Seven - United Nations Security Council resolution 1325

Summary

For all their limitations, the two ad hoc international criminal tribunals, the ICTY and ICTR, contributed considerable case law that clarified and established the legal bases for rejecting tactical rape. The UN Security Council began to evince interest in tactical rape from the early 1990s in ways that had not been demonstrated earlier. The establishment of the two criminal tribunals demonstrated, at least to some degree, that tactical rape was an issue that needed international legal attention. The questions are: what degree of commitment to rejecting tactical rape is reflected in Security Council resolutions? What contributed to this change? It is acknowledged that any progress at Security Council level has little or no effect on non-state actors, but it is a beginning in making changes in state policy and practice.

A new century began with Security Council resolution 1325 in 2000 breaking new ground. It has warranted close scrutiny because it was hailed as reflecting a new systematic and broad-ranging approach to dealing with women's vulnerability in conflict situations: meaningful participation of women at all levels of peace and security governance, including conflict prevention and resolution, peacekeeping and peacebuilding; protection of women and girls from sexual and gender-based violence in conflict and post-conflict settings, including emergency and humanitarian contexts; prevention of violence against women through the promotion of gender equality, accountability and justice; and the incorporation of a gendered lens to all relief and recovery efforts.

Security Council resolution 1325 signalled recognition that if women are vulnerable and suffer discrimination and denial of rights during peacetime, they will be even more vulnerable during conflict. It signalled serious debate about whether the use of sexual violence in conflict (including tactical rape) was a concern for the Security Council, and it eventually led to an acknowledgement that confronting these violations was a responsibility of that international body:

Women, peace and security has emerged as an issue that can no longer be overlooked either by the United Nations or its member states. Accordingly, it is regarded as a new norm in the making.

For all its problems, especially regarding implementation and the lack of accountability measures inherent in resolution 1325, the issue at its core was now clearly on the Security Council agenda.