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Gender and Peace Building in Africa

This reader contains scholarly articles authored by Africans on issues of gender and peace building in Africa. As a product of two Faculty and Staff Development Seminars in Zambia involving the University for Peace (UPEACE) Department for Gender and Peace Studies, this publication intends to provide a platform to debate current issues of gender in conflict situations, their destabilising consequences on the economic development of Africa and the efforts being made to build bridges of peace with a gender perspective. (Dina Rodríguez and Edith Natukunda-Togboa, University for Peace, 2005)

http://www.comminit.com/africa/materials/ma2006/materials-2883.html

(Added: Thu Jul 13 2006   Hits: 266)

India's toughest women gear up for U.N. deployment to violence-torn Liberia

125 Indian policewomen are being trained to form an all-women team of United Nations peacekeepers - the U.N.'s first such peacekeeping group - to help bring order to strife-torn Liberia, a west African nation rebuilding after nearly a quarter-century of conflict. Women peacekeepers, said one, bring something different to conflict zones. (AP, 7 September 2006)

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/08/asia/AS_GEN_India_Warrior_Women.php

(Added: Mon Sep 11 2006   Hits: 123)

Rape in Darfur

Whether or it is conflict over resources, genocide, ethnic clashes or ethnic cleansing that is taking place in Darfur right now, lives are being lost, devalued and otherwise irrevocably changed. Rape used as a method to alter the genetic ethnicity of a group with a view to eventually eliminating it is clearly abhorred. Rape used as a method to humiliate a certain ethnic group is abhorred. However the appraisal of conflict in the light of what rape does to the individual woman and the resultant effect on the society is something that warrants deeper exploration. (Kathambi Kinoti, AWID, Choike, June 2006)

http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/4582.html

(Added: Wed Jul 12 2006   Hits: 153)

'I wanted to take revenge'

Girl soldiers are on the increase in Liberia and beyond. This article looks at why so many actively choose to fight and how important it is for them to be rehabilitated into society after the fighting is over. (Diane Taylor, Guardian Weekly, July 2006)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianweekly/story/0,,1824246,00.html

(Added: Wed Jul 26 2006   Hits: 194)

A Culture of Peace : Women, Faith and Reconciliation (PDF)

By Marigold Best and Pamela Hussey. 2005. This Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR) Comment puts forward the voices and perspectives of women from around the world who are making powerful and innovative contributions to peace building. It provides compelling evidence that the full participation of women, enjoying equal rights with men, offers a real possibility of peace, reconciliation, and development.

http://www.ciir.org/shared_asp_files/uploadedfiles/5E56B02A-FFFD-4529-BAE7-313A1A582C06_cultureofpeace.pdf

(Added: Thu Feb 24 2005   Modified: Mon Aug 14 2006   Hits: 228)

Aftermath: Gender Issues in Post-Conflict Societies

(In PDF format) Series of country case studies on women's issues and women's organisations. Reports by USAID's Center for Development Information and Evaluation (CDIE) evaluating gender issues in postconflict societies including Cambodia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda and Georgia .

http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/aftermath.htm

(Added: Fri Oct 27 2000   Modified: Thu Jul 20 2006   Hits: 408)

Beyond Victimhood: Women's Peacebuilding in Sudan, Congo and Uganda

Countries in crisis and the wider international community must do much more to support women's involvement in solving Africa's deadliest conflicts. In Sudan, Congo and Uganda, an array of women's organisations and leaders are doing remarkable work, under difficult circumstances, especially in community organisations and informal conflict resolution mechanisms. Still, women remain marginalised in formal peace processes and post-conflict governments. Donors and others in the international community all need to do much more to offer sustainable support rather than just rhetoric. It is not merely a question of fairness or equity: women make a difference in part because they often adopt a more inclusive approach toward security and address key social and economic issues that would otherwise be ignored. Peace agreements, post-conflict reconstruction and governance work better when women peace activists are involved. (International Crisis Group, 28 June 2006)

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=4185

(Added: Thu Jun 29 2006   Modified: Thu Jul 13 2006   Hits: 259)

Challenges and Good Practices In Support of Women in Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations

This report summarizes views on assisting displaced women in conflict and post-conflict situations as presented at the UNFPA Expert Meeting in Tunisia. The first goal of the meeting was to bridge the gap between knowledge and policies regarding women's protection needs -- or gender-specific protection issues. The second goal was to identify specific means for the integration of emergency-related programming into the mainstream of UNFPA work.

http://www.unfpa.org/upload/lib_pub_file/724_filename_tunisia.pdf

(Added: Fri Nov 09 2007   Hits: 106)

CODEPINK: Women for Peace

CODEPINK is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the war in Iraq, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education and other life-affirming activities.

http://www.codepinkalert.org/section.php?id=12

(Added: Wed Feb 15 2006   Modified: Mon Aug 14 2006   Hits: 186)

