European Peace Institute / News

When the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) deployed in 2007, the AU and the UN Security Council expected that the United Nations would eventually take over from the AU force. But while a UN peacekeeping operation remains a theoretical option for the council, its prospects have diminished. Instead, the focus of Somali and international efforts has shifted to planning for AMISOM to transition directly Somali security forces without an interim UN mission.

This issue brief outlines the factors behind this shift in intentions, including the new Somali administration’s commitment to assuming responsibility for security, a general agreement that the time had come for an exit strategy, and the Security Council’s reduced appetite for peace operations. It also lays out the objectives, approaches, and status of implementation of the Somali Transition Plan.

Despite steady progress, there is still a long way to go in implementing this plan. Reforms are encountering resistance from vested interests, and al-Shabab poses an ongoing threat. Any sustainable transition from AMISOM must be a long-term project that includes not just a military handover but also political decisions on security and the structure of the state. It also depends on aligning national priorities and international efforts and the willingness of all security actors in Somalia to work together in a pragmatic, transparent, and coordinated way.

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On April 18th, IPI together with Monash University and Griffith University cohosted an event entitled “Policy, Promise, and Pitfalls: Women, Peace and Security in 2020.”

In October 2020, the global community will mark the 20th anniversary of the adoption of UNSCR 1325, the UN Security Council’s first resolution dedicated to Women, Peace and Security (WPS). This penultimate year before the anniversary is an important time to take stock and engage with what the international community has achieved toward the WPS agenda and where further action should be taken. It is a time to be creative in assessment and analysis of the issues, institutions, and locations where WPS implementation could improve international peace and security.

The evening’s discussion brought together the WPS community to discuss the intersection of policy and promise toward achieving the transformational potential of the WPS agenda. This includes the collective obligations of civil society, governments, and the UN.

Opening remarks:
H.E. Mr. Olof Skoog, Permanent Representative of Sweden to the UN
Dr. Jacqui True, Professor of Politics & International Relations and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Monash University

Speakers:
Ms. Nahla Valji, Senior Gender Adviser, Executive Office of the Secretary-General
Ms. Ray Acheson, Director, Reaching Critical Will

Moderator:
Dr. Sarah Taylor, IPI Senior Fellow

On Thursday, April 25th, IPI is hosting a speaker series event featuring H.E. Mr. Pedro Serrano on the topic of the relationship between the European Union and state actors in the Sahel.

Remarks will begin at 10:15am PST / 1:15pm EST

Pedro Serrano is Deputy Secretary General for Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and Crisis Response at the European External Action Service (EEAS) since November 2015.

Previously, Mr. Serrano was principal advisor on external relations to the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy. Mr. Serrano was the first head of delegation/ambassador of the EU to the United Nations in New York after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon.

Since 2003, Mr. Serrano has held numerous positions in the CSDP, including as director for civilian crisis management at the General Secretariat of the council. Prior to 2003, Mr. Serrano served as a Spanish diplomat in numerous positions including at the UN headquarters, and in Cuba and Tanzania.

This event will be moderated by Mr. Jake Sherman, Director of the Brian Urquhart Center for Peace Operations at IPI.

UN peacekeeping missions are facing cash-flow problems and financial strains due to the late payment and withholding of assessed contributions. Since the inception of UN peacekeeping, the financing of missions has been a challenge, with periods of calm followed by periods of crisis. The UN has been particularly vulnerable to withheld and late payments from its biggest financial contributors. This has an impact on missions’ effectiveness and the ability of troop-contributing countries to deploy.

This paper examines how member-state contributions to peacekeeping are calculated, historical and current financing challenges faced by peacekeeping missions, and ideas for placing UN peacekeeping on a firmer financial footing. It recommends reevaluating some of the rules and regulations that govern the management of UN peacekeeping. It specifically recommends:

• Creating a cash reserve for peacekeeping: A new reserve fund or the relaxation of restrictions to use of the existing reserve fund could help manage liquidity problems.
• Consolidating peacekeeping accounts: Consolidating the accounts for missions would significantly improve cash management and operational flexibility by allowing the Secretariat to borrow between the accounts of different missions.
• Streamlining budgeting: Aligning the billing process with the budget period would reduce bureaucracy, reducing the burden on both the Secretariat and member states.
• Incentivizing budgetary discipline: Allowing some flexibility on the crediting of savings to member states could improve liquidity and incentivize missions to be more disciplined in their spending.
• Encouraging prompt payments: To encourage member states to meet the deadline for payments, they could be penalized for making late payments or given positive incentives to pay on time.

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The international rule-based order has come under threat on multiple fronts. If it continues to deteriorate into an older model based on power politics, small states—by definition vulnerable in a world where only might makes right—are most at risk. This makes them natural defenders of the international order that protects them.

