Culture - Culture is the shared way of living and thinking that includes symbols and language, knowledge, beliefs, values, and norms. Culture includes all the assumptions and premises internalised by humans that organise the way in which reality is experienced (Harper 1998).

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) - Article 17 of the Women's Convention establishes the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to oversee the implementation of its provisions. The Committee is composed of 23 experts and acts as a monitoring system to oversee the implementation of the Women's Convention by States Parties.

Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (The Torture Convention) 1987 - Prohibits torture in all circumstances. Torture is defined as any act that: 1) causes severe physical or mental suffering; 2) is committed for the purpose of obtaining information, punishment, intimidation, or coercion or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind; 3) is inflicted or instigated by or with the consent or acquiescence of any person acting in an official capacity. The Torture Convention obliges States to make torture a punishable offence and provides for universal jurisdiction over alleged tortures. It forbids the return of persons to countries where they would risk being tortured. The Committee against Torture monitors the Convention against Torture and hears complaints from citizens of States Party to the Convention which have ratified the Optional Protocols.

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (The Women's Convention) - The Women's Convention was adopted by the General Assembly in 1979 to reinforce provisions of existing international instruments aimed at ending discrimination against women. It identifies many specific areas where there has been discrimination against women, for example in regard to political rights, marriage and the family, and employment. In these and other areas, the Women's Convention spells out specific goals and measures that are to be taken to facilitate the creation of a global society in which women enjoy full equality with men and fully realise their guaranteed human rights.

Convention on the Rights of the Child (The Children's Convention) - The Convention was adopted unanimously by the General Assembly on 20 November 1989 and entered into force on 2 September 1990. This convention is the one which has the largest number of ratifications. Built on varied legal systems and cultural traditions, the Convention on the Rights of the Child is a universally agreed set of non-negotiable standards and obligations. It defines child as "every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier". The Convention spells out that children everywhere B without discrimination B have the right: to survival; to develop to the fullest; to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life. Every right spelled out in the Convention is inherent to the human dignity and harmonious development of every child. The Convention protects children's rights by setting standards in health care, education and legal, civil and social services. These standards are benchmarks against which progress can be assessed. States that are party to the Convention are obliged to develop and undertake all actions and policies in light of the best interests of the child. A monitoring Committee has been established to monitor the implementation of this Convention.

Two Optional Protocols to the CRC were recently adopted by the General Assembly on May 25, 2000. The main objective of the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts, is to raise the minimum age for conscription and for participation in hostilities to 18. The main objective of the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography is to clearly define what constitutes sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and to ensure protection of child victims.
--UNICEF Website: http://www.unicef.org/crc/introduction.htm

Crimes against humanity - The most current iteration of the definition of Crimes against humanity is found in the International Criminal Court Statute. It defines crimes against humanity as acts committed as part of a widespread or systemic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack. Acts prohibited include: murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, unlawful imprisonment, torture, persecution on grounds such as race, culture and gender, enforced disappearance and apartheid. Acts also specifically prohibited include rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilisation, or other forms of sexual violence.

Crimes against humanity are generally recognised as inhumane acts of a very serious nature that: take place during peace or war; involve widespread (multiple victims) or systematic (that follows preconceived plans) attack rather than an isolated criminal act; are directed against a civilian population (part or whole civilian population); and committed by government or non-state actors (any organisation or group).

Discrimination against women -- Discrimination against women means any distinction, exclusion, or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment, or exercise by women based on their gender or sex, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field ( Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Article I).

Gender - Gender refers to the roles of men, women, boys, and girls and the social relationships among men, women, boys, and girls. These social roles and relationships are shaped by cultural, social, economic, and political conditions, expectations, and obligations within the family, community, and state (Sorensen 1998).

Gender awareness - Gender awareness involves the ability to recognise, identify, and understand that social interactions and relationships at all levels of social life may have gendered impacts and implications.

Gender blind - Gender blindness occurs when there is a failure to take gender concerns and realities into account. For example, when general "human" norms are equated with male norms, the rights, interests, and concerns of women tend to disappear (Mahoney 1994).

Gender equality - Gender equality refers to freedom from systematic subordination based on sex or gender. Gender equality involves more than the notion of non-discrimination; it takes into account discrimination in terms of disadvantage which is determined contextually by examining social, political, and legal realities. This concept of disadvantage requires looking at women and men in their place in the real world and confronting the reality that the systematic abuse and deprivation of power women experience is because of their place in the sexual hierarchy (Mahoney 1994).

