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Switzerland commits to gender mainstreaming in peace processes

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Mali
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swisspeace
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Between 1990 and 2000, the world was afflicted by crises in which several categories of people were held hostage, and these conflicts tended to affect men and women differently. Women and children were the main victims. Women raped individually and en masse were subject to sexual exploitation; children were killed or conscripted to fight; families were torn apart. However, the specific needs of women were not taken into account and they were not involved in the ensuing peace processes. This state of affairs could not be allowed to continue. Thanks to international civil society, human rights organisations, and pressure from lobbyists, on 30 October 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on women. It was the first organisation to recognise the damaging effects of conflict on girls and women, but also their importance in conflict prevention and resolution. The Resolution is based on four main pillars: participation, protection, prevention and post-conflict recovery.

UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, adopted in 2000, is one of the documents that forms the basis for Swiss policy on gender in peacebuilding. In particular, it calls for gender mainstreaming and for women to be involved at all levels in peace processes. It also demands greater protection for women and girls in armed conflict situations. The Federal Council aligns its peace and security policy with this Resolution and aims to ensure women are more involved in the peace processes that it supports. Switzerland contributes to the implementation of Resolution 1325 through various actions, both operational and related to policy-making in this area. Abroad, it supports practical projects and organisations seeking to improve protection for women and girls in conflicts and to ensure they are more involved in peace processes.

Accordingly, in 2015, during the instability over the signature of the peace agreement in Mali and the collapse of the country’s social fabric, Switzerland funded a dialogue project, in liaison with the NGO Wildaf-Mali, enabling women and girls from different communities to talk to one another without fear and without discrimination based on ethnicity, culture or religion. This is because throughout the peace process in Mali until its implementation, women’s involvement had not been a priority, despite the mobilisation of women’s organisations, the support of technical and/or financial partners, and the national and international frameworks signed by Mali. This project mobilised women as peacemakers both locally and nationally.

All the research has shown not only that the involvement of women and girls is essential to building lasting peace, but also that States seem to be particularly vulnerable to conflict when large groups of people have no power and do not play a part in running the country (especially women and girls). Working for equal rights is a vital link to restoring trust between the State and communities, and bringing lasting peace. It is highly unlikely that the whole population will enjoy the dividends of peace if more than half of them are excluded from the system and their needs are not taken into account. Women form a sociological foundation on which endogenous peace and security processes can be built because of their role in society (they are effective advisers to their children, families and partners, and therefore to their community).

This Cercles de Paix [Circles of Peace] project, which provided an inclusive forum for dialogue and discussion between Malian women, was not only aligned with the recommendations of Mali’s highest authorities; it also fulfilled a genuine need at the time, responding to the concerns that underpinned UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on ‘Women, Peace and Security’ in the case of the Mali crisis: that women should participate fully in the peace processes and their needs for protection, prevention and post-conflict recovery should be taken into account.

At the same time, in 2019, as the peace agreement continues to be implemented, Switzerland has funded another Cercles de Paix activity through Wildaf-Mali, with children – the main victims of the violence that occurred during the crises that shook the country. It has emerged from the activities run with these two key players – women and children – that there is a real need to lay the foundations of genuine social cohesion at the base of Malian society and at all levels. It is on the basis of this finding that Switzerland has decided to implement a program with these two agents of change – women and children – from 2019. The aim of this new program is to apply the lessons learned from the inclusive dialogue on a larger scale and encourage more women, children, refugees, displaced peoples and, above all, the parties in conflict to do the same – to restore trust and bring lasting peace to Mali. Lasting peace demands a harmonious partnership between women and men. It is therefore important to ensure that men realise that equal opportunities for women are not a threat to peace and stability.

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) Mariam Sylla mariam.sylla@eda.admin.ch Peace and Security Program Manager Swiss Cooperation Office in Mali

WILDAF-Mali Mrs Bouaré Bintou Founé Samaké bfsamake2000@yahoo.fr President of the NGO WILDAF-Mali