Women Cross DMZ And Nobel Women’s Initiative Statement On June 12 Singapore Summit

In this statement, Women Crozz DMZ and the Nobel Women's Initiative applaud US, North Korea and South Korea for their historic summit. However, the statement calls on leaders to include women in all parts of the peace process. 

Read or download the statement below, or read the original by Women Cross DMZ here. 

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Women Cross DMZ and the Nobel Women’s Initiative congratulate US President Donald Trump and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un for their historic June 12, 2018 Summit in Singapore. They committed to establish new relations and build a lasting peace and they set forth a process to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. By resuming the repatriation of U.S. servicemen remains to their families, the leaders prioritized reconciliation and healing for millions of families. It is indeed a new day on the Korean Peninsula and for world peace.

We applaud President Donald Trump, Chairman Kim Jong Un and President Moon for giving hope to people on the Korean Peninsula and around the world that peace is possible through diplomacy and political will. They demonstrated that meeting adversaries was not a concession but meeting face-to-face can yield an enduring peace in a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

Reaching a peace agreement, implementing it, and ensuring thatit lasts, however, necessitate women’s inclusion at all stages of the peace process, from sitting at the negotiating table to helping to draft the agreement, to making it real in their homes and communities.

Decades of research now show that women’s inclusion in peace processes leads to a peace agreement and a far more durable one when women help draft it. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, “The participation of civil society groups, including women’s organizations, makes a peace agreement 64 percent less likely to fail. When women participate in peace processes, the resulting agreement is 35 percent more likely to last at least fifteen years.”

As women leaders who have long called for a Peace Treaty to formally end the Korean War, we urge all the leaders to honor their governments’ commitment to UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, which calls for women’s participation at all decision-making levels in conflict resolution and peace processes.

We urge President Trump, Chairman Kim, and President Moon to continue on this path of courage. To ensure that the peace agreement comes to fruition is up to the Korean people, North and South, and the people of the United States and countries that fought under the UN Command in the Korean War. Given the critical window to secure a lasting peace, women must have a seat in the official peace process.