Gender mainstreaming - Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women's as well as men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality. (ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions 1997/2)

Gender planning - Gender planning entails taking into account that women and men have different needs based on their social relationships and roles, which are shaped by cultural, social, economic, and political conditions, expectations, and obligations within the family, community, and state. Gender planning involves, at all levels from policy to programs, taking into account women's and men's different roles and needs in ways that ensure gender equity and avoid perpetuating gender discrimination.

Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols - The four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their two Additional Protocols of 1977 are the main instruments of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). See International Humanitarian Law. The first Geneva Convention relates to the protection of the wounded and sick. The second applies to the members of armed forces at sea. The third addresses prisoners of war. The fourth applies to civilians. Additional Protocol I applies to international armed conflicts. Additional Protocol II applies to non-international armed conflict.

Genocide - The Convention of the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1951 defines genocide as the effort to destroy a people based on its identity as a people. Acts of genocide may be considered grave breaches and/or crimes against humanity. See Grave breaches and Crimes against humanity.

Grave breaches - Grave breaches are considered as part of the most egregious crimes known to humankind. The Geneva Conventions lists the following crimes as grave breaches: Wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments, wilfully causing great suffering or serious bodily injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person, compelling a protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power, or wilfully depriving a protected person of the rights of a fair and regular trial, taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly. Grave breaches evoke universal jurisdiction under the Geneva Conventions, meaning that every nation has an obligation to bring the perpetrators to justice via investigations, arrests, and prosecution.

Human rights - See International Human Rights Law.

Humanitarian aid missions - Humanitarian aid missions are conducted to relieve human suffering, especially in circumstances where responsible authorities in the area are unable, or possibly unwilling, to provide adequate services to support the population. Humanitarian aid missions may be conducted in the context of a Peace Support Operation, or as a completely independent task. (United Kingdom Joint Doctrine and Concepts Centre)

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) - Internally displaced persons are individuals or groups of people who have been force to flee their homes to escape armed conflict, generalised violence, human rights abuses or manual and man-made disasters. Internally displaced persons often leave their homes for the same reason as refugees but remain in their own states because they cannot or do not want to cross a national frontier to seek sanctuary in another country. There are no specific international instruments covering internally displaced persons. However, they shall enjoy the protection of the existing international laws protecting persons' basic human rights.

In 1998, Guiding Principles on the Internal Displacement were issued by the United Nations to help government and humanitarian organisations provide protection and assistance to IDPs.
--UNHCR Website: http://www.unhcr.ch/issues/idp/idp.htm

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) - Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966 and entered into force 23 March 1976, in accordance with Article 49. Together with the simultaneously prepared and adopted International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Covenant codifies in treaty form some of the universal human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the three instruments together often being referred to as the "International Bill of Human Rights". The Covenant establishes the ideal that free human beings enjoying civil and political freedoms have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Obligations under international law prohibit discrimination solely on the ground of race, colour, sex, language, religion or social origin. Every human being has the inherent right to life, liberty and security of person. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life and no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) - Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200 A (XXI) of 16 December 1966 and entered into force on 3 January 1976, in accordance with article 27. The ECESCR was adopted to ensure all peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. It ensures the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights set forth in the present Covenant. The Covenant recognises the right to work, which includes the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts, and that states will take appropriate steps to safeguard this right. It also protects the rights of persons to practice or adopt a religion and hold their own beliefs, and prohibits discrimination and ensures protection of the law.

International Human Rights Law - International human rights law is composed of international and regional standards that may take the form of declarations, treaties, protocols, and other instruments. Together, these standards provide an ever evolving legal framework for worldwide protection and promotion of human rights. Some of these standards are meant to protect all people from abuses such as discrimination, genocide, torture, slavery, etc. Other are meant to safeguard members of specific groups whose rights are violated: stateless persons, refugees, women, children, etc. The principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are given a more precise legal form in two covenants: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Together, these three instruments are known as the International Bill of Human Rights. The provisions of the covenants are binding on States party to the Covenants.

International Humanitarian Law (IHL) - The two primary objectives of IHL are to protect people in time of war who are not, or are no longer, participating in the hostilities, and to limit the means and methods of warfare. IHL applies during both international armed conflicts (conflicts that occur across borders) and non-international armed conflicts (conflicts within nations). The main instruments of humanitarian law are the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and their 2 Additional Protocols of 8 June 1977. See the Geneva Conventions.

Multilateral Peace Operations - Actions taken by the United Nations under the authority of Chapter VI or Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, by regional arrangements pursuant to Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, or by ad hoc coalitions pursuant to a United Nations Security Council resolution under the authority of Chapter VI or VII of the Charter of the United Nations or consistent with Chapter VI or the Charter of the United Nations, in order to preserve, maintain, or restore the peace (United States Military).

Multinational Operations - Multinational operations is a collective term to describe military actions conducted by forces of two or more nations typically organised with the structure of a coalition or alliance.

