Are women included or excluded in Post-Conflict Reconstruction? : A Case study from East Timor
Catherine Scott, CIIR, 30 June 2003

In answering this question from an East Timorese perspective, and probably from most other cases which we will discuss today, we might first ask the question which women are we talking about? Women are from most points of view not a homogenous category, and issues which impinge on women are cross cut by other factors affecting their status, beit marital status, age, class, race and so on.

Conflicts also vary considerably. The conflict which took place in East Timor was not unlike some of the African wars of liberation – an interrupted decolonisation process followed by resistance to and eventual liberation from a particularly brutal neo-colonial occupation. But the involvement of women in conflict as well as peace-making and reconstruction can vary depending on the nature of the war in question. Women often play a much bigger part in a national liberation conflict than one where conflicting interests and nationalisms result in armed conflict. The roles they play in conflicts – which also vary considerably – may also have a bearing on how women are involved in post conflict reconstruction.

The case of East Timor is now often written up as a success story in international intervention – in terms both of the Interfet force which entered three weeks after the Indonesian army and their militia henchmen had raised the country to the ground in 1999, UNTAET, the UN administration which supervised the transition to independence, as well as an example of good practice in gender mainstreaming.

In broad terms this is probably right in relation to all three, but I hope that my presentation here today will introduce some nuances and qualifications to dominant suppositions.

To introduce some perspective straight away, let’s be clear that in East Timor, the majority of women are illiterate, uneducated subsistence farmers. The majority live in rural areas, in an overwhelmingly patriarchal society shaped by centuries of indigenous cultures and religious beliefs, and influenced also by the overlaying gendered impact of Portuguese colonialism and (mostly) Catholic Christianity. They have been marginalised from politics, and collective community agency has been hampered not only by cultural norms, but also by colonial and neo-colonial obstacles, felt most acutely over the last 25 years during the suffocating and brutal Indonesian occupation.

Many feminist analysts of conflict, peace and reconstruction issues point out the fact that the extent to which women are included or excluded in post-conflict reconstruction depends heavily upon their involvement in earlier phases – during the conflict itself, as well as in peace-making initiatives/formal negotiations leading into the reconstruction phase. This case to some degree bears this out, although there are cases from elsewhere which could arguably be said to buck the trend.

East Timorese women have overcome significant barriers in securing the degree of participation that has been achieved over the past ten years in all of these phases. I should clarify though that I am talking about a relatively small elite group of educated women who have pioneered and led such endeavours. Significant gains were made at important junctures and so influenced the eventual outcome.

East Timorese women activists have pointed out the extent to which the entire resistance movement against the Indonesian occupation was dependent on their contribution. Not only were a small number of women combatants themselves, but they played an indispensable role in the clandestine networks which became the lifeline and courier service of the resistance fighters. The extent to which they were included at a decision-making level is an ongoing debate, but their role has been acknowledged by many men to have been decisive.

The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 1979, was the first international treaty specifically dedicated to women’s rights. Throughout the 1990s, more international legislation came into play supporting women’s rights and entitlements such the Beijing Platform for Action, the UN resolution against violence against women, the Rome Statute and the definition of rape as a war crime, leading up to UNSC Resolution 1325. These developments spurred on East Timorese women leaders, particularly activists working from the diaspora. These women, often active in the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT) umbrella, were freer to network and organise politically than their sisters in East Timor, who were nonetheless organising to counter pressing concerns such as violence against women. Here are some examples of their achievements. In enumerating this series of milestones, I want to point out that this case demonstrates the necessity of women of the nationality in question themselves being prepared to fight the battles to mainstream gender. The UN cannot do this for them (in fact cannot always be trusted to exemplify its own commitments), and their own role will make the difference.

Milestones

In the early 1990s, East Timorese women attempted to break into the All-inclusive intra-East Timorese dialogue – a series of dialogues/peace negotiations which had, after the first initiative, been taken over by the UN. It was a hard battle, and progress, even by 1999, was slow. From one female participant out of 30 men they raised it to 4 over a six-year period. Neither the UN nor East Timorese male political leaders demonstrated very much seriousness in addressing this issue.

