Women, Peace, and Security: Anniversary of United Nation Security Council Resolution 1325

This month marks the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 .This resolution, and the ones that followed, have set the agenda for the past twenty-five years on how women are viewed in conflict but also their role in peacemaking, deliberation and enduring ends to violence.

The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs states that:

The WPS Agenda resonates powerfully in Ireland, where we have witnessed first-hand the transformative impact that women have had on the Northern Ireland peace process, notably in negotiating the Good Friday Agreement and continuing essential peacebuilding work today.

While this resonance is no doubt accurate there remains debates and questions on how we measure the success of UNSC 1325. Whether, for instance, as in Northern Ireland, women were contributing long before the UN structures were put in place, whether UNSC 1325 faciliates real engagment and deliberation with women across peacemaking, whether it has shifted what we recognise as violence, which as feminists have long argued, goes well beyond the types seen in international humanitarian law, and whether the terms of what peace means now incorporates peace for everyone, including women.

Over the coming days, the Morrigan Blog will host a blog symposium focusing on these and other questions. The first will be with Prof Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, followed by Prof Aisling Swaine, Prof Máiréad Enright, Dr Khanyisela Moyo  and Prof Catherine O’Rourke.