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2024 Open Letter to Permanent Representatives to the United Nations in advance of the annual Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security

2024 Open Letter to Permanent Representatives to the United Nations in advance of the annual Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security

Photo: NGO Working Group on Women

In advance of the October 2024 Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security, this open letter was sent to UN Member States on behalf of Jiyan Foundation and 627 civil society signatories from 110 countries working on issues related to gender equality and women’s rights, peace and security, human rights, humanitarian assistance, and protection of civilians. The letter calls on the Security Council and Member States to take decisive action to protect women’s rights in conflicts and crises around the world.

Dear Ambassadors,

Ahead of this year’s annual open debate on women, peace and security (WPS), and one year before the 25th anniversary of Resolution 1325 (2000), we write to you as civil society organizations dedicated to peace, women’s rights and gender equality to urge you to redouble your efforts to fulfill the highest ideals of the WPS agenda.

Today, we are confronted with record levels of armed conflict, militarization and military spending, which undermine gender equality, threaten to reverse decades of progress on women’s rights, and jeopardize global efforts for peace. Women and marginalized groups bear the brunt of conflicts and crises, including conflict-related sexual violencepovertyforced displacement and hunger. Increased militarization has been accompanied by multi-pronged assaults on universal norms, especially international human rights and humanitarian law; on women human rights defenders and civil society space; and on democracy itself. Further, an escalating global backlash against gender justice and the human rights and bodily autonomy of women and LGBTQIA+[1] people, compounded by their systematic exclusion from international decision-making and peacemaking, means that those most adversely affected by armed conflict are also those whose voices are most marginalized.

The WPS agenda’s vision of peace and equality[2] has never been so important — or so under threat.

The cost of the international community’s failure to fully implement the WPS agenda over the past 24 years can be measured in lives lost, rights denied and conflicts prolonged. Yet, feminist movements continue to fight back against misogyny and repression for a more just and peaceful future. They refuse to accept anything less than their rights — and neither should you.

The UN Security Council cannot afford to let another anniversary pass without meaningful progress on protecting women’s rights in conflict. We therefore urge you to take decisive action in the following 10 areas and implement them in all crises on its agenda[3]:

