'Women and Disarmament' event organized by the Delegation of Japan to the Conference on Disarmament

Geneva, 17 September, 2014

Mihaela Racovita, Associate Researcher, Small Arm Survey

Your Excellences, Mr. Moller, Dear guests,

Good evening. Allow me to firstly thank Ambassador Sano and Mrs. Sano for extending this invitation to the Small Arms Survey, and myself, and also for Japan's support in promoting the role of women in disarmament.

Women play a vital role in DDR processes. However, they are too often left outside of their planning and implementation. During conflicts, many women are forced to assume roles usually performed by men. They are the bread-earners in their families or combatants in their own turn. But when the war is over, these women are expected to adopt the same gendered roles they previously held. Those who fail or refuse are shunned. Others hide their military past for fear or exclusion. One-size-fits-all DDR programmes reinforce this exclusion. This is why need gender-responsive demobilization and reintegration processes that treat former combatants as a heterogeneous group, and recognize that the security and reintegration needs of men and women differ, as do those of girls and adult women.

The horrors of war make us forget that much of the armed violence today occurs outside conflict settings. In many countries not affected by armed conflicts as such, small arms nevertheless are used to kill, wound and threaten millions of men, women and children. Gender shapes the proliferation and misuse of firearms. Men are the primary makers, distributers and users of firearms. They are also their primary victims. However, women are disproportionally affected by other types of armed violence, such as rape during conflict, intimate partner homicides, or murder-suicides.  Women and girls also bear arms. And some help maintain and perpetuate gun cultures in contexts where guns are markers of masculinities. These complex roles underline the need to incorporate a gender perspective into DDR, and disarmament and arms control more broadly.

There is a persistent and acute need for sex- disaggregated information able to capture these linkages.  Some call for a “data revolution” to tackle development issues in the post-2015 development agenda. I would argue that this is precisely what we need when mainstreaming gender aspects into disarmament: the ability to collect, analyze and catalyze data on these issues.

The historical adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty with its reference to women, heralds a new moment in gender mainstreaming. The time is ripe to capitalize on these advances, and underline not only the ways in which women are affected by arms proliferation and use but also their role in tackling it. The international community can and must do more to ensure the representation of women in disarmament and arms control agendas, the creation on gender sensitive DDR programs and strengthen research on these areas to promote evidence-based programming.

Thank you.