As part of the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of Resolution 1325, UNOWAS Magazine met Ms. Oulimata Sarr, Regional Director for West and Central Africa of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, UN Women. She shared with us her views on the impact of COVID-19 on women and the implementation of Resolution 1325 in West Africa. Interview.

Increased food insecurity in the wake of crises can expose them to precariousness

The COVID-19 pandemic spares no one. What is your assessment of its impact on women in the sub-region?

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are affecting every sector, the entire population, and women in particular. Women are harder hit by the economic impacts that COVID-19 causes. Most of them work in the informal sector to obtain the resources necessary for their daily survival. Partial or total confinement can prevent them from earning a living and meeting the basic needs of their families. Experiences have shown that where women are primarily responsible for providing and preparing food for the family, increased food insecurity in the wake of crises can expose them to precariousness and family destabilization and to an increased risk of domestic violence due to heightened tensions within the household. For some of them, especially those who run small businesses whether in the formal or informal, the lack of support measures they face lead them to choose between opening their business or staying at home to take care of their family.

Do you think the governments of the sub-region have done what is necessary to protect women?

We do not know yet the full extent of the impact of this crisis. Women’s organizations in the region are warning of the risk of increased teenage pregnancies in the coming months and we are already seeing an increase in early marriages and other forms of violence in some countries in East Africa.

In any case and recognizing that no government was ready to deal with a pandemic of this magnitude, the crisis has emphasized the need to build resilience and improve protection of populations for future shocks. And at this level, the current crisis has revealed certain significant deficiencies and gaps in the social protection systems of our region. We need to work to expand social protection mechanisms to reach the most vulnerable, including workers in the informal sector, and to develop solutions adapted to the living conditions of the region. Unpaid assistance activities continue to hamper women’s economic participation, a gap that has been further widened by the health crisis and the closure of schools.

The COVID crisis has also highlighted the structural inequalities that exist in all areas

The COVID crisis has also highlighted the structural inequalities that exist in all areas: health, the economy, security, social protection, violence against women and girls. In times of crisis, when resources are scarce and institutional capacities are strained, the situations women and girls face have disproportionate impacts. The gains, wrested from a fierce struggle in terms of women’s rights, are also threatened.

Today, the data collected from rapid assessments as well as from testimonies  show that mitigation strategies such as confinement, restriction of movement have been aggravating factors of violence against women because they have led to domestic and intra-family violence as well as other types of violence against women around the world, including in the sub-region. The confinement has exacerbated the tensions and stress created by security, health and economic constraints. In other words, measures to ensure the safety of populations often have the opposite effect for women and girls.

Even before the irruption of COVID-19 domestic violence was already one of the greatest human rights violations. In the previous 12 months, 243 million women and girls (aged 15-49) across the world have been subjected to sexual or physical violence by an intimate partner. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, this number is likely to grow with multiple impacts on women’s wellbeing, their sexual and reproductive health, their mental health.

Despite the high visibility that has been given to the impact of Covid-19 on violence against women, the response capacity has been limited, due to insufficient funding.

Why is it important that women be at the heart of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic when statistics show that men are the most affected?

Although the health aspect of the disease affects more men, the socio-economic impacts associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have not been distributed evenly. Women and girls are particularly affected disproportionately, due to pre-existing inequalities. In addition, the crisis risks are worsening gender inequalities and widening the gaps between men and women. This is the reason why measures that consider the needs of women and girls are essential to guarantee an effective and fair response to the pandemic. In addition, businesses run by women have been affected more quickly by the effects of the pandemic than small or medium-sized enterprises (SME) run by men. Indeed, a survey by UN Women and the SME agency of Côte d’Ivoire showed that a higher number of businesses headed by women were forced to stop their activity due to the crisis (64 percent of businesses run by women versus 52 percent of businesses run by men). It therefore becomes essential to position women and women-led businesses at the heart of the sectors that will benefit from the post-COVID recovery in order to ensure inclusive and sustainable growth, by rebuilding for the better.

