Clearing Uneven Ground : Analysing approaches to gendered issues in Cambodia’s mine action policy

Sammanfattning

Gender mainstreaming is becoming an increasingly important topic in mine action. Landmines, despite being indiscriminate weapons, have highly gendered impacts on victims and exacerbate existing inequalities and insecurities. Drawing on previous research on gender mainstreaming in policy and mine action, this thesis provides a deeper understanding of gender mainstreaming in mine action by analysing how gender is mainstreamed in national mine action policy. Using Cambodia as a case study, this thesis employs a framework combining the mine action pillars and the Women, Peace, and Security pillars to critically analyse how gendered issues related to mine action are approached and represented in national strategy and standards. The findings of this thesis suggest that while Cambodia has taken several important steps to recognise and approach gendered issues related to landmine contamination and mine action, it still fails to address several underlying issues that cause suffering, exacerbate gender issues, and affect development. The problem representations also risk generating and exacerbating gendered issues. Furthermore, the findings indicate that several of these issues are not unique to Cambodia, but are issues institutionalised within international mine action governance.