UNSCR 1325: Is it only about war? Armed violence in non-war contexts

Abstract

Instead of focussing on the operational gaps hindering the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), this article argues that gaps are mostly product of the concepts of gender, violence, security that inform the Resolution. Two particular criticisms that have emerged in the analysis of 1325 will be addressed: i) the equation of violence as war, and particularly the equation of war gendered violence as violence suffered by women and girls only; and consequently ii) the idea of war and post-war at the domestic level as the main source of insecurity for women, the international community (of non-warring States) being the main guarantor of peace and security. By emphasising the articulations between war and peace zones both domestically and internationally, this paper will elaborate on one of the facets of violence production and reproduction omitted by the Resolution: armed violence in non war zones.