A study recently published by the Gender and Peacebuilding Working Group of the
Canadian Peacebuilding Co-ordinating Committee aims to further explore and better
understand the particular issues relating to girls and young women within the peace
and security agendas, and to inform policy development relating to gender, peace and
security.

These agendas and policy development processes are very much linked to UN Security
Council Resolution 1325, which does talk about women and girls and indicates the
need to consider the experiences and needs of girls in conflict and post conflict
situations. However, the study finds that this attention remains quite superficial,
and there is little in-depth consideration of the particular implications of
conflict for girls and young women, or of involving them in peacebuilding processes.

Although Security Council resolutions relating to children and armed conflict also
recognise some of the particular conflict-related issues for girls, the range of
issues is quite narrow, and adolescent girls remain somewhat invisible. They fall
between the quite separate UN agendas for women, peace and security, and for
children and armed conflict. Yet adolescent girls and young women make up large
sections of conflict-affected population, and are often mothers and heads of
households. They are crucial actors in post-conflict reconstruction and in the
rebuilding of peaceful communities and societies.

The study also highlights the fact that although Canadian women and women's peace
movements are active in the promotion of SCR 1325, their activities and messages do
seem to have not targeted Canadian girls and young women; there are few young women
activists on these issues.[Source: CRIN]

For more information, contact:
Gender and Peacebuilding Working Group,
c/o Canadian Peacebuilding Co-ordinating Committee
1 Nicholas Street, #1216, Ottawa, ON, K1N 7B7, Canada
Tel: + 1 613 241 3446; Fax: + 1 613 241 4846
Email: jackie.kirk@mail.mcgill.ca
http://www.peacebuild.ca/working/?load=gender