Source:
CRTD.A
Collective for Research and Training on Development-Action (CRTD.A), a Beirut-based non-government organisation (NGO) working on gender and development issues, provides this 11 August 2006 three-part report on the security and humanitarian situation in Lebanon.
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BACKGROUND
Throughout the world women are disproportionately represented among the civilian casualties of wars and among populations displaced by conflict. However, women are not simply the passive victims of war.
Women have always been at the forefront of the peace movement and the women's movement has a long history of working towards building new visions of peace and security, which place human concerns at their centre.
In countries and regions afflicted by long-standing conflicts, like Colombia, the Sudan, or the Middle East, grassroots women's organisations have developed peace-building practices and promote reconciliation processes at community level. However, in general high-level peace talks do not include women and their peace-building work is not valued or visible. As a result, women's organizations, supported by numerous international civil society initiatives, are demanding that both women and a gender perspective be integrated throughout formal and informal peace processes to prevent violent conflict, stop war, and sustain peace.
Increasingly women's organisations are making their voices heard in protest against the tendency towards militarism that has risen sharply all over the world since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on 11 September 2001, and the subsequent "war on terrorism" launched by the United States.
Peacekeeping presence
"In the past decade, increasing numbers of accounts have surfaced of violations committed by peacekeepers against civilians, during peacekeeping operations. The impacts on communities are devastating when targeted by those who often represent their last hope for security and stability.
It had been documentend a rise in sex trafficking of children and women in places where there is a peacekeeping presence. While the causes for such violence on the part of peacekeeping troops have not been fully explored, sexual violence against women around any military culture is not new. What has been discussed even less is the effect of utilizing troops from former colonial powers in decolonized territories as well as the prevalence of racist attitudes and beliefs among the troops when deployed to communities about which they have little knowledge or understanding". (From Peace Women)
In a statement issued on 23 October 2002, regarding the possibility of an imminent war against Iraq, NGOs urged the UN Security Council to consult with women's organizations and members of civil society inside and outside Iraq, emphasizing the importance of hearing the voices of women who are on the frontline and holding communities together on a daily basis.
Security Council resolution 1325 was unanimously adopted during the Namibian Presidency of the Security Council on 31 October 2000. It is a watershed political framework that makes women – and a gender perspective – relevant to negotiating peace agreements, planning refugee camps and peacekeeping operations and reconstructing war-torn societies.
Women's voices on 11 September and the US "war on terrorism"
Statement on the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington DC, by GABRIELA Network, a US-based women's solidarity organization working with GABRIELA Philippines, an alliance of 105 women's organizations.
Audio archives of interviews with Colombian, Palestinian and Israeli, and Afghan women from the Feminist International Radio Endeavour (FIRE) Webcast Marathon on 8 March 2002.
Audio files from the seven Peacecasts transmitted between 14 September - 14 November 2001, providing a forum for women activists from around the world to discuss peace, justice and conflict resolution in a globalized world.
At the International Forum of the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), more than 1200 women leaders from 105 countries voiced their opposition to US plans to attack Iraq (06/10/2002).
The Peace Train traveled through six African countries, sending out a message to African leaders, war mongers, armies, guerrillas and arms' traders that African women want peace and stability for their children and future generations.
Ann Jones is writing from the heart of the war against women and children: "In recent years, every kind of horror has been inflicted on girls and women in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Côte d'Ivoire because they are female. If females were a particular ethnic group -Albanians, let's say, or Tutsis- or if they espoused a particular religion, as did Bosnian Muslims, we could recognize what goes on as a kind of "gender cleansing" or mass femicide. But we don't speak of crimes against women in that way. When did you last hear someone speak of "crimes against women" at all?". February 2008.
Awut Deng, peace mobiliser for the Nairobi-based New Sudan Council of Churches, has made it her lifework to promote the rights of people in southern Sudan in general and women in particular.
A coalition of Jewish and Palestinian women, citizens of Israel, representatives of various women’s organizations and individuals, who coordinate and organize joint activities in order to work together for a just peace, based on the belief that there is no democracy without peace and no peace without women.
An International Movement of Women for Peace, which began in Jerusalem in January 1988 and currently holds vigils throughout the world to protest the Israeli occupation.
The shared set of political principles, which serve as the foundation for a cooperative model of co-existence, drawn up by the Jerusalem Link (founded 1994), a coordinating body between two independent women’s centers: Bat Shalom, the Jerusalem Women’s Action Center, on the Israeli side, and Marcaz al-Quds la l-Nissah, the Jerusalem Center for Women, on the Palestinian side.
Thirty-five Israeli and international women leaders and activists have established the first-ever global commission working to guarantee women’s full participation in formal and informal Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.The group expects to formally launch the Commission in September 2005. (August 2005).
