United Nations, African Union and International Conference on the Great Lakes Region in partnership for a joint solidarity mission for women in the region

Nairobi (KENYA), 10 August 2018 – The Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes region, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and the African Union (AU), through their respective platforms and forums on women, and UN-Women, are undertaking joint solidarity missions to Burundi from 9–12 August, the Central African Republic from 13–15 August and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from 16–19 August. The missions form part of the efforts of the United Nations, African Union and ICGLR within the framework of the implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 and other United Nations resolutions, decisions of the three organizations on the promotion of gender equality and decisions taken at the 7th and 8th high-level meetings of the Regional Oversight Mechanism of the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes region (the Framework agreement), held in October 2016 and October 2017, pertaining to gender-related matters.

It should be recalled that when the Women’s Platform for the Framework agreement met in Goma, eastern DRC, in July 2016, a number of recommendations were made which aimed to strengthen the role of women in efforts to consolidate peace and security in the region. Those recommendations were endorsed at the high-level meeting of the Regional Oversight Mechanism in Luanda in October 2017.

At its meeting in Nairobi on 22 February 2018, the Consultative Committee of the Women’s Platform supported the joint initiative of the United Nations Special Envoy and the Executive-Secretary of the ICGLR to deploy joint solidarity missions with women from Burundi, the Central African Republic and South Sudan. Furthermore, the Consultative Committee recommended that those missions should be extended to include representatives from FemWise-Africa with a view to strengthening the synergy and collaboration between the various networks supporting women in the Great Lakes region.

The main objectives of these joint missions are, on the one hand, to encourage the leaders of the countries concerned to ensure that women participate fully in political life and in peace and dialogue processes and, on the other hand, to strengthen links with national authorities to promote inclusive political processes based on gender equality.

The report of the three joint missions will be presented to the 9th high-level meeting of the Regional Oversight Mechanism of the Framework agreement, which will be held in Kampala, Uganda, on 8 October 2018. It will also be submitted to the ICGLR and the African Union.

The joint missions will comprise members of the Women’s Platform established by the Office of the United Nations Special Envoy to support the implementation of the Framework agreement, from the ICGLR Regional Women Forum and FemWise-Africa.