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Gender and Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration

Author: T Bouta
Date: 2005
Size: 37 pages (128 KB)

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Summary

Recent studies show the increasing extent that women operate as combatants in (ir)regular armies in conflict. How can disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programmes become more gender-sensitised? This study by the Clingendael Institute examines men and women's active involvement in warfare, their gender-specific roles and gender relations within armies and discusses the challenges for DDR programmes in targeting female ex-combatants.

Women joining armies, whether voluntarily or under duress, tend to have four different roles – combatant, support worker, abductee and wife/dependant. DDR programmes need to be made accessible to all women who joined armies during conflict, irrespective of whether or not they took active part in combat or whether or not they possess a weapon. DDR programmes need to respond to male and female combatants' different economic, social and psychological reintegration needs. Finally, it is essential to formulate clear monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. Some key action points are:

• The tracing and establishing of contact with all women in armies in advance of DDR programmes in order to avoid self-demobilisation.
• Ensuring that development assistance programmes target abducted women and protect them against renewed violence from their male counterparts.
• Utilising the momentum of disarmament camps to prepare women's and men's return to civilian life and making both groups aware of their rights as civilians in the post-conflict phase.
• Linking of reintegration activities for ex-combatants with broader development assistance activities for war-affected communities.
• Preparing communities for the return of male and female ex-combatants, including countering the negative stigmatisation of women who joined the military.
• Creating links with existing informal community support structures (often led by women) and providing adequate psychological counselling for all ex-combatants.

National, international and other agencies should play an important role in incorporating gender issues in the planning and implementation of specific DDR programmes. Recommendations for planners, donors and policy-makers at international level include:

• Assessment of the legal, political, economic contexts of the DDR programmes and incorporation of gender expertise as an essential element of any assessment mission.
• Deployment of women in peacekeeping operations and DDR processes by troop-contributing countries.
• Preference for weapons-in-exchange-for-development projects over weapons-in-exchange-for-cash projects, allowing greater targeting of women.
• Build on existing informal community support structures, including womens' organisations and networks. Provide training to women's organisations to participation in healing and reconciliation work.
• Institutionalisation of special measures to ensure that female beneficiaries have equal training and employment opportunities as a part of economic reintegration.
• Take into account women ex-combatants' limited access to land, relatively few skills, restricted mobility and the strict division of labour they may face.

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Source: Bouta, T., 2005, 'Gender and Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration', Netherlands Institute of International Relations, “Clingendael”, The Hague
Author: Netherlands Institute of International Relations 'Clingendael', http://www.clingendael.nl