Peace P

The South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation, in collaboration with the Government of Norway, has established an initiative for training and creating a network of mediators, with the ultimate objective of broadening the inclusion of women’s mediation efforts all over the world. UN-Women and the United Nations Department of Political Affairs have also participated in that training programme, and the African Union has included it in its own work.

 South Africa supports efforts to mainstream women’s involvement in peace and security, which can be achieved through further coordination and cooperation between the African Union and the United Nations. That, we believe, can help to formalize the training of women mediators and ensure their effective mainstreaming into United Nations peacebuilding efforts. South Africa would like to encourage the United Nations to develop a database of women mediators that could ensure their meaningful participation in peacebuilding delegations. That would be in addition to cooperation between Member States on training courses designed to help build women’s capacities in various specialized areas of the peace and security environment.