Journal of International Peace Operations
Volume 7, Number 4 – January-February 2012
A Female Engagement Team member meets with women to address their needs.
The crucial role for women in conflict and post-conflict environments
“…involving women in operations is crucial if we want to establish relationships and trust with the civil society…in the theatres where we are involved, there are different traditions and cultures. But everywhere, our interactions – whether military-to-military, military-to-government or military-to-population, have largely been seen as ‘man-to-man.’ This is no longer true, this is changing, and therefore it is essential to go on injecting gender perspectives in all our actions.”
Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, at the
10th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, 9 September 2010
Gender refers to the socially constructed roles and relationships between men and women. Men and women often have different perspectives, priorities, and concerns, including about their personal security and the security of their communities. These perspectives need to be considered in all areas of peace and stability operations. Acknowledging this reality, in October 2000 the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. Since then, it has become widely acknowledged that involving both men and women in peace-building efforts, including in security sector reform (SSR) processes, is essential. Still, women’s views are often side-lined in security institutions and SSR processes. Although many clients of private military and security companies (PMSCs), such as the United Nations, NGOs and donors, have mainstreamed gender concerns into their peace support operations and post-conflict reconstruction projects, PMSCs are only beginning to do so. This article considers the importance of integrating gender perspectives into PMSCs and identifies practical ways to do so.
Improving operational effectiveness
In the context of stability and peace operations, PMSCs are called upon to operate in increasingly diverse contexts ranging from peacekeeping, to open conflict to humanitarian relief. Private security contractors regularly interact with and impact the lives of local communities. The diversity of the population in terms of ethnicity, religion, class and sex should be considered when assessing security needs and the impact of PMSC’s activities on the population. The understanding of gender perspectives helps PMSCs and the host community to adjust to each other, enables PMSCs to better understand the local working environment and improves overall response to the host community’s security needs.
Hiring both female and male personnel increases the flexibility and polyvalence of a unit. It can also decrease some risks associated with security operations. For instance, since women are often perceived as less threatening than men, their presence among PMSC operators can contribute to defuse tension and to strengthen the acceptance of the PMSC among host communities. Second, an increased presence of female operators can facilitate the performance of security functions in a way that is both more effective and culturally appropriate. In some traditional societies, it will be easier for female operators to speak to women and gain their trust. This can facilitate information gathering and search operations. Finally, female operators may take a different and complementary approach in the identification of and response to security risks including cases of gender-based violence. Increasing the number of women does not necessarily increase gender awareness, however. Gender training and capacity-building for male and female personnel, the support of gender advisors and research on gender and PMSCs can increase awareness of culturally-specific gender needs and help to mainstream gender perspectives into operations.
Preventing misconduct and human rights violations
PMSC’s activities in international operations have been tainted by cases of excessive use of force and human rights violations by male and female operators. Many cases of gender-based violence (GBV) still go unreported or are not prosecuted. These human rights violations have extremely damaging and lasting effects on the reputation of PMSCs.
A company’s institutional culture may contribute to its personnel’s understanding of ‘their identity as men’ in ways that may condone or even promote aggressive behaviour, which has been linked to human rights abuses, notably rape and human trafficking. Research on security institutions such as the police has shown that women are less likely to use excessive force, which is costly in terms of liability as well as public image. However, any long-term solution to recurrent cases of misconduct and human rights violations needs to go beyond increasing the number of female personnel. Companies need to adopt institutional measures to prevent and address cases of misconduct. Appropriate gender training for PMSC personnel, alongside training in international humanitarian law and human rights law – as recommended by the Montreux Document on PMSCs -will help to create a more gender-aware institution, thus preventing human rights abuses and reputation loss. Having clear rules of behaviour and mechanisms to punish individuals responsible for human rights violations will benefit the host populations, individual companies and the industry as a whole.
Addressing the institutional culture and employment standards
While the proportion of women in PMSCs is on the rise, men remain highly over-represented not least because PMSCs mostly recruit among former and current military and police personnel, where men are also predominant. A gender-sensitive reform of recruitment approaches and human resources policies can contribute to creating an inclusive work environment, in particular by addressing issues such as recruitment, retention and promotion of women, as well as discriminatory behaviour. In particular, companies should make maximum efforts in tackling sexual harassment, which damages the institution through loss of productivity, lowered morale and readiness, absenteeism and high staff turnover. Moreover, studies have shown that male and female PMSC personnel can face post-deployment problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder, marital problems, alcohol abuse, domestic violence and other adjustment issues. As PMSCs prepare to provide pre-and post-deployment counselling and other relevant services, it will be useful to draw upon the experience of the police and the military in dealing with those issues among female personnel, as the psychological effects and their treatment often differ from those for men.
In order to improve standards of conduct for PMSCs, a combined approach of contractual obligations on the one hand and self-regulatory processes on the other is necessary. Gender issues must be further integrated into the emerging self-regulatory frameworks governing the industry. The International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers, which 166 companies from 42 countries had signed as of 1 August 2011, unequivocally forbids signatory companies and their personnel to engage in or benefit from “sexual exploitation (including, for these purposes, prostitution) and abuse or gender-based violence or crimes, either within the Company or externally, including rape, sexual harassment, or any other form of sexual abuse or violence” and to “report such instances to competent authorities”. Other PMSCs could become signatories. Standards in the area of gender could also be set and monitored through the inclusion of compliance mechanisms and internal reporting procedures on sexual harassment, discrimination and sexual violence into internal company codes of conduct. PMSCs could also conduct background checks on all potential personnel, in particular for issues such as criminal records, human rights abuses and GBV, including domestic violence. Another significant step would be the establishment of external reporting mechanisms and transparent investigation procedures.
UNSC Resolution 1325 and subsequent resolutions have spawned some rethinking of the ways in which states provide security; some national and international clients already demand gender-sensitive services from private security service providers. It is in the interest of the private security industry to take the initiative.
Some Practical Ways to Integrate Gender Issues into PMSCs
Contractual obligations
Turn good practices into contractual obligations i.e. provisions on accountability; gender training for staff; vetting and training; audits and periodic reviews to maximise quality control.
Policies and codes of conduct
To improve the internal working environment and prevent human rights abuses, establish clear policies and codes of conduct addressing sexual harassment, violence, internal discrimination and other human rights violations.
Vetting
During recruitment, conduct background checks for prior criminal offences, human rights violations and GBV, including domestic violence.
Gender training
Integrate gender issues into all staff training and consider specific training on gender topics such as sexual harassment and response to cases of GBV including human trafficking and rape.
Recruitment, retention and advancement of female personnel
Conduct assessments and audits to provide entry points for increasing the recruitment, advancement and retention of women. Consider recruitment and retention targets; update recruitment policies and practices; revise human resources policies and allow equal opportunities for promotions.
Industry self-regulation and internal company codes of conduct
Integrate gender in processes to regulate the private security industry (i.e. codes of ethics and monitoring and reporting mechanisms)
This article is based on a PMSCs and Gender Tool, which is part of the Gender and SSR Toolkit. Copies of the Tool or the complete Toolkit (in several languages) can be ordered by writing to gender@dcaf.ch, specifying name, mailing address and number of copies requested, or downloaded online at www.dcaf.ch/gssrtoolkit
