UNIFEM WOMEN, WAR AND PEACE WEB PORTAL: PEACE NEGOTIATIONS

Civil Society and NGO Reports, Papers and Statements

Statement: Northern Uganda women speak out on Juba talks
The Uganda Women’s Network, 10-14 October 2006
Guided by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security and the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (2004), five women’s organizations with the support of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and under the leadership of the Uganda Women’s Network (UWONET) engaged in consultations from 10 – 14 October in Northern Uganda. These consultations were undertaken to demonstrate solidarity with the women of Northern Uganda and gather the views of women most acutely affected by the 20-year conflict on the current ongoing peace process in Juba.

For full statement, please click HERE

Negotiating Justice? Human Rights and Peace Agreements
International Council on Human Rights Policy (ICHRP), 2006
This report addresses arguments relating to the relationship between human rights and sustainable peace, examining whether human rights provisions assist or hinder the search for peace. It draws on recent peace agreements and identifies which human rights provisions they have included, with some background as to how and why these provisions were included.

For full report, please click HERE

We The Women: Why Conflict Mediation Is Not Just A Job For Men
October 2005, Antonia Potter, The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue
[This]... paper reveals that there are women who will and can make the choice to be senior mediators if they are given the chance to do so. It also suggests that women’s perspective on conflict causes and solutions,their approaches to communication and problem solving,and their very presence as women both symbolically and literally all have significant benefits in the complex arena of conflict mediation... Anniversaries of resolutions and declarations have a tendency to focus the mind. The fifth anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (SCR 1325) on women,peace and security on 31 October 2005 should be no exception.

For complete report, please click here

Recommendations for Peace in Sudan: Women Making the Difference
Women Waging Peace and all conference participants, Washington D.C., USA, 15 October 2004
From 8 to 15 October 2004, Women Waging Peace hosted 16 Sudanese women peace builders for meetings, presentations, and events in New York and Washington, DC. The purpose of this conference was to raise the voices of women peace builders and urge the US government, the UN, other international governmental and non-governmental organizations, and think tanks to promote the inclusion of women in all efforts to bring peace to this troubled country. The recommendations were formulated by the delegation.

In the Midst of War: Women’s Contributions to Peace in Colombia
Women Waging Peace, Policy Commission, Executive Summary, April 2004
This report assesses the importance of a gender perspective in peace negotiations and documents the critical work of women at local, regional, and national levels to mitigate the effects of continued violence on their communities, mobilize for renewed dialogues, and prepare for the next cycle of peace in Colombia.

From Combat to Community: Women and Girls of Sierra Leone
Dyan Mazurana and Khristopher Carlson With Contributions by Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, January 2004

Peace Agreements as a Means for Promoting Gender Equality and Ensuring Participation of Women
Christine Chinkin, London School of Economics. Prepared for the Expert Group Meeting in preparation for the 48th Session for the UN Commission on the Status of Women, 10-13 November 2003
Click here for papers by all experts at the Expert Group Meeting

Women's Journey, Sri Lanka-South Africa
Women’s Journey to Peace: Strengthening the Next Steps Forward Workshop, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 30 January 2003
On 30 January 2003, 28 women and 2 men people gathered at the Social and Economic Development Centre in Colombo to share experiences, explore issues and to strategise on effective steps forward for women and peacebuilding in Sri Lanka. The workshop was the conclusion of a three-week initiative, the Women’s Interfaith Journey - a project of the Henry Martyn Institute (India) held in collaboration with the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka. A 9-woman delegation - 4 from South Africa, 4 from Sri Lanka and 1 from India - travelled throughout Sri Lanka, interacting with community-based organisers, displaced and war-affected peoples, peace activists and analysts, aid workers, teachers, students and members of political and military groups. The aim of the Journey was to see and reflect upon conflict and peace-building from a women’s perspectives, and to learn something of the views, efforts and responses of Sri Lankan women to the ethnic conflict that has so fractured Sri Lankan society. The concluding workshop Women’s Journey to Peace: Strengthening the Next Steps Forward was designed by the Women’s Journey team in consultation with a network of women leaders and their organisations, with the National Peace Council as the collaborating partner. The aim was to highlight women’s current priorities and concerns, giving space to learn from, discuss and lend support to promising new initiatives for building peace. It also provided an opportunity for the South African – Sri Lankan travelling team to share observations and learnings from their 3-week experience and for women leaders to meet, strengthen relationships and strategise for peace.

Women's Concerns and the Peace Process: Recommendations
International Women’s Mission to the North East of Sri Lanka, 12-17 October 2002

Congolese Women Advocate for Participation in the Inter-Congolese Dialogues Using UNSC Resolution 1325
Bibiane Tshefu and PeaceWomen team, 1325 E-Newsletter, 10th Edition, 4 October 2002

Engendering the Peace Process: A Gender Approach to Dayton—and Beyond
Anna Lithander (Ed.). Stockholm: The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, 2000
The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation (KtK) con-tribution to “Women 2000: Gender Equality, De-velopment and Peace for the Twenty First Centu-ry” (Beijing+5) is a report on the gender aspect in the Dayton Peace Accords for Bosnia and Herze-govina and its implementation, based on the Bei-jing Declaration and the Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in September 1995. The Dayton Peace Accords, adopted by the Presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia in December 1995, was the first major peace agreement to be signed after the Beijing conference.

