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Reimagining Peacemaking: Women's Roles in Peace Processes

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Reimagining Peacemaking: Women's Roles in Peace Processes JUNE 2015 Reimagining Peacemaking: Women’s Roles in Peace Processes MARIE O’REILLY, ANDREA Ó SÚILLEABHÁIN, AND THANIA PAFFENHOLZ Cover Photo: Signing ceremony of the ABOUT THE AUTHORS March 2014 peace pact between the government of the Philippines and the MARIE O’REILLY is Editor and Research Fellow at the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Manila, International Peace Institute. March 27, 2014. © Romeo Ranoco/ Reuters/Corbis. Email: [email protected] Disclaimer: The views expressed in this ANDREA Ó SÚILLEABHÁIN is Senior Policy Analyst at the paper represent those of the authors International Peace Institute. and not necessarily those of the International Peace Institute. IPI welcomes consideration of a wide Email: [email protected] range of perspectives in the pursuit of a well-informed debate on critical THANIA PAFFENHOLZ is Senior Researcher at the policies and issues in international Graduate Institute Geneva’s Centre on Conflict, affairs. Development and Peacebuilding. IPI Publications Email: [email protected] Adam Lupel, Director of Research and Publications Marie O’Reilly, Editor and Research Fellow ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Marisa McCrone, Assistant Production This publication was made possible by generous funds Editor from the Permanent Mission of Thailand to the United Suggested Citation: Nations, the government of Norway, and the government Marie O’Reilly, Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, of Finland, for which IPI is very grateful. and Thania Paffenholz, “Reimagining Peacemaking: Women’s Roles in Peace The authors would like to thank Jacalyn Bennett, Steven Processes,” New York: International Dixon, Mary Anne Feeney, Anne Marie Goetz, Miki Jacevic, Peace Institute, June 2015 . Lone Jessen, Adam Lupel, Youssef Mahmoud, Shadia © by International Peace Institute, 2015 Marhaban, Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini, Jacqueline O’Neill, All Rights Reserved Maureen Quinn, Nick Ross, Irene Santiago, Elisabeth Scheper, Anita Schjølset, Laurel Stone, Nahla Valji, and www.ipinst.org Libby Wagner. The authors are particularly grateful to Katrina Kalcic for her research assistance and to all those who shared their insights in interviews and events for IPI’s Women in Mediation and Peace Processes project. Many thanks also go to the Centre on Conflict, Develop ment and Peacebuilding at the Graduate Institute, Geneva, where the “Broadening Participation in Track One Peace Negotiations” project is based. CONTENTS Executive Summary . 1 Introduction . 2 I. Dilemmas in Peacemaking and Barriers for Women. 3 II. Women’s Impact on Peace Processes. 9 III. Models of Inclusion . 13 IV. Realizing Inclusion in Practice: The Philippines . 19 V. Strategies for Meaningful Participation . 26 Conclusion . 31 Annexes . 33 1 Executive Summary Graduate Institute’s Broadening Participation Project shows that when women's groups were able Peace processes increasingly go beyond outlining to effectively influence the process, a peace cease-fires and dividing territory to incorporate agreement was almost always reached and the elements that lay the foundations for peace and agreement was more likely to be implemented. The shape the structures of society. Yet by and large the project examined the roles of women's groups (and participants who decide the former continue to other groups) in forty peace and transition decide the latter; the inclusion of others—those processes.2 New statistical research involving a who did not take up arms, those who were working larger dataset also shows that women’s participa- for peace, or significant portions of the population tion increases the probability that the peace whose priorities for a peaceful society may differ— agreement will last longer. has not kept pace. Mediation teams and policymakers frequently This report focuses on one such group: women. voice concerns about how to facilitate women's Between 1992 and 2011, just 2 percent of chief participation in practice. Women’s inclusion has mediators and 9 percent of negotiators in peace been advanced in many creative ways in a variety of processes were women.1 contexts. The following seven models for Why do so few women participate in high-level increasing inclusivity can be adapted to different peacemaking? The peacemaking landscape pre - settings: sents a number of barriers to women’s participa- 1. Direct participation at the negotiation table tion today. First, women’s participation relates to a 2. Observer status broader dilemma about the ends and means of 3. Consultations peacemaking: if the goal of a peace process is only to end violence, then women—who are rarely the 4. Inclusive commissions belligerents—are unlikely to be considered legiti- 