How can small countries serve as effective champions of the rule-based order and international law? This paper explores this question by looking at the role of small states on the UN Security Council. The council, with its five veto-wielding permanent members, is perhaps not an obvious place to look at the role of small states. Nonetheless, it presents critical opportunities, as well as difficult challenges, for small states.

This paper concludes that small states on the Security Council are well-placed to provide an important, credible voice with moral authority to remind all member states of their obligations under international law, reaffirm normative commitments to compliance, and advocate for a recommitment to a multilateral, rule-based international order. Perhaps not since the founding of the United Nations has that voice been more necessary for all to hear.

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The Secretary-General of Bahrain’s Supreme Council for Women, H.E Hala Al-Ansari, called on women and men alike to work together in achieving equal participation of women in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “We need to carry out our responsibilities as humans, rather than separate genders,” she said, adding that women do not need to solely rely on men to empower themselves.

Addressing a large audience of women in leadership, ambassadors, government officials, dignitaries, religious leaders, and media gathered at IPI MENA on April 11, 2019, Al-Ansari emphasized the progress made by Bahraini women in policy, public and private sectors, noting that “Bahrain is ranked first in the Arab world and 47th globally according to the World Bank’s Human Capital Index, and fourth in the Gulf and 43rd globally according to the UN Human Development Report 2018.”

The event was opened by IPI MENA Policy Analyst Dalya Al-Alawi, and moderated by IPI MENA Director Mr. Nejib Friji, who noted that the work of the SCW is in line with the SDGs and IPI goals related to women’s leadership and the promotion of women at all levels of decision-making, political involvement and peacemaking.

In response to a question by Mary Justine Todd, Founder of Women’s Crisis Care International, about SCW initiatives regarding domestic and sexual violence, Al-Ansari cited progress regarding legislation and law enforcement steps and called for additional preventative measures as well as the streamlining of gender equity in all layers of society. “We must go to the root of domestic and sexual violence and change the mindset of how the genders express themselves, beginning with education, institutions and teaching the skills of peaceful relations from kindergarten to high levels of education,” she said.

Answering a question from Yemen’s Ambassador to Bahrain, Dr. Ali Hassan Al Ahmadi, on whether women’s quotas would be envisaged as a means of inclusion and advancement, Hala Al-Ansari stressed that these allocations are not always true measures of progress. She called for greater accountability in the field of women’s advancement through the implementation of evaluation mechanisms in the public and private sectors.

Responding to Fatema Al Kooheji, Chairperson of the Shura Council’s Senate for the Women and Children Committee, on the role of the media in women’s advancement and participation, Al-Ansari noted the relative progress of the media concerning women’s issues. Still, she called for further development in media’s approaches to assessment, coverage, analysis of gender equity, women’s participation in line with the SDGs. She highlighted the important role of media, adding that it is crucial to convey an accurate and constructive message. However, she noted that media should “neither draw a bleak picture nor over-exaggerate women’s achievements.”

Speaking to the media, Hala Al-Ansari vowed a partnership with IPI MENA on gender-based equal opportunities’ future projects.

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On Tuesday, April 16th, IPI together with the Permanent Mission of Estonia to the UN are cohosting a policy forum event on “A Necessary Voice: Small States, International Law, and the UN Security Council.”

Remarks will begin at 10:15am PST / 1:15pm EST

The international rule-based order is facing high-risk challenges on multiple fronts. What is at stake in the weakening of this order, and what are the paths forward? Among UN member states, small countries are most at risk if the international system further deteriorates into an older model of a world order based on power politics and zero-sum games. As such, they should also be predisposed to defend the order that protects them.

In a system dominated by large powerful states, can small states serve as effective champions of the rule-based order and international law? One place to begin to answer this question is the UN Security Council, a body that presents both critical opportunities and difficult challenges for small states. Given these opportunities and challenges, what role can small states play in defending international law on the Security Council?

Panelists will discuss these questions and more. This event will launch the IPI policy report, “A Necessary Voice: Small States, International Law, and the Security Council,” produced in partnership with the Government of Estonia.

Speakers:
H.E. Mr. Sven Jürgenson, Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Estonia to the UN
H.E. Mr. Luis Homero Bermúdez Álvarez, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Uruguay to the UN
Dr. Adam Lupel, Vice President, International Peace Institute
Dr. Lauri Mälksoo, Professor of International Law, University of Tartu (Estonia)
Dr. Kristen Boon, Associate Dean, Professor of Law, Seton Hall Law School

Moderator:
Ms. Jimena Leiva Roesch, Senior Fellow, International Peace Institute

On April 9th, IPI together with the Office of the President of the General Assembly, the United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office, the United Nations Population Fund, Peace Direct, and Interpeace, cohosted a policy forum to discuss the role of young people as drivers of peace and how international actors can advance meaningful participation and inclusion of young people.

