UNSCR 1325 and are gender neutral which is indicative of the timelines when major women rights instruments were developing at the continental and international levels. Most of the RECs/RMs have adopted Gender strategies, policies and action plans and entities within gender and political departments of the RECs/RMs that focus on gender and somewhat on peacebuilding. The inherent danger with such compartmentalised approaches lies in the risk of the women, peace and security agenda being seen as separate from mainstream peace and security concerns. Some of the regional arrangements have successfully mainstreamed gender, governance and peacebuilding approaches in their instruments and work approaches as illustrated in this section. Apart from RECs/RMs, other sub regional groupings exist such as the Commission Economies pour les Pays des Grand-Lacs (CEPGL) (The Economic Commission for the Great Lakes Countries) of Rwanda, Burundi and DRC.131 The three countries signed a sub-regional action plan. In West Africa is the Mano River Union comprising of Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Cote d’Ivoire. This section delves in more depth into the International Conference of the Great Lakes due to its strategic value as a regional organisation that was set up to deal specifically with conflict management and prevention of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in the Great Lakes Region. 131 Draft Regional Action Plan for the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 20182023. Available at https://ungreatlakes.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/draft_regional_action_plan_on_security_council_resolutio n_1325_2000.pdf 50

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