Women at the Peace Table: Making a Difference
Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. New York: United Nations Development Fund for Women, 2000

The Golden Tulip Declaration of Liberian Women Attending the Peace Talks in Accra
Representatives of the various Liberian women's organizations, Accra, Ghana, 15 March 2003
We, the representatives of the various Liberian Women’s Organizations at the Accra Peace Talks on Liberia held a one-day Strategic Planning Meeting under the Chairmanship of Her Excellency Madame Ruth Sando Perry on Friday 15th Day of August A.D. 2003 at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra to analyse lessons learnt at the Accra Peace Talks from 4 June 2003 to present and to strategize on the inclusion of women within all existing and proposed institutions including all components of the current and in-coming Liberian Government (Executive, Legislative and Judiciary) and within all structures to lead the post conflict peace-building process.

Documento del Foro Nacional de la Mujer de Guatemala a Presentar al Grupo Consultivo
Washington, D.C., 11 y 12 de febrero 2002
El Foro Nacional de la Mujer como parte de la institucionalidad de la Paz reafirma que los Acuerdos de Paz siguen siendo la premisa para la construcción de una Democracia Firme y Duradera. En ese contexto las mujeres hemos aportado a la construcción de la Paz y la democracia en Guatemala, el cual sigue siendo uno de los objetivos de nuestra instancia para contribuir en la consolidación e implementación de los Acuerdos de Paz en lo relativo a las mujeres.

UN Documents

Securing the Peace: Guiding the International Community towards Women’s Effective Participation throughout Peace Processes
UN Development Fund for Women, October 2005

UNIFEM Calls for Stronger International Support for Women's Participation in Peace Processes
UNIFEM, Press Release, 18 July 2005

UN Secretary-General's Report on Women, Peace and Security: Peace processes and negotiations
UN Secretary-General to the UN Security Council, S/2004/814, 13 October 2004

Commission on the Status of Women Agreed Conclusions on Women's Equal Participation
CSW 48th Session, 1-12 March 2004

UN Secretary-General's Report on women’s equal participation in conflict prevention, management and conflict resolution and in post-conflict peace-building
22 December 2003, E/CN.6/2004/10, Preparation for the 48th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)

Peace agreements as a means for promoting gender equality and ensuring participation of women – A framework of model provisions: Report of the Expert Group Meeting
EGM/PEACE/2003/REPORT, 10 December 2003, Ottawa, Canada, 10-13 November 2003
The Expert Group Meeting was a civil society-based meeting co-sponsored by the UN Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues (OSAGI), UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and the Goverment of Canada, which was held in preparation for the UN Commission on the Status of Women, 48th Session.

African Women Struggle for a Seat at the Peace Table (html) (pdf)
Michael Fleshman. Africa Recovery. United Nations Department of Public Information, Feb 2003

Assessment Report on Women’s Participation in the Peace Process
Jean Njeri Kamau, Economic Commission For Africa (UN ECA), Mid-Decade Review of the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in the African Region, Sixth Regional Conference On Women, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 22-26 November 1999

Government Statements and Reports

Books, Journals and Articles

MARWOPNET Awarded 2003 United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights
Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS), Press Release, Geneva, 3 December 2003

Women, Political Decision-Making and Peace-Building
Dr. Elisabeth Porter, Southern Cross University. Global Change, Peace and Security. Vol. 15, No. 3, October 2003

Women Demand Place at the Negotiating Table
Joyce Mulama, Inter Press Service News Agency, 9 April 2003
Strategic Initiatives for the Horn of Africa, a regional organization that promotes women's participation in politics, has called for gender issues to be addressed in the Sudanese peace negotiations. ”So far, there is no voice of women in the talks. Women are not visible in whatever has been accomplished at the negotiations and that is why we are advocating for them to have a say in the process, because they are the ones who have been affected most by the civil war in Sudan,” Hale Elkanib, Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Horn of Africa (SIHA), told IPS in Nairobi.

Conflict and Nepali Women
Kamala Sarup, 2003

Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition: Institutionalizing a Political Voice and Ensuring Representation
Kate Fearon, Owning the Process: Public Participation in Peacemaking. Accord: an international review of peace initiatives, No. 13, 2000

The Civil Society Assembly: Shaping Agreement in Guatemala
Enrique Alvarez, Owning the Process: Public Participation in Peacemaking. Accord: an international review of peace initiatives, No. 13, 2000

The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children : A critical review of progress made and obstacles encountered in increasing protection for war-affected children: Chapter 15: Women and Peace Processes
Graca Machel, International Conference on War-Affected Children, follow-up on the 1996 Machel Report, Winnipeg, Canada, 2000

Women Start Taking their Places at the Peace Table
Miriam H. Zoll, The American News Service
This report examines the importance of women's involvement in conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction, explaining how such involvement strengthens development and economic recovery. Cambodia, Guatemala, Burundi, and the Middle East are used as case studies to show how women in these regions have been making their voices heard in peace efforts and negotiations.