New Bridges To Peace
Lesley Abdela
FYI - circulated by Lesley Abdela's office
January 2002
A discussion on the near-total exclusion of women from the world's peace-processes
Last April, 40 women leaders from international organisations, the US
Government, the Military, Academia and local NGOs met at a 2-day seminar
conducted by the Washington DC-based organisation Women In International
Security (WIIS). The full notes can be accessed on
www.wiis.org/whatsnew.htm
Speakers included Fatima Gailani of the National Islamic Front of
Afghanistan, Shirin Tahir-Kheli of Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced
International Studies, South Africa's Deputy Minister of
Defence, Nozizwe
Madlala-Routledge, and the UN's Funmi Olonisakin.
Excerpt:
'Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge cited many examples of women's
exclusion from the
formal peacebuilding process:
"At the Dayton Peace Talks there were no women present in the regional
delegations. At Rambouillet there was one Kosovar woman.
At Arusha, the women's delegation only had observer status.
There is a serious discontinuity here as women are very active in
grassroots
peacebuilding organisations. The exclusion of women from peacekeeping,
peacemaking and decision-making in the aftermath of war means
that peace is
not achieved or it fails to address key issues - in these
situations, peace
is not meaningful."'
'One of the main conclusions of the workshop was that women
need to bridge
the gap between grassroots organizations and governments by
incorporating
the knowledge women's NGOs have gained on the ground into formal
policymaking processes... Funmi Olonisakin (United Nations) argued "The
potential for women to contribute to conflict-prevention
strategies must be
translated to vital political roles at the highest levels of
governance"'
lesley.abdela@shevolution.com
© Lesley Abdela 2002
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