This policy brief addresses the involvement of women in peace processes, negotiations, and agreements and outlines the shape of contemporary peace processes and their resultant agreements, arguing that they exclude women. A peace process raises new opportunities for women to have their concerns and experience of conflict heard and to play a part in their country’s reform. If successful, they can influence the entire political and legal framework of the country. However, challenges face the translation of these commitments and opportunities into practice.
Recommendations: Translating theory into action
To address the above opportunities and challenges for women, two sets of recommendations can be made: firstly, those relating to the processes of negotiating, reaching and implementing peace agreements; and, secondly, those relating to the substance of what is included in peace agreements.
Women need to be included at all levels in negotiations. Mechanisms for the effective participation of women need to be creatively designed to take into account the context of women’s access in the particular country concerned.
- Gender experts should be placed in strategic positions within the formal peace talks, including at the technical level of the mediator’s office, and the facilitator and negotiation parties’ delegations; or should establish a system by which they can stay informed about the process and feed back women’s recommendations to all actors.
- Sectoral meetings with women and civil society actors should also be organised to ensure a broader base of participation in peace discussions.
- Countries and international organisations who play a mediation role should have a standardised protocol or action plan that ensures the engagement of women’s civil society groups in formal peace negotiations.
- These protocols/action plans should address two dimensions: the need to enable and facilitate women’s groups to frame their concerns and demands; and mechanisms allowing these groups access to the formal negotiating process.
- When performing a support role to a peace process, the UN, groups of friends of member states, or other mediation actors should allocate specific funding aimed at increasing women’s participation in parties’ delegations and provide incentives for the greater representation of women in negotiating teams.
- Support organisations should ensure that the dynamics of talks enable women participants to raise their concerns, while technical assistance (e.g. around electoral reform) should be provided to help design mechanisms for the peace agreement.
- Women and gender experts should be involved in technical work around every component of peace deals, including ceasefire-monitoring agreements; security sector reform and disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR); provisions covering justice and reparations; socioeconomic recovery and wealth sharing agreements; and post-accord governance reform. These mechanisms should ensure both gender balance and gender expertise.
- Both male and female mediators should receive gender-awareness training and briefing packages with ready examples of gender-responsible language, best practice, ways of engaging with women’s civil society and a context-specific analysis of women’s situations.
- Where possible, peace agreements and constitutions should guarantee non-governmental organisations the freedom to operate, including women’s organisations, and provide mechanisms for them to be consulted about relevant public policy.
- Research should be developed dealing with women and constitution making and women and power sharing to support best practice.
- State parties should ensure that national action plans to implement UNSCR 1325 and subsequent resolutions are compliant with CEDAW and aim at achieving the equality of women as contemplated by CEDAW.
- In their periodic reports to CEDAW, state parties should detail their activities to implement UNSCR 1325 in their domestic and foreign policies.
