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Securing the Peace: Guiding the International Community towards Women's Effective Participation throughout Peace Processes

Author: K Banaszak and A-M Goetz
Date: 2005
Size: 36 pages (448 KB)

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Summary

How and why should women be involved in peace processes? This paper from the United Nations Development Fund for Women highlights the importance of involving women at every stage of peace negotiations and gives recommendations for how this might be achieved in practice. It argues that when approaching the task of ending war, the stakes are too high to neglect the resources that women have to offer.

Women are major stakeholders in the resolution of armed conflict: as victims, survivors and even wagers of war. Women have much to offer peace efforts: Women’s organisations persistently advocate for peace; women often build foundations for peace negotiations and build ties amongst different factions; they bring a different perspective to negotiations; their involvement can lead to long-term advances for gender equality; and they can foster reconciliation and provide an example for society to move forward. The international community is in a critical position to support women’s participation at the peace table, to build women’s capacity as participants and to ensure that women’s needs and contributions are not overlooked.

The report gives a number of recommendations on how to amplify women's voices and create an enabling environment to allow their concerns to be addressed:

Women are more likely to have an impact when they organise as women with a common agenda for peace. The international community should encourage female delegates to meet with women’s organisations; facilitate exchanges of information between national stakeholders and international partners; and convene nationwide consultations of women.
Identifying strategic entry points for women early in the peace process is vital to enhance their access to negotiations and impact on the accords. Recommendations include: Advocating for a minimum 30% women’s representation in delegations; brokering meetings between women’s groups and negotiating parties for women to request representation; assisting women’s groups in awareness-raising campaigns.
Structures and mechanisms within the office of the facilitator can enhance the integration of a gender perspective in peace negotiations. The facilitator can be crucial in getting women to the peace table.
Training on the importance of a gender perspective should be offered to participants in negotiations, and gender sensitive rules of procedure should be encouraged. There should be gender balance and expertise within the facilitation team.
Women require specific forms of support to maximise their participation in peace negotiations. They must enjoy protection from security threats; sufficient resources to maximise their efforts; political space in which to organise; and access to decision makers.
There are also often important capacity building needs, and courses should include: Conflict resolution and gender-sensitive peace building; thematic post-conflict issues; political issues and organisational skills.

Women’s involvement must be sustained during implementation. Women have specific needs, priorities and strategies that must be included in the peace agreement to guarantee their fulfilment during implementation.

There should be gender balance and expertise on the drafting committee, and clear provisions in the peace agreement to ensure women’s participation in post-conflict mechanisms.
After a peace agreement has been signed, there are opportunities to maximise women’s participation in implementation and monitoring. The international community should establish mechanisms to guarantee women’s involvement throughout the implementation phase. Key facets of the agreement, such as timeframe and distribution of funds should make reference to gender issues.
The international community is often invited to verify fulfilment of steps in the accords to help prevent a return to violence. Women must be involved in these processes.
International commitments to gender equality in peace processes are in place. Necessary political will should now be exercised through provision of technical, financial and moral support.

Access full text: available online

Source: Banaszak, K. et al (ed), 2005, 'Securing the Peace: Guiding the International Community towards Women's Effective Participation throughout Peace Processes,' United Nations Development Fund for Women
Author: United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), http://www.unifem.org