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Obstacles for Women's Participation in Peace Processes

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Obstacles for Women's Participation in Peace Processes Equal Power Lasting Peace Obstacles for women’s participation in peace processes Equal Power – Lasting Peace The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation Phone: +46-8-588 891 00 Obstacles for women’s participation Slakthusplan 3 e-mail: [email protected] in peace processes 121 62 Johanneshov www.kvinnatillkvinna.se Sweden www.equalpowerlastingpeace.org Researchers: Johanna Mannergren Selimovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq), Åsa Nyquist Brandt (DRC, Liberia) and Agneta Söderberg Jacobson (Armenia and Azerbaijan) Editor: Åsa Carlman Reference group: Åsa Carlman, Lovisa Strand and Eva Zillén Design: Dahlbäck/Söderberg ISBN 978-91-979583-5-6 Kvinna till Kvinna 2012 Johanna Mannergren Selimovic Åsa Nyquist Brandt Equal Agneta Söderberg Jacobson Power Lasting Peace Obstacles for women’s participation in peace processes 4 Contents 5 Foreword 6 Introduction 18 Armenia and Azerbaijan: Stuck in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh 36 The Democratic Republic of Congo: No peace for women 52 Iraq: Between war and peace 68 Liberia: The custodians of peace 84 Bosnia and Herzegovina: Preparing for the next step 102 Comparisons and Conclusions: Challenges ahead 114 Things to bear in mind 116 References 122 Abbrevations 124 Footnotes Foreword 5 eace matters to everyone living in con- as currency at the negotiating tables in countries flict regions. It concerns those who like Afghanistan and Iraq. After the upheavals of have seen their relatives killed, their the Arab spring, there are signs of a backlash against houses demolished and the economy women’s human rights in the Middle East and North crash – those with memories and Africa. Twin trends of nationalism and extremism, P wounds that will stay with them coupled with economic crisis, threaten women’s forever. The chances of lasting peace increase dra- rights around the world. matically if not only the warring parties but also However, at the same time more women are gain- representatives from different groups in civil society, ing political and economic power. The Economist including women, sit at the negotiation table. This is calls women’s economic empowerment in the West not the case today and according to the World Bank “a quiet revolution”. The number of female parlia- report from 2011, most peace agreements fail and mentarians continues to rise, albeit at a very slow conflicts erupt anew after a few years. This comes as pace, and the world average is almost 20 percent. no surprise to women activists who have advocated Strong female leaders such as US Secretary of State for decades that peace processes need to be inclusive Hillary Clinton, the High Representative of the in order to be sustainable. European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security In 2000, the UN Security Council finally listened Policy Catherine Ashton, pro-democracy opposition to the women’s movement. UN Security Council leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma and the presi- Resolution 1325 was adopted. It acknowledges that dents of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and of Brazil women must participate on an equal footing with Dilma Rousseff have put women’s rights back on men in peacebuilding processes, and that gender the political agenda. Women activists in regions equality is essential to building a democratic soci- affected by conflict continue to defy the obstacles to ety. However, more than a decade later and despite participation in peace building. But this comes at a all efforts, the statistics show quite a different real- price, as Equal Power – Lasting Peace reveals. Women ity. A study by UN Women (2010) reveals that of 24 who speak out are often harassed, intimidated and major peace processes taking place since 1992 only beaten. Women who sat at the negotiation table 2.5 percent of signatories, 3.2 percent of mediators in Northern Ireland were warned by women from and 7.6 percent of negotiators have been women. South Africa that they would be the object of slan- The UN has never appointed a female chief media- der and that they should warn their families that tor. On top of this, peace agreements often lack a terrible things would be said about them. Slander gender perspective. Consequently, women’s human is effective. A woman’s reputation is often her most rights are not effectively protected and the peace is valuable asset: if it is destroyed, her family, friends not sustained. Men’s violence against women con- and community might turn their back on her. She is tinues after ceasefires and the prevalence of small then alone, which makes her even more vulnerable. arms makes this violence even more damaging and Equal Power – Lasting Peace sets out to find the answers deadly. This violence brutalises society as a whole to why there are still so few women participating and destabilises communities. As Balkan activists in peace-building processes. We seek solutions and