FINAL REPORT Conference on “Building Capacities for Peacekeeping and Women’s Dimensions in Peace Processes” Joint European Union-Latin American and the Caribbean Conference The presentations in Power Point are available at: www.geocities.com/womenpeacekeeping Santiago - Chile 4-5 November 2002 2 FINAL REPORT Conference on “Building Capacities for Peacekeeping and Women’s Dimensions in Peace Processes” Joint European Union-Latin American and the Caribbean Conference Diseño y diagramación: AIRENA Impreso en LOM ediciones Santiago de Chile 3 FINAL REPORT ? I. PRESENTATION 2 Presentation Letter by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Chile 3 Presentation Letter by the Minister of Defence of Denmark 4 Report of the Executive Secretary 14 II. SPEECHES BY AUTHORITIES 14 Minister for Foreign Affairs of Chile 21 Minister of Defence of Denmark 25 Minister of SERNAM 30 Minister of Defence 34 Greetings from Angela King 37 III. PRESENTATIONS BY SPEAKERS 37 “Peace Operations: Women’s role”, Sherrill Whittington 46 “Problems faced by women in armed conflicts and the reach of international instruments to protect them. Actions to improve those instruments”, Ambassador Maria Teresa Infante. 55 “Peacekeeping Operations impact on local population”, Margaret Vogt. 61 “Women’s Dimensions in Peace Processes”, Pamela Villalobos. 69 “Women’s participation in peacekeeping forces”, Colonel Annette Leijenaar. 77 “Gender Issues in the Danish Armed Forces”, Francis Zachariae. 83 “Women at the peace table”, Felicity Hill. 92 “Women in Peace Building”, Margaret Anstee. 103 “Chilean experience at MOMEP” Combat Nurse Josefa Benavente M. 111 “Experiences and coordination with female officials at UNTAET”, Lt. Cnl. Julio García. 115 “UN requirements, UNSAS, Peace Operations” Colonel Miguel Martin 120 “The Danish Experience, Birgitte Juul 127 “LAC opportunities” Claudio Ortiz. IV. RECOMMENDATIONS 133 Recommendations from Members of NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security 134 Recommendations by Colonel Annette Leijenaar 137 Recommendations by Margaret Anstee And Felicity Hill 4 141 Opinions and suggestions Opinion Poll 147 Opinion Poll Model/form 148 Conference Statistics 150 List of Participants 154 EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT 5 PRESENTATION LETTER FROM MINISTER ALVEAR María Soledad Alvear Valenzuela Minister of Foreign Affairs from Chile For countries that uphold the peaceful solution of controversies and compliance with international law and human rights as principles of their foreign policy, the evolution of conflicts throughout the world and the abandonment of victims –the majority of whom are women and children– makes it mandatory for both States and individuals to join their respective potentials to tackle these problems. Thus, a large number of peace initiatives, such as the Ottawa Convention on Land Mines, the progress made in measures of transparency and mutual trust, the publication of the Defence White Papers, the implementation of Common Standardized Methodologies to Measure Defence Expenditure and, finally, the joint training exercises for peace operations, such as “Cabañas Tamarugal”, recently held in Chile, reveals that States progressively exercise their will to advance towards joint solutions. On the other hand, progress has also been made in the incorporation of women to military and political activities, including peace operations, as a way of maximizing resources and capacities, whilst reducing biased or discriminatory practices. The concern for gender is also evidenced within the legal framework, with the incorporation into the International Criminal Court, of important concepts, where sexual violence against women has been placed at the same level of severity as the crime of genocide, typifying them as crimes against humanity. Both the need and the will to enhance cooperation on matters of common interest was evidenced during the Europe-Latin America and the Caribbean Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1999, and reaffirmed in the 2002 Madrid Summit. On the other hand, through Security Council Resolution 1325/2000, the international community highlighted the urgency of taking gender issues into consideration in Peace Operations, in the most comprehensive and concrete manner possible, and entrusted the Secretary General with this issue. 