Observer missions - The United Nations and other organisations frequently deploy teams of Military Observers (UNMOS) to monitor compliance of parties to a truce, accord, or international agreement. Traditionally, UNMOS are unarmed. The United nations have also set out human rights missions including the missions for instance in Rwanda and Guatemala.

Peace-building - At the level of the United Nations, peacebuilding is action taken to identify and support structures that will tend to strengthen and solidify peace in order to avoid a relapse into conflict (Boutros-Ghali 1992). According to the United Nations, the most important peacebuilding activities include: relief and humanitarian assistance, food aid, water and sanitation, health, mine clearance, logistics, securing financial resources, rebuilding governmental administrative apparatus, disarmament, demobilisation, the reintegration of ex-combatants, refugee reintegration, strengthening human rights, strengthening democratic governmental systems, elections, crime prevention, the administration of justice, reconstruction and enhancing transportation and energy systems, and the rehabilitation of civil society (United Nations 1996).

Peacekeepers, United Nations - United Nations peacekeepers are government, civilian, military, and police persons drawn from United Nations Member States who serve under the flag, if not the command, of the United Nations in an effort to manage violent conflict. The deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping presence in the field, hitherto with the consent of all the parties concerned, normally involves United Nations military and/or police personnel and frequently civilians as well (Boutros-Ghali 1992).

Peace Support Operations - Peace Support Operations are multi-functional operations conducted impartially in support of a UN or OSCE mandate involving military forces and diplomatic and humanitarian agencies. They are designed to achieve a long-term political settlement. They include peacekeeping and peace enforcement, as well as conflict prevention, peacemaking, peace building, human rights and humanitarian operations. (United Kingdom Joint Doctrine and Concepts Centre)

Post-Conflict reconstruction - Post-conflict reconstruction entails actions taken to implement political, economic, and social reconstruction following armed conflict. Political reconstruction involves establishing a sound political environment and culture, and establishing and developing legitimate and accountable institutions that protect all citizens' rights. Economic reconstruction entails the rehabilitation and development of infrastructure and production facilities and the development of a qualified human resource base to match the established priorities. Economic reconstruction may entail a redistribution of resources, such as land. Social reconstruction comprises the rehabilitation of a partially or totally collapsed social sector, as well as the facilitation of the long-term process of social integration (Sorensen 1998).

Refugee - The 1951 Convention relating to the status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol defines a refugee as a person who - "owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it."
--UNHCR Website: http://www.unhcr.ch/

Sex - Either of the two major forms of individuals that occur in many species and that are distinguished respectively as male or female.

Sexual violence - Sexual violence is violence perpetrated in a sexual manner. Sexual violence during armed conflict can be a violation under the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols of 1977, the Genocide Convention, the Political Convention the Torture Convention, and the Women's Convention, as well as a crime against humanity and a war crime. Sexual violence often has aspects of gender-based violence.

War crime - War crimes must take place in the context of an international or internal armed conflict. War crimes in an internal armed conflict include murder, torture, taking of hostages, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, recruiting child soldiers and committing rape and other forms of sexual violence. All of these are also considered war crimes in an international armed conflict, but that list also includes: using starvation as a method of warfare, employing poison and poisoned weapons and using so-called "dumdum" bullets. Unlike crimes against humanity, one isolated act is enough to constitute a war crime. War crimes are listed in the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, and the ICC Statute. Grave breaches are a sub-category of war crimes. See grave breaches.

Women's Convention - See the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Bibliography for Glossary

Brock-Utne, Birgit. 1989. Feminist perspectives on peace and peace education. New York & Oxford: Teachers College Press.

Boutros-Ghali, Boutros. 1992. An agenda for peace. New York: United Nations Publications.

Harper, Charles L. 1998. Exploring social change. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Hossain, Sara. 1994. Equality in the home: Women's rights and personal laws in South Asia. In Human rights of women, edited by Rebecca J. Cook. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 465-494.

International Labour Organisation. 2000. Gender and learning information module. Available at www.ilo.org.

Mahoney, Kathleen. 1994. Canadian approaches to equality rights and gender equity in the courts. In Human rights of women, edited by Rebecca J. Cook. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 437-462.

Niarchos, Catherine. 1995. Women, war, and rape: Challenges facing the international tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 17, 649-690.

Ruth, Sheila. 1998. Issues in feminism, edited by Sheila Ruth. Mountain View, California: Mayfield Publishing Company.

Sorensen, Birgitte. 1998. Women post-conflict reconstruction: Issues and sources. The War-Torn Societies Project, Paper no. 3. Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.

United Nations. 1996. An inventory of post-conflict peace-building activities. New York: United Nations Publications.