Israeli and Palestinian authorities must take concrete steps to put an end to the suffering of Palestinian women, who have been affected in every aspect of their lives by the conflict, Amnesty International said in a new report. "Palestinian women have borne the brunt of the escalation of the conflict and decades of Israeli occupation, while in Palestinian society they are subjected to a system of laws and norms that treats them as unequal members of society," said Amnesty International. March 2005.
It is an Israeli national feminist grassroots organization of Jewish and Palestinian Israeli women working together for a genuine peace grounded in a just resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict, respect for human rights, and an equal voice for Jewish and Arab women within Israeli society.
PeaceWomen.org seeks to nurture communication among a diversity of women's organisations by providing an accessible and accurate information exchange between peace women around the world and the UN system.
Founded in 1915 to protest the war then raging in Europe, WILPF aims to bring together women of different political and philosophical convictions, united in their determination to study and make known and help abolish the political, social, economic and psychological causes of war and to work for a constructive peace.
The goal of Women Waging Peace is to change the public policy paradigm so women are fully integrated throughout formal and informal peace processes to prevent violent conflict, stop war, and sustain peace in fragile regions.
Women dedicated to the cause of international disarmament, who oppose their governments' huge military expenditures and urge that their countries' wealth be devoted, instead, to meeting needs such as education, housing, health care, and protection of the environment.
Delegates discussed women issues related with poverty, economic development, decision making, education, health, media and ICT, armed conflict, violence, disaster situations and gender mainstreaming. They also adopted the Putrajaya Declaration and Programme of Action. They also committed to promote the role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts. May 2005.
This report profiles three women in conflict zones who confront terror by working for peaceful resolutions and reports on the extraordinary price non-combatant women pay for war.
This conference (November 4-5, 2002) was an initiative of the governments of Chile and Denmark, on behalf of the European Union, the purpose of which was to 'increase cooperation between both regions by exchanging ideas concerning the role of women in peace processes and peace operations'.
The growing acceptance of women war correspondents is ushering in a new kind of reporting for the new-style war -one in which the casualties are women and children more often than soldiers.
This document is designed to provide guidance to organisations working in the field of conflict management, by drawing operational lessons from our increasing understanding of the inter-relationship of gender equality issues, conflict and peacebuilding.
South Asia Forum for Human Rights (SAFHR) programme to tap women's experience of conflict as a resource in conflict resolution and strengthen their capacity for peace building, and to explore whether there is a gendered notion of peace and a gendered praxis of peace making.
Report on U.S. unilateralism and international agreements as conventions, treaties, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population & Development (ICPD) and Kyoto Protocol.(pdf format)
Women and girls bear the brunt of armed conflicts fought today both as direct targets and as unrecognized "collateral damage". Lives Blown Apart - a new report in Amnesty International's campaign, Stop Violence Against Women, calls for global action to challenge both the violence and the failure of governments to prevent it.
Teenage girls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo who were repeatedly raped by militiamen are being sexually exploited
by U.N. peacekeepers who give the girls food in exchange for sex. (doc format)
This resource list covers the broad issue of women, gender and peacekeeping. Women and girls are often neglected in the delivery of protection and assistance during conflict and in post-conflict reconstruction. UNIFEM helps mobilize protection, humanitarian, psycho-social and economic assistance for women. Special focus is given to preventing gender-based violence and sexual exploitation and improving the monitoring and reporting of gender-based violations.
Although the blue helmets were initially welcomed by their hosts for their anticipated contributions to peace, they may impact negatively on women's security in conflict countries, as they are often the perpetrators of acts of gender violence against the vulnerable populations they are mandated to protect. May 2004.
One of the United Nations' toughest missions in Africa is facing allegations that peacekeeping troops as well as civilian UN personnel have been involved in the systematic sexual abuse of minors. Preliminary UN investigations showed that the abuse might have been much more widespread than initial claims involving Uruguayan, Nepalese and Moroccan peacekeepers and possibly others including civilian UN personnel.
Organized by the Colombian 'Paz y País' National Congress, 8-9 May 2002, this Consultation aimed to strengthen the perspectives and participation of women within the Colombian peace process.
Interviews and information on the Colombian women's peace movement to mark International Women's Day 2002, from the Feminist International Radio Endeavour.
A caravan of around 1,250 indigenous and afro-Colombian women and women's rights activists drove into an area of southwestern Colombia that is caught up in fighting between leftist guerrillas and the army, for a ”Visit to the Family”. July 2005.
Report on Colombian women, how they bear the brunt of this war and the ways they have found to be active in numerous peace efforts. This article also informs of the two million displaced persons, the Plan Colombia and the Bush Administration, the emphasis on militarization over peace negotiations, U.S. oil interests, and other issues.
The women's conference at the ASF analyzed how globalization has changed the face of militarization and patriarchy, and how war and militarization have become accepted as normal.