Women activists sought to bring women’s issues up in key East Timorese resistance meetings from the mid-1990s onwards, but this was especially important from 1998 onwards. Milena Pires introduced the notion of gender mainstreaming at a key strategic planning conference held at the University of Melbourne in April 1999. Women activists pushed it relentlessly thereafter.

At key junctures, it still looked as if gender would be sidelined. It was East Timorese women activists who managed to retrieve the situation.
The first was in late 1999 when CNRT cadres gathered in Darwin to formulate new political structures for the transition. The first model they came up with contained plans for a prominent gender unit. When the plans changed so as to merge CNRT structures into a joint one with United Nations Transition Administration in East Timor, UNTAET, the gender unit was temporarily lost, as the UN cadres involved did not see it as such a priority.

East Timorese women insisted upon its reinstatement, and originally it was to be placed in the office of the SRSG. But the plans were modified to save money, and it looked as if it unit would be abolished. Again East Timorese women campaigned furiously, and it was eventually positioned in the office of the deputy SRSG, under the Governance and Public Administration pillar. With an allocation of three staff it set to work to advocate for gender equity and equality according to the UN Beijing Platform for Action, and in the light of an East Timorese version of the platform which had been agreed at a Major women’s congress held in Dili in June 2000.

In late 2000/early 2001 women began organising ahead of the first free elections. A temporary legislative body had been set up containing 36 representatives called the National Council. In this forum, some women representatives campaigned for affirmative action – a 30% quota for women candidates to be included on party lists for election to the constituent assembly. The proposal was defeated. Women activists involved alleged that UN Electoral Affairs, which had threatened to pull out if quotas were accepted, had colluded with their more traditionalist male political leaders in a conspiracy to defeat the proposal. Again it was East Timorese women who re-strategised and eventually succeeded in ensuring that more than a quarter of candidates elected to the assembly turned out to be women.

The activists interacted effectively with internationals in their strategy. When the quota campaign failed, they enlisted the direct support of the SRSG, who astutely refused air-time to political parties registering for the election unless they could demonstrate their commitment to gender equity in the positioning of candidates. Having internationalised their campaign for quotas early in the year, they were able to capitalise on a ready-made international supporter group, which lobbied the UN at critical junctures.

Key international staff placed in the UNTAET gender affairs unit also worked hard and effectively to ensure that women’s leadership training took place, and that key ministries were encouraged to mainstream gender. Gender issues were pushed in relation to the national development plan. Most UN agencies operating in East Timor included gender considerations in their planning. Most importantly of all, women campaigned to ensure that constitutional clauses were incorporated enshrining women’s equality and commitment to international legal norms that will guarantee this.

Fretilin, the most prominent political party was lobbied specifically with regard to the positioning of a future women’s ministry. Assurances were given that this would be place in the office of the prime minister. These were honoured, and Maria Domingas Alves Fernandes, East Timor’s gender advisor to the prime minister heads up the Office for the Promotion of Equality.

East Timorese women have been effective at countering cultural relativist arguments that gender equity is a foreign imposition. They have pursued a rights based approach, and armed with a succession of pro-gender resolutions obtained at a series of CNRT resistance conferences between 1998 and 2000, were successful in gaining governmental assent to the signing of CEDAW. This took place on 16th April this year.

The role of the international community

These examples have illustrated a number of occasions where UN practice hampered rather than helped East Timorese women. The message sent out when the UN appoints nearly all the key positions in UN administrations to male internationals severely undermines the potency of UN agreements on gender equity. It also sends out a powerful signal to indigenous men. This was overwhelmingly the case with the UNTAET administration. The ET women’s organisation Fokupers, also complained about the lack of female personnel available in the UN police force to deal with the huge number of cases of sexual violence. Brahimi recommended fairer gender balance in peace support operations (PSOs), but current figures suggest that women represent only around 6% of military personnel, and 16% of Civpol operations in existant PSOs. So governments such as our own really must lead by example, and that must presumably start with boosting female military and police recruitment at home. News this week that the new UN police chief in East Timor is to be a woman is a welcome development. We need many more such announcements however, before the gender equity message begins to be taken seriously.

