Backgrounder -  Women, Peace and Security

Canada is committed to a Feminist Foreign Policy. A pillar of this policy is Canada’s second National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (the Action Plan) thatwas launched for the 2017-2022 period on 1 November 2017. With this Action Plan, Canada commits to promoting gender equality, to empowering women and girls, and to promoting their human rights in fragile and conflict-affected states. This includes taking steps to increase their meaningful participation in the prevention and resolution of conflict and to protect them from sexual and gender-based violence. It also makes the global Women, Peace and Security agenda an integral part of Canada’s development, humanitarian, and peace and stabilization assistance.

The global Women, Peace and Security agenda, based on UN Security Resolution 1325 (2000) and numerous subsequent resolutions, asserts that the participation of women and girls in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding, as well as the systematic integration of gender perspectives in security policies, sectors and activities, is essential to achieving sustainable peace and stability.

The WPS agenda is central to Canadian efforts in Mali. For example, via the Peace and Stabilization Operations Program (PSOPs), Canada is helping to empower women and female youth leaders to act as agents of change in their communities and to participate in the implementation of the peace process. This includes work to connect women community leaders to government authorities and security forces  to assist them in developing robust civil society networks, and in supporting their active participation in the implementation of peacebuilding, conflict-prevention and stabilization efforts.

Canada is also supporting the work of Avocats sans Frontières Canada, which is working in partnership with the Malian Commission for Truth, Justice and Reconciliation to build the technical capacity of Commission personnel with respect to investigations of human rights abuses, with a particular focus on those targeting women and girls.

As part of its bilateral development assistance program, Canada is also providing $20M to the Justice, Prevention and Reconciliation project implemented by a consortium of three Canadian organizations (Avocats sans frontières Canada, the Center for International Studies and Cooperation, and the National School of Public Administration). This project is increasing access to justice for those affected by conflict in Mali, especially women and minors, and helping to ensure the protection of their human rights. It is contributing to the fight against impunity and is supporting leaders, including in particular women and youth, in their reconciliation and conflict prevention efforts. This project is also working closely with the aforementioned Commission for Truth, Justice and Reconciliation to support dialogue and reconciliation between conflict-affected communities, and reduce the risk of renewed violence in Malian society.