The views
expressed are solely those of the author and do not reflect those
of the Government
of Canada.
This year marks the 15th Anniversary of UN Security Council
Resolutionv(UNSCR) 1325 and the 20th Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action that was adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women in
1995. To mark these anniversaries and to prepare for the Security Council
High-level Review on Women, Peace and Security, the Secretary-General has
commissioned a Global Study on the implementation of UNSCR 1325, which was
published in October 2015. During the high
level debate, and in the Global Study, it was clearly stated that international
community is failing to implement the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.
UNSCR 1325 calls for gender training in peacekeeping
operations, gender mainstreaming in policies and programming, increased participation
of women in all aspect of peace and security, and respect for women’s human
rights. Canada took a lead role in the development and implementation of UNSCR
1325.
In June 2012, when China was the President of UN Security
Council, China has indicated its support for UNSCR 1325. China also developed
the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2012-2015) that contains a
section on women’s rights. Although the
engagement with China on women’s rights will be difficult, China’s
actions indicate that there may be opportunities for dialogue on this matter. Since
Canada has been a leader in this area, we should re-engage with China and find
opportunities to share our WPS-related knowledge and expertise and help China develop
its own strategy to implement the WPS agenda.
Canada should open a dialogue with China about the
possibility of creating a knowledge-exchange network that would help China
address the objectives of UNSCR 1325, when it chooses to do so. Such a network
would enhance Canada’s reputation as the leader on this subject matter and
could help China improve human rights within its own territory and its
interaction with a variety of countries abroad.
This knowledge exchange network would have the following advantages:
- It would start a conversation about women’s rights in China, without creating any obligations for the Chinese government.
- It would create a stronger relationship between the two governments.
- Showing support for UNSCR1325 would improve China’s relations with other countries, since many Western countries care about women’s rights, while remaining uncommitted to certain actions at home.
- It would demonstrate Canada’s continuing leadership in this area.
- It would not be a financially costly initiative for either country.
The pitfall is the possible politicization of the network by
Canada. Thus measures should be taken to ensure the network exists as a pool of
information/expertise, rather than a political pressure tool.
It should also be noted that China has been very sensitive
to calls for protection of women’s rights in international forums due to the
fear that its support could jeopardize its sovereignty if the international
community decides to go into China on the basis of women’s rights protection.
Consequently, it is imperative for Canada to develop a diplomatic approach to
engage with China on women’s rights issues. A
knowledge-exchange network could potentially be the right approach.
China is also of the view that UNSCR 1325 should be applied externally, rather than within its borders for the above-mentioned reason. Canada's implementation of UNSCR 1325 is also outward facing (for a very different reason) thus knowledge exchange would be work well. For instance, China is heavily engaged in Africa, where women's right abuses are wide-spread, and contributes a lot of troops to peacekeeping. Therefore, there would be great benefit if China subscribes to the WPS agenda, even if it's only in outward facing manner at this point.
