This week’s SoroptiVoice blog on the role of women in building a more peaceful world comes from Anusha
Santhirasthipam, International
Assistant Programme Director for Soroptimist
International.

 

Image: Malaysian UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon (Credit: UN Photo/Pasqual Gorriz)

There can
be no real peace in this world until every woman and girl can lead a
violence free life. This is my life’s goal and it is my fervent
daily prayer. I am inspired by the words of Alice Nderitu, 2012 Women
Peacemaker and Commissioner on Kenya’s National Cohesion and
Integration Commission who stated that “An
egg, like peace, is delicate and fragile, but given the right
conditions, it gives life.”

Four
months ago all Governments at CSW57 agreed conclusions to end all
forms of violence against women and girls. In two months time we
celebrate International Day of Peace on 21 September 2013 with the
theme “Education for Peace”. As Soroptimists, is this a cause for
celebration, for reflection or for firm programme action? Do our club
level “Soroptimists Educate to Lead” programmes include education
and empowerment projects to break all remaining barriers to peace,
security and justice for women and girls?

There is
a saying from the DRC, “One
man with a machete can rape one woman in a village, two men with a
machine gun can rape the whole village”.

How
relevant and necessary are women as peacemakers, human rights
defenders and educators of gender justice? I will
share what I learnt from my personal interaction with several UN
Ambassadors, Nobel Laureates and other distinguished experts in this
field. These are people committed to implementing a gender-sensitive,
human security framework in all countries, especially conflict-ridden
locations.

The
consensus among the ambassadorial community is that we need to
empower thousands of women to get involved in peace negotiations and
community justice, especially those with expertise in law,
psychology, mediation, justice systems, land, housing or security
matters. Women are invaluable in the front row of negotiations when a
country is recovering from war, revolution, ethnic turmoil and civil
unrest. More and more countries around the world are experiencing
conflict and hostile situations. Women are losing their life savings,
homes, land, crops, and children (usually daughters) to “men with
guns”. This often includes the military in many countries.

It is
therefore refreshing to learn from Lt.Col.
Jesus Ignacio Gil Ruiz, Chief of NATO’s Office on Gender
Perspectives, that NATO
curriculum has integrated mandatory gender perspectives into
pre-deployment training.

The NGO
Working Group on Women, Peace and Security based
at the UN HQ in New York recently determined two areas of
success.

• forging
  local allies and NGO partnerships for greater security and to end
  conflict. Example, in
  Northern Kenya, faced with pastoral violence due to drought, women
  networking groups identified shared needs of their diverse
  communities and became influential in monitoring the proliferation
  of arms and working with the government to manage conflict.
• increasing
  use of technology in communication and education on gender security
  concerns. Example, in
  Nepal, youth activists formed their own multimedia organization,
  Today’s Youth Asia, to cover peace, development, educational and
  security issues including teaching women effective communication
  skills.

Nadine
Puechguirbal, U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations
revealed 3 critical steps to prevent sexual violence.

• joint
  patrols by police and U.N. peacekeepers.
• Ensuring
  weapon-free zones and markets to facilitate women’s access to
  goods.
• Quick
  impact projects that foster women’s livelihood and wellbeing, such
  as fuel efficient stoves.

She
candidly pointed out that more women peacekeepers were necessary on
the ground to serve as role models and foster community relations in
rural areas.

Lina
Abou-Habib shared with me how Women’s
Learning Partnership (WLP)
promotes peace-building in the Middle East/North African
region by demystifying concepts of leadership, women’s
participation in policy dialogues and peaceful demonstrations, as
well as making women, their work and their voices more visible.
Training-of-trainers and peer-to-peer curriculum are very effective
methods to challenge cultural norms and ensure women’s
participation in national and local decision-making to challenge
cultural norms.

In
Brazil, the creation of about 600 police stations that deal with
gender-based violence crimes represents a crucial step in crime
prevention and provision of services to victims. These police
stations have collaboration in training, protocols and networks with
women NGOs and are crucial first responders to systematically address violence against women.

Countries
in a state of transition desperately need women in decision-making
positions to ensure women’s access to justice and to deal with
underlying inequalities. A major challenge of transitional justice is
reparation work. It is not enough to fight for land restitution for
women but also to demand sustainable development measures including
access to roads, water and sanitation, markets and education- so that
land can be the resource that transforms women’s lives.

Yee Htun
of Nobel Women’s Initiative (led by women peace
laureates) said:

“In my country Burma, the military has
routinely used rape and gender violence as a weapon of war to silence
and oppress ethnic minority women who are simply asserting their
rights. We have vast networks of women’s groups and human rights
groups. We need to come together in a coordinated manner to ensure
that governments really keep to their word and honor all those
Security Council Resolutions, uphold the Rome Statute and ensure that
there are prosecutions at the International Criminal Court”.

Soroptimists
who want to know more about the International Campaign to Stop Rape
and Gender Violence in Conflict can visit www.stoprapeinconflict.org
and hear Nobel Laureates speak about this initiative.

If there
are Soroptimists who wish to become peacemakers and peace mediators,
a very effective program I investigated is the one run by the Joan
B.Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice of the University of San
Diego. Funded residency programs run every year from mid-August till
end-October and cover travel, accommodation and a living stipend for
successful candidates. Applications are available online from 1 March
till 1 May of each year at http://peace.sandiego.edu

Finally,
those SI clubs who wish to seek funding to carry out peace-building
projects or empowering women in conflict situations, there are ample
funding opportunities for women, peace and security issues. The Peace
and Security Funders Group has
identified 39 foundations that distributed a total of USD$36 million
through 390 grants in 2010.
Another avenue for funding local women’s initiatives is through
re-granting agencies, such as Mama Cash or the Global Fund for Women
where an additional USD$3 million was channeled out through this
approach in 2011.

Read more about Soroptimist International’s position on women and peace building.