Objectives:
1. Prevention
- Gender equality and women’s empowerment is prioritised in all of Ireland’s development and humanitarian work, including in conflict affected contexts to deliver A Better World and The Global Island policies.
- A gender analysis is integrated into Ireland’s work in conflict-affected contexts and on peace and security issues, including in relation to conflict prevention, peace-building and security policy and disarmament.
- The effects and drivers of harmful masculinities and discriminatory gender norms are addressed, including support for the engagement of men and boys as advocates and stakeholders in WPS.
2. Participation
- Women are meaningful participants in the Government of Ireland’s representation in all peace and security fora, including at senior decision-making and leadership levels.
- Women's leadership and meaningful participation in conflict-prevention, resolution, mediation, recovery from conflict, international security, peace-building and the disarmament fora is significantly improved including through empowerment.
- The empowerment and meaningful participation in decision-making of women on the island of Ireland, including those affected by conflict is demonstrably improved.
3. Protection
- Women's and girls’ protection in fragile and conflict-affected contexts and the prevention and combatting of all human rights violations against women, including Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Gender-Based Violence is ensured.
- Institutional mechanisms and services are effectively coordinated and strengthened to ensure the protection, relief, recovery and rehabilitation of women in Ireland affected by conflict.
4. Promotion
- Ireland’s commitments and actions on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, including lesson sharing, is enhanced and demonstrated by advocacy, communication and engagement at local, national, regional and international levels.
Commentary:
The Irish NAP is intersectional and deeply committed to broader international development initiatives such as the Sustainable Development Goals. It recognizes the need to mainstream gender into all peace-building initiatives, and therefore it directs much of its focus to other efforts such as climate action and poverty eradication. This makes the NAP much broader than other NAPs, but also more comprehensive and representative of a cohesive peace-building vision that spans across many different SDGs rather than being siloed as a gender document. It is also progressive in recognizing different vulnerabilities and the different needs of vulnerable women across other communities. Showing commitment to intersectionality, it makes a point to engage with women from minority ethnic communities, LGBTI+ communities, and youth; this intersectionality is a welcome advancement over a plan that skips over differences between women. Another important aspect of this plan is that it is rooted in lessons from Ireland’s past, including a realistic analysis of its previous NAPs (including a lessons-learned section that extends the timeframe of the action plan from 3 to 5 years) and a recognition of Ireland’s own past with conflict. Here, women leaders such as Mary Robinson were integral in centering women’s rights in Ireland’s own post-conflict process and in its efforts to promote peace abroad.
Civil Society:
Ireland’s NAP recognizes the critical role that civil society plays and ought to play in achieving peace-building initiatives. It also recognizes that women’s groups, even when not formally included, have been integral in past peace-building processes. Civil society was deeply engaged in the drafting and consultation of this NAP, and the Irish government continues to support civil society abroad to strengthen gender mainstreaming in other peace processes.
Peacekeeping statistics:
Police: 4 out of 11
Staff Officers: 3 out of 23
Experts on Mission: 0 out of 10
Troops: 25 out of 489
References:
https://www.wpsnaps.org/app/uploads/2019/09/Ireland-NAP-3-2019-2024.pdf
https://www.wpsnaps.org/nap/irish-national-action-plan-iii/
