The Higher National Committee for the implementation of UNSCR 1325 in Palestine , in cooperation with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, held a meeting at MIFTAH on August 27 in which a factsheet on the level of achievement for implementing Resolution 1325 (2017-2018) was discussed. The factsheet was produced by MIFTAH with the aim of determining the most significant achievements of the committee in 2017 through mid-2018.

Furthermore, the meeting focused on the challenges faced by civil society institutions and member ministries in implementing the plan, with a showcase of facts pertaining to the resolution. These included the provision of protection for Palestinian women and girls, holding the Israeli occupation accountable at the international level for crimes committed against Palestinian women and girls and violations of their rights guaranteed by international law and international humanitarian law, in addition to promoting the participation of Palestinian women in decision-making, especially within the agendas of peace and security.

Achievements

In regards to the national plan and the level of achievements reached, consultant Rasha Salah Eddin, who prepared the paper, indicated to around a 53% achievement of the plan’s outputs. This percentage goes to up 83% of the planned outputs in regards to accountability of the occupation and having the voice of Palestinian women heard in international arenas. Furthermore, 62% of the outputs were achieved for promoting the participation of Palestinian women in decision-making.

Challenges

The most significant challenges the members of the committee faced according to the factsheet and to the members themselves included: the lack of budgets within the public sector needed to achieve the plan’s outputs and weak coordination at several levels, especially between the private/public sectors and the committee members. In addition, there were several other challenges pertaining to the context in which the plan is being implemented, including the Palestinian division, which impacted on the reconstruction process in Gaza; the effectivity of legislative bodies.; the increasing Israeli violation of Palestinian women and girls’ rights at various levels, particularly in Jerusalem, Area C and in areas close to the settlements, the separation wall, H2 areas of Hebron and the Gaza Strip. This is in addition to the challenges regarding the difficulty of impacting at the level of international decisions, which is largely due to the political pressure from signatory states.

Recommendations

The committee members reached a consensus over a group of recommendations posed by the factsheet on the need for coordination, reviving the specialized committees within the national committee, raising efficiency in implementing the plan through building on previous achievements of committee members, including the system for monitoring and evaluation used by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs; continuing to monitor, follow-up and send out period/monthly reports to the International Criminal Court; and continuing to coordinate in order to raise Palestinian women’s voices in international arenas through strengthening coordination with embassies and diplomatic missions.

The members also agreed on the need to again propose detailed issues pertaining to the national plan for Resolution 1325, to coordinate action in this regard in line with other international agreements signed by the State of Palestine such as the CEDAW agreement, in the next National Committee meeting.

This meeting is part of MIFTAH’s project to promote the participation of “women in peace and security” Which is supported by OXFAM. It falls within the organization’s strategic goal to promote good governance in Palestine through which MIFTAH aims at lobbying and advocacy on public policies that guarantee social justice and equality for women, youth and other marginalized sectors, in order to guarantee social justice and the protection of citizens’ rights, based on human rights principles and UN resolutions of relevance, including UNSCR 1325 and the CEDAW agreement.