Reconstruction and Peacebuilding

Positive steps have been taken. For example, in 2006, female Foreign Ministers and other highranking
officials from around the world, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
formed the Women Leaders' Working Group. The Group works to ensure that the issues of
women's political participation, access to justice, economic empowerment, poverty reduction,

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has talked of the challenge to peacebuilding in Liberia in
the following terms: "My biggest fear is that a small group might succeed in
trying to return us to conflict. It will always remain a fear until we've done enough
in responding to the needs of the population". It is clear that mobilising and
enabling all available human resources within a country emerging from conflict is

In our resolve to mainstream a gender perspective into all aspects of our lives, SADC heads of
State signed the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development on 17 August 2008. That instrument
has been hailed as an important step towards the empowerment of women, the elimination of
discrimination and the achievement of gender equality and equity. In the context of peace and

From our experience in SADC, we have learned that it is important to build solidarity among all
stakeholders, particularly women. We therefore remain committed to working within a
consultative and collaborative framework to find peaceful solutions to conflicts. To that end, we
believe it would be important for women in local communities to be allowed to participate in

Women can make an even greater contribution to conflict prevention and settlement in all their
aspects. In post-conflict rehabilitation, we must make broader use of the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women as a fundamental document. We must
also devote greater attention to gender mainstreaming in United Nations efforts to reduce poverty

Resolution 1325 (2000) remains our most important guideline in enhancing the role of women in
conflict prevention and settlement, post-conflict rehabilitation and the protection of women's
rights during conflicts. We must implement the resolution's provisions by creating equal
opportunities for women to participate actively in all peacekeeping and security efforts and in

To achieve all of those objectives, professionals involved in mediation and peacebuilding should
have the tools they need to mainstream the gender perspective in their work. Reports of the United
Nations and of various early warning mechanisms would benefit from the identification and
analysis of empirical data disaggregated by gender and other key factors. Sources for such

The participation of women to all phases of conflict resolution and
peacebuilding has a clear, vast potential. I think, for example, of the participation
of Somali women as a "sixth clan" in the National Reconciliation Conference; of
the key contribution assured by Burundi's wonen to the Arusha process. As this
example shows, their participation in the peace process since its inception was a

Women are key social, political and economic actors in the success of
stabilization and rebuilding efforts. At the same time, they are the stakeholders that
can face discrimination in these processes. My Government, in it's firm
commitment to women's rights, would like to confirm on this occasion its
commitment to promote the full implementation of Resolution 1325 in all U.N.
fora*

There are at least three aspects in strengthening women's participation in peace
process. First, it is imperative to promote gender balance and equity in the process of
assembling negotiating team, as well as to highlight the concerns of women in
the negotiating agenda. Second, while negotiations at the highest level are central, and indeed critical,