April 13, 2003
Awakened Woman's Circle is working for peace
Iraq women: Putting women centre stage!
"K.U.L.U.-Women and Development"
The Women's International League for Freedom and Peace (Danish chapter), K.U.L.U.-Women and Development and the UNDP Nordic Office invites you to panel debate on 23 April:
The international society leaves women in areas devastated by war in the lurch.
Iraqi women face a bleak future if not the UN and international donors soon start to take seriously the special needs of women living in areas devastated by war. That is what experiences from former areas of armed conflict show, concludes the report 'Women, War and Peace' from the UN Development Fund for Women.
If the women are overlooked, it may curb the development process of a country and set the conditions for and the rights of women back several years, warns Elisabeth Rehn, co-author of the report and former Minister of Defence and presidential candidate in Finland.
Today women and children make up 80 percent of the world's refugees and internally displaced persons and are often responsible for the survival of families and communities after an armed conflict. Nonetheless, a majority of negotiations on peace and reconstruction, from the Dayton Peace Agreement in the Balkans, over the Rambouillet Agreement on Kosova in 1999 to the Peace Agreement in Burundi in 2000 has taken place without the participation of women.
The absence of women in key negotiations is also the responsibility of the UN, states the report 'Women, War and Peace', and therefore, the UN and the international society have a joint responsibility to secure women a seat at the negotiating table in future situations where reconstruction is required, says Elisabeth Rehn who is currently the chairwoman of democratisation and human rights of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe.
How are women guaranteed a role in the establishment of peace and democracy during and after armed conflicts? What will the Danish government do to strengthen women's role in the reconstruction of Iraq and thereby fulfil the obligation to reduce poverty by half before 2015?
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (DK), K.U.L.U. - Women and Development and UNDP (the UN Development Programme) invite you to a debate on these and many other questions on women in areas of armed conflict:
Wednesday, 23 April from 15.00 - 17.00
UNDP Nordic Office
Midtermolen 3, 5th floor
2100 Copenhagen
The panel debate will be conducted in English and be based on the conclusions of the said report written by the two independent experts Elisabeth Rehn and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for UNIFEM.
Panel:
· Elisbeth Rehn, independent expert for UNIFEM and co-author of
"Women, War and Peace"
· Jinan Muhsin, Teacher, Middle Eastern culture and society. Former senior lecturer in Middle Eastern Studies; Odense University.
· Pia Larsen, the Danish Liberal Party's spokeswoman on development
policy
· Annelise Ebbe, chairperson of the Women's International League
for Peace and Freedom, Denmark
· Dorrit Saietz, Journalist for the newspaper Information,
moderator
For registration or further information, please contact Helle Nordberg, UNDP Nordic Office, Tel. +45 3546 7154, email: helle.nordberg@undp.dk or Helle Nielsen, KULU - Women and Development, Tel. +45 3315 7870, email:
kulu@kulu.dk.
K.U.L.U.- WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT
Borgergade 14, 2. th.
DK - 1300 Copenhagen K
DENMARK
Tel. + 45 - 3315 7870
Fax: + 45 - 3332 5330
E-mail: kulu@kulu.dk
Website: www.kulu.dk
NOTE:
The debate about how to ensure women's perspectives and participation in the peace building and reconstruction negotiations after the war in Iraq is extremely important.
As you probably all know UNIFEM late last year launched its report Women, War and Peace:
The independent Experts' Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict of Women and Women's Role in Peacebuilding" by Elisabeth Rehn and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The report propoes very useful recommenadtions for a strengthenes follow up on the UN Security Council 1325 Resolution on Women, war and conflict.
CSW this year also did a resolution on strengthening women's role in Afghanistan!
In Denmark women's organisations in collaboration with UNDP are arranging a panel debate on 23. April focusing on how to ensure women's interests and participation at the negotiation tables in peacebuilding and reconstruction. We have invited UNIFEM independent expert Elisabeth Rehn, former Minister for Defence to discuss this a panel incl. an MP from the government party, a representative form the WILPF Denmark and a middle east expert and Iraqi women living in Demark. See invitation below.
Warm regards,
Helle Nielsen - K.U.L.U.-Women and Development
Women's Edge provided the following information:
Let me start by saying that these questions are hard to answer conclusively - funding [in Afghanistan] is coming in from a number of sources and is having different impacts in different parts of the country. In general, the greatest strides have been made in those regions that have received the most foreign assistance and are under the control of the formal government of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan (aka under Karzai's control). Local and women-led NGOs have been particularly important players in the process by efficiently providing services to otherwise inaccessible parts of the population.
The Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) is also behind much of the progress. Having secured funding, the MOWA has initiated the construction of multi-service women's centers in 14 provinces throughout Afghanistan. Education and economic empowerment programs will be among the services provided through the centers. Additionally, the MOWA has been able to bring women's needs to the attention of other Ministries such as the Ministry of Education, which has made girls' education a priority. As the country moves forward, it will be important for the MOWA to continue both activities - the direct provision of programs as well advocacy within the government.
Complimented by the activities of donors and other ministries, the MOWA and local and women-led NGOs have accomplished a lot over the past year. For example, this year, girls comprise 42% of all primary school students, up from 33% in 2002. However, women continue to confront numerous challenges ranging from the highly complex (jobs shortages throughout the country) to the more easily solvable (lack of women's educational facilities), and continued support from the U.S. and other developed countries will be critical to the successful reintegration of women into Afghan society.