From 26 to 30 January, the United Nations Office to the African Union participated in an African Union organized integrated event on gender mainstreaming in peace support operations, held in Nairobi, Kenya.
The event brought together senior military and police officers with experience in AU and UN peace support operations, representatives of AU Peace and Security Centres of Excellence, AU officials and international partners. It included a validation workshop on the draft AU Policy on Gender Mainstreaming in Peace Support Operations and consultative meetings on strengthening gender integration within the AU Compliance and Accountability Framework.
Discussions focused on enhancing the effectiveness, accountability and inclusivity of African led peace operations through the systematic integration of gender and Women, Peace and Security principles. Participants examined how to translate policy commitments into operational practice across the peace support operations lifecycle, including planning, deployment, monitoring and reporting.
UNOAU provided technical inputs aimed at aligning the draft AU policy with United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 and subsequent Women, Peace and Security resolutions, as well as UN peacekeeping and political mission standards. Emphasis was placed on strengthening leadership accountability, gender responsive command structures and results based oversight mechanisms.
UNOAU’s participation supported the implementation of the UN AU Enhanced Partnership in Peace and Security and reinforced its mandate to promote inclusive and gender responsive peace operations across the continent.
