Knowledge Partner
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist
T he figures collated by UN Women reported that in 31 major peace processes during the 1992 to 2011 period , women were no * ceable by their absence . The facts speak for themselves – a meagre 4 per cent of signatories to the peace agreements were women ; 2.4 per cent of the mediators involved in peace seQlements were women ; 9 per cent of nego * ators of peace agreements were women ; and only 16 per cent of the 585 peace agreements concluded since 1990 made one or more references to women and gender . But not all is doom and gloom . For example , the peace process in Burundi ( 1996-2003 ) put forward a range of ini * a * ves for women ' s inclusion , including the United Na * ons Development Fund for Women ( UNIFEM ) convening an All Party Women ’ s Peace Conference , with two representa * ves from each of the warring fac * ons and seven women observers to the process . More than half of the recommenda * ons formulated at the conference were adopted , including measures on sexual violence and provisions for par * cipa * on .
Image 34 : The Special Envoy on Women , Peace and Security of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission , Bineta Diop , with Somalia ' s First Lady , Sahra Hassan , at her home in Mogadishu , Somalia , in 2014
The impressive 2013 Accord Insight publica * on * tled ‘ Women Building Peace ’ by the UK-based Concilia * on Resources draws lessons from nine peace processes to argue that there is a need to mainstream a gender analysis of peace-building and conflict given that women can experience violent conflict in very different ways than men . It also notes that women tend to place a greater emphasis on consensus building and inclusion , as well as on issues of social jus * ce beyond those iden * fied as core to violent conflict . The ability of women to reach out beyond the nego * a * ng table is celebrated , although there is less considera * on as to whether this is a necessity given their rela * ve absence from the table itself . This absence became a cause célèbre for women in Colombia when the peace talks opened between the Government of Colombia and the Fuerzas Armadas
opened between the Government of Colombia and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia — Ejército del Pueblo ( Revolu * onary Armed Forces of Colombia — People ' s Army ) ( FARC – EP / FARC ) in Havana , Cuba . A process of lobbying and consulta * on resulted in the 2013 Na * onal Summit of Women and Peace in Bogota , which was later translated into the establishment of a Gender Sub-CommiQee to the Peace Talks in September 2014 and the appointment of Gender Experts to the process . The Colombian peace agreement sets a good example for others to follow .
The lesson from Colombia is that the inclusion of women and the applica * on of a gender lens require advocacy and process rather than being taken for granted or seen as a gij . As part of the Women ’ s Coali * on par * cipa * ng in the Northern Ireland peace talks , we succeeded in geqng proposals inserted into the Belfast / Good Friday Agreement on increased women ’ s par * cipa * on in poli * cal life and public decision-making . However , without party poli * cal or governmental effort to make greater representa * on of women a reality by introducing prac * cal m e a s u r e s , i t r e m a i n e d a n aspira * on . As the peace process stuQered and staggered from crisis to crisis , aQen * on focused on the reform of policing , the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons , the demobilisa * on of armed groups and the share out of poli * cal power . These issues ojen
The lesson from Colombia is that the inclusion of women and the applica @ on of a gender lens require advocacy and process rather than being taken for granted or seen as a gii .
stand centre stage in the ‘ public sphere ’ whilst ‘ women ’ s issues ’ slip into the ‘ private sphere ’ — effec * vely disappearing from policy-making .
UN Security Council Resolu * on 1325 acknowledges that experiences of conflict are decidedly gendered in nature , as are experiences of vic * mhood and coping strategies . While it is evident that the vast majority of those who had been killed in situa * ons of violent conflict are male , the majority of those directly bereaved are women , with women being lej to deal with both the sense of loss and the day-to-day reali * es of managing as single-headed households . The following areas of priority have been iden * fied by Transi * onal Jus * ce Ins * tute at Ulster University and should be adopted as principles for those working in the field of conflict diplomacy :
1 . Gender Integra @ on : fully integrate gender into each stage of a peace process including pre-nego * a * ons , peace agreement and implementa * on ;
2 . Process-orienta @ on : understand gender as a process , not an event par * cularly in dealing with the legacy of the conflict ;
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