Gender and Conflict Earlywarning: A Framework for Action

Susanne Schmeidl and Eugenia Piza-Lopez, June 2002 (Save the Children). This paper provides a brief overview of the definitions, processes and development of conflict early warning, and clarifies the issues surrounding the use of the terms gender and gender mainstreaming. It further examines the links that can be made between gender and early warning and identifies areas where the integration of a gender perspective can improve existing models. While the main focus is on how to engender early warning, the importance of including women and women's organisations into the entire process is also addressed.

http://www.international-alert.org/women/publications/EWGEN.PDF#search=%22Gender%20and%20Conflict%20Earlywarning%3A%20A%20Framework%20for%20Action%22

(Added: Thu Nov 07 2002   Modified: Thu Oct 05 2006   Hits: 314)

Gender Mainstreaming In Peace Support Operations: Moving Beyond Rhetoric To Practice

International Alert. This paper discusses the need, rationale, mandates and mechanisms for mainstreaming gender throughout peace support operations. It raises some of the challenges and suggests recommendations for assisting effective implementation. A recent UN Security Council meeting on Gender and Peacekeeping, held on 25th July 2002 under the UK presidency of the Security Council, heard numerous statements from representatives of member states, and UN agencies and departments supporting the systematic participation of women in peacekeeping operations and gender mainstreaming. At this critical time in the development of gender mainstreaming debate and actions within peace support operations, this paper aims to respond to the question 'how' gender can be mainstreamed in policy, and translated and entrenched in practice (PDF).

http://www.international-alert.org/pdfs/Gender_Mainstreaming_in_PSO_Beyond_Rhetoric_to_Practice.pdf#search=%22Gender%20Mainstreaming%20In%20Peace%20Support%20Operations%3A%20Moving%20Beyond%20Rhetoric%20To%20Practice%22

(Added: Wed Aug 14 2002   Modified: Thu Oct 05 2006   Hits: 248)

Good Governance from the Ground Up: Women's Roles in Post-Conflict Cambodia [pdf]

Cambodia is still a fragile democracy, more than 10 years after signing the Paris Peace Agreement. This report traces women's contributions to governance and peace through local and national politics as well as civil society; examines the significance of gender perspectives to the promotion of good governance; and reflects on mechanisms enhancing women's participation in the political arena. (Hunt Alternatives Fund, 2004)

http://www.huntalternatives.org/download/12_good_governance_from_the_ground_up_women_s_roles_in_post_conflict_cambodia.pdf

(Added: Wed Aug 23 2006   Modified: Thu Aug 24 2006   Hits: 123)

HARAMATA 49: Peace, land, women and power in Africa

This bulletin includes articles on: Women and leadership: Lessons from the Sahel; A new global security: An interview with Mary Robinson; Tanzanian herders contend with new layers of control; Can land registration work for the poor?; Comprehensive peace in eastern Sudan; Pastoralists in parliament; The Poverty Environment Partnership (PEP)initiative; Land expropriations for the Chad-Cameroon pipeline; Pastoral livelihoods in Ethiopia. (International Institute for Environment and Devlopment, March 2006)

http://www.iied.org/pubs/display.php?o=12502IIED

(Added: Wed May 24 2006   Modified: Mon Aug 14 2006   Hits: 212)

Iraqi Refugees in Jordan: Desperate and Alone

The war in Iraq has created the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world. Approximatelty two million are displaced within Iraq and another two million have fled to neighboring countries. As in any refugee crisis, the vast majority of the displaced are women and children; they are also the most vulnerable (Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, July 2007).

http://www.womenscommission.org/pdf/iq_brief.pdf

(Added: Fri Sep 21 2007   Hits: 114)

Iraqi Women Under Siege [pdf]

As well as the terror of violence and the lack of services and economic crisis endured by all Iraqis, Iraqi women are exposed to gender-based violence and an increased social conservatism that is largely the result of the way political leaders manipulate women's issues for their own purpose This carefully researched report tries to tackle some of the myths about Iraqi women's roles and rights. Despite the undeniable and systematic oppression of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, Iraqi women were once among the most educated in the region, participating in all sectors of the labour force and playing an important role in public life, rather than the oppressed creatures without agency, sitting at home, heavily veiled and secluded that they are portrayed as. If anything, this image better describes their current plight. This report portrays the various and uneven ways that women have been affected by the Ba'thist regime's repression and atrocities, by wars, by the most pervasive sanctions ever imposed on a country, and by the current occupation - and what they are doing about it. (Marjorie P. Lasky, Code Pink/Global Exchange, April 2006)

http://www.codepinkalert.org/downloads/IraqiWomenReport.pdf

(Added: Fri Apr 21 2006   Modified: Mon Aug 14 2006   Hits: 148)

Lessons in Terror: Attacks on Education in Afghanistan

Escalating attacks by the Taliban and other armed groups on teachers, students and schools in Afghanistan are shutting down schools and depriving another generation of an education. Schools for girls have been hit particularly hard, threatening to undo advances in education since the Taliban's ouster in 2001. This 142-page report documents 204 incidents of attacks on teachers, students and schools since January 2005. Afghanistan has received a fraction of the funding and peacekeeping support given to other recent post-conflict situations. Violence is escalating, especially in the southern region of Helmand. (Human Rights Watch, July 2006)

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/afghanistan0706/index.htm

(Added: Tue Jul 11 2006   Modified: Thu Jul 13 2006   Hits: 152)

Lifting the Veil: No end to suffering?

