Women, Gender, and DDR

  • United Nations Inter-Agency Working Group on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration

Abstract

Women are increasingly involved in combat or are associated with armed groups and forces in other roles, work as community peace-builders, and play essential roles in disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) processes. Yet they are almost never included in the planning or implementation of DDR. The processes of DDR take place in such a wide variety of conditions that it would be impossible to discuss each of the circumstance-specific challenges that might arise. This module raises issues that frequently disappear in the planning stages of DDR, and aims to provoke further thinking and debate on the best ways to deal with the varied needs of people — male and female, old and young, healthy and unwell — in armed groups and forces, and those of the communities to which they return after war.

Citation

United Nations Inter-Agency Working Group on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration. “Women, Gender, and DDR,” in The Operational Guide to the Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and ReintegrationStandards. New York: United Nations, 2006.

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