Still lacking representation: Women and minors in DDR provisions (1975-2021)

The DDR in Peace Agreements (PAs) dataset provides global disaggregated data on DDR provisions in PAs from 1975 to 2021, identifying amongst others whether and how women and minors ex-combatants are referenced in DDR provisions. Women and minors participate in conflict directly as combatants or commanders and in a number of different indirect roles. Despite the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) and the UN’s Integrated DDR Standards’ (2006) explicit calls to include women and minors in DDR programs, both groups remain grossly underrepresented in these processes. We found that amongst 126 peace agreements that contained at least one DDR component, only 2 referenced women, 11 minors, and 9 to both groups. Furthermore, even when women and minors are mentioned, references are essentialist, vague, and both groups are portrayed as victims.