Peace Negotiations

Women, War, Peace and Peace Negotiations

 


Introduction 

Women organize for peace in their communities and at the national and regional level, but they are rarely a part of the official peace process from the start. Formal negotiations that exclude half the population from the political process have little hope of popular support. The marginalization of women from equal participation in peace negotiations denies half the population equal access to the political process and denies all people the benefits of having a female perspective in political decision-making. It is not enough to have some “token women”, however capable, at the highest levels of decision-making. More women need to be included at all levels of decision-making. In addition, women with a comprehension of social justice and gender equality can make peace negotiations more effective . more...

Women have made a difference in the peace negotiations to which they have gained access. In Northern Ireland , women's groups spent a decade building the trust between Protestants and Roman Catholics that was the foundation for the ultimate agreements. more... In Southeastern Europe, women from Kosovo's new Assembly have banded together across party lines to form a women's caucus - a non-partisan effort in a community traumatized by conflict and ethnic strife. more... In Somalia women presented themselves as a ‘sixth clan’ that reached beyond ethnicity to a “vision of gender equality”. The women ultimately helped create a National Charter that guaranteed women 25 seats in the 245-member Transitional National Assembly (TNA), and protected the human rights of women, children, and minorities as well . In Nicaragua and the Philippines , women became leaders at times of national fatigue or reaction, symbolizing healing and reconciliation.

Quotas alone cannot guarantee the emergence of a “gender perspective” in the political process, although such a perspective is more likely to develop when a critical mass of women are in decision-making positions. Quotas must be viewed a temporary solution to increase gender balance. They are the first step on the path to gender equality, both a practical and a symbolic measure to support women’s leadership. They cannot, however, replace long-term strategies that address the socio-economic constraints that keep women from participating in political process. more...

Key Terms

Definitions are drawn from the University of Colorado Conflict Research Consortium's International Online Training Programme on Intractable Conflict, the UN Department of Political Affairs, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies “Conflict Management Toolkit”.

  • Track I diplomacy is carried out by state and/or official actors with the authority and on behalf of their state or multinational organization. more...

  • Track II Diplomacy (also called “citizen diplomacy” ) is carried out by unofficial third party mediators or facilitators, usually actors representing non-governmental organizations engaged in activity at the grassroots level and back channel measures. more...

  • The term empowerment is used to refer to a number of processes, but all involve giving one or more parties to a conflict more power. This may be in relation to another party, or it may involve increasing the power (and hence efficacy) of all of the parties at the same time. The most common use of the term "empowerment" refers to increasing the power of the low-power group, so that it more nearly equals the power of the high power group. more...

  • Conciliation involves efforts by a third party to improve the relationship between two or more disputants. It may be done as a part of mediation, or independently. more...

  • Conflict prevention is intended to prevent human suffering and act as an alternative to costly politico-military operations to resolve conflicts after they have broken out. more...

  • Consensus decision making requires all participants must agree before formal decisions or action are taken. Such processes provide a basis for interest-based negotiations and are a primary mechanism through which win-win agreements are negotiated. more...

  • Constituents, or one's constituency, refers to the people a decision maker represents. The constituents of a governmental leader are the citizens he or she represents in Parliament or other legislative body. more...

  • Escalation is an increase in intensity of a conflict. According to Dean Pruitt and Jeffery Rubin (1986, 7-8), as a conflict escalates, the disputants change from relatively gentle opposition to heavier, more confrontational tactics. The number of parties tends to increase, as do the number of issues, and the breadth of the issues (that is, issues change from ones which are very specific to more global concerns). more...

  • Mediation is one of several approaches to conflict resolution that uses a "third party" intermediary to help the disputing parties resolve their conflict. Unlike arbitration, where the third party actually makes the decision about how the conflict should be resolved, mediators only assist the parties in their efforts to formulate a solution of their own. more...

  • The term multi-track diplomacy has been developed recently to reflect the idea that international exchanges can take many forms beyond official negotiations between diplomats. more...

  • Negotiation is bargaining—it is the process of discussion and give-and-take between two or more disputants who seek to find a solution to a common problem. more...

  • The parties are the people who are involved in the dispute. Most parties are disputants--the people who are in conflict with each other. Other parties—often called "third parties,"—are parties that intervene in the dispute to try to help the disputants resolve it. Mediators and judges, for example, are third parties. more...

  • Peace-building refers to all external efforts to assist countries and regions in their transitions from war to peace, and include all activities and programmes designed to support and strengthen these transitions. The UN's role is often centered on facilitating the implementation of a peace agreement. more...

