AHSS204
Gender Studies
Gender, Peace and Conflict
Friday, 26 May 2017
1
WHO AM I?
• Assistant Professor BERNA NUMAN (PhD)
• Working on European Politics both in Cyprus and in
the UK
• Nuffield Foundation Researcher - Debates on Political
Reform in the UK
• Research interests: Democracy, Citizenship, AntiDiscrimination Law, Public Sphere, Laws and Norms,
The European Union
• Previous teaching experience: University of Reading,
EMU and CIU
WHO ARE YOU?
• What are your expectations from this
session?
• How will you apply your knowledge
outside of class?
Gender, Peace and Conflict
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module each student is expected to:
– Demonstrate a basic understanding of how the international society
deals with the issue of gender during times of conflict
– Show knowledge of how the UN attempts to increase women’s
participation in peace processes and peace-keeping
– Display an understanding of how the United Nations Security Council
(UNSC) resolution 1325 is expected to work in practice
– Identify efforts of different political actors such as women’s
organizations, Gender Advisory Team (GAT), Hand Across the Divide
(HAD) and others in the development of a national action plan for the
implementation of UNSC resolution 1325 in Cyprus
4
Unpacking
Gender, Peace and Conflict
• What is gender, peace and conflict?
• International Relations and Gender
• Current International System
– International System of States
– International Society
• The United Nations and International Legal Instruments
dealing with Gender and Conflict
5
UN and Gender
• International Legal Instruments
– Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948
– ICCPR and ICESCR in 1976
– CEDAW in 1979 (reporting, backlog)
• U.N. Decade for Women: Equality, Development, and
Peace 1976-1985
• United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution
1325 on 31st of October 2000
6
The UN
• Established on 24th of October 1945
• 193 members (universal membership)
• Organs and specialized agencies
– General Assembly
– Security Council (P5, T10)
– Economic and Social Council
– Secretariat and the Secretary General
7
Security Council
8
General Assembly
9
Why UNSCR 1325?
• mandates that women should be participants in the making
and keeping of peace in the local, national and international
arenas
• addresses the impact of war on women and girls and the
section on protection includes women’s rights, protection of
women from gender-based violence particularly rape and
other forms of sexual abuses
• stresses the pivotal role women and girls play in conflict
management, and sustainable peace as well as addressing
women as leaders, and active agents
10
UNSCR 1325
4 pillars of UNSCR 1325: Participation, Protection, Prevention, Relief and
Recovery.
● Participation
e.g. Institutions (religious, politics), LGBT
● Protection
e.g. Violence against Women, Gender-Based Violence, Women in
Peacekeeping/ Peacebuilding
● Prevention
e.g. Education, Media/ Technology
● Relief and Recovery
e.g. Economy, Urbanization, Literature & the Arts
11
How do WE make the peacebuilding better?
By identifying and eliminating the root causes of
conflict, and preventing the reoccurrence.
Does it matter who identifies the root causes of the
conflict? If not, than we do not need to ask the
following question.
12
• As the half of the population, women, as men, have
an inherent, inalienable right to participate equally
in decision-making about their own and their
countries’ futures.
• Men, women and other gender identities are
involved in, and affected differently, by almost
every issue due to different gender roles and
inequality.
• So they have the right to contribute/to decide who
and what is valued (the causes of the conflict and
the possible solutions).
13
Equal representation of women in peace
negotiations, peacebuilding process with equal
power is a must for a better peacebuilding.
14
What will be missing if not?
• Heterogeneity in the peacebuilding
– Increase the risk of having Ill defined causes and
impact of conflict
– Thus increase the risk of having Ill defined solutions to
the conflict
– Unable to reach and answer the needs of different
ethnic identities and socioeconomic groups
– Miss the chance to create a participatory and nondiscriminatory democracy
– Miss to chance to enhance the understanding of
peace and security
– Miss the chance to reach feedback of the grassroots
movement.
15
Gender Equality Technical Committee
• An innovative way of including women and other
gender identities to the peace negotiations and
peacebuilding process (August 2015)
– Put a “gender lens” on social, political, economic,
cultural and conflict-related issues
– Make invisible the visible ie. gender based war crimes,
mainstream (menstream) economic, social political
policies.
– Promote the establishment of post conflict
institutions and control mechanisms for a more
participatory and non-discriminatory democracy
16
How is GETC innovative and powerful
• Have the power to change perceptions as;
–
–
–
–
Gender = women
Gender equality can be sort out later
Women are ‘others’ not the subjects (equals)
Stereotypes about women peaceful behavior (that
marginalize and justify exclusion of women from
peacebuilding process)
• Have the power
– to able the active participation of women at all phases and
levels of formal (official) peacebuilding process?
– to add the vertical dimension (heterogeneity) to the
peacebuilding process by enabling the recognition of
activist women and women organisations contribution to
the informal peacebuilding process
17
The White Book
Pathways towards Sustainable Peacebuilding
Conference
• build on all previous women’s efforts,
initiatives and discussions and to bring women
experts in the field of politics and civil society
from multiple ethnicities and perspectives to
gain a better understanding of UNSCR 1325
• There were 4 workshops each responsible for
one of the 4 pillars of UNSCR 1325
18
Participation
Action Plans
• Setting up an ad-hoc women’s group to work on possible
recommendations to be communicated to the negotiating team/leaders.
• Seeking funding to start an awareness raising campaign and consultations
with broader society
• Supporting women candidates in elections by facilitating training and
coaching programs for them (including media training and building
coalitions with media outlets) and following commitments were made
Advocating for religious freedom in a secular state
• Demanding an organic and flexible constitution that can adapt to changing
realities
• Supporting a “happy, reunited, environmental and animal friendly,
forward looking, open, modern, European, Feminist Cyprus.
19
Protection
Action Plans
• Overall, the Protection pillar group explored the vulnerability of girls and
women in the midst of crisis or war as well as the long-term impact that
follows any crisis.
• It was important to the group to look forward to how to implement
change in a practical and useful way drawing in particular on current
women’s strengths not just at grass roots levels but also across the various
strata of decision-making, both horizontally and vertically.
20
Prevention
• Militarism reinforces the gendered conflict
culture (masculine heroism)
• Former experiences of violence during the
conflict (truth commissions, apology)
• Education: Education Systems (public and private)
that explicitly and/or implicitly promote a culture
of conflict and gender inequality and perpetuate
the conflict (e.g. the ‘heroic’ masculine myth that
must be dismantled; patriarchy-based education)
need to be addressed.
• Centre for Cyprus Women
21
Relief and Recovery
• Empower local authorities financially
• Review the way history is taught in schools through a gender
awareness lens
• Establish new gender sensitive constitutional provisions which
include
• Make efficient use of existing both academic and artistic resources
that address the concerns of the communities
• Create processes to give voice to marginalized groups
• Create a ‘Solution for Dummies’ kit to explain the advantages and
consequences of a solution as soon as possible and distribute
widely
• Include the work of NGOs in the existing consultation mechanisms
• Explore gender sensitive mechanisms for victim reparation looking
at international best practices
22
Further Reading
• https://www.equalitynow.org/issues/internati
onal-law
• http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-andhuman-sciences/themes/genderequality/legal-instruments/international-legalinstruments/
23