5. Problem-solving workshops mate participants. If the goal is to build peace, 6. Public decision making however, it makes sense to gain more diverse 7. Mass action inputs from the rest of society—women and others who will be affected by these decisions. Second, A combination of inclusion models throughout women’s different security needs and priorities for the process makes its success more likely. This is peace challenge the dominant understanding of demonstrated clearly in a case study on two distinct peace and security in the international system, peace processes in the Philippines. Although the which remains largely focused on state security average rate of women’s participation in peace rather than human security. Third, multilateral processes around the world remains low, the organizations like the UN that have made commit- Philippines is an outlier in this respect. In two ments to women’s participation in peacemaking recent peace processes there, women participated often have less power to influence the structure of a in record numbers. However, by comparing the peace process in today's changing mediation two processes, it becomes clear that quality partici- landscape. Perhaps most importantly, a deeper pation is more important than quantity, and, as resistance to change and a reluctance to share with every peace process, reaching an agreement is power is also at play—particularly on the part of only the first step on a long and arduous road the conflict parties themselves. toward rebuilding trust. When women do participate, what effect does it Across contexts, and regardless of the models have? Until now, there has been little research into and mechanisms being used, those seeking to the impact of women’s participation in peace strengthen a peace or transition process by processes. New evidence from the Geneva advancing women’s meaningful participation can 1 UN Women, “Women’s Participation in Peace Negotiations: Connections Between Presence and Influence,” October 2012, p. 3. 2 The Broadening Participation in Track One Peace Negotiations project (Broadening Participation project) was carried out at the Graduate Institute's Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding in Geneva. See the project’s latest publications: Thania Paffenholz, “Can Inclusive Peace Processes Work? New evidence from a multi-year research project,” CCDP Policy Brief, April 2015, and Thania Paffenholz, “Beyond the Normative: Can Women's Inclusion Really Make for Better Peace Processes?,” CCDP Policy Brief, April 2015, both available at http://graduateinstitute.ch/home/research/centresandprogrammes/ccdp/ccdp- research/clusters-and-projects-1/participatory-peace-processes-an/broadening-participation-in-trac.html . 2 Marie O’Reilly, Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, and Thania Paffenholz leverage four key strategies: structures in society, and implicitly determine 1. Build coalitions based on normative and priorities for donor funding, all of which can in strategic arguments. turn influence the recurrence of conflict and the durability of the peace.6 2. Establish a credible selection process. Advocates for women’s participation in peace 3. Create the conditions to make women’s voices and constitution making have long taken a rights- heard. based approach to the issue: as half of a society’s 4. Keep power politics—and the public—in mind. population, women have a right to be represented Given the evidence of women's impact and the in these decision-making processes that will affect changing mediation landscape, a broader reimag- their lives. The UN Security Council has also ining of peace processes is needed, so that those recognized the importance of increasing women’s shaping and participating in them can work with participation in resolving conflicts and building the multiplicity of actors involved to both end peace, particularly at decision-making levels, since violence more effectively and build a more durable its landmark Resolution 1325.7 Yet progress peace. remains slow, and off-the-record discussions with peacemakers, decision makers, and those who Introduction support and shape these processes show that many remain resistant to including women due to a lack From the dinner table to the boardroom table, of evidence about the value that women’s participa- women’s participation in decision-making tion can bring and fear that it may derail the processes is increasing in societies around the process. In addition, many peacemakers who are globe.3 Yet twenty years after the historic United committed to inclusive peace processes question Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in how to design them and increase participation in Beijing, in which 189 countries called for “full and practice. equal participation of women in political, civil, In this report we examine the challenges and economic, social and cultural life,” women’s partic- opportunities
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