Gender Advisor

United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) is a division of the Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions (OROLSI) in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). UNMAS operates under UN legislative mandates of both the General Assembly and the Security Council, or at the request of the UN Secretary-General or his designated official. Legislative mandates also recognize UNMAS technical expertise in responding to threats posed by unsecured and unsafe conventional weapons and ammunition stockpiles. When instructed by the Security Council or called upon by Member States, UNMAS deploys under humanitarian, peace and security mandates. UNMAS main headquarters is in the UN Secretariat, New York with a sub-office in Geneva. UNMAS provides direct support and assistance in the areas of explosive hazard threat mitigation to 18 countries/territories/missions, has a standby rapid response capacity and global technical advisors in the field of IEDs and Weapons and Ammunition Management.

Background – UNMAS Ethiopia

Recent assessments indicate widespread explosive ordnance contamination in the Northern part of Ethiopia including Afar, Amhara, and Tigray regions, especially in areas that have seen intense fighting. While the full extent and impact of the contamination is yet to be established, the fighting is believed to have contaminated vast swathes of land with explosive remnants of war (ERW). Moreover, explosive remnants of war (ERW) continue affecting the life of civilians, in recent months. ERW is spread across residential areas and internally displaced persons sites, in communal locations and amongst rubble, posing an immediate risk to life, the delivery of humanitarian aid, inhibiting safe movement, and preventing access to basic services.

The project aims to reduce the immediate and long-term impact of explosive ordnance on civilians and humanitarian operations in northern Ethiopia  through coordination and explosive ordnance risk education. As lead of the mine action area of responsibility, ensuring MA contributes to improving the safety of at-risk communities by establishing a humanitarian mine action sector, capable of effectively delivering on the objectives of the Humanitarian Response Plan. The Mine Action Response Programme defines and implements specific activities in accordance with emerging humanitarian needs and through needs-based prioritization, involving an analysis of the explosive ordnance threat, IDPs movement, survey data, and the wider humanitarian response.

It is therefore critical to incorporate gender considerations, gender equality and women empowerment initiatives into the UNMAS Ethiopia project implementation, ensuring that women, girls, boys and men will have equal access to and participate in mine action programs as beneficiaries, employees and decision-makers. This will encourage gender equality in a more comprehensive approach.

Whereas in relation to Explosive Hazards (EH) it is recorded that men are much more likely to be caught in a landmine accident (85-90% of landmine victims are boys and men) than women, it is also to be said that women do face other types of vulnerabilities: gender inequalities in victim assistance; bearing the burden of many accidents associated with explosive hazards as they take up supporting the family and caring for disabled children and/or husbands; absence of their voice in the public sphere; absence of their voice in prioritization of where explosive hazard response is needed; extreme difficulty accessing basic services such as clean water, electricity and adequate shelter. In addition, women’s skills and capacities as workers, is still an untapped potential within the mine action workforce.

Specific objectives of UNMAS Ethiopia programme, directly linked to this assignment are described as follows:

• Enhance capacity and commitment of the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to effectively incorporate initiatives to promote gender equality within relevant policies, planning and programming to coordinate and manage a response to explosive hazards, ensuring that the voices of women and girls are considered in planning and prioritization, with the aim to contribute towards gender equality

• Improve GoE prioritization and planning processes that take into consideration the specific needs of women in order to overcome social barriers, perceptions, and challenges impeding women’s full participation and influence in forums to prioritize areas for response

• In a more extensive approach, working with governments to ensure that commitments to gender equality are reflected in reform efforts and taking advantage of the opportunities following conflicts to establish governmental structures that will advance women’s rights and gender equality