PRIO and CARE Norway report on women in conflict resolution and peacebuilding. Press Release (in Norwegian) The collaboration between the NGO Care and PRIO has concentrated on the Great Lakes Region, and the launch of this report on 28 October marks the fifth anniversary of the UN resolution 1325.
An increase in the participation of women in conflict resolution and peacebuilding may lead to less sexual violence. This is a lesson learnt from the field and from the research carried out by the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) and the NGO CARE Norway.
The report makes suggestions of how more women can be involved in politics in the African countries Burundi, Rwanda and DR Congo. Training in organizational work for female grasroot activists is one measure that can strengthen the ties between the politicians and the grassroot in these countries.
"If more women take part in politcal life this may in time alter gender roles, so that less women are subject to sexual violence. Currently, this is a big problem in post-conflict societies," says G�rill Husby of CARE Norway.
PRIO and CARE have collaborated in this project, looking at the lives of women in these countries, and how women can be included on more levels of political life. This region has a marked lack of ties between the politicians and the grassroots. These ties may be strengthened by organizational training so that the grassroot activists are heard in their own organizations, and by taking a closer look at the rethorics of how things are done in the society at large.
Rape has been used as a weapon in war, and this fact requires a particular attention in post-conflict societies. Women often participate very differently in society during conflict than before and after. This constitutes a possibility for altering the gender balance more permanently.
Monday 31 October it is 5 years since the UN resolution 1325 established the goal of more women in peacebuilding. It is now time to have a look at how this goal may become a reality for more women.
