scholarly journals Women, Peace and Security after Europe's ‘refugee crisis’

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-154
Author(s):  
Aiko Holvikivi ◽  
Audrey Reeves
Keyword(s):  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Conflict Prevention ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Refugee Women ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
International Attention ◽  
Dominant Tendency ◽  
Affected Woman

AbstractSince its inception in 2000, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda has conceptualised the conflict-affected woman as a subject worthy of international attention, protection, and inclusion. In the wake of Europe's ‘refugee crisis’, this article examines how the remit of WPS has broadened from women in conflict zones to refugees in Europe's borderlands. A minority of European states now attend, in their WPS policy, to these conflict-affected women on the move. This inclusion productively challenges established notions of where conflict-affectedness is located. It exposes Europe as not always peaceful and safe for women, especially refugees who flee war. Conversely, the dominant tendency to exclude refugees from European WPS policy is built on a fantasy of Europe as peaceful and secure for women, which legitimises the fortressing of Europe and obscures European states’ complicity in fuelling insecurity at their borders, cultivating an ethos of coloniality around the WPS agenda. The inclusion of refugees is no panacea to these problems. If focused solely on protection, it repositions European states as protective heroes and conflict-affected women as helpless victims. The WPS framework nonetheless emphasises conflict-affected women's participation in decision-making and conflict prevention, opening space for recognising the refugee women as political actors.

Women's Participation in Politics: Ukrainian Case

2014 ◽  
Vol 2013 (3) ◽  
pp. 53-66
Author(s):  
Skovikov Alexey
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Democratic Transformation ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractThe international practices takes into account the question of women's participation in the political life of modern Ukraine. The selection of the state was due to the dynamic process of democratic transformation - the separation of powers, the formation of multi-party competition among political actors in the electoral process, the activity women in the various institutions of civil society. The position was claimed on the basis of empirical data range of academic institutions and reputable sociological centers, and also interviews with experts who said that the creation of real conditions for self-realization by women's interest in politics is only possible for long term. The process is controversial and caused by political culture, traditions and interests of the ruling class represented mainly by men.

scholarly journals A Critical Feminist Approach to Implementing Vancouver Principle 11

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 58-74
Author(s):  
Dustin Johnson
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Child Soldiers ◽  
Feminist Research ◽  
Gender Analysis ◽  
International Peace ◽  
Gender Dynamics ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Critical Feminist

In this paper I aim to provide a critical analysis of how Vancouver Principle (VP) 11 on the Contribution of Women to preventing the recruitment and use of child soldiers addresses gender and women’s involvement in peacekeeping. Critical feminist research on gender and war, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, and international relations has examined and critiqued the important ways in which gender underlies, informs, and helps give meaning to matters of international peace and security. I draw on this diverse literature to discuss how VP 11 approaches gender and peacekeeping in a way that is at times problematic and at others nuanced and progressive, and provide concrete recommendations for how critical feminist insights can improve the implementation of the Vancouver Principles. The importance of understanding gender dynamics for peacekeeping in general, and for preventing the recruitment and use of children as soldiers in particular, necessitates more nuanced approaches to gender analysis and women’s participation. The implementation of VP 11 can support both of these areas.

scholarly journals Frictional interactions on Women, Peace and Security in Mali

2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-483
Author(s):  
Jenny Lorentzen
Keyword(s):  
Security Council ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
International Community ◽  
Feedback Loops ◽  
Security Council Resolution ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
The Way

AbstractMore than 20 years after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, the international community is concerned with taking stock of its implementation in countries undergoing transitions from war to peace. This article contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics involved in implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda through a focus on the frictional interactions that take place between different actors promoting women's participation in the peace process in Mali. Based on extensive fieldwork in Bamako between 2017 and 2019, it analyses interactions between different international and local actors in the Malian peace process through a discussion of vertical (between international and local actors) and horizontal (between local actors) friction. It finds that the way different actors respond to friction shapes relationships and impacts norm trajectories by triggering feedback loops, which in turn trigger new responses and outcomes.

United Nations Constitutional Assistance

2020 ◽  
pp. 371-396
Author(s):  
Vijayashri Sripati
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Conflict Prevention ◽  
Free Markets ◽  
Internal Governance ◽  
Territorial State ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Territorial Status

This chapter draws on the purposive analysis from the previous chapter to consider how UNCA with, and without its child, UN Territorial Administration (ITA) serves to implement certain areas of international law and public policy. It considers how the Constitution and its four ends (e.g., free markets; good governance; women’s rights) fit within the UN Charter framework. The Constitution which underpins the territorial state and confers territorial status, became in 1993, the UN’s core conflict-prevention tool. Moreover, from 1993 onwards, UNCA operated without plenary ITA in sovereign states. Given this, UNCA’s role covers four areas: (1) Right to self-determination (external and internal dimensions); (2) Conflict-Prevention; and (3) achieving public policy ends (e.g., ‘saving failed states’ and achieving good internal governance); and (4) the promotion of international policy in the area of peace and security, including peacemaking, peacebuilding, and peacekeeping. This Chapter underscores the Security Council’s key role in mandating UNCA and establishes UNCA’s salience vis-à-vis ITA. It concludes that UNCA amounts to the UN’s most intrusive form of intervention.

