USA: Crisis Group and Hilary Clinton Honour Women in Pursuit of Peace

Half of all peace accords signed in the last 20 years have failed—and one reason is that they were left to men. Swanee Hunt on the women leading the charge in fixing how war and peace are waged.

On Saturday in New York City, in a pedicab amid a sea of yellow taxis, I made my way a dinner hosted by Crisis Group, one of the world's most influential sources of advice on prevention and resolution of deadly conflict.

I was thinking about the four women being honored and how fitting it is that the Statue of Liberty was just south of the venue on the Hudson River, looking on as her global sisters stepped into the spotlight. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, an outspoken proponent of women's role in creating stability, would be the keynote speaker.

When I walked into the fancy reception, the photographer beamed. An image worthy of his lens! Celebrating last weekend's Nobel Peace Prize, I was wearing to this dinner my mother's diamonds and rubies with a red white and blue cotton dress printed with multiple faces of laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, presented to me five years ago by women who stopped the brutality in Liberia and elected the first (and sadly only) woman president in Africa. Oh, and I had a traditionally showy headdress out of the same fabric. “Next year, we'll see it in Paris,” assured one fan.

In her speech at Friday's “In Pursuit of Peace” awards dinner hosted by the Crisis Group, Hillary Clinton noted that of the 300 peace accords signed in the last 20 years, half have failed. “What's missing from the peace talks?” asked the secretary of state. “One answer is women.”, Craig Barritt / Getty Images

Crisis Group named this dinner “In Pursuit of Peace.” Lots of events have pithy names, but this one was in fact apt. I recognized many diplomats and others who've spent their lives “in pursuit of peace,”—ironically sometimes with weapons. I went over to my friend Wes Clark, former U.S. presidential candidate and Supreme Allied Commander of Europe (heading NATO). He asked if I'd pre-screened Angelina Jolie's Bosnian war film In the Land of Blood and Honey. I told him yes, and how my colleague Miki Jacevic had just shown it in Sarajevo to about 20 heads of organizations of traumatized women. ‘It was ultimately good and also necessary, but it was the hardest thing I've ever done,” Miki had said—strong words for a war refugee. “The women were re-traumatized, not just wailing and crying, but nauseated.”

“I'm not surprised at all,” Wes replied, describing flashbacks he had after watching the film. As American Ambassador to Austria at the time, trying to intervene in the war from nearby Vienna, I understood all too well; it struck me that Angelina—as writer, director, and producer—was also among us Friday night, “in pursuit of peace.”

An hour later, Secretary Clinton gave her rousing keynote. She and I have had many a conversation over the years about our shared passion for bringing women into the concept of security. In her speech, she reminded us that of the 300 peace accords signed in the last 20 years, half have failed. “What's missing from the peace talks?” asked the secretary. “One answer is women.”

The secretary emphasized that we need a new way to build lasting stability—and that new way is the untapped power of women.
War has changed, but the way we approach peace hasn't. The secretary emphasized that we need a new way to build lasting stability—and that new way is the untapped power of women.

She described vast networks of women in almost every conflict zone, whether lawless mountains of Pakistan or “up-country” in the forests of Liberia.

Women are preventing wars and healing stricken communities. When we recognize that, we're looking at global security from a new perspective.

Clinton emphasized that most men aren't warmongers, and women aren't universally altruistic. In fact, we make peace because it's the smart thing to do. Women understand the cost of war because we pay that debt long into the future—through psychological trauma, pregnancy and HIV/AIDS from mass rapes, schools and clinics destroyed, and family ties broken. But most important, women want to protect their children. “Sustainable peace” is not just a set of buzzwords to us or to them; it's an imperative for a secure home as well as a secure world.

A dozen years ago, as some of us created the Women Waging Peace Network (now well over 1,000 women leaders from 40 conflicts) we discovered that women have invaluable, comprehensive understanding of their communities. As Hillary said, they recognize the early warning signs of war, know to lower the temperature of heated debates, root out causes of unrest, and name essential needs that must be met if peace is to hold. When women participate in negotiations, they make sure other marginalized groups are represented. The agreement turns out to be more practical and more likely to succeed in the long term.