The Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Girls - UNFPA

Transitional Council and convinced UNMIK and OSCE to institute a quota for
women on the lists <strong>of</strong> the political parties running for elections.
Nevertheless, women are not being involved in policy-making. Gender
perspectives are seldom included in policy-making or in the programmes. <strong>The</strong>
international staff seem unaware <strong>of</strong> the above-mentioned documents and <strong>of</strong> their
duties in implementing them. <strong>The</strong> UNMIK Office <strong>of</strong> Gender Affairs, established in
late 1999, lacks the authority, support, expertise, staff and money needed to
have the necessary influence. In essence, the main role <strong>of</strong> the Office should
have been, from the beginning, to train international staff and promote gendermainstreaming
policies. <strong>The</strong> training <strong>of</strong> Gender Focal Points started in late 2000.
In 2001, the Office, in cooperation with UNIFEM, started training municipal staff
members on gender issues and how to mainstream them into all policies. UNMIK
staff, in general, does not have such training in Kosovo. Many UNMIK staff
members were unfamiliar with the enormous problems facing Kosovar women,
and seemingly had little interest in gender issues. <strong>The</strong> Swedish NGO Kvinna till
Kvinna wrote the report Getting it Right? A Gender Approach to UNMIK
Administration in Kosovo in 2001. Written by a woman who worked in OSCE in
Kosovo for two years, the chapter entitled “<strong>The</strong> lack <strong>of</strong> gender awareness among
senior staff” states that:
“as the international community began its reconstruction and the work <strong>of</strong>
institution building in Kosovo, it soon became clear that very few, if any, <strong>of</strong>
the senior staff in the international administration (almost exclusively men)
had any understanding, either <strong>of</strong> the notion <strong>of</strong> ‘gender’ or <strong>of</strong> ‘gendermainstreaming’.”
90
This is one <strong>of</strong> the biggest obstacles to gender-mainstreaming in the work <strong>of</strong>
reconstruction. Senior staff, and especially the Heads <strong>of</strong> Missions, need to be
gender sensitive so that they can obtain the right kind <strong>of</strong> information and give
appropriate support to mission members who try to use a gender-mainstreaming
approach.
<strong>The</strong> United Nations can improve its work on gender issues, especially to
ensure that the United Nations Conventions and Resolutions on the rights <strong>of</strong>
women are being respected and implemented. This said, it is also notable that
the presence <strong>of</strong> UNMIK and other international bodies has had a great influence
on the lives <strong>of</strong> Kosovar women. Most important, the fighting stopped. Life is now
more secure for the majority <strong>of</strong> the Kosovar population. Young people, girls and
boys, now have an opportunity to receive education, and health-care services are
improving. New ideas about the human rights <strong>of</strong> women are being introduced
and fought for, and local NGOs have had significant support in their work to raise
voice <strong>of</strong> women and civil society.
90 Getting It Right?, pp. 11-12.
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