The future of gender mainstreaming in East Timor

Post independence East Timor boasts five women in ministerial positions, and 26% of the parliament are women. But we all know that it takes more than positioning women in decision-making positions to make real progress on gender mainstreaming. Indeed some women in positions of authority still have little understanding of gender concepts, and are susceptible to being over-ruled by their male counterparts. There remains a huge need for capacity building and training. Donor governments can ensure that they contribute both commitment, funds and expertise to these initiatives. East Timor’s women parliamentarians have so far been unable to unite across party lines in favour of policies which will favour them, and it will take sometime for the need for this to become apparent and for women to find the appropriate mechanisms. Again, both practical and financial support in building the capacities of women parliamentarians is crucial.

Civil Society

But government initiatives need in turn to be supported by non-governmental forces. There is a wider need for those in these positions to be supported and encouraged by a vibrant, well informed and constructively engaged civil society.

Many challenges face the East Timorese women’s movement in this post-reconstruction phase. As the unifying ties of fighting a liberation struggle fade, the fractures and fault-lines underlying the movement have been exposed. This is true of the whole of East Timorese civil society, not only the women’s movement. But there are real challenges to be overcome. East Timor is accustoming itself to democracy for the first time in its history. Party political divisions dating back to the 1970s strongly coloured the first elections. Old scores are still being settled. The divisive nature of the occupation and conflict qualify the potential for new alliances.

So rightly, there is a great deal of assistance currently being extended by international actors in East Timor in the field of gender equality and gender mainstreaming. Ranging from the World Bank’s community empowerment programme which sought to set up local governance structures which built in gender equitable representation, to interventions by UN agencies such as UNDP, to financial support of the Office for the Promotion of Equality to international NGOs supporting capacity building initiatives with women’s organisations, a huge investment is being made. My own organisation has been supporting the East Timorese Women’s network in trying to work out new structures and priorities which will best serve women’s interests as a whole. Women leaders recognise the needs, but also need assistance working through the structural, political and personal obstacles which get in the way. Our women’s advocacy officer Ivete D’Oliveira has been working with Maria Domingas Alves by facilitating district level gender mainstreaming workshops. Government ministries are next on their list.

Nonetheless, I see a need though for international agencies to beware of creating more tensions than they defuse, in the judicial allocation of resources. Tensions can easily be exacerbated by funding allocations, and the women’s movement includes populous networks still attached to political parties such as the Organisacao Popular Mulhers Timor Lorosae/Fretilin link. The OPMT has been sidestepped by many international funders because of its political links, fuelling resentment and jealousy of women’s groups which do well out of foreign funders.

Women and voice in government

The challenge for East Timorese women then, is whether their organisations and movements can transform into powerful new lobbying entities to ensure that the gains of 2001, particularly their representatives in government can be preserved and consolidated as democracy beds in, and the involvement of the international community gradually diminishes.

Wider issues immediately crowd in. How will the ruling party manage the economy in the long term? Will national security be maintained – will East Timor’s fledgling police force be able to deal with ongoing militia incursions from across the border, for example? How will the oil wealth be managed when it finally arrives? Will government be transparent or will corruption and nepotism grow? All of these issues are critical in terms of securing a terrain where women can consolidate their gains, and all of them are matters for real concern.

The experience of women’s movements after conflict the world over, even in the case of national liberation conflicts like East Timor’s, is that powerful forces kick into play aimed at returning women to the domestic roles they occupied before the conflict began. They are very often successful. Violence and the legacy of violence, including the links between the violence of war and domestic violence, which often escalates in the aftermath, are part of this.

Again, international support, including support from the British government can go some way to countering this. An enduring sore hampering East Timorese progress is reconciliation in the face of immense violence. Resolution 1325 specifically refers to impunity. East Timorese women, like many women victims of conflict suffered appalling levels of sexual and other violence during the Indonesian occupation, and now face rising levels of domestic violence, a point referred to prominently in Ramos Horta’s very first speech to the UN Security council following independence.

Sir Jeremy Greenstock, our Ambassador to the UN, addressed an open debate on UN resolution 1325 in the Security Council on 25th July 2002.
In his speech he talked about ‘raising the probability that impunity would be denied to, and good practice would deter those who commit, or plan to commit violence against women in an area of conflict’.

