On November 10th, 2010 IREX hosted the panel discussion "Women Peace Builders [8]" which highlighted the role of women in peacemaking, the need to more fully engage them in peace processes and the obstacles to their full inclusion. The event was one of several in the DC area marking the 10th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 [9], which calls on the international community to recognize the different impacts of conflict on women and men, and to engage women in decision making processes of conflict resolution and peacebuilding.
Panelists included Cerue Garlo, IREX Program Officer and a Liberian peace activist, who shared with the audience her experiences promoting peace throughout Liberia’s civil war; Katherine Blakeslee, Director of USAID-WID, who discussed U.S. Foreign Assistance policy with regards to gender inclusion and provided insight into the development of the National Action Plan [10] to ratify SCR 1325 announced by Secretary Clinton in October; and Adina Friedman, Professor of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, who shared her experiences as an Israeli soldier, as a woman who later worked with displaced Palestinians, and as a student of peace processes.
Although women typically make up half of the population of communities that suffer from conflict, they are rarely involved directly in violence. This does not mean that they are not greatly affected by conflict, both as victims and as auxiliaries to it. Likewise, they are rarely involved directly in peace negotiations, which tend to be dominated by men such as warlords, military personnel and other direct perpetrators of violence who often try to leverage the threat of force to obtain political influence. Sometimes these individuals see the preservation of conflict as being in their political interests as warriors, because without war warriors are less relevant. In the interest of justice, as well as sustainable peace, it is essential that women be included in formal and informal peacemaking processes. Doing so reflects the concerns of all affected parties and enhances the durability of peace agreements.