Department of Peacekeeping Operations
Background
The mission of the Department of Peace Operations (DPO) in the United Nations Secretariat is to plan, prepare, manage and direct United Nations peacekeeping operations so that they can effectively fulfil their mandates under the overall authority of the Security Council and General Assembly, and under the command vested in the Secretary-General. DPO is a member of UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict. DPO provides political and executive direction to UN peace operations around the world and maintains contact with the Security Council, troop and financial contributors, and parties to the conflict in the implementation of Security Council mandates. Within the purview of mandates of the respective missions, with due reference to relevant Security Council resolutions, DPO works to prevent and respond to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV).
Areas of Focus
Towards implementing its specific mandates on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), DPO works to address all forms of sexual and gender-based violence against women, including sexual exploitation and abuse by civilian and uniformed peacekeeping personnel.
As each functional unit of peacekeeping has direct responsibility for supporting prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence, activities are mission and mandate specific. The women, peace and security architecture in the Missions represented through the presence of gender units, senior gender advisors, senior women protection advisors, gender advisors in uniform and the gender focal persons across the various functions and components of the peacekeeping missions facilitate the implementation of WPS mandate and address sexual and gender-based violence through partnerships with a variety of actors, including women’s civil society organizations and networks, host governments, regional bodies and other United Nations entities . Specific focus areas for addressing SGBV include investing in gendered conflict analysis to identify risks, vulnerabilities and drivers of SGBV, identifying and implementing targeted actions in planning and implementing of protection of civilian strategies and community violence reduction programmes that identify particular risks and threats faced by women, contributing to strengthening institutional response mechanisms/referral pathways for SGBV survivors, providing targeted awareness raising, trainings and context specific guidance to address SGBV risks faced by women and girls and contribute to establishing gender responsive national security and justice mechanisms, including legal frameworks to address SGBV.
In missions with a CRSV mandate, Women’s Protection Advisers , engage in a dialogue with parties to the conflict to elicit formal commitments from their leaders on preventing and addressing CRSV in accordance with their international obligations.
In June 2020, DPO launched the first Handbook to support UN Field Missions in preventing and responding to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), building on the publication of the first UN Policy on this same topic a few months earlier. Both these documents were developed by DPO jointly with the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (OSRSG-SVC) and in consultation with representatives from the United Nations Action Network on Sexual Violence in Conflict and partners at United Nations Headquarters. These documents provide guidance for civilian, military, and police personnel deployed in UN Field Missions on how to prevent and respond to conflict-related sexual violence with a coordinated and survivor-centred approach. Since the release of the CRSV Policy and Handbook, DPO has been supporting their dissemination and implementation in the field.
Gender Unit: A new DPKO and DFS gender policy- Gender Responsive United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (2018.01) - developed and endorsed in February 2018. The new policy incorporates a targeted focus on ensuring accountability to SGBV prevention and response across the UN Peacekeeping functions
UNMAS: IACG-MA is currently undertaking a review and update to the United Nations Gender Guidelines for Mine Action Programmes (2010) to ensure that the different needs of girls, women, boys and men are incorporated into the full project management cycle of mine action programming.
SSR: In Mali, MINUSMA has supported the inclusion of gender in strategies developed by the SSR National Committee, as well as the implementation of the 2015 peace agreement, which includes a 30% female quota in security institutions. 2. In Somalia, UNSOM has promoted increased recruitment of women to the security sector. It has also provided advocacy and technical guidance for the Security Pact signed between the government and the international community in May 2017, which contains a specific milestone stating that all security sector institutions must adopt and implement a gender strategy.
JCS: Recognising the relevance of women representation as An important element that enables women’s access to justice and response, in coordination with OMA and PD, JCS has drafted a gender parity strategy for its uniformed corrections personnel which lays out clear measures and timelines for the achievement and sustainable maintenance of at least 30% female uniformed corrections officers deployed to UN peace operations.