Why Are Women Experts Still Excluded From Peace Talks Across the Globe?
(links to the various organizations are in the link at the bottom. A most important read)
Why Are Women Experts Still Excluded From Peace Talks Across the Globe?
11/1/2023 by Dawn Clancy
Over 614 million women live in conflict-affected countries. Women are needed now more than ever to play equal roles carrying out peace initiatives.
women-war-peace-united-nations“Peace Begins With Her,” an interactive street-art exhibition to honor the contributions of women to peace was held on Oct. 25 outside the main entrance to the United Nations headquarters, coinciding with the annual Security Council debate on the topic, happening inside. The temporary installation was hosted by several U.N. agencies and attended by numerous women peacekeepers. (John Penney / PassBlue)
This article was originally published by PassBlue (https://www.passblue.com/), a women-led nonprofit newsroom that covers the U.N. and global women’s rights.
Every year, women’s equal roles in peace talks are highlighted in October at the United Nations. This time, the women, peace and security agenda, as it’s known, got attention outside the U.N., near the steps to its main entrance on First Avenue and 47th Street, in east midtown Manhattan. There, advocates who persevere for women’s full participation in the herculean efforts to build peace from the ground up in wars and other troubled parts of the world took their message to the sidewalk. “Amazing women all over the world, in all different contexts, are risking their lives, sometimes sacrificing their lives, to prevent conflicts from breaking out,” said Natasha Lamoreaux, a coordination specialist for U.N. Women, at the interactive, day-long event on Oct. 25. “They really understand and feel deeply the consequences of war, but they’re not invited to the peace table. “And without them,” she added, “a sustainable and durable peace is just not possible.”
U.N. Women, the organization’s entity solely focused on gender equality and the empowerment of women globally, hosted the awareness-raising event with the U.N. Department of Peace Operations, the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and the Elsie Initiative Fund for Uniformed Women in Peace Operations, a U.N. program. Under generous fall sunshine, the event featured a display of 50 life-size black and white portraits, set against polka-dotted backgrounds, of women peace-builders and peacekeepers from around the globe. In partnership with the Inside Out Project, a public art initiative founded by the French artist JR, and its monthlong campaign, “Peace Begins With Her,” the portraits were pasted to the sidewalk near the U.N.’s front door—a prime real estate spot full of people waiting to enter the U.N. for its regular tours and a steady stream of delegates walking into the compound, too.
The images of the women on display were meant to send a powerful reminder to world leaders and their delegations—some of them sitting in the conference rooms and chambers inside the U.N. each workday—and the public about the urgent need to have women involved at the highest levels of peacemaking and peace-building processes, no matter the size or shakiness of the proverbial negotiating table. And regardless of how many men with or without guns dominate the proceedings. “When it comes to who’s invited to the table, we hear time and time again, from the, you know, ‘the people in charge’ that they couldn’t find qualified women,” Lamoreux said as she pointed at the portraits displayed at Wednesday’s exhibition. She continued: “We’ve got 50 women right here. We’ve got 50 ideas for how we can prevent conflict, resolve conflict and rebuild communities.”
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Its grim findings show why women are needed now more than ever to play equal roles carrying out peace initiatives. “The number of women and girls living in conflict-affected countries reached 614 million in 2022, 50 percent higher than the number in 2017,” the report said. “Much of this increase is driven by nearly 200 armed conflicts and situations of organized violence, as well as by the climate crisis and the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).” In 2022 alone, countries increased their military spending to $2.2 trillion as global humanitarian emergencies keep rising.
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Mira Koroma, a UN police officer originally from Sierra Leone. She said that being a woman peacekeeper is special because “the communities that we serve” have mostly suffered at the hands of men. (John Penney / PassBlue)
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She has worked for the U.N. as a peacekeeper in the Central African Republic and won the U.N. Military Gender Advocate aware in 2019. (John Penney / PassBlue)
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Lola Ibrahim heads a Nigerian-based foundation that strives to end gender-based violence in her country. (John Penney / PassBlue)
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Sophie Siegrist and her husband, Jean, tourists from Paris, had their photos taken at the exhibition. (John Penney / PassBlue)
Sophie Boudre, who works for the U.N. peacekeeping department, says women must “demand to be heard.” (John Penney / PassBlue)
Sophie Boudre, a gender specialist with U.N. peacekeeping.
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https://msmagazine.com/2023/11/01/women-war-peace-united-nations/