Description
This panel reflects on the role of integrity and accountability in gender and protection frameworks and initiatives within humanitarian and security institutions. Gender and protection frameworks, such as the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS), the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), Protection of Civilians (PoC) and initiatives such as mainstreaming a gender equality, disability and social inclusion perspective, aim to safeguard the rights and well-being of vulnerable populations, particularly women and children, in conflict and post-conflict settings and address gender and other inequalities at the root of protection issues. However, there are ongoing struggles to translate ethical ideals into effective and accountable practices, particularly when it comes to addressing systemic issues underpinning gendered protection challenges. Integrity is concerned with the moral aspects of decision-making and quality of governance represented in the norms, laws, standards, systems and other mechanisms which are meant to promote accountability in institutions. This panel explores integrity challenges in existing protection frameworks and ways in which integrity approaches can intersect with feminist protection spaces in defence governance, peace and conflict, humanitarian operations and transnational governance spaces. It draws on macro, meso and micro perspectives to consider (in)consistencies, values, practices and potential associated with integrity of governance in feminist protection spaces and frameworks.
