Publications – Institute of World Affairs

Critique of UNSCR 1325: Intersectionality Matters[1]

UNSCR 1325 (and the numerous resolutions that followed) has been hailed as critically important for the ways in which it drew attention to the plight of women and girls in times of conflict, but also for its recognition of the important role that women can and do play in preventing conflict and then working toward peace in the event of conflict or war. Few would disagree with the importance of 1325 and the points it raises. Nonetheless, there are a number of issues or critiques that can be raised about UNSCR 1325 almost twenty-five years after it was passed. These are especially salient when reviewing UNSCR 1325 from an intersectional perspective.

Resolution 1325 in Focus: Introduction

By Adysen Moylan

On November 20, 2024

In Articles

On October 31, the anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 marked twenty-four years since its entrance into the international order. UNSCR 1325 was commemorated as the long-sought resolution to ensure women’s full participation in global peace and security (broadly defined). Its existence would not have been possible without the efforts of both civil society and the United Nations member states. This resolution ^[1] focused on addressing the significant gap in women’s participation in all levels of peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and post-conflict reconstruction, including combating gender-based violence. After twenty-four years, UNSCR 1325 has brought forth subsequent resolutions, nine in total, continuing to address sexual-based violence both in the conflict and post-conflict environment and barriers to women’s participation in peace processes from the most localized level to the extent of high-level decision-making processes. Others, such as Security Council Resolution (SCR) 2242^[2], sought to highlight women’s role in preventing and countering terrorism, and the most recent, SCR 2467^[3] in 2019, challenged member states in their commitment to the previous resolutions. One of the primary ways in which UNSCR 1325 and the subsequent resolutions were to be implemented was through countries adopting National Action Plans focused on the 1325 agenda in the context of their state.

Today, approximately fifty-six percent of the United Nations member states have adopted^[4] one or more National Action Plans (NAPs) to further the Women, Peace, and Security agenda. Despite fifty-six percent of member states adopting NAPs, many countries have not consistently or successfully implemented them. National Action Plans require significant funding, governmental capacity, and cooperation, vital for their success and sustainability. Because of the challenges of adopting NAPs, some critical questions have been raised. For example, how can NAPs be implemented during a civil war, a country that recently emerged from violent conflict, or why do many global North countries primarily focus their NAPs on the Global South rather than gaps in their own country? The WPS agenda and National Actions Plans have continuously been scrutinized for not addressing the root causes and drivers of conflict through a gendered lens and instead focusing on the security aspects of WPS rather than peace.

Virtual Symposium on Extractive Industries and Human Development

By Kelcey Negus

On October 16, 2024

In Events

Extractive Industries and Human Development Center

A Virtual Symposium on Developing Best Practices for the Extractive Industries and Human Development: Southern Africa

October 24, 2024

10:00 – 12:00 EST/US

Please join us for a virtual symposium on Thursday, October 24th at 10:00am EST. To attend, please register here.

The symposium will focus on best practices for ensuring communities, governments, and the private sector benefit from the massive capital investment in infrastructure, mining and manufacturing that is currently taking place in southern Africa.

A 21st century mineral rush is underway as businesses, often enjoying financial backing from governments in industrialized countries, increasingly extract resources, such as copper, cobalt, graphite, coltan, tantalum and lithium, necessary to transition to economies that are more climate friendly. Exploration for precious metals and gems as well as for petroleum and natural gas also continues unabated.

For example, the United States government is seeking to ensure a greater diversification in the sourcing, supply chain and processing of minerals critical to the transition to a climate friendly economy. To achieve this, US joined other G7 countries to form Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment. Through the partnership, the G7 nations of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States aim to mobilize $600 billion in public and private funding for infrastructure by 2027. According to the White House, the Partnership will deliver game-changing projects to close the infrastructure gap in developing countries, strengthen the global economy and supply chains, and advance U.S. national security.

While discussion will draw on the specific experience of Angola, Mozambique and Zambia, the wider implications of growing global investment in the extractive industry and infrastructure sectors will also be examined.