  1. Prevent, avert and end conflict. Ending violence is the most effective means to protect the rights of women and girls in all conflicts and crises. As enshrined in the UN Charter, it is the primary responsibility of the Security Council to maintain peace and security. Conflict prevention requires addressing the gendered drivers of conflict, including patriarchy; all forms of inequality, including socioeconomic inequality; multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination; exclusion; and violation of human rights. There is no situation in which gender equality and women’s rights are not relevant. We therefore urge the Security Council to ensure that the rights of women and girls are fundamental to all international peace and security processes, including its own decisions, without exception. Further, the Council must uphold international human rights and humanitarian law, and all relevant Security Council resolutions, including on WPS, and step up preventive diplomacy to ensure inclusive, gender-responsive, long-term and peaceful resolution to all conflicts.
  2. Reform the Security Council. The credibility of the Security Council to meaningfully fulfill its mandate has been fundamentally shaken by its inability to effectively address conflicts, including, most recently, Israel’s brutal war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both of which have had devastating consequences for the rights of women and marginalized communities. We urge you to commit to Security Council reform in order to build a more representative, transparent, democratic and accountable multilateral system that can effectively deliver on the UN Charter’s promise of peace. This should include credible, timely and decisive Security Council action to prevent or end the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and lead to ending the use of the veto on resolutions aimed at stopping mass atrocities. We further urge you to sign the Accountability, Coherence and Transparency Group’s Code of Conduct, thereby pledging not to vote against a credible draft resolution before the Security Council aimed at stopping such crimes.
  3. Stop arms transfers when there is a substantial risk that they may be used to “commit or facilitate serious acts of gender-based violence or serious acts of violence against women and children,” or if Member States have knowledge or should have known at the time of authorization that they would be used in the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, attacks directed against civilians or civilian objects, or other war crimes, in line with the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Compliance with obligations and norms on disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation[4] is critical to conflict prevention, and backsliding on disarmament commitments risks future violence. States have a legal obligation to comply with arms embargoes imposed by the Security Council. We further urge you to cut military spending and instead increase funding for gender equality and global humanitarian responses to ensure no needs go unmet.
  4. Defend women’s human rights. Women’s civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, as enshrined in international law and Security Council resolutions, are the foundation of the WPS agenda.[5] The Security Council must therefore center human rights, especially the rights of women, girls and LGBTQIA+ people, in all peace and security discussions, processes and decisions; take coordinated action to counter gender backlash; and reject any outcomes that undermine women’s rights. Council members must also consistently, and publicly, demand that warring parties and other relevant actors immediately abolish any laws, policies or practices that prevent or restrict the full enjoyment of women’s human rights in accordance with international standards.
  5. Advance reproductive justice. Reproductive autonomy, and the right to live in safe, peaceful and sustainable communities, is essential for women in conflicts and crises everywhere. We urge Security Council members to protect and uphold sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in accordance with international standards, including relevant WPS resolutions, in all conflict situations on its agenda.[6] We further urge you to politically and financially support comprehensive, high quality and non-discriminatory SRHR services, including access to contraception, safe abortion and maternal health care, and fully integrate these rights into crisis prevention, response and recovery plans.
  6. Insist on women at the table. Women have the right to full and equal representation.[7] Politically and financially support the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation and leadership of diverse women[8] at all levels and stages of decision-making, with the target of 50%.[9] In particular, we urge you to prioritize women’s direct participation in formal Track 1 or high-level peace and political processes, especially the meaningful representation of women human rights defenders, peacebuilders and feminist movements. Women must be able to influence the outcome and implementation of negotiations, across all issues. Further, demand the equal, direct and influential participation of women as a standard requirement across all UN-supported peace processes and convenings.[10] The Security Council, the UN and Member States must not endorse, facilitate, participate in or support peace or political processes where women are excluded.
  7. Support principled humanitarian action. Ensure gender-responsive, locally-led humanitarian action, and safe, unhindered humanitarian access to affected populations of all genders and diversities, as required by international humanitarian law. A principled humanitarian response is only possible when it centers non-discrimination and the fundamental human rights and participation of diverse women.[11] Allowing discriminatory laws, policies and practices to determine or impose constraints on how humanitarian actors operate — such as by deploying male-only response teams or denying access to services based on sexual orientation and gender identity — undermines humanitarian principles, limits access to diverse women and girls, reinforces exclusion and further threatens women’s rights. Support diverse women’s participation in the design and implementation of, and all decision-making on, humanitarian action.
  8. Demand justice and accountability. All violations of women’s rights, including all forms of gender-based violence, conflict-related sexual violence and attacks against women human rights defenders, must be publicly condemned, thoroughly and swiftly investigated, and perpetrators held accountable. Respect for international humanitarian and human rights law, including compliance with provisional measures of the International Court of Justice (ICJ); upholding the obligation to prevent genocide; and ending impunity, are paramount obligations of Member States and essential for securing justice for survivors. We urge you to pursue accountability strategies that center gender, including by considering codifying gender apartheid, supporting prosecutions of gender persecution at the International Criminal Court, and ensuring accountability for violations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) at the ICJ. All justice and accountability efforts, including reparations processes, must be rights-based and survivor-centered, in order to avoid replicating harm, promote recovery and address root causes of violations, such as discrimination and inequality.
  9. Stand with feminist movements, the heart of the WPS agenda. The UN and all Member States must commit to and fully implement a zero-tolerance approach[12] to any form of attack, intimidation, retaliation or reprisal against diverse women for their political participation, human rights and humanitarian work, peacebuilding activities or cooperation with UN mechanisms, including the Security Council. However, protection must never compromise participation. It is critical that independent and diverse women civil society and human rights defenders continue to inform all peace and security policymaking, including Security Council discussions;[13] that their independent selection and views are fully respected; and, most importantly, that their recommendations are acted upon.
  10. Fund peace, not war. Increase funding to local women-led, women’s rights and LGBTQIA+ organizations, networks and movements, and support initiatives that promote gender equality and feminist leadership. Provide direct, accessible, long-term and flexible funding to, and promote partnerships with, women civil society, in order for them to work safely, sustainably and effectively, free of impediments.[14] Meet the minimum target of earmarking 15% of funds for programs that advance gender equality and allocate a minimum of 1% of overseas development assistance for women’s rights and women-led peacebuilding organizations by 2025 with a firm commitment to increasing it in the future.[15] We further urge you, as donors, to support the independence and integrity of civil society organizations, especially organizations working on contested issues, to ensure that they are able to sustain their indispensable work, free of obstacles or interference.

