Africa: Call for women to be given a greater role in peacekeeping

UNIFEM Press release
18 July 2005

United Nations, New York — The United Nations Development Fund for
Women (UNIFEM) called on the international community today to
recognize women's efforts to prevent and resolve conflict in their
communities, and to strengthen support for women's inclusion as full
and equal participants in formal peace processes.

UNIFEM's regional programme director for East and Horn of Africa,
Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, speaking at a press conference, said that
although women often play a leadership role in their communities
during and after conflict, they were too often left out of formal
peace negotiations and agreements. "Women's roles are often
undervalued or ignored, despite the fact that it is their right to
participate on equal terms with men in all governance and
decision-making processes. Formal peace negotiations that leave out
half the population have limited hope of popular support."

"There is certainly an increased international awareness of the
gender dimensions of conflict, spurred in part by the adoption of
Security Council resolution 1325, and in part by the efforts of
governments, UN bodies and civil society to implement the
resolution," said Joanne Sandler, deputy director of UNIFEM. "But
awareness is not enough. As we approach the five-year anniversary of
1325 in October, what's needed is stronger support for women's
participation in all efforts to promote and maintain peace and
security," she added.

While a few women have been able to participate in different
capacities over the past decade, it is still rare for women to be
involved alongside men in every stage of the peace process, including
the implementation of peace agreements. Where women have gained
access to negotiations, they have made valuable contributions.

In Somalia, during the Djibouti peace talks in 2000, only clans —
five of them — were recognized as legitimate participants at the
peace table. Women, excluded from the five clans, mobilized to form a
"sixth clan," which was eventually accepted as an equal participant
in the high-level peace talks. Their presence at the negotiations led
to the Federal Charter requiring that a minimum of 12 per cent of
National Assembly seats go to women.

"We had to think out of the box," said Asha Hagi Amin, newly
appointed MP and founder of NGO Save Somali Women and Children,
describing how women organized across clan borders to form what
became not only a "multi-clan," but a clan that for the first time
represented women from all over the country. "As women we had no role
in the traditional clan structure, so we had no right to represent
our own clans and therefore were shut out of the peace process.

Since we were not treated as full members of our individual clans,
we refused to rally behind them, and chose instead to form our own —
to represent the voice of women, and more importantly the voice of
peace. During the Djibouti peace talks, only men were allowed inside
the big tent where the negotiations were being held. So we stood
outside demanding to participate until they had to let us in. I had
the honour of representing the sixth clan, and for the first time I
sat together next to the men as a full and equal participant."

As current negotiations in Somalia's peace process continue, women
are playing a crucial role, working among different clans and
militias to advocate for peace and non-violence so that Mogadishu
remains a safe place for the talks to continue.

Women's networks, with their extensive local, and increasingly,
regional reach, are key allies in building and sustaining vital
public support for ongoing peace processes. Advocacy efforts by
women's civil society groups can be instrumental to initiating formal
peace negotiations, maintaining public support for their continuation
until a peace accord is signed, and then assisting in its
implementation.

Over the last five years, UNIFEM has been supporting and documenting
the critical role that women play in promoting peace-building and
conflict prevention worldwide. UNIFEM has provided assistance to
women as they conduct advocacy, awareness-raising and peace
education, support efforts to dispose of small arms, secure justice
and psychosocial assistance for survivors of gender-based violence,
and develop gender-based early warning indicators at the grassroots
level — all with the explicit goal of preventing the emergence or
recurrence of violent conflict. The Fund has also supported national
and regional women's networks to build a "culture of peace" in areas
where there are no active or formal peace processes, such as the
Southern Caucasus.

In that region, women's organizations in Armenia, Georgia and
Azerbaijan have mobilized to create a Regional Coalition — "Women for
Peace" — in order to back women's efforts to build a "culture of
peace" in their communities in the absence of a formal peace process.
Sevil Asadova, representative of the Coalition, described the growing
role of civil society in the region in creating an "enabling
environment for peace." "An increasing number of NGOs, including
several women's groups, recognized the need to work with their
counterparts in the conflict zones. They took a brave step against
public opinion and started reaching out to each other from opposite
sides of the conflicts," she said. "Our regional coalition brings
women together, across conflict and ethnic lines, to work on
everyone's mutual issue — women's human rights. This has united us,
and is helping us to build confidence and mutual trust with others.
It is this people-to-people diplomacy that is laying the foundations
for sustainable peace in our countries and our region," she added.

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UNIFEM is the women's fund at the United Nations, providing
financial support and technical assistance to innovative programmes
promoting women's human rights, their economic and political
empowerment, and gender equality in more than 100 countries. For more
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