Women must get involved in prevention and resolution of conflicts

Feb 23 2006- (European Parliament) Women must participate on equal terms with men in the prevention and resolution of conflicts as well as in peace-building, said MEPs and invited experts at a hearing held on Monday by the European Parliament's committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. Various speakers called for women to be included in peace negotiations and drew attention to the differing effects of armed conflicts on women and men.

"Women are protagonists for peace. Their participation in peace processes is a sine qua non," said Véronique De Keyser, a Belgian socialist who is drafting an own-initiative report on the situation of women in armed conflicts and their role in reconstruction and the democratic process in countries after a conflict, which will be put to the vote by the committee in June.

Women play all sorts of roles in conflicts: as war victims, as mere instruments used for violence, as carers and also as fighters but they need to take a more active role in the work to achieve peace. The principle of their "equal participation and full involvement in all efforts of the maintenance and promotion of peace and security", in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), is not respected and women are often absent from decision-making on conflict prevention and resolution.

And yet women and children account for a great proportion of those adversely affected by armed conflict. The hearing was told by Amnesty International's Tracy Ullveit-Moe that an estimated 70-90% of war casualties are civilians, the vast majority of them being women and children. In addition 80% of refugees are also women and children. Women in armed conflicts are also often victims of gender-based and other forms of violence. And the problems accumulate: for example mass rapes have contributed to the spread of HIV.

"We women refuse to be enemies," said Luisa Morgantini, an Italian member of the GUE/NGL group, who called for cooperation and dialogue in order to eliminate war from history. Committee chair Anna Záborská said it was important to educate children in families devastated by war, to broaden their minds as they grow up and thus forestall the desire for vengeance.

Elisabeth Rehn (former Finnish Minister of Defence and Equality Affairs and UN Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina) mentioned Rwanda as an example where women were taking an active role, topping the world rankings of equality in national parliaments, and stressing democracy as the key to justice and equality.

Another example, highlighted by Simone Süsskind, member of the cabinet of the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister, was the International Women's Commission for a Just and Sustainable Palestinian-Israeli Peace, a coalition of Palestinian, Israeli and other women. Johanna Clara Degeller (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Netherlands) said research shows that peacekeeping forces which include women and men have a more calming effect in conflict situations. Recruitment of peacekeeping forces from a gender perspective can also be a step towards fighting sexual abuse, i.e. situations where the protectors become perpetrators.

From: http://www.europarl.eu.int/news/public/story_page/014-5633-51-2-8-902-20060223STO05632-2006-20-02-2006/default_en.htm