  • Peacekeeping is the prevention or ending of violence within or between nation-states through the intervention of an outside third party that keeps the warring parties apart. Unlike peacemaking, which involves negotiating a resolution to the issues in conflict, the goal of peacekeeping is simply preventing further violence. more...

  • Peacemaking refers to the use of diplomatic means to persuade parties in conflict to cease hostilities and to negotiate a peaceful settlement of their dispute. As with preventive action, the United Nations can often play a role if the parties to the dispute agree that it should do so. Peacemaking thus excludes the use of force against one of the parties to enforce an end to hostilities, an activity that in United Nations parlance is referred to as “peace enforcement”. more... 

International Organizations & Instruments 

UNIFEM Action & Analysis

UNIFEM has supported women’s rights and women’s participation in all stages of peace processes and peace consolidation. From supporting women’s organizations to advocate for inclusion in peace negotiations, to galvanizing for peace through peace caravans, UNIFEM works to amplify women’s voices for peace. UNIFEM has also worked to convene women’s rights advocates in country-wide consultations, and draft women’s priorities in peace negotiations, and supported their participation in peace talks. In 2007 UNIFEM launched a 6-country programme "Supporting Women's Engagement in Peace Building and Preventing Sexual Violence: Community-led Approaches" which will look at community-level initiatives to enhance women's participation in peacebuilding. Some examples of UNIFEM’s work include:

  • In Burundi , women's participation in the peace process was enhanced when the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation, under whose auspices the peace talks took place, invited UNIFEM to brief the negotiating parties and facilitation team on gender issues relating to the peace accord. With experts from Guatemala , Uganda and Zambia , UNIFEM provided advice on post-war and reconstruction issues such as land rights, repatriation, women's access to serve in public office, the resettlement and reintegration of refugees, judicial and electoral systems, and constitution and land reform. The successful integration of gender equality into the Arusha process by Burundi women was pivotal in demonstrating to the world that women's participation can make a tangible and substantive difference to peace processes. This played an important role in bringing the Security Council, in October 2000, during Namibia 's Presidency, to convene its first open debate on Women and Peace and Security. 

  • In 2002, UNIFEM continued to provide support the Government of Burundi in the development of a national gender policy. In collaboration with AFRICARE Burundi supported a four month reconciliation program for women IDPS, returnees and stayees in Gitega and Kausi focusing on concepts of conflict resolution and peace building with an emphasis on communication, networking and both gender sensitive and culturally appropriate values that promote reconciliation and peace. 

  • In the DRC, UNIFEM was instrumental in the formation of a Women's Political Caucus. UNIFEM was invited to work with the office of President Maisre, facilitator of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue (ICD), to develop a strategy to support women's participation in the dialogue and to address gender aspects of the peace process. UNIFEM worked with women's organizations and the facilitator's office to support participation of 67 women's delegates and experts to the dialogue. Commitment was made to provide further technical assistance to the Facilitator's office in the last round of negotiations. 

  • To prepare for the October 2002 IGAD peace process in Somalia , UNIFEM trained fifty female leaders in mediation and negotiation from a gender perspective. UNIFEM held a seminar for female delegates to the Somali peace negotiations, providing them with the language of Resolution 1325 to be used in the negotiations. To cope with the lack of governmental cohesion in Somalia , UNIFEM supported community dialogues to involve local women in the peace process. UNIFEM also provided ten Somali NGOs with concrete training in strategic planning, conflict resolution and paralegal skills. 

  • In celebration of the 5th anniversary (2005) of Security Council Resolution 1325 and the creation of a new United Nations Peacebuilding Commission, UNIFEM completed a new Peace and Security publication, “Securing the Peace: Guiding the International Community towards Women’s Effective Participation throughout Peace Processes.” This publication highlights the importance of women’s involvement at all stages of peace processes in order to ensure sustainable and long-term peace. The opportunities afforded in the transition from war to peace open a window to address root causes of conflict and to transform institutions, structures and relationships within society.

  • In Uganda , UNIFEM supported women’s participation in the Juba peace process through a number of initiatives, including the launching of a women’s peace caravan, supporting advocates to meet with the parties to the negotiations, and supporting a national women’s peace coalition to develop peace priorities.

Tools & Checklists

 

 

 

UN Documents

  • Expert Group Meeting, organised by the Division for the Advancement of Women, the Office of the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues, and the Department of Political Affairs, "Peace agreements as a means for promoting gender equality and ensuring participation of women – A framework of model provisions", 10-13 November 2003, Ottawa , Canada.

Independent Experts' Assessment & Recommendations

The Independent Experts' Assessment on Women, War, Peace and Peace Processes and the accompanying recommendations can be accessed in this archive: Peace Processes Archive