Call for Stronger Women's Role in Conflict Resolution

November 25, 2002 - (IRIN) Women must play a pivotal role in bringing an end to wars that have ravaged the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia's minister for women said on Monday.

Gifty Abasiya, Minister of State in Charge of Women's Affairs in the Prime Minister's Office, pointed out that the victims of war were women and children. She was speaking at a conference sponsored by the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism (CEWARN).

"It is well-known that our sub-region has, in the last decade, faced all sorts of man-made natural calamities," she told delegates at the UN's Conference Centre in Addis Ababa.

"Coupled with the overall political insecurity - chaos, disorder and conflicts ravaging the sub-region have victimised the women of our region," she said. "It will not be an exaggeration if I say that conflicts in our region have had the most negative effects on our development."

According to research by IGAD, some 80 percent of refugees and internally displaced people due to conflict are women and children.
"Although the involvement of women is considered to be vital for ensuring sustainable peace, women have so far been marginalised and do not participate fully in decision making of conflict prevention and resolution as well as peace initiatives," she stated.

Bakoko Bakoru Zoe, Uganda's Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, said women have always had to carry the burden of war.

"Women suffer from the disease and poverty that war also brings and yet we are not allowed to be involved in the process of conflict resolution," she said. "All the ministry of defense officials and ministry of foreign affairs are men. These are the people who started the war, yet we are excluded."