In this interview with Amrita Mukherjee, Mehmooda, the member of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) explains the present situation of women in her country. (Times of India, 24 June 2006)

http://www.rawa.org/calcutta.htm

(Added: Wed Jul 12 2006   Hits: 123)

Local Business, Local Peace: the Peacebuilding Potential of the Domestic Private Sector

This publication highlights the domestic private sector's often overlooked peacebuilding potential. Developed and researched with partner organisations and business people from conflict-affected countries around the world, it presents more than 20 case studies where private sector actors have taken proactive steps to address violent conflict: Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Colombia, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of Congo, El Salvador, Guatemala, Israel and Palestine, Kosovo, Nepal, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Caucasus and Sri Lanka. In addition, the publication highlights businesses' efforts to support formal peace processes; to address issues in the economic sphere; to build bridges between divided communities and groups; to alleviate security concerns; as well as the special role of women entrepreneurs. (International Alert, July 2006)

http://www.international-alert.org/our_work/themes/LBLP.php

(Added: Mon Sep 11 2006   Hits: 190)

Peace Women Across the Globe

Millions of women work day in day out to promote peace. They care for survivors, help with reconstruction and initiate a new culture of peace. PeaceWomen Across the Globe is an international network of women working in different fields of human security, in the North and in the South, who are joining forces to bring the knowledge and leadership of peacewomen to official decision making arenas and to the attention of the public.

http://www.1000peacewomen.org/

(Added: Fri Jan 16 2004   Modified: Mon Aug 14 2006   Hits: 483)

Sexual violence, an 'invisible war crime'

Statements submitted to Sierra Leone's Truth and Reconciliation Commission showed that during Sierra Leone's war sexual violence was used in a widespread and systematic way as a weapon, and women were raped in extraordinarily brutal ways. Until recently little attention was devoted to abuses directed specifically against women, and even now persuading women to speak out is difficult because of the stigmitisation women may face from their communities. (Nirit Ben-Ari and Ernest Harsch, United Nations African Renewal, Janeuary 2005)

http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol18no4/184sierraleone.htm

(Added: Fri Jun 23 2006   Modified: Wed Jul 12 2006   Hits: 229)

Sexual violence: weapon of war, impediment to peace

The January issue of Forced Migration Review explores the challenges and opportunities for combating sexual violence in conflict, post-conflict and development recovery contexts. (Forced Migration Review, January 2007)

http://www.fmreview.org/FMRpdfs/FMR27/full.pdf

(Added: Tue May 15 2007   Hits: 103)

Targeting women - Gender Perspectives In Conflicts And Peace Building

A series of excellent online articles from New Routes: A Journal Of Peace Research And Action, Volume 6, Number 3, 2001.

http://www.life-peace.org/sajt/filer/pdf/New_Routes/nr200103.pdf

(Added: Fri Mar 08 2002   Modified: Thu Oct 12 2006   Hits: 353)

The Hidden War on Women in Iraq

Since the invasion of Iraq, women have been subject to the war crime of rape by both American soldiers and local gangs, on the streets and within prisons. NGOs report that the situation for women is deteriorating. For some Iraqi fundamentalist Islamic leaders, this is a dream come true. Sexual terrorism coupled with religious zealotry has thus stolen their right to claim their place in public life. (Ruth Rosen, Tom Dispatch & Common Dreams, 13 July 2006)

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0713-33.htm

(Added: Fri Jul 14 2006   Hits: 146)

The role of women in promoting peace and reconciliation

From the early days of the Bougainville crisis, women's groups played important roles in initiatives to end the violence and promote a sustainable solution to the conflict. Women of all political, religious and regional groupings mobilised and spoke out for peace. An article from Sister Lorraine Garasu is a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Nazareth (CSN) and Coordinator of the Bougainville Inter-Church Women's Forum (BICWF). She has participated in peace negotiations both in Bougainville and overseas.

http://www.c-r.org/accord/index.htm?accser/series.htm

(Added: Tue Oct 01 2002   Modified: Thu Jul 20 2006   Hits: 310)

The role of women in stabilisation and reconstruction

It is widely recognized that women and young people are primary victims of conflict. Yet as the survivors of violent conflict, women also bear the burden of reconstruction. They return to destroyed communities and begin the process of rebuilding infrastructure; restoring and developing traditions, laws, and customs; and repairing relationships. In government and through civil society, women worldwide are contributing to all pillars of stabilization and reconstruction operations: security, governance, justice and reconciliation, and socioeconomic development. Indeed, their leadership in the transition period can serve as a window of opportunity to empower women, promote gender equality, advance women's position in society, and bring wider benefits to many elements of society. (United States Insitute for Peace, August 2006)

http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/srs/srs_three.pdf

(Added: Tue Oct 03 2006   Hits: 173)

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