Women's Initiative for Peace (WINPEACE) was launched by women from Greece and Turkey in July 1997. Its aims include taking joint action in building a culture of peace and enhancing women's role in conflict resolution, developing non-violent solutions to problems and tensions, and urging the Greek and Turkish governments to reduce their military budgets.
Call to strengthen global women to women solidarity in order to overcome the present humanitarian crisis and support future recovery efforts. International solidarity Whilst Israel continues its aggression on the peoples of Lebanon and amidst increasing humanitarian crisis, regional and international solidarity amongst peoples, and particularly the women's movement, has become an essential requirement for steadfastness and resistance. August 2006.
From 16-17 October, 350 women from South Korea and 300 women form North Korea held a Women's Unification Rally for Peace and the Implementation of the June 15th Joint Declaration at Mount Kumgang.
This study, submitted by the UN Secretary-General to the Security Council in October 2002, looks at the impact of armed conflict on women and girls, the role of women in peace-building and the gender dimensions of peace processes and conflict resolution, including recommendations on including women in peace talks (pdf format).
Final Report of the conference organized jointly by UNESCO, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, in Hanoi, 6-9 December 2000.
Women’s protection in armed conflict and their centrality to conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peace building is a primary concern of the international community. Yet the deliberate killing, rape, mutilation, forced displacement, abduction, trafficking and torture of women and girls continue unabated in contemporary armed conflicts. As soldiers, as refugees, as survivors of landmine incidents and sexual violence, women experience conflict differently than men. For almost ten years, the United National Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), in co-operation with governments, other United Nations bodies, international and national organizations and non-governmental partners, has assisted women in conflict situations and supported their participation in peace processes. This work is guided by international humanitarian and human rights standards.
Security Council resolution 1325 was unanimously adopted during the Namibian Presidency of the Security Council on 31 October 2000. It is a watershed political framework that makes women – and a gender perspective – relevant to negotiating peace agreements, planning refugee camps and peacekeeping operations and reconstructing war-torn societies.
UN Security Council Report of the Secretary-General (16 October 2002) The Secretary General was asked to compile subsequent reports on the issue in 2004 and 2005.(pdf format).
Report commissioned by UNIFEM on the impact of armed conflict on women and women's role in peace-building. Vol. 1 of Progress of the World's Women 2002.
Keynote Address by Jayantha Dhanapala, UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, at the Fourth Annual Women Waging Peace Colloquium (2-8 November).
Security Council Resolution 1325 was passed unanimously on 31 October 2000. Resolution (S/RES/1325) is the first resolution ever passed by the Security Council that specifically addresses the impact of war on women, and women's contributions to conflict resolution and sustainable peace.
Paper presented by Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, Deputy Minister of Defense, Republic of South Africa, at the WIIS workshop 'New bridges to peace: enhancing national and international security by expanding policy dialogues among women', April 2001 (pdf format).
Recommendations made in July 2000 by Dr Zieba Shorish-Shamely, of Women's Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan (WAPHA) before the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, regarding the peace initiative set by the United Nations.
According to Rosalind Petchesky, a "new notion of sovereignty" is not actually new but simply more concentrated in the present scenario. It has an uncanny resemblance to a threshold state involving the suspension of ordinary law, constitutional protections, civil and human rights, treaty obligations, a suspension of the juridical order itself. The author seeks to explore the underlying principles and logics of the United States' imperial and military designs and how they mutate from making war to defining health, trade and sexuality. Pdf formast, May 14, 2006.
Paper by Donna Ramsey Marshall (United States' Institue of Peace) exploring the role of women's NGOs in dispute resolution and postconflict reconstruction and peacebuilding.
A look at recent resources on the issue of gender and peacekeeping. One focus is on the recent Commission on the Status of Women Agreed Conclusions on "Women's equal participation in conflict prevention, management and conflict resolution and in post-conflict peace-building". 18 June, 2004. By Janice Duddy.
Overview of the situation of women at times of war and peace which explode some prevalent myths,including the assumption that the war front is separate from the home front or that women are always victims in times of conflict. Some reports argue that such analysis is simplistic and that at times the very terminology used to define conflict, war, and the war front can be misleading.
"In the beginning of the so called 21st Century, on one of the least civilized planets of the universe, the economic, political, symbolic, social and military power was in the hands of a few sick men who suffered from such a severe misogyny that they had come to despise life itself". By Alda Facio, writer and international expert on women's human rights, violence against women and feminist analysis of the law. Pdf format.
Armed conflict negatively affects women and men and results in gender-specific disadvantages, particularly for women, which are not always recognised or addressed by mainstream, gender-blind approaches to conflict and reconstruction. Gender inequality reflects power imbalances in social structures that exist in pre-conflict periods and are exacerbated by armed conflict and its aftermath.
