1999-2000
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the UN Security Council adopts key resolutions that recognise gendered violence and women’s roles in forging peace and security. While celebrated as breakthroughs, these policies also expose the limitations of institutional feminism, especially from the vantage point of global South feminists advocating for structural justice.
UN Resolution 1265 (1999) marks the Council’s first explicit concern with civilian protection in armed conflict, acknowledging the gendered nature of war. Yet it fails to address the enduring colonial, racial, and economic structures that expose global South women to disproportionate harm.
Following decades of grassroots mobilisation, particularly by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and regional feminist networks, Resolution 1325 (2000) is adopted, recognising women’s critical roles in peacebuilding and conflict resolution.
Simultaneously, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (2000) codifies sexual and gender-based violence—such as rape, sexual slavery, and forced pregnancy—as crimes against humanity and war crimes. This marks an historic advance in the recognition of wartime sexual violence, although enforcement mechanisms remain weak and unevenly applied.
