Description
The Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda is underpinned by a suite of United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR), which each frame the UN goal of gendering peace and security as a conflation with the rights and wellbeing of women and girls. As a result of this, WPS is based on a binary and heteronormative understanding of gender – omitting diverse sexual orientations and gender identities (diverse SOGIE) from UN Peace Support Operations (PSOs). Critiques of WPS from a queer perspective suggest this is problematic in relation to realising a gender-just peace.
This paper presents research on the effects of the current WPS approach to understanding gender in PSOs through interviews with UN Peacekeepers and UN Gender Advisors operating within the Irish Defence Forces (IDF). The paper sheds light on (1) how WPS is conceptualised and operationalised by UN stakeholders from the IDF, and (2) whether diverse SOGIE inclusion is ever a part of WPS policy when translated into the field. The results underpin the queer critique that diverse SOGIE voices are marginalised in current WPS approaches, while opening up space to consider how a more inclusive approach to gendering peace can be realised.
