Women in Peace Process: What is the Research?

The evidence from recent years is that including womenÕs organizations in peace negotiations is good for peace. Findings include:

á       When women's organizations were able to effectively influence the process, a peace agreement was almost always reached and the agreement was more likely to be implemented.[1]

á       When women are included in a peace process, the peace agreement that results is 20 percent more likely to last at least two years. WomenÕs participation has an even greater impact in the longer term: an agreement is 35 percent more likely to last for fifteen years if women participate in its creation.[2]

á       In general, women bring a Ôparticular quality of consensus building to public debate, not necessarily on issues, but on the need to conclude talks and implement agreements.Õ [3]

á       Issues commonly pushed by womenÕs organizations and representative of womenÕs movements in peace processes include:

1)    the cessation of hostilities and agreements on long-term ceasefires, and/or pressure to start new (or continue stalled) peace negotiations;

2)    the signing of peace agreements— women exerted pressure both from within or outside formal negotiations;

3)    enhanced womenÕs representation in the ongoing peace process, as well as in the political structure of the post-conflict state; and

4)    additional gender-sensitive political and legal reforms (e.g. demanding changes to laws governing land ownership, inheritance, or healthcare), transitional justice issues (e.g. addressing any gender-based violence and human rights violations that occurred during the conflict, or demanding truth and reconciliation commissions), and post-conflict reconstruction concerns (e.g. equal access to disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration programs for women, and/or child soldiers where applicable).[4]

 

Case Study: Colombia[5]

The peace talks between the Colombian Government and the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) was a path breaking example of the inclusion of women.  At the start of the negotiations few women were involved.  After pressure from womenÕs organizations, both the government and the FARC increased womenÕs involvement. By 2015 20% of the governmentÕs negotiating team were women and women made up 45% of the FARCÕs negotiators (equivalent to the percent of women among FARC fighters).

Women brought new issues to the table, successfully including many provisions in the accord that addressed the rights of women and girls, sexual and gender-based violence, access to land and other issues.

Aside from the official negotiators, the feminist peace movement and womenÕs organizations were active in building support for the peace process and building public confidence.

Prepared by the Women, Peace and Security Network-Canada

wpsn-canada.org

 



[1]Research carried out at the Graduate Institute's Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding in Geneva. Publications includes Thania Paffenholz (2015) ÒCan Inclusive Peace Processes Work? New evidence from a multi-year research project,Ó CCDP Policy Brief and Thania Paffenholz (2015). ÒBeyond the Normative: Can Women's Inclusion Really Make for Better Peace Processes?Ó CCDP Policy Brief, both available here.

[2] Mary OÕReilly, Andrea Ō Sůilleabh‡in, and Thania Paffenholz. (2015), ÒReimagining Peacemaking:  WomenÕs Roles in Peace Processes,Ó New York. International Peace Institute.

[3] UN Women (2015). Preventing Conflict, Transforming Justice, Securing Peace: A Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1325. New York, p. 42.

[4] Thania Paffenholz, Nick Ross, Steven Dixon, Anna-Lena Schluchter and Jacqui True (2016) ÒMaking Women Count - Not Just Counting Women: Assessing WomenÕs Inclusion and Influence on Peace Negotiations,Ó Geneva: Inclusive Peace and Transition Initiative (The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies) and UN Women.

[5] See the Council on Foreign Relations interactive webpage: WomenÕs Participation in Peace Processes.