Better together: How to effectively strengthen the synergies between Women, Peace and Security and Youth, Peace and Security resolutions and CEDAW?

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) are two legal frameworks that provide the highest set of standards for gender equality, women’s rights, and women’s meaningful participation in decision-making at all levels. The Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agenda further contributes to this legal framework by challenging the stereotype of young women as victims and young men as perpetrators of violence.

Despite the increasing recognition of the importance of strengthening the synergies between CEDAW and WPS and YPS resolutions, there is still limited capacity and knowledge of how to do it in practice, both among national governments and civil society. Based on its nearly 10 years of experience in global and regional advocacy on strengthening the synergies between CEDAW, WPS and YPS; as well as the training workshops in Lebanon, Nepal, Palestine, Rwanda, Yemen and Ukraine, GNWP produced a training manual that will allow the replication of the training in other countries, and will serve as a step-by-step guide for national governments, civil society, and other key actors to effectively integrate WPS monitoring into CEDAW reports.

The manual builds on GNWP’s research and policy brief on the synergies between CEDAW and WPS. It also complements existing resources on the synergies between CEDAW and WPS, particularly the UN Women “Guidebook on CEDAW General Recommendation No. 30 and the UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security,” developed by Aisling Swaine and Catherine O’Rourke. The integration of analysis of the synergies between CEDAW and YPS, and practical guidance on how to operationalize these synergies makes the manual a unique tool.

Author: Agnieszka Fal-Dutra Santos

© Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, February 2022

Funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)