The Foreign Service Journal, April 2011

A P R I L 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 19 Global Recognition At the international level, we now have consensus that women should be included in all peace talks. UNSCR 1325 acknowledges the disproportionate impact of vio- lent conflict on women and recog- nizes the critical roles women can and should play in the processes of peacebuilding and conflict preven- tion. These include participating in peace talks, conflict mediation and all aspects of post- conflict reconstruction. At the resolution’s tenth-anniversary gathering in New York at the end of 2010, world leaders criticized the lack of progress on implementing it. They reminded the in- ternational community that ignoring the security of women in the context of war and armed conflict carries high, long-term costs. Witness the case of the Demo- cratic Republic of the Congo, where the use of rape as a weapon of war has reached epidemic proportions. Leaders also emphasized that when international forces are deployed, provisions for the protection of civil- ians, particularly women, must be made explicit. U.N. Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Margot Wallström has stressed that international peace and security is indivisible from women’s peace and secu- rity, and that ending the spiral of sexual violence is inte- gral to ending wars and preventing further conflict. Protection of women is just half of the problem, how- ever. The other half is making sure that women are both formally and informally engaged in the efforts to end wars and begin the difficult process of building peace. Already, 25 countries — fromLiberia to Norway, Nepal and the Philippines — have developed action plans to im- plement Resolution 1325. Such plans outline how national ministries and armed forces need to take gender into ac- count when devising policies on defense, development or diplomacy. It is encouraging that the United States, though it has yet to ratify UNSCR 1325, has finally com- mitted to this task, as well. A U.S. National Action Plan Indeed, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has taken steps to develop a national action plan on Women, Peace and Security to reflect the tenets of Res- olution 1325. State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, as well as USAID and the Depart- ment of Defense, are working on action plans relevant to their mis- sions, including establishing moni- toring and evaluation procedures to reach specific targets and calling for action in countries where the U.S. is actively engaged. The Na- tional Security Council is coordi- nating the final plan among the U.S. government agencies. National-level action will also be greatly strengthened by passage of the International Violence Against Women Act, which was introduced by a bipartisan team of legis- lators and approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in December 2010. Similar to Resolution 1325, this bill recognizes that the issues affecting women are international security issues, and that the protection of women from violence must be prioritized in U.S. diplomatic efforts. The bill adopts a multisector ap- proach, addressing violence against women not only through services for survivors and health-care programs, but also through legal and judicial training, economic em- powerment programs and girls’ education. At the local and community levels, we need better and more creative outreach and educational strategies. We should link women’s inclusion in peacemaking to hardline security issues and present more evidence of women’s con- tributions. Our policies must be informed by research and data, but we also need to reach out to women in conflict countries who may be inspired to make changes even though they are illiterate. Finally, let us highlight instances where women have played roles as problem-solvers, en- trepreneurs and leaders. In many war-torn countries, poverty and illiteracy make it difficult to learn about the concrete progress women around the world have made toward creating change, not only at the local level but also nationally and internationally. So we need avenues beyond newspapers, policy briefs and academic studies to illustrate the roles women have played to bring peace to their communities, states and regions. Abigail Disney’s 2008 film “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” is a good example of an alternative outreach strat- egy. The film depicts the pivotal role of Liberian women in helping to oust the former warlord and president, Charles Taylor, and mobilizing the people for the elec- F O C U S Women have been working across the Israeli-Palestinian divide for decades, but have rarely been allowed into the formal peace processes.