This essay explores the cultural and socio-economic barriers for women’s political representation in Zambian politics as well as the importance of women’s representation for their human security. Due to a Western focus on earlier research, a developing country was chosen in order to investigate any differing perspectives that would emerge. The guiding research problem was why Zambia despite being relatively stable and peaceful still ranked lower in gender equality indexes when compared to their more unstable neighbours.A theoretical model outlined by Nadezhda Shvedova was used to formulate interview questions. The main material used for the study was semi-structured interviews conducted with members of the National Assembly in Lusaka Zambia as part of a Minor Field Study. The results allowed for an expansion of Shvedova’s model with one more category. The main conclusion reached is that all barriers outlined in Shvedova’s model were present in Zambia but that there is a slow but constant progress in eliminating these barriers mainly through political will and representation of women in politics. Suggested continuations of the study are to do a comparative study with a country in the region as well as conducting non-elite interviews and surveys outside the capital city Lusaka.

The global Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda has been established to address the widerange of issues and challenges faced by women in conflict and post-conflict situations, and acknowledge the vital role that women play in peace processes. Previous research has shown that although the women refugees are more vulnerable than their male counterparts, this group is still widely underrepresented in WPS policy. There is a gap between the WPS agenda and research on refugees. Women are only recognised as actors within the WPS agenda when they are geographically in the zone of conflict, and this does not extend to women who have been forced to flee. This thesis aims to investigate the policy representation of refugee and displaced women within African WPS national action plans (NAPs). In doing so, the research explores the theoretical concept of human security, and how it is related to feminist security studies and refugees, in order to understand the importance and relevance of including refugee and displaced women into national WPS policy. Within the theoretical discussion, the theories that have guided this thesis are also discussed, namely feminist research methodology and ‘What’s the Problem Represented to Be?’ (WPR) as an analytical tool. The material for analysis is all available African WPS-NAPs, there are 22 of them used in this research. These NAPs are analysed using a multi-method approach, three methods used to answer the research questions. First, a qualitative case study to ascertain if refugees and displaced people are represented in these WPS-NAPs, secondly, a thematic analysis to critically analyse these representions as they relate to four pillars central to the WPS framework, and finally, an illustrative case study of the Cameroon to offer descriptive insight into how policy problem representations are implemented in the practical world. The main conclusions reveal that African states do mentioned refugees and displaced people in WPS-NAPs, acknowledging the validity of the ‘women in conflict on the move’ actor within WPS; secondly, it concludes that each African WPS-NAP analysed creates a multitude of problem representations, and discusses the policy implications of this according to WPR theory. Finally, it concludes that the actual implementation of WPS-NAPs in the realm of refugee and displaced persons is still not fullyrecognised, despite the inclusion in policy. Therefore, more specific policy actions should be integrated into WPP-NAP policy planning and drafting in order to prevent fueling the real life insecurity of these groups, making them more marginalized and vulnerable.

This report analyses the work on implementing the Women Peace and Security(WPS) agenda in Myanmar. As the conflict in the country is excessively complex withmultiple ethnic, indigenous, and linguistic groups we asked the important question:Who gets included/excluded from their implementation of WPS? And where lies thepower to shape gender equality work in the country? We answer this by looking atpower from two perspectives, material resources, and knowledge which both act associally constructive and exclusionary power. We argue that several bureaucraticinstitutions’ implementation lacks conflict sensitivity and intersectional perspective. While answering the questions we explain how the work and relationship betweendifferent international actors affect the local organization.

No description available.

This thesis examines the portrayal of men and boys within the women, peace and security agenda, and in particular the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) security discourse on this theme. The relationship between the portrayal of victims and perpetrators, and the portrayal of men and boys are analysed and discussed based on the three-dimensional framework for Critical Discourse Analysis by Norman Fairclough. Through the theoretical framework of Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink on norm theory, this thesis furthers the understanding of the evolution of how men and boys are portrayed within the women, peace and security agenda. The results of this thesis are that the portrayal of victims often does not correspond with the portrayal of men and boys, while the portrayal of perpetrators often does correspond to the portrayal of men and boys. The study also shows that the portrayal of men and boys as the perpetrators as well as leaders in society has reached the third stage of the norm cycle by Finnemore and Sikkink; internalisation, and that the portrayal of men and boys as victims as partners to the female leaders in society has reached only reached the first stage of the norm cycle: norm emergence.

