ABSTRACT
Introduction The Liberian context presents a major opportunity to advance the objectives of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 for two key reasons. First, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was the first UN peacekeeping mission with an explicit mandate to mainstream UNSCR 1325. Second, women with the political will to mainstream the resolution were appointed and elected, namely the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) Ellen Margrethe Løj from Denmark and Africa’s first elected female President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. This chapter will explore whether these factors have made any difference to the implementation of UNSCR 1325 in Liberia. UNMIL was established on 1 October 2003 after the UN Security Council Resolution 1509 (2003) on 19 September 2003, which had four mandates. First, to support the implementation of the ceasefire by deploying 15,000 peacekeepers; second, to protect UN staff, property and civilians; third, to assist humanitarian and human rights efforts; and, finally, to support security sector reform through the implementation of the Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DDRR) process, including combatants with special needs such as children, women and non-Liberian combatants. To date, UNMIL has concluded the implementation of the ceasefire and the DDRR process and is now mainly involved in supporting the government and peacebuilding efforts, including mainstreaming UNSCR 1325. UNSCR 1325 calls for implementation in several areas: increased participation of women in decision-making at all levels; protection of women and girls from gender-based violence (GBV) during and after the conflict; and increased efforts to support women’s role in conflict prevention, especially through local women’s peacebuilding initiatives. Nevertheless it is evident that women have been largely ignored despite their roles in both contributing to and resisting conflict, due to security decisions associated with masculinity.1 Further, throughout the various stages of peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, local women’s perspectives are largely ignored. As a result, women’s views and aspirations in a new post-conflict environment are rarely heard, leading to an unsustainable agreement and more often than not a resumption of violence.2
Additionally, the failure to consult with local women’s organizations after the establishment of a peacekeeping mission has far-reaching implications for the successful implementation of the peace agreement and transition to the peacebuilding phase. In Liberia, where local women’s organizations were not consulted in implementation of the DDRR programme, female ex-combatants who had not been disarmed and demobilized effectively sold their arms to male ex-combatants for a fee.3 During the DDRR process over 101,000 former combatants were disarmed including 22,000 women and 11,000 children.4 The Liberian case study has important lessons to teach us in ensuring that local women’s gender perspectives inform the peacebuilding agenda such as in implementation of the DDRR programmes. UNMIL failed to capitalize on local women’s knowledge and experiences in implementing UNSCR 1325 in peacebuilding programmes such as DDRR in Liberia. This chapter examines the dilemmas and challenges that UNMIL faced in implementing UNSCR 1325 and the lessons that have been learnt. The chapter begins with a background to the Liberian conflict followed by a contextual analysis of gender and security in Liberia and the role of local women’s organizations before the conflict in Liberia. It then explores the factors that could have influenced UNMIL’s failure to capitalize on local women’s perspectives. Finally, it draws lessons from UNMIL’s experience and engagement in the Liberian context and assesses the extent to which UNMIL has made a difference through the advancement of UNSCR 1325.