Featured Presenters

Rafael Marques de Morais, a leading Angolan human rights and anti-corruption activist, will focus on changes in the diamond mining sector and the reforms needed to improve transparency in this economically important sector. Rafael is also active in promoting improvements in primary education and in prison reform in Angola. He has authored: Blood Diamonds, Torture and Corruption in Angola (2011), Misery and Magic Fuel Mayhem in Cafunfo (2021), and The Ethnic Conflict in Cazombo (2022).

Ian Mwiinga, who serves as the National Coordinator for the Zambia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Secretariat within the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development, will discuss best practices for engaging local communities and for creating accountability among private and public project stakeholders.

Dr. Yussuf Adam, who has extensive research and field experience in rural development in Mozambique, will focus on the impact of investment projects on local communities. In Cabo Delgado, Mozambique’s northern most province, a violent extremist insurgency arose in the context of investments in mining and in the construction of what was to have been one of the world’s largest liquified natural gas (LNG) plants. Dr. Adam has conducted interviews with people whose communities have been resettled to make room for the LNG plants and with many people internally displaced by the armed conflict.

Dr. Gregory Pirio, Director of Extractive Industries and Human Development Center, will moderate the symposium. Dr. Pirio has been a global leader in the use of communications and the media for constructive social change. His professional activities have concentrated on an array of global health, conflict resolution, behavior change communications, media development and youth empowerment, among others. He has undertaken these activities in partnership with international organizations, bilateral organizations, international NGOs and ministries of health.

Humanizing the Demonized: The Untold Stories of Immigrants

By Gregory Pirio

On September 30, 2024

In Articles

I have a confession to make. I am the child of immigrants, one of whom crossed our southern border a century ago, and so I am extremely sympathetic to the many people arriving at our southern border in search of a better life.

The demonizing of migrants for political ends by Donald Trump and other political figures angers me. The demonization needs to stop. This dehumanizing strategy is all about creating fear of others in an effort to manipulate people to support him as he promises to protect them from the demonized. It is a classic political manipulation technique. As a journalist, I witnessed how such demonization unfolded in the Rwandan genocide, and I wrote a book on Al Qaeda in eastern Africa, in which I recounted how Osama bin Laden and his subordinates used demonizing techniques to make people fearful, positioning them to commit violence against the “others.” We, Americans, can do better than this.

Launch of Extractive Industries and Human Development Center

By Administrator

On August 23, 2024

In News

IWA is pleased to announce the launch of the new Extractive Industries and Human Development Center. The Center seeks to promote best practices in the extractive industry sector to ensure countries, communities and businesses prosper by helping new and ongoing mineral, petroleum and gas projects implement in a manner that benefits the interests of stakeholders. The Center will focus on facilitating cooperative relationships between public and private sector actors and by anticipating and proactively addressing contending interests, mindful of power disparities between local, national, and international actors.

The Center will be led by Dr. Gregory Pirio, a global leader in the use of communications and the media for constructive social change, and supported by Senior Advisors from around the globe with extensive experience in social and economic change, natural resource management, community organizing, and local governance.

Launch of Women, Peace and Security Research Tool & Case Studies

By Joyce Kaufman

On May 17, 2024

In News

The Institute of World Affairs is pleased to announce the release of a new research tool designed to provide easy access to information available on the Women, Peace, and Security agenda. This comprehensive tool includes data from NGO, government, the UN, and other sources. In our “Spotlight Series” we include sample case studies that illustrate ways in which the data can be used. IWA plans to review and update this information on a continuous basis.

Fall 2023 Internship: Women, Peace and Security

By Joyce Kaufman

On October 10, 2023

In News

IWA Internship on Women, Peace and Security (WPS)

This internship will support the work of IWA’s program on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). Over the past several years IWA interns have developed a database of resources pertaining to the work of women in the peace and security space. New interns will be responsible for updating the database and for conducting case studies on the record of select countries in implementing or opposing women’s engagement in peace and security affairs. Interns will also be expected to represent IWA at meetings mostly in Washington, DC that pertain to women, peace and security. This internship will immerse the individual selected in various aspects of women’s engagement in the peace and security sector from academic research to applied fieldwork. It will provide an opportunity to work directly with recognized experts and under the direction of a scholar-practitioner, IWA’s Dr. Joyce P. Kaufman, with many years of experience in the field. Outstanding research skills as well as demonstrated familiarity with the topic are required.