Last month the East Timorese Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation heard testimonies from 14 East Timorese women who were victims of widespread violence and humiliation by the Indonesian military during the 25 year occupation of their country. The report made of it afterwards summarised their collective experience pithily in the sub-title ‘there wasn’t a day without rape’. Olandina Caeiro, long time women’s activist and one of the commissioners summed up the hearing by saying that the world should know about what had happened… so that it may never happen again either in Timor or in other places.
Sadly, we know it is, among other places, in Aceh right now, and the perpetrators are the same members of the Indonesian military which brutalised a generation of East Timorese women. Recently there have been efforts at bringing high-ranking offices responsible for atrocities and the use of rape as a weapon of war to justice through human rights trials in Jakarta. They have been a dismal failure, but the international community has done little either to recognise this, or to call for alternative justice mechanisms to be brought to bear. Far from deterring impunity, the message to the Indonesian military seems to be ‘carry on as usual’.

The British government must do more to put its ‘mouth’ – that is to say its diplomatic emphasise - where its money is, to reverse a well-known saying. The British government is supporting the East Timorese Reception Truth and Reconciliation Commission to bring small-scale perpetrators or human rights violations to justice. It has been rather more quiet about the guiltiest parties in the Indonesian army being exonerated in Jakarta, and in the meantime recent publicity has again exposed British weaponry being used against innocent Acehense.

Resolution 1325 emphasizes that all states have a responsibility ‘to put an end to impunity and to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes including those relating to sexual and other violence against women and girls ….’

For British policy to more effectively ‘raise the probability that impunity will be denied,’ it should demonstrate its commitment to bringing justice to women victims (and all victims) of military impunity by giving greater attention, political commitment and resources to finding international solutions for dealing with war criminals, and my particular concern here is Indonesian military war criminals.

Women and autonomy

Other initiatives receiving international as well as domestic support from both governmental and non-governmental funders are projects such as animal raising, restauranteering and tais weaving designed to promote women’s economic autonomy. This will contribute to freeing women from male control, and give women greater space in which to operate, and assert greater independence. Work with important societal influences such as the the Catholic Church in East Timor is also important, and some women are thinking through how to do this by engaging with international movements of Catholic women such as the World Union of Catholic Women’s organisations. They are also challenging the church directly to address domestic violence issues from the pulpit – which is being taken seriously.

Lessons from the East Timor case

Every conflict situation is different, and complicated by local cultural contexts, international factors, geography, politics, religion, and especially the nature of what has gone before. The following lessons arise from the East Timorese experience, some but not all will be relevant. East Timorese women also have something to learn from what has happened in Iraq. Whatever gains and advances women may secure cannot be taken for granted, but have constantly to be guarded lest conflict, dictatorship or fundamentalism return to cancel them out. For this reason, their ability to put in place improved health, education, access to decision-making, international support mechanisms and other opportunities for the future benefit of women and girls will also be decisive.
• Women in most cases are more likely to be included in post-conflict reconstruction if they have already organised themselves and have succeeded in having themselves included in previous stages of the peace-process.

• Women nonetheless have to have key allies in male elites, both indigenous and international in order to facilitate the above

• UN covenants, conventions, and resolutions can help, but UN personnel have to back the language with the deeds rather than contradict them – and international civil society pressure on the UN to act is usually needed.

• Individual governments placing enough women among police, military and public administration personnel in peace-keeping missions reinforces gender mainstreaming messages

• Female nationals in post-conflict reconstruction situations have to take the lead, and cannot rely only on the UN and the international community to push gender mainstreaming on their behalf

• Links with international support networks can be extremely useful and mobilised to strategic effect.

• Cultural, social and religious factors also have considerable influence in aftermath situation when men begin to push for a return to the status quo ante.

• Women therefore need to engage with cultural and religious authorities in order to build support for lasting change.

Catherine Scott
Joint Programme Manager, Asia
Catholic Institute for International Relations, Unit 3, Canonbury Yard, 190a New North Road, London N1 7BJ
Cathy@ciir.org