Watch the broadcast in French

Meaningful political, social and economic inclusion is a complex and core issue at the heart of the Youth Peace and Security agenda. The challenge, however, is what constitutes meaningful political inclusion and participation of young people, and how can this be undertaken to prevent violence and sustain peace.

Contributing to sustaining peace, and preventing the outbreak, continuation, escalation and recurrence of violence requires expansion of young people’s roles and engagement in formal and informal political processes and institutions. It demands attention to improve young people’s roles in decision-making processes that directly impact their lives, and their relationships with their communities and the state.

The Youth, Peace and Security agenda, laid out in Security Council Resolution 2250, and the Independent Progress Study on Youth Peace and Security debunks negative assumptions about youth in peace and security, underlines the capacity youth have to participate in meaningful peacebuilding and nonviolent action in their communities and countries and highlights several recommendations on how to advance inclusion broadly. As member states and the United Nations move towards implementation of the youth agenda and recommendation, it is important to reflect what work is being done by young people on the ground, how they want to work with international actors as well as what meaningful inclusion means to them and what accountability looks like in this implementation.

Welcoming remarks:
Dr. Adam Lupel, Vice President, International Peace Institute

Opening remarks:
H.E. Ms. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President, UN General Assembly
Mr. Dereje Wordofa, ASG and Deputy Executive Director, UNFPA

Speakers:
Mr. Moussa Tolo, President, Allô Gouvernance
Mr. Graeme Simpson, Principal US Representative and Senior Peacebuilding Advisor, Interpeace USA
Ms. Vanessa Wyeth, Senior Political and Public Affairs Officer (Peacebuilding), Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations
Mr. Adil Skalli, program manager, UN Association of Canada

Moderator:
Mr. Jake Sherman, Director of the Center for Peace Operations, International Peace Institute

“The two state solution I do profoundly believe is the only way,” IPI President Terje Rød-Larsen told a World Economic Forum gathering in Jordan on April 7th assessing the difficulties facing the stalled peace process in the Middle East. He added, “By force of history, it will happen, but it might take a very long time.”

Describing himself as both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli, he said, “I think the one state solution would be a disaster for the Palestinians and a disaster for the Israelis.”

Mr. Rød-Larsen made his remarks in a panel discussion on the eve of elections in Israel in which the possibility of annexation of the West Bank and movement towards a unitary Israeli state has come up for debate.

He was speaking in response to a question from Børge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum, who asked, “Is the two state solution dead?”

Others on the panel were Saeb Erekat, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization of the Palestinian National Assembly; Dalia Dassa Kaye, Director, Center for Middle East Public Policy, RAND Corporation USA, and Michael Herzog, International Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Israel.

As part of his long career as a diplomat and peacemaker, Mr. Rød-Larsen served from 1999 to December 2004 as UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, holding the rank of Under-Secretary-General.

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On Thursday, April 11th, IPI is hosting a Global Leaders Series presentation featuring H.E. Mr. Khaled H. Alyemany, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Yemen.

Remarks will begin at 10:15am PST / 1:15pm EST

In January 1991, H.E. Mr. Khaled H. Alyemany joined the foreign service as the editor of private publications at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of Press and Information. He subsequently served as an expert in the Foreign Minister’s Office overseeing Yemeni-African relations and as the assistant and private secretary in the Foreign Minister’s Office overseeing Yemeni-American relations (USA, Canada, and Cuba), as well as counterterrorism.

H.E. Mr. Alyemany served in four oversees posts: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1997- 2000); Washington DC, USA (2000-2003), where he was a political and press officer; London, UK (2005-2009), as deputy chief of mission; and New York, USA (2009-2010), as the chief negotiator during Yemen’s chairmanship of the “Group of 77.” Between 2011 and 2013, he served in Sana’a as deputy director, and then as director, of the Foreign Minister’s Office. In 2013, he returned to New York as a deputy permanent representative until he was confirmed as a permanent representative in December 2014. He served as the deputy president of the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2015, and deputy chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Bureau in the United Nations from 2016 until his appointment as foreign minister in May 2018.

Speaker:
H.E. Mr. Khaled H. Alyemany, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Yemen

Moderator:
Dr. Adam Lupel, Vice President, International Peace Institute

Comprehensive leadership training is necessary to ensure that peace operations are effective and that senior leaders are prepared for both the daily challenges and the inevitable crises of peacekeeping. A gender perspective is of central importance to such training. However, gender considerations—from gendered conflict analysis to recognition of who is in the room when decisions are made—remain poorly understood at a practical level, including among senior mission leaders.