L’usage de la force en droit international a connu d’importantes évolutions au XXème siècle. Après la seconde guerre mondiale le droit à la guerre devient un droit d’exception et l’usage de la force est prohibé hors du cadre strict mis en place par le système des Nations Unies. Cependant l’époque récente voit ressurgir d’anciens concepts comme celui de « guerre juste » ou « d’intervention d’humanité ». Si la guerre n’est désormais plus acceptée dans ses formes anciennes, l’intervention et l’usage de la force armée demeurent des options dans le paysage international contemporain. Au cœur de la question de l’usage de la force se trouve celle de sa justification. Les nouveaux concepts en la matière puisent pour beaucoup dans des justifications humanitaires. C’est dans cette lignée que la rhétorique de l’usage de la force pour contrer des situations enfreignant les droits des femmes s’inscrit. Nous nous intéressons donc ici à l’intersection de la question de l’usage de la force et des femmes, que les résolutions « Femmes Paix et Sécurité » représentent. Après avoir abordé l’évolution, les pratiques et concepts actuels de l’usage de la force, nous aborderons différentes positions féministes sur le sujet qui offrirons un cadre théorique à l’analyse qualitative thématique des résolutions « Femmes Paix et Sécurité ». / The use of force in international law has greatly evolved since World War II. The use of force is now an exception, reduced within the strict framework established by the United Nations, and specifically under the control of the Security Council. And yet, the latest decades have witnessed old concepts coming back to life. Such as the « just war » and the « humanitarian intervention ». War no longer beeing acceptable means it has to be justified. The quore of those justifications are of humanitarian basis. It is in this context that the rethoric of the use of force to save women has developped. The Council’s «Women, Peace and Security » resolutions are found to be an interesting intersection for this subject. After presenting its historical context, the present regime on the use of force and its recent tensions will be highlighted. Concepts from different feminist school of thoughts will then be presented to provide a theorical framework for the analysis of the resolutions that will close this paper.

Notre étude s’intéresse au travail des fonctionnaires internationaux du Bureau du Représentant spécial du Secrétaire général de l’ONU chargé de la question des violences sexuelles commises en période de conflit (RSSG-VSC) en République démocratique du Congo (RDC) sous le prisme de l’idéal type wébérien de la bureaucratie. À partir de six entretiens semi-directifs et de l’analyse de sources publiques onusiennes, cette étude vise à mettre en perspectives les points de vue des fonctionnaires du Bureau au regard de leurs missions et des moyens dont ils disposent pour les remplir. Ce travail s’intéresse aussi à la portée de l’action du Bureau du RSSG-VSC en RDC, du point de vue de ces fonctionnaires internationaux basé au siège. Aucune étude qualitative n’a été menée sur le travail des fonctionnaires du Bureau du RSSG-VSC par le passé. De plus, les rapports annuels du Secrétaire général disponibles au grand public ne permettent pas de comprendre l’intégralité de son action en RDC. Ainsi, ce projet de recherche cherche précisément à combler cette lacune. L’analyse des données recueillies montre que la création du mandat aurait été préméditée : en effet, malgré plusieurs résolutions du Conseil de sécurité et appels à la cessation de ces violences, la perpétration de ces crimes perdurait. Ainsi, le mandat du Représentant spécial du Secrétaire général pour les Enfants et les conflits armés aurait permis, grâce à un travail de plaidoyer combiné avec les appels de la communauté internationale, à la création du mandat du RSSG-VSC. Les objectifs du mandat, à savoir mettre fin aux violences sexuelles liées aux conflits à travers le monde en contribuant à libérer la parole des victimes, assurer leur réintégration dans les communautés, comblant les lacunes et renforçant les connaissances sur ces crimes sont partagés par tous les répondants, de manière identique. De plus, la vision de leur travail au sein du Bureau est unanimement partagée. Toutefois, les points de vue des répondants divergent davantage lorsqu'ils abordent le thème de la portée des actions du Bureau. Les défis à relever par le mandat sont encore nombreux afin d’éradiquer de la surface de la planète les violences sexuelles liées aux conflits. / Our study focuses on the work achieved by international civil servants at the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (SRSG-SVC), regarding the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) through the prism of the Weberian bureaucracy. Based on six semi-directive interviews and the analysis of United Nations public sources, this study aims to providing perspectives on the views of the Office’s officials in relation to their missions and the means at their disposal to carry them out. This academic work also focuses on the scope of the work of the RSSG-VSC Office in the DRC, from the point of view of these international officials based in headquarters. So far, no qualitative studies had been conducted on the topic of the work of these civil servants. In addition to that, the Secretary-General’s annual reports drafted by this Office do not provide an understanding of the full scope of the work done in the DRC. Thus, this research project seeks to fill this gap. The analysis of the data collected shows that the creation of the mandate would have been premeditated: indeed, despite several Security Council resolutions and call for the end to conflict-related sexual violence, these crimes continue to be perpetrated. Thus, the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict would have enabled the creation of the mandate of the SRSG-SVC, through advocacy work combined with multiple calls from the international community. The mandate’s goals which are ending conflict-related sexual violence around the world by helping to free victims’ voices, ensuring their reintegration into communities, filling gaps and strengthening knowledge about these crimes are shared by all respondents. In addition, the vision of their work within the Office is unanimously shared. However, respondents’ views differ when addressing the scope of the Office’s actions. The mandate still faces many challenges to end rape in war.