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Women on the Frontlines of Conflict Resolution and Negotiation: Community Voices from Syria, Iraq and Yemen

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Women on the Frontlines of Conflict Resolution and Negotiation: Community Voices from Syria, Iraq and Yemen ACADEMIC PAPER WOMEN ON THE FRONTLINES OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND NEGOTIATION: COMMUNITY VOICES FROM SYRIA, IRAQ AND YEMEN JUNE 2018 UN WOMEN About this study This study was commissioned by the UN Women Regional Office for Arab States, with research undertaken in mid-2017, and is part of a series of reports on issues of peace and security in the Middle East and North Africa. About the author This report was written by Hanan Tabbara and Garrett Rubin Editor: Rachel Dore-Weeks (Advisor, Peace, Security and Humanitarian Action, UN Women Regional Office for Arab States) Design: dammsavage studio This report was generously funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Suggested Citation: Tabbara, H., and Rubin, G, (2018), Women on the Frontlines of Conflict Resolution and Negotiation: Community Voices from Syria, Iraq and Yemen – a discussion paper; UN Women. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of UN Women, the United Nations or any of its affiliated organizations. ISBN: 978-1-63214-124-8 © 2018 UN Women. All rights reserved. ACADEMIC PAPER WOMEN ON THE FRONTLINES OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND NEGOTIATION: COMMUNITY VOICES FROM SYRIA, IRAQ AND YEMEN UN WOMEN June 2018 HANAN TABBARA AND GARRETT RUBIN TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY i 3. YEMEN: WOMEN AND TRIBAL CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND POLITICAL STRATEGIES 12 3.1 KEY FINDINGS III “Re-activating” tribal dispute resolution practices: A female mediator in Shabwa 13 3.2 From directing to direct engagement: Women and tribal dispute resolution in Ibb 14 METHODOLOGY 1 3.3 Women’s diverse roles and perspectives in ensuring community stability and conflict resolution 16 1. CONTEXTUALIZING WOMEN’S ENGAGEMENT IN PEACEMAKING AND PEACEBUILDING 2 4. IRAQ: WOMEN COMMUNITY MEDIATORS FILLING THE GAPS 17 1.1 ‘At the table’: Women in peacemaking processes 2 4.1 1.2 5 From punitive to holistic: Education mediation in ‘Beyond the table’: Peacebuilding at the local level south central Iraq 17 5.2 Conflict resolution and minority communities: Supporting displaced Yazidi women 2. SYRIA: WOMEN AND LOCAL CEASEFIRE 4.3 21 NEGOTIATIONS 7 Building legitimacy through experience 2.1 High-stakes interest-based bargaining: Women negotiating a civilian safe zone 8 5. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER 2.2 Aiming high to halt hostilities 9 RESEARCH 22 2.3 A worsening outcome: Forced displacement and fragmentation 11 REFERENCES 23 ACRONYMS CSO Civil society organization DDR Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration GCC Gulf Cooperative Council IDP Internally displaced persons IILHR Institute for International Law and Human Rights INAP Iraqi National Action Plan IQCM Iraqi Center for Negotiation Skills and Conflict Management ISIL Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant KRG Kurdistan Regional Government LAC Local Administrative Councils MENA Middle East and North Africa NDC National Dialogue Conference NGO Non-Governmental Organization OSESGY Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen PNPA Peace and National Partnership Agreement SWIPD Syrian Women Initiative for Peace and Democracy UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNSCR United Nations Security Council Resolution US United States USIP United States Institute for Peace US CSWG U.S. Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace and Security WAB Women’s Advisory Board WILPF Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom WPS Women, Peace and Security women on the frontlines of conflict resolution and negotiation: community voices from syria, iraq and yemen F SUMMARY “Itisthesedifferentefforts,theconstantputtingoutof “wemustalsolookat‘politics’and‘peacemaking’differ- firesthathaskept[ourcommunity]frombeingpulled ently–notonlyasasetofactorsaroundanegotiation into the fighting… Women are central here. We are table,butasacomprehensiveprocesswithinasociety constantlyextinguishingfire” thatisinclusive,diverse,andreflectiveoftheinterests - Female Community Mediator, Yemen ofthewholesociety…”. (UN Women, 2015). In recent decades, the international community has made significant progress in addressing women’s This means including women’s participation across experiences in conflict and security contexts. Follow- the range of processes and mechanisms that address, ing policy breakthroughs in the 1980s and 90s, the mediate and resolve local grievances and build adoption of United Nations Security Council Reso- understanding, collaboration, trust and resilience. lution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) marked a global