This issue brief discusses what it means to apply a “gender perspective” and the importance of such a perspective for senior leaders to effectively implement mission mandates. It provides an overview of existing gender-related training and preparation techniques for senior leaders, including gaps. It concludes with a series of recommendations on how trainings and approaches to senior leadership training can better reflect these considerations:

• The current status of gender training for senior leaders should be assessed.
• Facilitators of trainings should ensure that their curricula address and respond to a peacekeeping workspace dominated by men.
• Facilitators should be aware that leaders often think they do not need training.
• Trainings for senior leaders should be designed to reflect the complexity of implementing women, peace, and security obligations in a mission.
• Efforts to ensure gender parity in senior mission leadership should be strengthened.
• Gender advisers should be included as formal members of a mission’s crisis management team and play an active role in decision-making bodies.
• Facilitators should understand the gender dimensions of a given training scenario and be aware of the gender balance among participants.
• The UN should develop resources for leaders, including key documents and guidance on understanding the gender dimensions of their mission.

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On March 22nd, IPI together with the Geneva Water Hub (a global center of the University of Geneva), UNICEF, and the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the UN cohosted a policy forum event on Water in Armed Conflicts.

Armed conflicts affect access to safe water in several ways: destruction of and damage to water facilities, attacks against power plants providing energy to water supply networks, and the collapse of water treatment plants and sewage systems are some of the examples. Water supply systems fail, supply lines are deliberately sabotaged, or water resources are poisoned to intimidate civilians. It takes months to repair and restore essential service infrastructure once it has been damaged. In the meantime, civilians are displaced, agricultural activities are brought to a halt, and epidemics can spread. Various organizations are increasingly bringing into the spotlight the severe consequences of armed conflicts on access to water for the civilian population.

At this policy forum, experts presented and discussed the Geneva List of Principles on the Protection of Water Infrastructure and the UNICEF Advocacy Alert to stimulate international cooperation to overcome the obstacles posed by armed conflicts to accessing water.

Opening remarks:
Hon. Kevin Rudd, Former Prime Minister, Australia, Chair of the IPI Board of Directors

Speakers:
H.E. Dr. Danilo Türk, Former President of the Republic of Slovenia, Chairman of the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace and Lead Political Advisor of the Geneva Water Hub
Prof. Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, Faculty of Law, University of Geneva, Full Professor, Geneva Water Hub and Member of the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace
Ms. Sandra Pellegrom, Head of Development, Humanitarian Affairs and Human Rights, Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the UN
Mr. Hamish Young, Chief, Humanitarian Action and Transitions Section, UNICEF

Moderator:
Dr. Adam Lupel, Vice President, International Peace Institute

On Friday, March 29th, IPI together with the University of Johannesburg are cohosting a policy forum on Nigeria and South Africa: Regional Dynamics in a Changing World. Professor Adekeye Adebajo will offer his analysis on regional challenges and opportunities following the presidential elections in Nigeria and ahead of the parliamentary elections in South Africa. Professor Sarah Lockwood will offer commentary following Professor Adebajo’s remarks.

Remarks will begin at 10:15am PST / 1:15pm EST

Nigeria and South Africa have led many conflict-management initiatives over the last twenty-five years. Both account for at least 60 percent of the economy of their respective sub-regions in West and Southern Africa. The success of political and economic integration in Africa thus rests heavily on the shoulders of these two regional powers.

Professor Adekeye Adebajo will also provide insights into the history of the two countries and the relations between them, as well as discuss further findings and reflections following the publication of his most recent book of essays entitled The Eagle and the Springbok: Essays on Nigeria and South Africa.

Dr. Adekeye Adebajo was the director of the Africa Program at the International Peace Institute in New York from 2000 to 2004 and served on UN missions in South Africa, Western Sahara, and Iraq. He was the Executive Director of the Centre for Conflict Resolution from 2004 to 2018. He is currently a Professor at the University of Johannesburg and Director of their Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation.

Professor Sarah Lockwood is a political scientist currently completing her PhD in African Studies and Government at Harvard University.

Speaker:
Prof. Adekeye Adebajo, Director, Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation, University of Johannesburg

Discussant:
Prof. Sarah J. Lockwood, Presidential Scholar, Harvard University, Senior Consultant, Menas Associates

Moderator:
Amb. John Hirsch, IPI Senior Adviser

On Thursday, March 28th, IPI is hosting a Distinguished Author Series event featuring Robert Kagan, author of The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World. The conversation will be moderated by IPI Senior Adviser for External Relations Warren Hoge.