Qualifications: Applicants must be enrolled in or recent graduates of programs in peace studies, conflict resolution, development, human rights and allied fields. Field experience is preferred. Applicants must have excellent research, writing, and organizational skills, and be able to work independently. IWA interns generally work remotely.

Application Process: Applicants must submit a resume and a cover letter describing their experience and qualifications, and the particular program at IWA that is of interest to them and why. All internship correspondence should be directed to Dr. Joyce P. Kaufman, Director of Internships, Institute of World Affairs at [email protected].

Fall 2023 Internship: Preventing Youth Violence

By Joyce Kaufman

On October 10, 2023

In News

IWA Internship on Preventing Youth Violence

The internship is in support of the work of the Institute of World Affairs (IWA) to provide youth in Washington, DC with conflict prevention and management skills. This undertaking is a collaboration between IWA and the Alliance of Concerned Men (ACM), a non-profit community-based organization in Washington, D.C. The internship entails adaptation of training materials on conflict resolution developed by IWA and ACM to ensure they are age-appropriate and culturally suitable for the target audience. The intern will assist in the development and presentation of workshop materials and the implementation of a capstone simulation that permits the application of lessons learned by workshop participants. The intern will need to possess a basic understanding of the causes of community violence and potential conflict mitigation strategies. The internship will be supervised by Dr. Joyce P. Kaufman, a senior program director at IWA.

Qualifications: Applicants must be enrolled in or recent graduates of programs in peace studies, conflict resolution, development, human rights and allied fields. Field experience is preferred. Applicants must have excellent research, writing, and organizational skills, and be able to work independently. IWA interns generally work remotely.

Application Process: Applicants must submit a resume and a cover letter describing their experience and qualifications, and the particular program at IWA that is of interest to them and why. All internship correspondence should be directed to Dr. Joyce P. Kaufman, Director of Internships, Institute of World Affairs at [email protected].

JAMS Foundation Grant Award Announcement

By Dr. Hrach Gregorian

On October 10, 2023

In News

We are happy to announce that IWA has been awarded a two-year grant by the JAMS (Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services) Foundation for a project to provide conflict resolution training for children in some of the most challenged communities in Washington, DC. IWA will partner with the DC-based community organization, Alliance of Concerned Men (ACM), to implement this project.

The project involves conflict resolution training for elementary school children to provide skill sets for the mitigation or resolution of disputes before they escalate into violence. Project objectives include development of a training manual and instruction by respected community trainers. A capstone element is a simulation of a conflict situation wherein students can put learning into practice in a controlled setting. This project builds on previous work done for older youth by IWA and ACM.

Fall 2022 Internship on Mediation and Violence Prevention

By Joyce Kaufman

On August 21, 2022

In News

Program description

This internship will support the work of the Institute of World Affairs (IWA), under the direction of Dr. Joyce P. Kaufman, in collaboration with the Alliance of Concerned Men (ACM), a non-profit community-based organization in Washington, D.C. During this period of increased violence particularly in economically and socially challenged communities, it is imperative to develop and implement programs that provide youth, especially, with tools that can help prevent violence while also building life-skills necessary to build productive lives. The target population for this effort is high school age youth from violence-prone communities in the District of Columbia. For the first time starting in the fall, we will also be working with a younger (middle school-aged cohort) at Chester Charter School in Pennsylvania as well. This project draws on IWA’s extensive experience in violence prevention, negotiation and mediation. The workshops are all developed in consultation with our ACM partners, and are presented using a hybrid format, with some of the participants in person, and others connecting via Zoom. With the exception of the final simulation, our work and delivery of the workshops will all be done via Zoom. The capstone simulation uses the University of Maryland International Communication and Negotiation Simulation (ICONS) platform. This system provides ongoing written transcripts of all interactions that can be used for analysis, debriefing and assessment.