And to conclude on this subject, I would like to quote the Executive Director of UN Women, Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka who in a speech delivered on 6 April 2020 said: “COVID-19 is already testing us in ways most of us have never previously experienced, providing emotional and economic shocks that we are struggling to rise above. The violence that is emerging now as a dark feature of this pandemic is a mirror and a challenge to our values, our resilience and shared humanity. We must not only survive the coronavirus, but emerge renewed, with women as a powerful force at the centre of recovery.»

The unanimous adoption of Resolution 1325 by the Security Council was historic. It was the first time that a resolution exclusively devoted to the issue of women, peace and security had made the object of attention and strong commitment on the part of the UNSC

This month we will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security. What inventory do you make of its implementation in West Africa and the Sahel?

The unanimous adoption of Resolution 1325 by the Security Council was historic. It was the first time that a resolution exclusively devoted to the issue of women, peace and security had made the object of attention and strong commitment on the part of the Security Council. Its adoption created a lot of enthusiasm but also great expectations from women and different gender actors around the world. During its 20 years of existence, the Security Council has prioritized the status monitoring its implementation, which has led to the adoption of 9 other Resolutions. At the level of West Africa and the Sahel, many initiatives have been carried out and have led to results that are certainly not sufficient but encouraging. At the normative level, almost all countries have national action plans for the implementation of the Resolution 1325, following strong awareness-raising on the Resolution, the actors and the population are more convinced of the role that women must play to achieve lasting peace. Across all the countries of Africa, women are organized in associations that work for peace and they carry out invaluable work in terms of community rapprochement and reconciliation. Their role is sometimes obscured or not rightly appreciated, but there are many very successful examples in the region where women have been able to mobilize to curb bloody community conflicts, advocate for peace and peaceful management of conflicts whether in Mali, Niger or Burkina Faso, and they are hard at work to prevent electoral conflicts in many countries.

In terms of protection, defense and security forces as well as the justice sector have made progress to better protect women against violence. Several trainings were conducted for members of these bodies, which enabled a change in behavior and the adoption of initiatives in favor of gender. Thus, the army and police in many countries have now action plans and gender units, have revised their codes of conduct, and have policies for a gradual increase in the number of women in these bodies. Many countries have also adopted laws to better punish violence against women.

Encouraging results have also been achieved in the representation of women in decision-making spheres in countries in peaceful and post-conflict situations, especially through the adoption of quota laws in many countries. The United Nations has also taken a great leap forward, increasing the number of women in peacekeeping missions and in strategic representative positions in the region.

What must be done to ensure that the implementation of this resolution further improves the situation of women in the years to come?

Encouraging results have also been achieved in the representation of women in decision-making spheres in countries in peaceful and post-conflict situations, especially through the adoption of quota laws in many countries. The United Nations has also taken a great leap forward, increasing the number of women in peacekeeping missions and in strategic representative positions in the region.

In this period of crisis, what do you think are the three priorities / measures to be undertaken by governments and UN Women to better protect women and ensure their effective participation in decision-making processes?

It is essential that governments introduce measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as containment or quarantine, take a series of additional actions to reduce the potentially negative impact these measures will have on local populations. more vulnerable, including women and girls. It will indeed be necessary to ensure that human rights are at the heart of the response and those of women even more so.

Beyond the need to break down decision-making data relating (at least by sex, age, disability,) to the pandemic and to analyze them accordingly, it will be necessary that governments, with the support of UN Women ensure that the national strategic plans for preparation and response to COVID-19 are based on an in-depth analysis of gender issues, guarantee the right to information for all and ensure availability, accessibility, acceptability and good quality of health care facilities, goods and services to all who need them. Finally, it will be essential to ensure the participation of women and girls in all decision-making processes to face the COVID-19 epidemic and to develop targeted strategies for the economic empowerment of women to mitigate the impact of epidemic and offer effective support measures.

This article is published in the UNOWAS Magazine N12 -> Download here