Remarks will begin at 3:20pm PST / 6:20pm EST

Recent years have brought deeply disturbing developments around the globe, from declining democracy to growing geopolitical competition. American sentiment seems to be leaning increasingly toward going it alone or withdrawing in the face of such disarray. In The Jungle Grows Back, America and Our Imperiled World, Robert Kagan issues an urgent warning that such a unilateral retreat by America would be the worst possible response, one based on a fundamental misreading of the world. Contrary to those who believe that there is an “end of history”—that progress is inevitable and the relative freedom, prosperity, and general peace the world has known for the past seventy years will continue naturally—the historical norm has always been toward chaos. Should the United States continue to withdraw as a global power, Kagan argues, the anarchic international system will undermine and overwhelm the liberal world order as we know it. In short, the jungle will always grow back, if we let it.

On Wednesday, March 27th, IPI is hosting a speaker series event featuring H.E. Mr. Paul Kehoe and H.E. Mr. Inia Seruiratu on the topic of “Implementing Action for Peacekeeping: Troop Contributing Countries as key stakeholders.”

Remarks will begin at 10:15am PST / 1:15pm EST

The presentations will be followed by a moderated panel discussion, which will include H.E. Ms. Geraldine Byrne Nason, Permanent Representative of the Mission of Ireland and H.E. Mr. Satyendra Prasad, Permanent Representative of the Mission of Fiji.

H.E. Mr. Paul Kehoe was appointed Minister with Responsibility for Defence in June 2017. He previously served as the Government Chief Whip and Minister of State at the Department of the Prime Minister and the Department of Defence. Mr. Kehoe has also been a Parliamentarian for County Wexford since he was first elected to the Dáil in May 2002.

H.E. Mr. Inia Batikoto Seruiratu is a Fijian politician and member of the Parliament of Fiji for the Fiji First Party. He is the Minister for Defence and National Security of Fiji and, since January 2019, also serves as the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Keynote speakers:
H.E. Mr. Paul Kehoe, Minister for Defence of Ireland
H.E. Mr. Inia Seruiratu, Minister for Defence, National Security & Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Fiji

Moderator:
Mr. Jake Sherman, Director of the Brian Urquhart Center for Peace Operations, International Peace Institute

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Karin Landgren, the Executive Director of Security Council Report and the first woman to have led three United Nations peace operations, was talking about her 35 years of experience at the UN working with men and how to make that partnership more effective in the future.

“I’m convinced that men hear other men more effectively than they hear women,” she said. “Like it or not, the world over, there seems to be widespread male discounting of truth spoken in a female voice. One way forward is more female voices, but for now it galls me, if we want effective communication and outreach, there need to be more male voices not simply relating the evidence but persuading others at a more visceral level of the value of women holding power.”

Ms. Landgren was addressing a policy forum on Mobilizing Men as Partners for Women, Peace and Security held at IPI on March 20 and co-sponsored by Our Secure Future.

Sounding a similar note was Ana Maria Menéndez, Senior Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Policy, who said, “Male allies use their power to provide a platform to amplify the voices of women.” She said the broad goal was to have “more women leading their communities, changing the face of the security sector and having an equal say in how we reconstruct societies, how we heal from conflict, and how we prevent it in the first place.” She added: “We’re not even close.”

IPI Senior Fellow Sarah Taylor said, “If we are going to move forward on the core of the women, peace and security agenda and everything that means, on ensuring that this is recognized and implemented as a universal agenda, then these difficult tasks are necessary tasks, tasks to be done in a considered, even humble, and certainly in a feminist way.”

Fatima Kadhim Al-Bahadly, Director of the Al-Firdaws Society in Basra, Iraq, spoke of how she worked to deradicalize young boys in her country through social cohesion campaigns on peace and coexistence and warned of the consequences of inaction. “Ignoring women and children will expand the base of extremism and violence all over again and will help establish new extremist organizations,” she said.

Donald Steinberg, the executive director of Mobilizing Men as Partners for Women, Peace and Security, said the failure to involve women at all levels of leadership constituted “an emergency. And it requires nothing less than a wholesale reordering of our male-dominated global security priorities.  There has been impressive progress on international norms and practices…but our success can’t be measured on how many Security Council resolutions we pass, how many national action plans we adopt, or even now many women have served in peace processes. Instead our success will be measured by whether these peace processes can actually bring just and lasting ends to conflict.

Several speakers reported instances of “push back” from men resisting advances by women. “If I ever broached the idea of quotas for women, as I sometimes did,” said Ms. Landgren “even my extremely reasonable male friends would—metaphorically speaking—reach for their revolvers and start to talk about ‘lowering standards,’ as if current selection processes for male leaders are all about high standards,” she remarked, in a comment that drew knowing laughter.

She acknowledged the fear that men, if given the opportunity, might try to wrest leadership from women and the reality that “women can be reluctant to propel themselves to front lines.” But she asserted: “We need both men and women to pull other women into leadership roles.”

