global | REPORTS
U.N. mission addresses Congo violence-and gender equity
by Femke Van Zeijl
After decades of feminist pressure, in 2000 the United
Nations Security Council
passed Resolution 1325 on “women,
peace and security.” It calls for women
to play larger roles in peace negotiations
and peacekeeping operations,
and suggests a greater focus on how
war affects women’s lives. One result
is more female personnel in U.N.
forces; another is that every mission
now works to empower local women.
An example of the former is that, in
January, the first all-woman U.N.
peacekeeping force—105 Indian policewomen—
began a Liberia mission
at President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s invitation,
working with the Liberian
National Police to maintain peace and
order. Efforts toward achieving the latter
goal can be seen in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), where
MONUC—the U.N. Mission in the
Democratic Republic of Congo—is
the largest ever U.N. peacekeeping
operation.
In the DRC war—the bloodiest
conflict since World War II—4 million
have died, although U.N. Blue
Berets have tried to establish and
maintain peace in this central African
country since 1999. In 2006, former
rebel Joseph Kabila took office as
DRC’s first democratically elected
president, but violence in eastern
Congo persists. Few of the U.N.
troops in Congo are women—just
314 of 16,000—but 30 percent of MONUC’s civilian employees are
women. The U.N. relies on what
member states offer, and most troops
are from countries with a low record
of women’s military participation.
South African Col. Lynette Floegel is
one of MONUC’s highestranking female
officers; the sole woman at military
briefings, she’s called “Mama
Colonel” by the Congolese. But some
male colleagues needed time to get
used to her, Floegel says: “One officer
would comment on my hair or clothes
just about every morning. I took him
aside and asked him to please refrain
from those kind of remarks in the future.
…This can be more difficult for
a lower-ranking woman.”
Resolution 1325 also mandates a
social duty: “If you want peace to
stand a chance, you have to involve
society, especially women,” says Maj.
Gen. Patrick Cammaert, MONUC
eastern divisional commander. “We
organize counseling for women on
health, HIV/AIDS. Twelve years ago,
this would have been unthinkable.”
Amy Smythe is MONUC’s senior
gender advisor (a gender officer
accompanies every mission). Her
assignments include stimulating
women’s social and political participation,
such as the women’s voting
campaign. “Turnout among women
was very high,” she says proudly.
“They formed the majority of voters.”
Gender officers also educate
U.N. personnel, a crucial task in eastern Congo, where one in three
women have suffered rape during the
war. “If a woman has been abused by
a soldier or a rebel, the last person
she needs to see is another man in
uniform. But,” notes Smythe, “sometimes
there is no one else. So it’s important
for Blue Berets to know how
to handle sensitive issues.”
The mission was heavily criticized
in 2004 when a sex scandal involving
MONUC personnel surfaced. The
U.N. code of conduct forbids patronizing
prostitution or having sex with
minors, but peace troops and other
personnel did both. Now, the U.N.
enforces the code with zero tolerance.
Recently, MONUC began investigating
new accusations: Via a South Kivu
prostitution network, girls as young as
age 13 were allegedly paid $5 for sex
with national soldiers as well as with
MONUC troops. Amy Smythe wants
to broaden women’s economic options,
so they aren’t forced to sell their
bodies to survive.
“
A U.N. mission changes the lives
of the local population,” she says.
“We should acknowledge this, [and]
give economic support to women so
they don’t need to turn to soldiers for
money.” Smythe also emphasizes
that, once the peacekeeping mission
leaves, “other U.N. agencies should
be well-funded to ensure that
women’s concerns are taken care of.”
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