Latest news with #PeaceandSecurityAgenda
Daily Mail
05-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh issues heartfelt plea against sexual violence: 'We must do better'
The Duchess of Edinburgh has spoken passionately of her campaign to highlight the plight of victims of sexual violence in conflict, saying: 'We must do better.' Sophie, 60, who has spoken out on the issue for years and met hundreds of survivors around the world, was visiting the UK's first exhibition dedicated to the subject on Wednesday. Featuring shocking stories ranging from the First World War until the present day, the royal expressed her frustration as she toured the displays at the way the issue is still swept under the carpet - and the cultural norms that give rise to the degradation of women even today. She looked amazed when told that the British Royal Air Force didn't ban 'nose art' - the drawing of scantily-clad women on the front of their fighter planes - until 2007. 'Surprising….' she said, clearly unimpressed and raising an eyebrow. Unsilenced: Sexual Violence in Conflict has opened at the Imperial War Museum in London and will run until November 2. It is a subject the duchess - who was making her visit to the exhibition ahead of International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict on June 19 - says is woefully 'under-discussed'. In recent years the King's sister-in-law, who is married to his brother, Prince Edward, has travelled to current and former war zones including Chad, the Congo, Kosovo, South Chad, Lebanon and Sierra Leone. She has devoted much of her latter working life as a royal to supporting the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and is passionate about championing gender equality. Shocking stories of the use of rape and sexual assault as a weapon of war against both women and men have emerged from the current conflict in Ukraine, including a powerful report just weeks ago in the Daily Mail. Sophie, dressed elegantly in a Gabriela Hearst pink silk maxi dress and Jimmy Choo heels, was keen to ensure that survivors has been consulted on the exhibition, saying: 'This is about them, their voice matters'. The Duchess of Edinburgh with curator Helen Upcraft during a visit to the Imperial War Museum's new exhibition. Sophie looked amazed when told that the British Royal Air Force didn't ban 'nose art' - the drawing of scantily-clad women on the front of their fighter planes - until 2007 And she was assured their stories had been 'integral' to the process by exhibitions manager Jack Davies manage and curator Helen Upcraft. 'Unsilenced' examines how and why gender violence is perpetrated, its impact on victims and the pursuit of justice and reconciliation, with powerful testimonies from survivors and interviews with experts in the field. The Duchess spoke movingly about a visit she had made to Kosovo in 2019 and how deeply moved she had been when speaking to women about the 'shame and stigma' they experienced as a result of being brutalised. Discussing the horror of the many women who fell pregnant by their attackers, she said: 'The stigma that is sadly placed on the women….it's about the mothers. In so many countries they can't even go back into the home place,' she said. 'I met a woman in Kosovo. A number of years ago there was a programme on what had happened [there] and the numbers they estimated of the women who had been raped. She told me how her husband had been so empathetic and he had been horrified [about the statistics] because they didn't know. And because he had been so empathetic and saying this was just so awful that she felt brave enough to admit to him that she had been one of them. And that was the end of her marriage. 'This is the problem. It's the legacy. And unless we as a society help, we have to help people understand that they are not the ones who have the shame. It is not their lives who should be destroyed. We have to do better.' Sophie was also shown displays of wartime propaganda, which can itself create an atmosphere where sexual violence can occur. This includes the sexual slavery of the 'Comfort Women Corps' in the Second World War, the state-sanctioned violence against Yazidi women and girls by ISIS in 2014, as well as the Soviet Red Army in Berlin in 1945 , and even the US treatment of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib in 2004. 'This is not just something that happens to foreigners by foreigners, this is something we all need to address,' the duchess said. Turning to another display on women forced to have sex for rations so that their families can survive, she added sadly: 'It's a way of some people staying alive.' The duchess also looked particularly horrified at a display of drawings by Sudanese children depicting the sexual violence they had seen their mothers, sisters and even grandmothers subjected to, including a particularly shocking image of a soldier turning his eyes away in shame at what his colleague was doing. 'It's so vivid,' she gasped. Justice, she said, was a perennial problems for victims. 'It's a tiny, tiny scratch on the surface…The issue of prosecution, it's so hard to ever get any kind of closure on any of this. To try and prosecute. Where do you start? Do you prosecute a country? A leader? Of course this does happen. But it's important to recognise this at the highest level,' she insisted. Thanked for her own role in highlighting the issue, the royal added: 'It's a privilege. If we could all do ourselves out of a job…it would be great.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Dayton professor to discuss NATO's impact on women, peace, security