Mirsad “Miki” Jacevic, Vice Chair of the Institute for Inclusive Security, expressed impatience with those calling for more study of the issue. “The news I have for those who say we need more research, we’ve researched enough. We have enough case studies and data. We just need to now translate this into making this happen. I recognize the push back, but I think we need to recognize the enormous power of the potential that women have from letting war take even more lives.”

Noting that gender inequality impacts us all negatively, IPI Vice President Adam Lupel cited the findings of research by Valerie M. Hudson of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University that showed that the best predictor of a country’s peacefulness is not its economic status, nor its level of democracy nor its religious or ethnic composition, but how well its women are treated. “It’s not just about the rights of women,” he said, “but a more peaceful and prosperous world for everyone.”

Sahana Dharmapuri, Director of Our Secure Future, said that to further her organization’s mission of strengthening the women, peace and security movement, she was looking for strategic entry points. “There can be nothing more strategic than leveraging the principles of partnership and equality,” she said.

Anwarul K. Chowdhury, a former UN Undersecretary-General and High Representative, alluded to the necessity of including women in furthering the peace agenda. “Half of humanity bring a new breadth, quality, and balance of vision to our common efforts to move away from the cult of war towards the culture of peace,” he said. “Women’s equality makes our planet safe and secure…If we are serious about peace, we must take women seriously.”

The discussion was moderated by IPI Senior Fellow Sarah Taylor.

On March 14th, IPI together with the International Center for the Research on Women, the Feminist U.N Campaign and Save The Children cohosted a policy forum to discuss Feminist Leadership at the UN.

Secretary-General António Guterres took office in January 2017 amid unprecedented public and member state demand for feminist leadership of the United Nations. Member states coalesced in platforms advocating for such shifts in leadership, and the Feminist UN Campaign emerged from that political moment. Now, two years into the SG’s term, the 63rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) presents an ideal background for member states, civil society and the Executive Office of the Secretary-General to be in conversation about the current state of feminist leadership and progress advancing gender equality at the UN.

The Women, Peace and Security lens provides a useful case study for measuring progress in this regard. Despite two decades of women, peace and security policy development and commitments, women’s participation at “all levels of decision-making” lags due to structural barriers, lack of access to political arenas, and even threats to women who attempt to participate in these processes. In efforts to build and sustain peace, there remains widespread neglect of local-level women peace builders’ expertise, and formal peacemaking efforts continue to be resistant to women’s meaningful participation and rights implementation. However, member states and the UN have taken steps to address barriers to women’s leadership, such as in highlighting national-level feminist policies and launching a UN-wide gender parity strategy. The election of a new Secretary-General of the United Nations in 2016 provided an important opportunity to ensure that the United Nations implements an agenda that puts gender equality and women’s rights at the heart of everything it does.

This event amplified perspectives on progress as well as remaining challenges to removing barriers to gender equality and feminist leadership at national, regional and global levels, including discussion with experts from member states, UN leadership, and civil society.

Opening remarks:
Dr. Adam Lupel, Vice President, International Peace Institute
Ms. Katja Pehrman, Senior Advisor, UN Women

Speakers:
Ms. Ulrika Grandin, Senior Advisor, Feminist Foreign Policy, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Ms. Nahla Valji, Senior Gender Adviser, Executive Office of the Secretary-General
Ms. Lyric Thompson, Director of Policy and Advocacy, ICRW, and author of Feminist UN Campaign report card
Ms. Nora O’Connell, Associate Vice President, Public Policy and Advocacy, Save The Children

Moderator:
Dr. Sarah Taylor, Senior Fellow, International Peace Institute

Event Video: 
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On March 13th, IPI and Peace is Loud co-hosted a policy forum on women’s participation in peace negotiations and peacekeeping, featuring a screening of two scenes from the new PBS documentary film series Women, War and Peace II. Filmmakers and prominent women peacemakers took part in a discussion on the two films.

In welcoming remarks, Madeleine Rees, Secretary General of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, credited the filmmakers for “surfacing the reality of women’s lives in relation to the very narrow vision we get shown.” She spoke of how in her own work she had seen women “doing things so great with no recognition. These films, she said, recast historical narratives of war and peace to include women and helped to eliminate the notion that all men are violent. “Men and women can build peace together against forces of violence,” she said, and argued that this message could help inform a future of sustained peace.

The first film was on the Northern Ireland peace process and called Wave Goodbye to Dinosaurs. Monica McWilliams, Co-Founder of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition and a negotiator of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, told the story of the group’s formation. In the decision, early on, as to whether to push forward and enter peace talks as women, a voice shouted out, “It’s time to wave goodbye to dinosaurs,” and with that, they launched a political party under this name. “We were ordinary women who fell into extraordinary times,” she said of the group. “Men felt that they were going to be shot. Women often felt, ‘We will reach out because what’s happening to our children is incredibly dangerous.’”

