WomenPeaceWire
A Newsletter from the Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security May 2013
“When women participate in the economy, everyone benefits. When women participate in peace-making and peacekeeping, we are all safer and more secure.” - Hillary Rodham Clinton, 2013
Overview of Activities for the Past Month: With students off for summer, our campus is unusually quiet. At the Institute, we are busily planning future programs. Among these is our by-invitation only, inaugural research symposium next month which will bring together some of the world’s foremost academics, policymakers and practitioners for a series of discussions on bridging the theory and practice gap in the field of women, peace and security. The Institute has also commenced its first summer graduate research fellowship program and this year, we have individuals conducting projects, with fieldwork, in Burundi, Zambia, Turkey, Syria, DRC and Somalia. Also, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaité, who just received an honorary doctorate from Georgetown, recorded an oral history interview for the Profiles in Peace project during her visit. You can view the video on our website soon. Thank you for your continued interest in our work.
President Dalia Grybauskaité
Respectfully, Melanne Verveer Notable Developments in the Field of Women, Peace and Security: • The Nobel Women’s Initiative’s Women Beyond War conference opened on Monday, 27th May in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Laureates include Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland, Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, Tawakkol Karman of Yemen, Shirin Ebadi of Iran, Rigoberta Menchu Tum of Guatemala and Jody Williams of the United States. The gathering of these inspirational leaders explores innovative solutions to conflict resolution, including the end of the use of rape as a weapon, the economic and environmental impact of war, and the role of women in peace processes. “An important part of peace work is not only calling for justice, but educating about life, and teaching the values of life and peace.” Said Rigoberta Menchu Tum. http://nobelwomensinitiative.org/news/events/ • In Afghanistan, there has been growing momentum within certain political factions to dismantle and overturn a decree on the Elimination of Violence Against Women that was set forth by President Karzai, with significant support from the international community, in 2009. Debate on the law in the national parliament was suspended after fifteen minutes amidst angry protests from hardliners. Plans to put the law up to vote itself were met with mixed feelings by women’s activists who feared that amendments to the current law will undermine the protection of women going forward from threats such as child marriage, rape, domestic violence, and make it even more difficult to enforce in rural areas. To date, the law has been successfully used to prosecute cases of violence against women. http://tinyurl.com/krkojyh • Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has begun her work as UN Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region, and is focusing on the implementation of the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Great Lakes Region of Africa, also known as the “Framework of Hope”. The focus of her mission is to provide lasting stability to the region by supporting the consolidation of state authority and the rule of law in the DRC and throughout the region, particularly with regards to institutional capacity building, improvement of security conditions, women’s empowerment and the pursuit of justice through the prosecution of perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity. As a long-term endeavor, the Framework will also focus on economic development throughout the region, and provide support for the reconciliation effort. On June 4 th, a meeting will be held in New York with Mary Robinson and UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Sexual Violence in Conflict Zainab Bangura in which Ambassador Verveer will participate. http://tinyurl.com/mj72p8d • The Women of Mali presented their recommendations to the International Donor’s Conference of Mali on 15 th May 2013 in Brussels. The group of 40 women of the Sahel proposed six key recommendations for the greater inclusion of women in the peace and reconstruction efforts in Mali, including ensuring a) representation in government, b) the promotion of women’s tights and justice for victims of gender-based violence, c) economic independence and access to financial resources, d) participation in conflict resolution, e) access to public resources and f) public funding for women-specific agenda. http://tinyurl.com/kh3ueft • Twenty-one year old Lieutenant Niloofar Rahmani became the first woman, in more than three decades, to earn her wings in the Afghanistan National Air Force. "It is my honor to serve my country and be an example for other women after me” she said to reporters. http://tinyurl.com/mhjqpor • Human Rights Watch has just released a report on the critical role of women in the Libyan revolution and the need for judicial reform to guarantee women equal rights, political representation, and economic participation at this important juncture in the country’s history. The report has been added to our online repository and can be accessed at http://tinyurl.com/kp7qgv3 • The Guatemalan Constitutional Court decided ton May 20th to overturn a conviction secured last month against former dictator Efrain Rios Montt on charges of genocide and crime s against humanity. The decision comes as a major blow to human rights advocates who have strived to hold Montt accountable, among these Dr. Claudia Paz y Paz who is the Attorney General of Guatemala and recipient of the Institute’s inaugural Award for Advancing Women in Peace and Security. • The UN released a video called, “Women in Peacekeeping: The Power to empower” on May 29 to mark International Peacekeeping Day which showcases the voices of female police peacekeepers from various missions around the world. In 2009, the UN launched a global effort to increase women’s participation in peacekeeping and set a goal to have at least 20% of police offers in peacekeeping mission be women by 2014. Watch the video: http://tinyurl.com/mrjc4rh You can also read about the experiences of one female police officer from Tanzania who is serving in the AU-UNAMID mission in Darfur and working to better protect IDPs. As of 2012, women comprised of only 3% of military members and 10% of police officers in international peacekeeping. http://tinyurl.com/jvjsn35
Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security giwps.georgetown.edu
Women, Peace and Security Research Repository giwps.georgetown.edu/repository