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – A local professor will speak on the state of the United Nations Women, Peace and Security Agenda during the 2025 NATO Parliamentary Assembly Spring Session. Natalie Hudson, a professor of political science and law, was invited to speak on behalf of the Committee on Democracy and Security. Hudson is also the executive director of the University of Dayton Human Rights Center. This committee is made up of 60 legislators from member states and partner countries. Volunteers spruce up Dayton for upcoming NATO visit This committee meeting will be on Saturday, May 24. The panelist will talk about NATO's role in supporting policies following the Women, Peace and Security agenda. This agenda began in the year 2000 when the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 was adopted. 'The Women, Peace and Security agenda has a lot of relevance to how NATO functions internally as a military alliance and externally in the countries where it intervenes,' said Hudson. 'Even though the agenda originated at the United Nations, I think NATO stands to be a real leader in women, peace and security in the years ahead, especially given Europe's historical support for the work.' Hudson's panel will not be open to the public as it will take place in the NATO village area downtown. However, there will be 12 panels open to the public at the Roger Glass Center for the Arts. These panels are a part of the 'The Dayton Dialogue: Conversations about Peace and Security in the Balkans,' which was announced by U.S. Rep. Mike Turner and UD President Eric F. Spina back in March. LIST: Public invited to forums during NATO Assembly The 25th anniversary of The Women, Peace and Security Agenda will be this October. The agenda focuses on the protection needs and unique struggles both girls and women have in war-torn areas. Particularly, gender-based and sexual violence. The agenda also shines a light on the vital role women have in peace processes, from peacekeeping to peacebuilding. To learn more about The Women, Peace and Security Agenda, click here. To view the 2 NEWS NATO Parliamentary Summit hub for the latest information on this historic event, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Canada Standard
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Canada Standard
In Berlin, broad backing for UN peacekeeping as global threats mount
More than 130 countries and international partners threw their weight behind UN peacekeeping at a high-level ministerial summit in Berlin on Wednesday, pledging military, tech and political support. The future of peacekeeping took centre stage on Tuesday in Berlin as UN chief Antnio Guterres urged Member States to do more to support the global bodys 'blue helmets' and stave off the worst impacts of deep funding cuts. UNSecretary-General Antnio Guterresmeanwhile warned that peace operations are under growing strain and must adapt to meet todays rising threats. The two-day conference on peacekeeping, hosted by the Government of Germany, brought together over 1,000 participants including defence and foreign ministers to reaffirm commitment to the UNs flagship tool for maintaining peace and stability. It concluded on Wednesday with a wide array of pledges, including 88 military and police units, specialized training, and investments in emerging technologies and strategic communications. Difference between life and death In trouble spots around the world, blue helmets can mean the difference between life and death, Mr. Guterres said in his opening remarks. Now more than ever, the world needs the United Nations. And the United Nations needs peacekeeping that is fully equipped for todays realities and tomorrows challenges. Germany, which currently contributes troops to UN missions in South Sudan, Lebanon, and Western Sahara, announced82 million (around $91.7 million) in funding, along with commitments in training, renewable energy solutions and drone technology. Germany continues to be a steadfast supporter of UN peacekeeping, said Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. Broad and diverse commitments A total of74 UN Member States made specific pledges, ranging from uniformed personnel to training and strategic support. This includes pledges which will bolster military and police units, including airlift and rapid deployment capabilities (53 national contributions), specialized training (59), technological enhancements (18), advancing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda (38) and safety and protection (16). Eleven countries also committed to improving accountability and conduct, including support to the trust fund for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse, and eight nations supporting the UNs efforts to counter mis- and disinformation through strategic communications. Mounting pressures At a press conference following the meeting, Secretary-General Guterres acknowledged that peacekeepers operate in an increasingly complex and dangerous environment, citing a record number of global conflicts, the targeting of peacekeepers by drones and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and the rising threat from disinformation campaigns. We need to ask some tough questions about the mandates guiding these operations,and what the outcomes and solutions should look like, he said, speaking alongside German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Defence Minister Pistorius. Every context is different, and missions must be adapted accordingly. The UN chief also stressed the importance of sustained financial backing, highlighting that many missions continue to struggle with cash flow shortages due to delayed payments from Member States. It is absolutely essential that all Member States respect their financial obligations,paying their contributions in full and on time, he said. Crucial reforms The Berlin meeting feeds into the UNs broader reform efforts, including an ongoing Review of Peace Operations announced in last years Pact for the Future, aimed at making peacekeeping and peace enforcement more flexible, cost-effective, and aligned with real-world needs. This years Ministerial also coincides with the 80th anniversary of the United Nations and the 10-year anniversary of the 2015 New York Summit on Peacekeeping. It follows similar high-level meetings in Accra, Seoul, Vancouver and London. Peacekeeping remains one of the UNs most visible activities, with over 61,000 uniformed personnel from 119 countries currently deployed across 11 missions, supported by more than 7,000 civilian staff.
