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Use and impacts of UN HRC Resolution 35/10

Daphne Genatio & Dean Peacock

The importance of engaging men and boys to address men’s violence is increasingly recognised amongst civil society, the United Nations (UN) and UN member states, as evidenced by language in key UN declarations, high level political commitments, agreed conclusions at the UN Commission on the Status of Women and by the implementation of campaigns aimed at increasing men’s support for gender equality such as the HeForShe campaign by UN Women. The adoption in 2017 of Resolution 35/10 ‘Accelerating efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls: engaging men and boys in preventing and responding to violence against all women and girls’ by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is an important milestone in the increased recognition of the need to engage men and boys.

The adoption of Resolution 35/10 is significant in that it is a set of recommendations on the engagement of men and boys agreed by a UN intergovernmental body. The Resolution appears to have influenced other subsequent UN resolutions, especially by the General Assembly. However, we argue that, despite the shortcomings we identify, it should be used more effectively by civil society for advocacy than has been the case to date. Without claiming to cover all aspects, this case study aims to analyse the use and impact of Resolution 35/10.

After a brief technical explanation of the UNHRC resolutions (I), the paper includes an overview of the history of the adoption of Resolution 35/10 and of the work with men and boys (II). The paper also analyses the major strengths and weaknesses of the Resolution’s language (III). The paper further analyses the use and impacts of the UNHRC Resolution 35/10 amongst civil society and the UN system. This analysis is based on a survey carried out amongst MenEngage Alliance members and on the review of UN Resolutions since the adoption of Resolution 35/10 (IV).

We make the case that the language in the resolution reflects the process of compromise common to any UN mechanism in which member states contest each others political priorities and positions. As such, Resolution 35/10 contains commitments rightly celebrated by feminist organisations such as a focus on accountability to feminist movements. At the same time, the language of 35/10 has a number of important limitations, some insisted upon by member states, which should be improved upon in subsequent related resolutions and in domestic advocacy: a narrow and binaried articulation of gender, a limited engagement with intersectionality, an insufficient focus on the structural forces that contribute to men’s violence against women and girls, including the violence inducing legacy of colonialism, total silence on the association between alcohol use and increased risk for violence, and a very limited focus on trauma as a risk factor for men’s perpetration of domestic violence.

Based on research conducted with members of the MenEngage Alliance and with UN agencies, the paper also finds that, although Resolution 35/10 seems to have influenced the language in other UN documents, it has not been used to its full potential. Indeed, Resolution 35/10 appears to be largely unknown by civil society, UN agencies and member states. This finding is unfortunate as it ignores the potential 35/10 offers for domestic and international advocacy aimed at increasing member state commitments to engage men for gender equality and against GBV. .. With the aim of increasing its use and impact, this paper makes recommendations to international civil society organisations for how they can better use resolution 35/10:

  • to communicate widely around the adoption of a resolution once it is published.
  • to reach out to local NGOs in order to understand how a resolution can apply to the local context.
  • to reflect on how the recommendations in a resolution can be broken down and translated into concrete actions, in particular by using OHCHR reports detailing the implementation of resolutions.

Resources

Watch

Power on Patrol

Read

Men, Masculinities & Armed Conflict: Findings from a four-country study by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

Read

Work with men and boys for gender equality: A review of field formation, the evidence base and future directions

Read

An invitation to decoloniality in work on (African) men and masculinities

Matt Mahmoudi

Matt Mahmoudi (he/him) is a lecturer, researcher, and organizer. He’s been leading the “Ban the Scan” campaign, Amnesty International’s research and advocacy efforts on banning facial recognition technologies and exposing their uses against racialized communities, from New York City to the occupied Palestinian territories.

Berit Aasen

Europe Alternate Regional Representative

Berit Aasen is a sociologist by training and has worked at the OsloMet Metropolitan University on Oslo. She has 40 years of experience in research and consultancy in development studies, including women, peace, and security, and in later years in asylum and refugee studies. Berit Aasen joined WILPF Norway five years ago. She is an alternate member of the National Board of WILPF Norway, and representing WILPF Norway in the UN Association of Norway, the Norwegian 1325 network and the Norwegian Women’s Lobby. Berit Aasen has been active in the WILPF European Liaison group and is committed to strengthening WILPF sections and membership both in Europe and relations across continents.

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Melissa Torres

VICE-PRESIDENT

Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

Jamila Afghani

VICE-PRESIDENT

Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

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Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo

PRESIDENT

Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.

WILPF Afghanistan

In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region. 

IPB Congress Barcelona

WILPF Germany (+Young WILPF network), WILPF Spain and MENA Regional Representative

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Demilitarisation

WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.

Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.

Militarised masculinity

Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.

WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.

Feminist peace​

In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.

In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.