with the development and implementation <strong>of</strong> NAPs is the focus in Section 5. This sectionis followed by the bibliography. The Guideline ends with the annexes which include thestakeholders and their potential roles, the text <strong>of</strong> the resolutions, the log frame and themonitoring and evaluation matrix.2
Section 1: IntroductionWomen and children bear the brunt <strong>of</strong> conflicts and wars all over the world. They aresubjected to unbelievable horrible atrocities during these conflicts – rapes, sexualabuses including abduction and sexual slavery, forced marriage and mutilations (forcedpregnancies and HIV/AIDS); presently rape is being used as a weapon <strong>of</strong> war. According toGeneral Patrick Cammeert (2008) “It is now more dangerous to be a woman than to be asoldier in modern conflicts”. About 70% casualties in recent conflicts are non combatants– majority <strong>of</strong> who are women and children. Violence against women during or after armedconflicts has been reported in every international or non international war zone. Rape andother sexual violence are <strong>of</strong>ten used in wars to shame and humiliate the enemy, as a rewardto the conquering side and as a means to spread terror and to weaken morale. Duringthe Rwandan genocides <strong>of</strong> the Hutus and Tutsis, an estimated 50% <strong>of</strong> the women wereraped. In the former Yugoslavia, more than 20,000 women were raped. In Western Darfur,an estimated 80% <strong>of</strong> Camp residents are women and children, many <strong>of</strong> whom have beentargets <strong>of</strong> gender based violence.Unfortunately, women are <strong>of</strong>ten viewed only as helpless victims <strong>of</strong> violent conflicts, instead<strong>of</strong> being seen as change agents whose potentials can be tapped in the peace processes.They are <strong>of</strong>ten relegated to an inactive role and their impact in the reconstruction <strong>of</strong> peace,the rehabilitation <strong>of</strong> the community and national reconciliation are ignored. For example,at the Arusha peace talks to end the civil war in Burundi, only 2 out <strong>of</strong> 126 delegates werewomen although women had been the leading voices for peace within their communitiesin the region; there were only five women in leadership positions in the UN mission toKosovo although women had forged the way for groups to cross ethnic barriers and rebuiltfractured relationships; there were no Bosnian women at the 1995 Dayton peace negotiationto end the war in the former Yugoslavia, even though the conflict has affected women in amost devastating way. One <strong>of</strong> the reasons for this marginalization is that peace and securityhave been perceived by many as the exclusive prerogative <strong>of</strong> men.There are many reasons why women should be playing an active role in the peace process.Some <strong>of</strong> them are highlighted below:••Women constitute about half the world’s population; lasting peace cannot be establishedwithout the equal participation <strong>of</strong> women and men and the inclusion <strong>of</strong> genderperspectives in both formal and informal peace processes. Any formal or informal peaceprocess that does not involve women is inherently unsustainable.••Women know the cost <strong>of</strong> violence (having lost husbands, brothers, sons and evendaughters), extremism and exclusion, the cost <strong>of</strong> destroyed states and economies andthe cost <strong>of</strong> accumulated conflicts so well that they are also <strong>of</strong>ten better equipped thanmen to prevent it.••Women are known to be wagers <strong>of</strong> wars as combatants in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Namibia,Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Liberia and Algeria.••Women play a significant role in addressing peace and conflict issues – as peacepromoters reaching across warring sides to other women; as peace-builders helpingcombatants and victims readjust to post-conflict normalcy; they serve as negotiators3
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