Scoop
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
In Berlin, Broad Backing For UN Peacekeeping As Global Threats Mount
14 May 2025 UN Secretary-General António Guterres meanwhile warned that peace operations are under growing strain and must adapt to meet today's rising threats. The two-day conference on peacekeeping, hosted by the Government of Germany, brought together over 1,000 participants – including defence and foreign ministers – to reaffirm commitment to the UN's flagship tool for maintaining peace and stability. It concluded on Wednesday with a wide array of pledges, including 88 military and police units, specialized training, and investments in emerging technologies and strategic communications. Difference between life and death ' In trouble spots around the world, 'blue helmets' can mean the difference between life and death,' Mr. Guterres said in his opening remarks. 'Now more than ever, the world needs the United Nations. And the United Nations needs peacekeeping that is fully equipped for today's realities and tomorrow's challenges.' Germany, which currently contributes troops to UN missions in South Sudan, Lebanon, and Western Sahara, announced €82 million (around $91.7 million) in funding, along with commitments in training, renewable energy solutions and drone technology. 'Germany continues to be a steadfast supporter of UN peacekeeping,' said Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. Broad and diverse commitments A total of 74 UN Member States made specific pledges, ranging from uniformed personnel to training and strategic support. This includes pledges which will bolster military and police units, including airlift and rapid deployment capabilities (53 national contributions), specialized training (59), technological enhancements (18), advancing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda (38) and safety and protection (16). Eleven countries also committed to improving accountability and conduct, including support to the trust fund for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse, and eight nations supporting the UN's efforts to counter mis- and disinformation through strategic communications. Mounting pressures At a press conference following the meeting, Secretary-General Guterres acknowledged that peacekeepers operate in an increasingly complex and dangerous environment, citing a record number of global conflicts, the targeting of peacekeepers by drones and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and the rising threat from disinformation campaigns. ' We need to ask some tough questions about the mandates guiding these operations, and what the outcomes and solutions should look like,' he said, speaking alongside German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Defence Minister Pistorius. ' Every context is different, and missions must be adapted accordingly. ' The UN chief also stressed the importance of sustained financial backing, highlighting that many missions continue to struggle with cash flow shortages due to delayed payments from Member States. 'It is absolutely essential that all Member States respect their financial obligations, paying their contributions in full and on time,' he said. Crucial reforms The Berlin meeting feeds into the UN's broader reform efforts, including an ongoing Review of Peace Operations announced in last year's Pact for the Future, aimed at making peacekeeping and peace enforcement more flexible, cost-effective, and aligned with real-world needs. This year's Ministerial also coincides with the 80th anniversary of the United Nations and the 10-year anniversary of the 2015 New York Summit on Peacekeeping. It follows similar high-level meetings in Accra, Seoul, Vancouver and London. Peacekeeping remains one of the UN's most visible activities, with over 61,000 uniformed personnel from 119 countries currently deployed across 11 missions, supported by more than 7,000 civilian staff.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hegseth's Patriarchal Vision Will Make the U.S. Military Less Effective
In a major and unprecedented shakeup to the U.S. military's leadership, U.S. President Donald Trump removed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Brown in late February, while announcing his intention to replace Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the head of the U.S. Navy. The personnel changes have been framed as part of an effort to eradicate 'woke ideology' from the U.S. military. It is not a coincidence, then, that Brown is Black and Franchetti is the first woman ever to command a U.S. military service branch. But the Trump administration's attack on efforts to address historical injustices for minorities and women—known as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or DEI, initiatives—goes beyond purging people of color and high-ranking women officers from the chain of command. As part of this agenda, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has also proposed a radical departure from the U.S. military's approach over the past decade. Though a slow-moving institution that is far from progressive, the Defense Department has undertaken a series of reforms to be more representative of the country it serves. That has included things like adopting a plan to implement the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, updating its harassment policies and protecting its employees from discrimination. Since taking over as defense secretary in late January, Hegseth has articulated his commitment to 'restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding our military, and reestablishing deterrence.' Along those lines, he announced the creation of a Restoring America's Fighting Force Task Force charged with 'overseeing the Department's efforts to abolish DEI offices and any vestiges of such offices that subvert meritocracy, perpetuate unconstitutional discrimination, and promote radical ideologies related to systemic racism and gender fluidity.' This task force and other envisaged reforms are all aimed at eradicating 'wokeness' from the U.S. military and Defense Department. This agenda reflects Hegseth's retrograde and patriarchal vision of the U.S. military. But his justifications for all of these measures are often invented or based on false premises. These misrepresentations are aimed at portraying the U.S. military as hamstrung by politically correct overreach. In both his public comments and his highly critical book about the U.S. military, Hegseth has castigated 'woke' generals and policies that, he argues, undermine the military's effectiveness. To get more