6 In this context, Chile, Denmark and the European Union decided to contribute by organizing a bi-regional Seminar on “The Role of Women in Peace Operations”, that was held in Santiago, Chile, November 4 and 5, 2002. The aim of this meeting was to exchange experiences on the role of women in United Nations peace operations by listening to the expert opinions that promoted the discussion among participants, both civilian and from uniformed institutions from most of Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union. Representatives from Asia, Africa and North America, as well as the United Nations, academia and Non-Government Organizations, joined these delegations. Both the high level of the presentations and the active interest of participants, led to profound reflections and substantive proposals. The value, relevance and timeliness of the Seminar were also highlighted, as well as the need for it to be translated into new actions and follow-up activities. Among those reflections, it was discussed that equality lies more in the quality of women’s contribution, than in an equal number of participants from both genders, highlighting – for example – that to date not a single peace operation has been led by a woman. It was also agreed that it is the responsibility of women to make full use of spaces that are already open to them. This does not always occur, and not necessarily as a result of the action of men. In view of the above, and responding to the recommendations put forward in the Seminar, we have put this document together, which includes the main contributions made by presenters and delegates from countries and non-government organizations. The aim is to contribute a useful working tool to the authorities that strive to resolve conflicts, both at a national and multilateral level, as well as to contribute to further discussions and encourage follow-up. The generous contributions made by both male and female presenters, as well as delegations, deserves the special gratitude of the Chilean Government because it has generated an extremely interesting debate for the international development of this issue. Likewise, I would like to acknowledge the substantial logistic and contents contributions made by the Governments of Denmark and the European Union that enabled this Seminar to become a reality. For myself, this initiative became a challenge and the presence of all participants, an honour. 7 CARTA DE PRESENTACION MINISTRO JENSBY Svend Aage Jensby Minister of Defence Denmark With its global membership and legitimacy, the United Nations remains the core institution in the international legal order. The United Nations plays a central role in the field of peace and security, and Denmark continues her long- standing support to the United Nations activities to enhance the organisation’s capacity for peacekeeping and to stress the importance of women’s equal participation in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peace building. It is my opinion that during this conference on “Building capacities for Peacekeeping and Women’s dimension in Peace Processes” there was a fruitful exchange of experiences on these items. It is also my opinion that the conference contributed towards peace, stability and progress in Latin America and the Caribbean. Finally let me thank the Government of Chile for hosting the conference. 8 CONFERENCE IMAGES 9 REPORT BY THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY 1. BACKGROUND TO THE SUMMONS Responding to the recommendations of the Europe-Latin America and the Caribbean Summits held in Rio de Janeiro in 1999 and in Madrid in 2002, and aimed at cooperating with the mandate of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325/ 2000, the governments of Chile and Denmark took the initiative of organizing a bi-regional Seminar about “The Role of Women in Peace Operations”, to be held in Santiago on November 4 and 5, 2002. The aim of the Seminar was to exchange opinions among experts and authorities from different countries of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean, the United Nations and Non-Government Organizations, as a contribution to the enhancement of capacities and skills for the management of crisis and prevention of conflicts by expanding and developing the role of women in peace processes. In order to facilitate the participation of all countries invited to the event, Denmark made a substantial contribution that was supplemented by the European Union and Chile. Likewise, we received the generous participation of distinguished world- class presenters. Despite the fact that the countries invited to participate in this Seminar –the first of its kind– were members of the European Union and of Latin America and the Caribbean, it was decided to invite representatives from Asia (Thailand), Africa (South Africa) and North America (Canada) as a way of reaching out to the other continents. 2. GENERAL COMMENTS In response to the objective that was set, practically all countries summoned were present and over 100 participants came together, representing 35 countries, 10 non- government organizations and 17 presenters. Apart from the high authorities of participating countries, we shared the presence and keynote presentations of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Chile, the Minister of Defence