Action Plan Liberia http://www.peacewomen.org/nap-liberia. Accessed on 27th June 2018 Paterno Esmaquel II, "Ph Rejects 'Interference' of UN in 'Household Affairs https://www.rappler.com/nation/143661-philippines-united-nations-investigation-drug- killings. Accessed on 15th April 2018 Sahel Joint Forces to Fight Terorism https://www.csis.org/analysis/understanding-g5-sahel- joint-force-fighting-terror-building-regional-security. Accessed on 17th April 2018 San Francisco Peace Conference https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=316 Accessed on 14th March 2018 Sénat de la France, "20 Janvier 1919, Le Banquet Wilson : Les Signataires Du Traité De Versailles, https://www.senat.fr/histoire/le_banquet_wilson/traite/liste_des_signataires.html. Accessed on 15th March 2018 92 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh "The Rwandan Genocide," http://endgenocide.org/learn/past-genocides/the-rwandan- genocide/.http://endgenocide.org/learn/past-genocides/the-rwandan-genocide/. Accessed on 19th March 2018. Troop and Police Contributors https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/troop-and-police-contributors. https://www.un.org/press/en/2016/sc12426.doc.htm. Accessed on 25th June 2018 UN-DPKO.https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/military. Accessed 16th April 2018 UN-DPKO Data 2015 https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/sep15_3.pdf. Accessed on 22nd June 2018 UN-DPKO Data 2003 https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/november2003_3.pdf. Accessed on 22nd June 2018 UNESCO https://news.un.org/en/story/2013/06/441872-despite-slight-drop-number-children- missing-out-school-remains-high-un-agency Accessed on 17th February 2019 UNICEF https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/10-countries-highest-out-school-rates-40- cent-children-are-not-accessing-basic Accessed on 17th February 2019 https://www.unicef.org/liberia/situation-children-liberia. Accessed on 17th February 2019 UNISOM I http://www.un.org/Depts/DPKO/Missions/unosomi.htm Accessed on 12th February 2019 https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/past/unosom1facts.html Accessed on 12th February 2019 http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/public/w2000/Women2000/Women2000%20Role%20 of%20women%20in%20peace-keeping%201995.pdf Accessed on 12th February 2019 UNISOM II http://www.un.org/Depts/DPKO/Missions/unosom2b.htm Accessed on 12th February 2019 93 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh UNMIL Antecedentes http://www.un.org/es/peacekeeping/missions/unmil/background.shtml. Accessed on 18th June 2018 United Nations Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, "Judges," http://www.unmict.org/en/about/judges. http://www.unmict.org/en/about/judges. Accessed on 19th March 2018. UNOSOM https://unsom.unmissions.org/mandate Accessed on 12th February 2019 https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/7_gender_report_9.pdf Accessed on 12th February 2019 https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/11/1026181 Accessed on 12th February 2019 UN Women Facts and Figures http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/peace-and- security/facts-and-figures. Accessed on 14th July 2018 E. UNPUBLISHED WORK Gaudin, Hélène. "Law of International Relations." Université Toulouse 1 Capitole, (2017) Wekem Kotia, Emmanuel. "Liberia: History of the Origins of War and Profile of Actors." Bepress: Kennesaw State University, (2012). 94 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh APPENDIX INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR PROFESSOR JOY HENRIETTA MENSA- BONSU FORMER DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SECRETARY GENERAL IN LIBERIA 1. How was your commencement advocating for Peace and Conflict Resolution at an international level in relation to the United Nations? 2. How did you get appointed to such an important position, not implying that you were not capable of doing that? 3. What was your experience being a woman at a top position of a peacekeeping mission? 4. Was the presence of women significant vis-à-vis that of men? 5. Were there women from Liberia or West Africa in the peacekeeping mission? 6. According to a research that the Graduate Institute in Geneva did, out of 40 peace processes, they showed in cases where there was a higher percentage of women’s participation, and when women had a strong influence, an agreement was almost reached, and peace stability in the given State lasted longer. Do you agree with this statement? 7. What do you think are the main causes for women underrepresentation in peacekeeping and conflict resolution, and what should it be done in order to change it? 8. Several scholars agree on the fact that when women were included in peace negotiations, sometimes their contributions or their impact were not as effective compared to the ones a man could do. Do you agree with this statement? 95