She reflected on what she had learned in this process and what she would have done differently, and pointed out how men in the peace talks were deeply influenced by their tradition of never talking to their opponents. “Reaching an accommodation is a strength and not a weakness,” she said. “Talking to your enemies is a strength and not a weakness. We were asked, ‘where did these women come from?’ We had been around for 25 years.”

Ms. McWilliams emphasized the need for civil society to be involved before, during, and after peace talks, because “what’s promised needs to get enforced.” After being told to go home once the peace treaty was signed, she noted instead the necessity of long-term persistence that ensures women’s participation in future negotiations. Her advice to negotiators was to “always think of the day after.”

Ms. McWilliam’s story inspired Eimhear O’Neill to direct the film Wave Goodbye to Dinosaurs. She referenced the famous quote by the Irish civil rights leader Bernadette Devlin, that “it’s not that women get written out of history; it’s that they never get written in.” Ms. O’Neill said that her aim in creating the documentary was to reverse that. “In order to affect change, you have to expose your identity…You have to say no and you have to ask and demand that change can happen. I think wherever you are in the world, where you can wave goodbye to dinosaurs, you should, and where you haven’t been able to just yet, start waving.

Geeta Gandbhir, director of the second film, A Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers, said she had been troubled by the simplistic portrayal of Muslim women in the media. She wanted to show a new vision, rather than the one-dimensional image of them as victims, voiceless, or as aiding and abetting extremist groups and terrorists.

The documentary centers on the all-women Bangladeshi Formed Police Unit that was sent to Haiti during the cholera epidemic. Not only did she note the effect that women in peacekeeping had on the host community, but also the personal growth that peacekeeping afforded the women themselves, emboldening them to combat patriarchy, not least by giving them financial stability.

“We understood that having women in peacekeeping forces and participating in the process could empower women in the host community…They could help make the peacekeeping force more approachable to the women in the community. They were able to assist and aid survivors of gender-based violence, they were also able to interact in societies where women were prevented from speaking to men. They provided role models, a greater sense of security to local populations, including women and children.” When met with pushback by the local community, they responded differently than male peacekeepers had, said Ms. Gandbhir. They “realized the basis of anger and frustration was often about systemic poverty and corruption that was implicit. In some ways their response to protests and people being hostile towards them was met with understanding.”

In addition, she said, they cultivated trust of the United Nations within the community. “When male peacekeepers patrolled camps, women and children would go inside and not come out. And when the women patrolled the camps, the women and children would come out and follow them and walk through the camps with them, and want to hold their hands, and want to talk to them. And after a while the women would sometimes bring little treats for the children, they would try to interact with them. They would play games with them. It was…inspiring for us to see,” Ms. Gandbhir said.

The women peacekeepers also derived benefits for themselves. “Women themselves were able to broaden their skills and capacity and bring some of what they learned home,” she said. “They also experienced a freedom that they did not have at home: they were able to bond with each other, work together, they were given responsibilities that they didn’t have at home. Some were happy to be free of the burden of childcare and cooking. For them that was a joyful thing even though they missed their families terribly. Financially, the money they made from mission was three times what they made at home. So they were effectively the breadwinners, they were able to support their families and became role models for their own children.”

Witnessing these clear examples of emboldened women showcased the positive impact of women’s involvement, said Nahla Valji, Senior Gender Advisor in the Executive Office in the Secretary-General of the UN. “The power of these movies [is that] …until you see relationships being built in front of you, I don’t think we fully understand the impact that we can have through women’s participation.” The ways in which we view women in action alters our definition of effective leadership, she said. “It role models a different way of being. It also brings 50 percent of the world’s population and their diverse perspectives to the table.”

Ms. O’Neill said she was “delighted” that the media was now capturing the voices of the young women. “The more examples we have of other women who’ve done it, the more confident we feel. I often feel like we need permission to step forward. Sometimes we need to give ourselves permission internally. It’s about feeling confident, it’s about feeling safe, that you can step forward. Increasingly younger women are starting to talk about that.”

IPI Vice President Adam Lupel gave opening remarks, and Senior Fellow Sarah Taylor moderated.

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Wednesday, March 13, 6:15pm EST
Film Discussion: Women, War, and Peace II
This event will focus on two of the four films that make up the Women, War & Peace II PBS documentary film series: Wave Goodbye to Dinosaurs and A Journey of a Thousand Miles.

Watch Live Register to Attend

Thursday, March 14, 1:15pm EST
Feminist Leadership at the UN
This event will amplify perspectives on progress as well as remaining challenges to removing barriers to gender equality and feminist leadership at national, regional and global levels.

Watch Live Register to Attend

Wednesday, March 20, 1:15pm EST
Mobilizing Men as Partners for Women, Peace and Security
Speakers at this event will discuss strategies for global leaders to reinforce and amplify the importance of inclusion.