in-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs from WPR, sign up for our free Daily Review newsletter. For example, during his Senate confirmation hearings in January, Hegseth cited personal interviews conducted while writing his book to assert that commanders are expected to 'meet quotas' in order to increase the number of women in the ranks. That practice, he added, was one of many 'direct, indirect, overt and subtle' ways that the U.S. military has changed its standards to accommodate women recruits. Hegseth had previously asserted that women should not be present in ground combat operations, stating in November, 'It hasn't made us more effective. Hasn't made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated.' Hegseth's statements make it seem as if women have been coddled by the military in order to goose their numbers, to the detriment of readiness. On both counts, however, he is demonstrably wrong. As Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand pointed out during his confirmation hearing, there are no quotas for women in the infantry. That is a politically expedient lie for Hegseth and his allies. With regard to standards, for instance, retired Army Lt. Col. Ellen Haring told NPR, 'Not only have standards not been lowered, but when they first decided that … they were going to open combat jobs to women, the services were given three years to actually set standards because up until that point in time, standards had been very loosely defined.' In other words, the entry of women into combat roles resulted in standards being formalized, not lowered. Furthermore, Lory Manning, the director of government operations with the Service Women's Action Network, notes that the U.S. military abides by gender-neutral, position-specific standards. As she explained, 'The National Defense Authorization Act of 1994 established that [for] every occupation in the military … there have to be standards. And there's a separate set of standards for each of those occupations, but they must be gender neutral. And they have been for more than 30 years.' Hegseth's claim that women's participation in combat roles undermines the U.S. military's ability to achieve its objectives are equally off the mark. In Afghanistan, for example, the military relied on Female Engagement Teams to cultivate relationships with Afghan women who were otherwise off-limits to male troops due to the country's gender norms. As a result, female troops were able to gather mission-critical intelligence and help cultivate a friendlier operating environment for U.S. forces overall. Hegseth's remarks play well to Trump's base, but they aren't just for public consumption. They have real implications for the well-being of U.S. servicewomen and U.S. women more generally, as well as for women in countries where the U.S. military is active. U.S. servicewomen are now likely to face even more skepticism about whether they belong in the military, particularly when they are involved in combat operations. Already, women in the military have to grapple with gender-specific challenges, like the threat of sexual harassment and assault at work. In 2023, nearly 7 percent of active-duty servicewomen experienced 'unwanted sexual contact' at work compared with just 1.3 percent of servicemen. Making it harder to be a woman in the U.S. military isn't about meritocracy—it's about enforcing traditional gender roles in which men are celebrated as masculine protectors and women are confined to being grateful and vulnerable beneficiaries of that protection. Furthermore, revamping the U.S. military to be an organization of 'door-kickers' could mean a broader militarization of U.S. culture. As noted feminist scholar Cynthia Enloe has argued, societal militarization often comes at the expense of women's well-being, as it not only empowers a narrow class of men, but also 'diverts scarce public resources to military operations and manufacturing' at the cost of 'the very things that women depend on – which are education, environment and social security.' The United States' already paltry investment in these sectors could be threatened by a cultural shift toward an aggressive military whose culture is imbued with toxic masculinity. Finally, Hegseth's worldview has troubling implications for the safety of women in the areas where the U.S. military operates. Hegseth has been up front about his frustration over the Pentagon's interpretation of the laws of armed conflict, and he has advocated for loosening those restrictions. As a Fox News personality during Trump's first term, he publicly lobbied Trump to pardon several U.S. military officers who had been accused and even convicted of war crimes by U.S. courts martial, resulting in several of them escaping accountability. But in addition to undermining the rules-based order that the U.S. has championed since the end of World War II as well as being counterproductive in any war in which public support matters, loosening the U.S. military's adherence to the laws of war would increase the vulnerabilities faced by women living in active conflict zones. For example, both International Humanitarian Law and international criminal law both prohibit the use of sexual violence in the course of war. For the U.S. military to thumb its nose at the idea of restraint in the conduct of war could give rise to a culture of acceptance of and impunity for such violations. Hegseth's advocacy on behalf of war criminals and his public bristling against restrictions on the military's use of violence spell out a future in which not just women, but all civilians in war zones are afforded few protections and little recourse when they are abused. His approach will undo the uneven and imperfect but nevertheless real progress the U.S. military made over the past decade on women's role in the armed forces and the value of avoiding civilian harm in conflict zones. The military culture Hegseth is advocating for is one of unmitigated aggression and impunity. He claims to want to increase the military's 'lethality' and 'readiness,' but instead he will kneecap its reputation and professionalism. Hilary Matfess is an assistant professor at the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School of International Studies. She is also a Council on Foreign Relations term fellow, a research fellow at the Research on International Policy Implementation Lab and a nonresident senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies' (CSIS) Africa Program. 'In Love and at War' is her second book. The post Hegseth's Patriarchal Vision Will Make the U.S. Military Less Effective appeared first on World Politics Review.
