Women, Peace and Security A critical analysis of the incorporation of UNSCR 1325 in the South Sudan DDR process (2005 – 2011)

Abstract

This thesis focusses on the application of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) in the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration process in South Sudan. UNSCR 1325 calls for gender mainstreaming in post-conflict policies and in particular, for a consideration of the different needs of male and female ex-combatants in DDR efforts. This study analyses whether the South Sudan DDR Commission (SSDDRC) followed the UNSCR 1325 recommendations in the aftermath of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between 2005 and 2011, on the basis of DDR policy documents, evaluation reports and scholarly research. The traditional patriarchal gender roles altered during the Second Sudanese Civil War, presenting opportunities for the SSDDRC to empower South Sudanese women post-conflict. The SSDDRC proclaimed in 2015 that a gender perspective was successfully incorporated in the South Sudan DDR process, in accordance with UNSCR 1325. The Commission based this statement on its recognition of female non-combat contributors to the war as ‘Women Associated with Armed Groups and Forces’ and its efforts to provide special DDR opportunities for female DDR candidates. However, research on the key DDR-documents show that these initiatives did not answer the specific needs of the South Sudanese DDR applicants and consequently, did not apply gender mainstreaming. Women’s ability to access the DDR process was problematized by the SSDDRC: the Commission did not make efforts to reduce the prevailing patriarchal structures, failed to clarify the underlying objectives of the newly established WAAFG category, and did not monitor the implementation of its DDR design effectively. Instead, the SSDDRC based its approach on best practices of previous DDR programmes. If the DDR planners had conducted specific needs assessments among the DDR caseload and adjusted their methods to those results, the outcomes on the ground could have been more similar to their gender sensitive intentions and the abovementioned failures may have been avoided. As a result of this deficient approach, only a small number of the intended female DDR participants benefitted from the DDR process between 2005 and 2011.