The Gender Issue in the African Union Peace and Security Council

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the initiatives related to the Women, Peace and Security Agenda of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union since 2000, when United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 was launched. It seeks to answer the following question: to what extent has the PSC contributed to the implementation of the UNSC's “Women, Peace and Security” Agenda on the African continent? It considers the hypothesis that the PSC works on this issue based on four pillars from a holistic and integrated perspective, even if it has not achieved the full realisation of these measures. The research methodology consists of document analysis and is based on a qualitative approach, supported by a literature review. The main documents analysed were resolutions, meeting minutes, official PSC reports, and the Continental Framework Results indicators. The main results were that the PSC's conception of gender actions, despite following a “UN” model, is broader and more integrated. Although the Women, Peace and Security Agenda has been introduced at the normative level, there are still a series of implementation challenges.

Keywords

• Gender initiatives
• Security
• Peace and Security Council