Watch Live Register to Attend Further Reading

Policy Reports and Issue Briefs:

• Women’s Struggle for Citizenship: Civil Society and Constitution Making after the Arab Uprisings
• The SDGs and Prevention for Sustaining Peace: Exploring the Transformative Potential of the Goal on Gender Equality
• ICM Policy Paper: Women, Peace, and Security
• Reimagining Peacemaking: Women’s Roles in Peace Processes
• Building Peace and Development in the Sahel: Enhancing the Political Participation of Women and Youth

Global Observatory Articles:

• Women’s Issues: What Are They?
• In Peace and in War Gender Equality Is Everyone’s Battle
• Libya Talks Embody Missing Participation of Women in Peace Processes
• Why Women, Peace, and Security? Why Now?
• UN Peacekeeping: Where is the Gender Expertise?
• Without Prioritization of Peace and Women’s Leadership, WPS in Peril
• Five Frequently Asked Questions on the Inclusion of Women in Peace Processes
• What Does the New Women, Peace, and Security Index Measure?
• Fighting Violence Against Women in Politics: the Limits of Legal Reform
• In Tunisia’s March Toward Women’s Rights, Finish Line Is in Sight
• Tunisia’s New Protections for Women: A Legislative Revolution and Missed Opportunity
• UN Peacekeeping: Where Are All the Women?
• Gender Equality Over a Barrel: How the Gulf’s Oil Dependence Holds Back Women
• Women, Tribal Leaders Key to Rebuilding Libyan State
• Investing in Inclusion: Women, Peace, and Development in Africa
• Sexual Violence Against the Rohingya: Q&A with Razia Sultana
• Conflict, Peacebuilding, and Perspectives in Colombia: Q&A with Charo Mina-Rojas
• Women, Peace, and Politics at the UN Security Council

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Some 18 months after 700,000 people fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state, camps in neighboring Bangladesh are now hosting more than one million refugees. Though Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in November 2017 to a procedural framework for repatriation of these refugees—most of them Rohingyas from Rakhine state—the increased instability there has not allowed for safe, dignified, and voluntary returns.

The resulting humanitarian crisis and what to do about it was the subject of an IPI Speaker Series talk on March 1st by Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Md. Shahidul Haque. He opened his remarks by saying that the matter had been badly distorted.

“There has been an attempt to make the whole issue from a humanitarian crisis to a military conflict between Myanmar and Bangladesh,” Mr. Haque said. In fact, he said, “this is between Myanmar and its own nationals, the Rohingyas… it is not an interstate fight, it is an ethnic issue.”

In a briefing to the United Nations Security Council the day before, UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener had reported that the refugees in the Cox’s Bazar area of Bangladesh find themselves in “extremely challenging temporary conditions.” And she said they would continue in danger indefinitely in the absence of moves to end violence, improve humanitarian access, probe the causes of the crisis, and promote equitable development.

Mr. Haque said that the displaced people were in deeply deforested areas, with no infrastructure and no market system even to buy necessities. “But one of the most challenging situations that we are confronted with was not with shelter, not with food, but health,” he said. “Health is an area which often creates a crisis within a crisis.”

The World Health Organization aided in getting necessary vaccines after an outbreak of diphtheria, and individual governments and local NGOs were providing health services, he said. His own government tried to help by sending in troops with health supplies, but women ran away, thinking they were Myanmar soldiers, he said. “It took two or three days to make them understand this is not the Myanmar military, they are not going to kill you, but they are going to help you.” Bangladesh subsequently tried to make sure that those providing aid were women, he said.

Mr. Haque listed three necessary steps for improvement – addressing the “root causes” of the conflict, holding perpetrators of atrocity crimes accountable, and ensuring the safety and security of minority communities, especially the Rohingyas. He added that “international pressure on Myanmar is critical.”

He said that all civilians “irrespective of religion and ethnicity must be protected in Myanmar,” and he proposed accordingly that civilian zones with no military presence be established within the country under UN supervision. He also encouraged international organizations and the UN to collect the evidence that would be needed to investigate and prosecute atrocities. “Unless you bring in the whole issue of accountability and justice,” he said, “you cannot permanently resolve this problem, you cannot ensure that next time there won’t be another exodus.”

IPI Vice President Adam Lupel, the moderator of the discussion, concluded the session, saying, “My takeaway is this really is a multi-dimensional, multi-layered, multigenerational crisis… This really is a long-term problem with very urgent short term demands, but a need for a long-term perspective on both the history and the resolution. In some ways, it’s a real good case for what we’re calling in this neighborhood the ‘triple nexus’, a crisis that is both the peace and security, development, and human rights all in one which makes it very complicated but also in some sense maps out what kind of process needs to be engaged for a resolution.”