turning point in addressing the inordinate and differenti- With this in mind, the purpose of this report is to ated impact of conflict on women. Since then, eight amplify the voices and experiences of Syrian, Yemeni UN Security Council Resolutions and three General and Iraqi women who make significant contributions Assembly resolutions on women in war and peace to the stability and security of their communities have been passed, including those aimed at expand- through resolving and managing local conflict, yet ing women’s participation in negotiations, political whose efforts are often marginalized, dismissed and processes and formal peacebuilding activities during misrepresented as insignificant. Presented as a series times of conflict and recovery. of case studies, the report examines how women in the region engage, influence and shape local pro- Yet parallel to widening recognition, and in some cesses for conflict and dispute resolution. Based on cases inclusion in formal peace agreements and more than 40 remote interviews with women from activities, there is growing acknowledgment that the respective country contexts, particular attention national-level peace processes often fall short of is paid to illuminating the strategies, tools and tac- representing or supporting women’s diverse contribu- tics underlying their efforts and experiences to build tions to peace in everyday life. In the MENA region, peace from the bottom up. this fissure is evident from the spirited debates tak- ing place in countries such as Syria and Yemen, where From the Syrian context, the report features a female activists have highlighted the need for stron- women’s peacebuilding organization that, despite ger linkages between international, national and local grave conditions and impossible odds, exhausted all efforts to bring about peace. In part, this disjuncture the resources and opportunities within its reach to represents gendered forms of discrimination that halt hostilities and prevent further loss of life in their marginalize women’s voices, and dismiss their skills, community. This included orchestrating a high-stakes, experiences and expertise in conflict resolution at the interest-based bargaining deal around a civilian safe local level as inadequate for, or irrelevant to, formal zone in the area, which resulted in a rare, yet ulti- activities in the national and international arena. To mately unsustainable, level of mutual buy-in from this end, the Global Study on the Implementation of both sides of the conflict. Then, in an equally impres- the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 sive showing of strategic prowess and influence, the contends that acknowledging women’s informal con- group went on to engage state and non-state security tributions requires that actors to refute allegations and charges made against women on the frontlines of conflict resolution and negotiation: community voices from syria, iraq and yemen i local women. Through these and other efforts, the Fallout from armed conflict and weak state per- organization earned influence and credibility in the formance also frames the contributions of female area, so much so that its effort to bring about a cease- mediators in Iraq, where women are working to miti- fire agreement between government and opposition gate conflicts that arise from vacuums left behind by groups was endorsed by more than 400 women. formal institutions. In some cases, formal channels are limited, and at times give rise to conflict with In Yemen, limited but powerful evidence from Ibb and conflict. For others, access to protective services is Shabwa Governorates points to the important con- non-existent, a common challenge for marginalized tributions that women are making to local security communities generally. Here female mediators in through the tribal system and its traditional channels Kurdish Iraq are working to support displaced minor- of dispute resolution. While often criticized by exter- ity groups, including Yazidi women uprooted by ISIS, to nal observers as detrimental to national development claim basic entitlements, such as identification cards and nation building, the Yemeni tribal system has and other key legal documents. proved to be a critical source of stability, even during times of conflict. However, years of political upheaval Taken together, these provide a dynamic image of and war have also taken their toll on tribal structures, women’s engagement in conflict and dispute resolu- diminishing their capacity to resolve and de-escalate tion across the region. In this light, the claim that the conflict. To this end, women are both directing and work of such women is inadequate or insufficient to directly engaging in efforts to support and re-activate inform more ‘formal’ peacebuilding activities is clearly certain tribal processes intended to contain violence false. On the contrary, the interventions of women and, in many cases,
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