Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt | Peace through women's eyes

		26 Sept. - 2 October 2002 Issue No. 605 Home news	Current issue Previous issue Site map
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Peace through women's eyes
Women from around the world gathered in Sharm El-Sheikh to brainstorm ways to challenge the war system and move towards a culture of peace. Dahlia Hammouda reports

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Mrs Suzanne Mubarak surrounded by delegates
In an unprecedented meeting, more than 100 women travelled to the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh last weekend to attend an international conference dealing with means of increasing women's involvement in peace-building worldwide.
Held at the initiative of Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, "Women for Peace: Dialogue for Action" brought spouses of heads of state, political leaders, university lecturers and peace activists together to take part in the launch of a Women for Peace Movement. Among the keynote speakers were Irish President Mary McAleese; the spouse of the king of Bahrain, Sheikha Sabika Al-Khalifa; former first lady of Ghana, Nana Rawlings and former first lady of Lebanon, Mona Harawy. One of the male speakers was secretary-general of the International Organisation of the Francophonie, Boutros Boutros Ghali.
Conference participants exchanged views on how to advance the cause of peace and establish mechanisms to prepare for a "Women for Peace" international conference to be held in 2004.
Despite the many advances women have made in the last two decades, they are still excluded from the highest levels of power at which crucial decisions on peace and security are made. "Given women's disproportionate suffering in times of war and armed conflict, their traditionally limited role in advocating, promoting and preserving peace is quite unjust," Mrs Mubarak said, addressing the conference. "This is unfortunate, since women are remarkably resilient, resourceful and creative in response to daunting challenges."
Mrs Mubarak described the horrors women suffer in times of armed conflict. "When war strikes, women are subjected to the most degrading treatment at the hands of the aggressors. Women suffer bombardment in silence, make do when the infrastructure around them has been destroyed and try to protect their families to the best of their abilities. It is women who risk their lives every minute, seeking food to feed their children when food is no longer available," she said.
However, since women's efforts are largely in the informal sphere, at the grass-roots level, their voices are not always heard. "Yet, it is civil society, women's organisations and community groups who are carrying out vital peace-building activities on a daily basis. They are the people with the commitment and long-term interest in sustainable peace," Mrs Mubarak said.
The time has come to end women's exclusion, speaker after speaker stressed. Without the full and equal participation of women, neither the culture of violence nor any major world problems can be adequately addressed.
"The realities of our time confirm that new voices and perspectives can make a difference in the global dialogue for peace," Mrs Mubarak said. "Since the obstacles to peace are the result of human decisions and actions, and not fate, they can and must be overcome by the determined efforts of individuals."
Mrs Mubarak said this kind of determination is needed now, more than ever before, as many people in the world continue to be victimised by violence and a number of regions teeter on the brink of all-out war.
"As we meet today, the tragedy that is unfolding in the Middle East requires our undivided attention. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict still lives with us. Furthermore, the unspeakable suffering that is inflicted upon Palestinians in the occupied territories continues to haunt all peace-loving nations. There is growing concern that there might even be an escalation in the near future," she said.
The choice is clear, Mrs Mubarak said, "we must move now to overcome the obstacles to world peace, to embrace the structures for peace, to extend the mechanisms for peace and to empower the people who can build peace."
Spearheaded by UNESCO with strong support from global civil society, the concept of a culture of peace has been accepted by the larger United Nations system. The Beijing Platform for Action, emanating from the Beijing women's conference in 1995, was the first UN document outside UNESCO to use the concept of a culture of peace, bearing witness to women's generally strong interest in peace issues. Meanwhile, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 for the year 2000 reaffirmed the important role of women in peace- building.
Clearly, this means that a gender perspective and the glaring lack of women's participation and concerns in the peace and security activities of the world must be addressed, which is what the Sharm El-Sheikh meeting attempted to tackle.
As a first stage in a longer process of formulating and institutionalising a global women's peace movement, the forum's mission was to find realistic and unconventional methods to mobilise efforts and the resources of women's peace organisations and women peace leaders from around the world to create a platform for collective action.
"In an atmosphere of intimacy and trust, our meeting will be used to exchange views and share experiences, but will also be an exercise in learning from peace leaders and activists present who can make a difference," said Mrs Mubarak.
Ideally, the women plan to use emerging and existing networks of the UN and international agencies, government and institutions of civil society, as well as global communication systems to enable women to join forces to work for peace.
While offering a framework through which women's voices can be heard and providing the political space for women to come together to share best practices, the conference also dealt with a key requirement for the success of its aims -- money. Mrs Mubarak told reporters at the conference's close that she had received a number of generous offers for funds that will be earmarked to support the movement. The biggest problem women's organisations worldwide face is that they are generally desperately under-resourced.
At the conference's close, Mrs Mubarak read out the "Sharm El-Sheikh initiative: A call for Action," in which participants expressed solidarity and their intention of working to improve the quality of life in their societies. "Peace is within our reach," the document said, concluding that empowering women is intrinsically linked to furthering the quest for peace. The women pledged to work on fulfilling the commitments in the call for action. A report on the work accomplished will be submitted to the 2004 conference.
The women agreed to continue to communicate, coordinate and share ideas about progress made throughout the remaining part of this year and during the next in preparation for the 2004 conference.

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