GABON

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Introduction

NAP 2020-2023

Gabon adopted its first NAP in March 2020 for the period 2020-2023. Prior to this NAP, Gabon had adopted a project entitled “The Future in Confidence” (L’Avenir en Confiance) in 2009 under President Ali Bongo Ondimba for the implementation period of 2011-2022, and Gabon’s Decade of Women 2015-2025.  These projects worked toward gender equality, including Women, Peace and Security (WPS) principles, within the country.

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Objectives

Gabon’s NAP aims to address two overarching WPS objectives –

  1. Participation – To increase the participation of women in decision-making processes and achieve the full participation in all peace and security efforts;
  2. Eradicating GBV & “Women’s human rights violations” – including eradication sexual violence against women and girls and the trafficking of women and children (p.13)

The NAP focuses on six (6) priorities, called axes (p. 3 and p. 13):

  1. Prevention, management and transformation of conflicts at the national and sub-regional levels, and the fight against gender-based violence.
  2. The protection and respect for the human rights of women and girls, and taking into account issues related to gender equality in politics and programmes of relief and recovery in conflict and post-conflict situations
  3. The equal participations and representation of women in decision-making institutions and peacebuilding mechanisms at the national, sub-regional, regional and international levels
  4. Women, girls and the management of the environment and climate change
  5. The economic empowerment and inclusion of women
  6. The coordination, promotion and implementation of UNSCR 1325, mobilisation of resources, sustainable partnerships, and monitoring & evaluation of the NAP.

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Commentary (Not Needed see SW website info repeated)

Gabon has no recent history of armed conflict, but in the past its troops participated extensively in international operations. However, in 2021, around 450 Gabonese peacekeepers were withdrawn from the MINUSCA mission after some of them were allegedly involved in sexual abuse.

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Methodology/Civil Society & Stakeholders

The development stages of the NAP took place over the period of 2015-2020, headed by the Ministry for the Promotion and Integration of Women in Development, with inputs from actors in public institutions and communities, civil society, media and technical and financial partners.  No named civil societies however the NAP 2020-2023 emphasises that civil society organisations (CSOs) play an integral role in contributing to the thematic framing and advancement of the WPS Agenda in Gabon. Engagement with CSOs is reaffirmed in the, “framework of exchange and learning called called Communauté de pratiques (‘Community of Practice’),” which intends to institutionalise the participation of CSOs and women’s groups in the, “design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the NAP and the WPS Agenda.”

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UN Peacekeeping basic stats

In 2018 Gabon contributed 444 troops to the 12,500 peacekeepers in MINUSCA, one of the UN’s biggest peacekeeping missions. As of May 2023, Gabon contributed just 1 male staff officer to UN peacekeeping missions. In 2021, the United Nations (UN) repatriated hundreds of Gabonese peacekeepers from CAR and opened an investigation following allegations of sexual abuse of girls. Gabon is one of nine countries whose MINUSCA troops have allegedly carried out sexual offences, according to internal case files reported by a US-based NGO, Code Blue Campaign.

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‍NAP and SW’s Mission

Since the  interim President Brice Oligui Nguema seized power in a military coup in 2023, little information is available on the WPS initiatives, while Gabon remains out of MINUSCA.

Gabon’s dominant focus of the UNSCR 1325 (WPS Agenda) is in participation which aligns with SecurityWomen’s mission however, it continues to grapple with junta rule since 2023 and the fallout of GBV allegations committed by Gabonese peacekeeping forces.

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Sources

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Other NAPs

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