Interview with Mira Kusumarini

2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (911) ◽  
pp. 437-444
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Executive Director ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
Violent Extremism ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
Image Position

Even during armed conflict and other situations of violence, all children are entitled to their rights and protections as children without distinction based on their age, gender, religion, or whether they are associated with an armed group. Despite this, millions of children in conflict zones face discrimination, ostracization and stigmatization. This is particularly true for children affiliated with groups designated as “terrorist”, who face a range of challenges in reintegrating into society.Civil society can play an important role at the international, regional and domestic levels in helping children formerly associated with armed groups, or otherwise affected by armed conflict, to rejoin communities. Mira Kusumarini is a professional in the peace and security field in Indonesia who works to address the problems of women and children who have been associated with armed groups, and to help them reintegrate them into society. She is the Executive Director of the Coalition of Civil Society Against Violent Extremism (C-SAVE), a collaborative network of civil society organizations.In this interview, she discusses the challenges involved in the reintegration of children who have been associated with extremist groups in Indonesia and the stigma they face, as well as the importance of empathy in helping communities to heal.

scholarly journals Kurdish Women in Rojava: From Resistance to Reconstruction

2017 ◽  
Vol 57 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 404-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pinar Tank
Keyword(s):  
Media Representations ◽  
Patriarchal System ◽  
North East ◽  
Syrian Civil War ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Kurdish Women ◽  
International Attention ◽  
Sister Organization ◽  
Kurdistan Workers Party

In 2010, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan, PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, declared, “The freedom of the Kurdish people can be viewed as inseparably bound to women’s freedom.”1 This statement emphasizes a core tenet in the reinvention of the PKK’s ideology as articulated by Öcalan: the understanding that freedom can only be achieved through the defeat of the patriarchal system. The women of the PKK and its sister organization, the Democratic Union Party (Partiya Yekîtiya Demokrat, PYD), represent the embodiment of the PKK’s new ideology, attracting international attention following Kurdish efforts to establish an autonomous region of governance in north-east Syria. This article focuses on a case study of the PYD’s Syrian Kurdish Women’s Protection Units (Yekîneyên Parastina Jin, YPJ), and their defence of Kurdish-dominated enclaves in Syria. The analysis demonstrates the agency behind their engagement and the ideology that motivates their resistance to patriarchy in the Middle East. In so doing, the article compares the YPJ’s understanding of agency to media representations of YPJ fighters’ engagement, in an effort to see beyond the traditional victim/peacemaker articulation of gendered engagement, arguing instead for the need to recognize the politics behind Kurdish women’s participation as combatants in the Syrian civil war.


Unlocking the Potential of CEDAW as an Important Accountability Tool for the Women, Peace and Security Agenda

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pramilla Patten
Keyword(s):  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Optional Protocol ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Conflict Situations ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
General Recommendation ◽  
Gender Based

This chapter explores the application of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to conflict and post-conflict contexts as detailed in General Recommendation 30. It examines the implications of CEDAW and General Recommendation 30 on gender-based violence, the trafficking of women, the situation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees, women’s participation, and women’s access to health, education, employment, and justice. It also focuses on CEDAW’s reporting procedure, and suggests that this tool be utilized more effectively to address women’s situations in conflict and post-conflict situations. The chapter also examines the Optional Protocol to CEDAW as an accountability tool. The chapter concludes by emphasizing the importance of CEDAW acting in synergy with the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda.

Participation and Protection

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Marie Goetz ◽  
Rob Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
The Political ◽  
Accountability Systems ◽  
Peace Negotiations ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
Peace And Security

This chapter focuses on the political and institutional factors behind the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1325. It illuminates two elements of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda: participation and protection. It argues that despite the WPS Agenda’s efforts, women continue to remain underrepresented in peace negotiations and post-conflict political settlements. Further, by concentrating solely on protecting women from sexual violence, and neglecting an analysis of gender inequality and its contribution to conflict-propensity, the WPS Agenda perpetuates a protectionist narrative. This is due to opposition to the participation agenda from developing country member-states, a lack of accountability systems, and a lack of a powerful advocate within the UN bureaucratic system. The chapter concludes with suggestions for a recently formed working group under resolution 2242 to utilize, in order to better enable women’s participation in peace and security processes.

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