Over the last 24 years, women civil society, including human rights defenders, peacebuilders and feminist movements, have stood on the frontlines of conflict: advocating for peace, elevating the voices of affected communities, and speaking truth to power — all while charting a clear path toward more just, equal and peaceful societies. Ahead of the 25th anniversary of Resolution 1325, the women, girls and LGBTQIA+ people of Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Western Sahara, Yemen and all other crises on the Security Council’s agenda will be looking to you to deliver on 25 years of promises.

 

Sincerely,

 

Read or download the open letter here, available in EnglishArabicFrenchRussian and Spanish.

Urgent Need for Implementation of State-Sponsored Rehabilitation System Under Yazidi Survivors’ Law

Urgent Need for Implementation of State-Sponsored Rehabilitation System Under Yazidi Survivors’ Law

DUHOK – As we approach the tenth anniversary of the Yazidi genocide, the Coalition for Just Reparations (C4JR) Rehabilitation Working Group emphasises that the comprehensive, state-sponsored rehabilitation system envisioned under the Yazidi Survivors’ Law (YSL) remains critically important. This system will play a crucial role in fostering the healing of individual survivors, their families, and entire communities affected by the atrocities committed by the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The General Directorate for Survivors’ Affairs has already taken steps to create and implement this rehabilitation program – a vital initiative that C4JR pledges to support.

Recent research led by Dr. Jan Ilhan Kizilhan highlights a troubling increase in suicide rates among Yazidis, underscoring the dire need for robust mental health support and rehabilitation services. The psychological trauma resulting from genocide, sexual enslavement, and displacement continues to devastate survivors’ lives, leading to severe mental health issues including PTSD and depression. Dr. Kizilhan’s study, published in Frontiers in Psychology – a multidisciplinary journal that publishes advances in psychological research – specifically points to a high prevalence of suicide among Yazidi survivors, indicating an urgent need for enhanced rehabilitation services to address these critical mental health challenges.

C4JR’s Rehabilitation Working Group has been diligently working on creating a set of human rights indicators to facilitate and evaluate the process of establishing a holistic state-sponsored rehabilitation system. It also provided an input to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture highlighting rehabilitation needs of ISIL committed wartime sexual torture survivors. These efforts are aimed at ensuring that rehabilitation services meet international standards and effectively address the complex needs of the survivors. 

On 12 June, 2024, C4JR held an event in Erbil to mark the launch of a new guide for using human rights indicators to monitor the implementation and realisation of the right to rehabilitation for survivors of ISIL crimes in Iraq, as guaranteed under the YSL. This latest report, “Right to Rehabilitation as Reparation for Survivors of Grave Human Rights Violations,” was produced by C4JR, the Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights, and the International Centre for Health and Human Rights (ICHHR), and the event provided a much-needed opportunity to discuss this work.

The launch event was designed to bring together diverse actors, including UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Dr. Alice Edwards who provided keynote remarks, to mobilise shared commitment to supporting effective implementation of the YSL. The collaborative efforts and shared insights underscored the commitment to providing rehabilitation for survivors of ISIL crimes. 

In light of the increasing mental health crisis among Yazidis, highlighted by Dr. Kizilhan’s research, it is imperative that the Iraqi government, civil society organisations and international community work together to put in place a sustainable quality rehabilitation system. Such a system should provide comprehensive mental health care, social support, and economic opportunities to help survivors rebuild their lives.

“Research has shown that the rates of suicidal thoughts and PTSD are high among survivors,” says Suzan Mohammed Hassen, a member of C4JR’s Rehabilitation Working Group. “This indicates that survivors still need support.” Suzan has published research in the International Journal of Social Psychiatry on post-traumatic stress disorder and gender among the Yazidi population after the traumatic events caused by ISIL, which found a statistically significant association between gender with trauma and PTSD.

Downloads
Full statement [ArabicEnglish]
Right to Rehabilitation as Reparation for Survivors of Grave Human Rights Violations [ArabicEnglish]

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