expressed it, the war is far from over with the last acknowledge that there are many different actors in bullet fired. Women are often left in financial ruin conflict areas, all with different roles and responsi- with no right to inheritance or legal protection. This bilities. History tells us that old peace strategies are discrimination hinders both economic and demo- not working. We urgently need new ones. We hope cratic development. Equal Power – Lasting Peace will inspire and inform In the years leading up to the millennium shift, peace builders for the future. there were positive signs of a change in the con- Finally, I would like to thank all the women who cept of peace, towards a more inclusive one, built have been interviewed in this report and inspired on trust instead of military means. The concept our work! of human security was established. With the 9/11 terror attacks, the international political climate changed instantly. The last ten years have been a decade lost for human rights, including women’s rights. We have seen military spending sky-rocket Lena Ag and women’s rights being used to legitimise armed Secretary General, interventions. In addition, women’s rights are used The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation 6 intro duc tion Introduction 7 e have to achieve gender equality contexts. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Liberia have in society. We will then acquire moved on from the concerns of the immediate post- power, which will give us the conflict period, Iraq and DRC have an official but means to achieve sustainable precarious peace that is repeatedly challenged by peace.” insecurity and outbursts of violence, and Armenia’s W and Azerbaijan’s conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh is unsolved with peace negotiations still ongoing. How are transitions from war to peace made? Who At the same time, the challenges identified by the has the power to make peace? Who decides the con- participants in the study show striking similarities. tent of that peace? Equal Power – Lasting Peace is about Equal Power – Lasting Peace therefore provides a situ- women’s participation in peace processes and the ated reading of women’s experiences of participation particular challenges of building a gender-equal in the peace process in each case, identifies the com- peace after violent conflict. As the quote above plex power mechanisms that exclude them from from a Bosnian woman peace activist illustrates, participation, and gathers strategies for how to close gender, power and peace are intimately connected. the gaps from their own experience. It is the aim of Equal Power – Lasting Peace to explore The issue of power is placed centre-stage. The these interconnections and contribute to a better study’s point of departure is that ongoing power understanding of the power gaps that are prevent- relations shape and define political processes, that ing women from participating in peace processes. power is gendered, and that men and women are The last decade has brought with it a growing rec- differently affected by war – and peace. Through a ognition of gender equality as a central element in conceptual framework designed for a multi-layered building lasting peace. At least at the international power analysis, mechanisms that perpetuate gender policy level, it has been recognised that women’s inequality in peacebuilding – intended or unin- inclusive participation in peace processes is not just a tended – are unveiled.4 While there is a tendency matter of equal rights and democratic participation, to limit studies of women’s participation to the but also of making peace long-term and sustainable counting of numbers – of female peace delegates, for all. The gendered dynamics of war and peace are members of parliament and so on – Equal Power increasingly understood as a problem of security – Lasting Peace aims to investigate the overlapping and a contributing factor to relapse into conflict. and interdynamic aspects of exclusions, and how Nonetheless, more than a decade after the adoption underlying issues of insecurity, poverty and norm of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, systems act in conjunction with narrowly designed Peace and Security1, women remain severely under- strategies for peacebuilding to exclude women. represented in peacebuilding. While nowadays there are general calls being made for the inclusion of women, women are still routinely excluded. There Peace, gender and power is clearly a need to critically examine gender power The traditional dichotomy of war and peace is no relations that uphold the status quo, and investigate longer valid for many people in conflict zones. As the process by which certain issues are put on the the experiences of the participants in this study so peace agenda and others not. Knowledge remains tellingly show, a blurring of time has occurred: when only anecdotal concerning the multifaceted reasons war ends officially, it is not at all certain that peace as to why women are marginalised in peace pro- (as in the absence of violence) takes its place.
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