Making Peace with the Global Indicators on Women, Peace and Security

According to the United Nations resolutions on Women, Peace and Security (UNSCR 1325 and its related resolutions), reproductive health (RH) is an essential component of the security and status of women. Furthermore, women’s security and equal status is crucial to the security of states. Yet, the UN global indicators on Women, Peace and Security that monitor the implementation of these resolutions, and which are contained in both the Secretary-General’s 2010 report to the Security Council and the UN Strategic Results Framework on Women, Peace and Security: 2011-2020, do not include reproductive health indicators or guidelines.

As the world is increasingly mired in conflict and as more people, particularly women and children, are displaced across the globe, ensuring these resolutions are fully implemented to address RH needs and rights is more urgent than ever. This includes implementation of the women, peace and security (WPS) framework by UN Agencies and by Member States through National Action Plans (NAPs), which are used to guide and monitor their own implementation of the WPS resolutions.

An accountability mechanism is needed to ensure that that women’s reproductive health is included in policies and development projects before, during, and after conflict and crisis, as required by the WPS resolutions. Changing the global indicators on women, peace and security to include RH indicators will ensure that women’s specific RH needs are met in actuality and not just on paper.