From 19th to 25th June 2020, The Peace Centre facilitated the meeting of District Peace Committee meetings that had a total of 142 (42 females and 100 males) participants. The meetings provided platforms where Women Peace Mediators presented women peace and security concerns including; the impact of COVID 19 on women, increasing conflicts in the project districts that called for the safety of women and girls, spaces for women’s participation in peacebuilding, peace meetings and complete disarmament, protection of the unprotected kraals, tracking and recovery of stolen animals, need to resume peace initiatives since the Warriors took advantage of the lockdown and conflicts escalated.
On the 26th to 27th September, Women’s International Peace Centre, in partnership with Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) and Eve Organization for Women Development convened a two days Think Tank under the theme; “Reclaiming our Space; Women influencing Multiparty Democracy” for Women in Political leadership to reflect on strategies of enhancing the influence and strategic participation of women in multi-party political dispensation and national development. The Think Tank brought together 15 women politicians from 5 political parties, Ministry of Gender, and CSOs.
In August 2015, following almost 2years of on-and-off peace negotiations mediated by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), parties to the conflict and other stakeholders signed the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (ARCSS) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The agreement provided for the formation of a Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) and for national elections after two and a half years. It also envisaged broad security sector reform, transitional justice, and a constitutional development process. In December 2017, the High Level Revitalisation Forum commenced resulting in the signing of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA) in December 2017, the Declaration of Principles in February 2018, the Khartoum Declaration Agreement (KDA) in June 2018 and the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) on the 12 September in Khartoum, Sudan. In all these processes, women played key roles as mobilisers, advocates, mediators and negotiators. Organized under the auspices of the South Sudan Women’s Coalition, women pushed for inclusivity and secured space for the technical team to access the negotiation venues in Addis Ababa and Khartoum. They also influenced the peace agreement to Include a provision to have at least 35% affirmative action /women representation in all committees and for the implementation of the agreement and at all levels of decision making.
Our Key objective was to strengthen debate on women’s participation and influence in post conflict governance and decision making in South Sudan and specifically providing a space for critical dialogue and analysis on women’s engagement and influence in politics and national development for meaningful gender equality and equity and also develop a strategic agenda to strengthen capacity of women in decision making.
Protecting women’s space in politics is especially important in the conflict resolution area. Despite women’s longstanding role in informal dispute resolution, their near absence from peace talks and similar international security processes & mechanisms requires particular attention.
Ms. Jackline Nasiwa presents two papers on #UNSCR1325 and its linkage to the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) and Women and Peace building framing in South Sudan in line with R-ARCSS implementation.
Since the introduction of multi-party
politics in 1988, Uganda has not experienced peaceful, violent free democratic
electoral processes. Uganda’s elections continue to be
characterised by violence, ballot stuffing, altering of results and in the end
a myriad of election petitions. The political
environment in the build-up to, during and after elections has become increasingly
charged with a number of reports of harassment, intimidation, acts of
corruption, human rights abuses perpetrated by different political nemesis over
the years. While the government has enacted laws on guiding the electoral processes
such as the Presidential Elections Act and the Parliamentary Elections Act,
2005 gaps were identified by the Supreme Court in its ruling on petitions made
it to court in 2006 and 2016 with the greatest challenge in the conduction of
democratic elections being the conflicts that emerge before, during and especially after elections.
With funding from
Democracy Governance Facility (DGF), The Centre is implementing a project ‘Promoting
Women’s Effective Participation in Peaceful Electoral Processes in Uganda’aimed at improving women’s
engagement and influence on electoral processes. In its initial stages, the project will focus on broader interventions
covering pre-election, election and post-election processes and shall be
implemented in the districts of Arua,
Kapelebyong and Kassanda respectively. The project builds on the success
of The Centres’ implementation of the Women’s Situation Room composed of the
youth peer-to-peer peace process and women advocates for peace programmes
implemented in the build-up to, during and in the after-math of Uganda’s 2016
general elections. In addition, the project also contributes to DGF’s higher-level outcome
proportion of population satisfied with the way democracy works in Uganda and
DGF higher-level indicator ‘proportion of population who believe decision
making is inclusive and responsive’.
Women’s full and equal participation in political and electoral processes can be considered as one of the litmus tests for women’s empowerment and gender equality. When women participate in elections – as voters, candidates, electoral administrators, or party supporters – they can express their own needs and interests. Decisions reflect the electorate better; political processes are more inclusive and democracy is strengthened. However, despite some progress, globally women remain under-represented in all aspects of political life. Our project Promoting Women’s Effective Participation in Peaceful Electoral Processes in Uganda aims to strengthen women’s engagement and influence on electoral processes. National and local elections can support women’s political participation in multiple ways, but specific measures may be required to overcome gender-based discrimination. For instance, women candidates may face a lack of capacities or resources that prevents them from competing effectively. If polling stations are located in remote or unsafe areas, women voters may be reluctant to use them. Sometimes electoral management bodies are unaware of hindrances to women’s participation because they do not have the knowledge, skills or data to analyse and correct these. To ensure women’s and men’s equal participation in governance processes and the decisions that affect their lives is vital for achieving inclusive and effective governance.Read More “Women’s Effective Participation in Peaceful Electoral Processes in Uganda Project Inception.”
The Open Letter to the Group of Friends of 1325 calls on governments to accelerate commitments on Women, Peace and Security as part of their work on sustainable development, including on gender equality and peaceful and inclusive societies.
This letter is in advance of the 24th-25th September SDG Summit, which will also launch the 2019-2020 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) Review Process and where Member States have been asked to share Voluntary Accelerated Actions on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to scale up ambition and action. It is more important than ever that we call on member states to strengthen participation, protection, and rights of women and girls across the conflict spectrum by ensuring that policy coherence and women’s human rights are addressed in SDG implementation.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo
has experienced a series of conflicts since gaining independence in the 1960s with
an impact on the governance and livelihoods of the citizens and spill-over to
the neighbouring countries of the Great Lakes Region. A number of dialogues
have been initiated through the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in
the Great Lakes Region; the Peace and Security Cooperation Framework for DRC
and others. The DRC has launched its second-generation NAP and has been upfront
in providing relevant frameworks to promote the women, peace and security
agenda. DRC is also emerging from an electoral process held on 30th December
2018 that has brought in new leadership at different levels. Women have played
a significant role in all these peacebuilding and governance processes.
In this regard, The Centre has in
partnership with Karibu Jeunesse Nouvelle Association des Femmes Des Medias and
the Ministry of Gender,Family and Children conducted a five-day leadership
institute from 20th to 26th June, bringing together 20
women leaders from political parties and the civil society on the topic “Women’s
Political Participation for Peace and Security”. The training aimed to strengthen the capacity
of women leaders to engage in and influence post-conflict decision-making and
governance as well as to demand accountability from policymakers towards realising
the meaningful inclusion of women in governance and decision-making in
Democratic Republic of Congo -.
Participants looked at the background
and context of Women, peace and security Participants looked at Transformative Leadership, Feminist Leadership,
Communication in Leadership, training on UNSCR 1325, and coaching in Women’s
Participation in leadership.
