Entre a norma e o campo: a agenda mulheres, paz e segurança e o desafio na efetividade MONUSCO na república emocrática do Congo

Abstract

This study analyzes the promotion of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda within the framework of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), examining the advances, limitations, and contradictions of the strategies adopted. The research is guided by the following question: Why has the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, as implemented by MONUSCO, failed to substantially expand women’s participation and protection in the DRC? The study advances the hypothesis that the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda by MONUSCO is marked by low female participation in decision-making spaces, which reduces its potential to promote effective protection and participation. The methodology adopted is qualitative, based on a literature review and a case study, drawing on feminist perspectives in security studies as the theoretical framework. The findings indicate that, although MONUSCO has implemented formal protection mechanisms, its actions have faced structural and operational limitations. These limitations stem from the physical and cultural distance between international actors and Congolese communities, as well as from the prioritization of government capacity-building over direct assistance to victims. Finally, the study concludes that, despite the normative advances of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and the protection guidelines established by the United Nations, MONUSCO has failed to promote structural changes capable of dismantling the culture of impunity and transforming the entrenched dynamics of sexual and gender-based violence in the DRC.