Mono 104.indd

The report analyzes UN discourse on small arms and light weapons (SALW) from 2001 to 2003, concluding that gender perspectives remain marginalized. The authors find that when gender is mentioned, women are almost exclusively characterized as passive victims, while the specific impacts on men and the active roles of women as peace-builders are largely ignored. While NGOs and international organizations demonstrate a more nuanced understanding of gender, member state delegations often lack expertise or prioritize other issues. The document recommends bridging the gap between gender experts and policymakers through targeted education and coordinated advocacy to ensure that the 2006 Review Conference on SALW reflects the diverse experiences of both men and women.

• UN debates on small arms and light weapons (SALW) fail to address gender in a comprehensive manner that accounts for the distinct social, economic, and political effects of these weapons on both men and women.
• There is a pervasive and empirically questionable stereotype in UN documents that women and children constitute 80% of casualties from SALW, which obscures the fact that men are the most frequent victims of gun-related deaths.
• Gender references in UN SALW discourse are overwhelmingly limited to characterizing women as victims, neglecting their roles as combatants, care-givers, and peace-builders.
• Analysis of the 2001 UN Conference on SALW revealed that 72% of gender references focused on women as victims, and the official 23-page report contained only one sentence regarding SALW's effects in a gender context.
• Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international organizations (IOs) utilize a wider and more nuanced range of gender indicators than member states, reflecting higher levels of expertise and a shift toward viewing women as active agents.
• The 2003 Biennial Meeting of States (BMS) showed some progress over the 2001 conference, with an increase in references to gender mainstreaming (11 references compared to one in 2001) and a decrease in the proportion of references focusing solely on women as victims.
• There is a significant disconnect between different UN bodies; for example, gender references in the General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Peace between 20012003 occurred only nine times, all within the context of women as victims.

APA

Newhouse, L., & Schroeder, E. (n.d.). Mono 104.indd. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono104.pdf

Chicago

Newhouse, Lauren, and Emily Schroeder. Mono 104.indd. Institute for Security Studies, n.d. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono104.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Newhouse |first1=Lauren |last2=Schroeder |first2=Emily |title= Mono 104.indd |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono104.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{newhousendmono, author = {Newhouse, Lauren and Schroeder, Emily}, title = {{ Mono 104.indd}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono104.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }