Reposted from http://www.wougnet.org

GENDERED WORLDS: GAINS AND CHALLENGES

July 27th 2002

KAMPALA 2002 RESOLUTION ON WOMEN, PEACE AND CONFLICT

Compiled by (in alphabetical order): Ancil Adrian-Paul; Eva Dalak; Marian
Douglas; Patrick Mbuthia.

PREAMBLE

Women suffer inordinately in times of armed conflict. They are stakeholders
in the search for sustainable peace. Their involvement in the peace
processes is not a luxury, it is an absolute necessity.

Women's views and strategies must be sought after- from the grassroots up
to the top. This should be accompanied by capacity building. Women
involvement should not only be based on their training but also on their
experiences in conflicts.

Women call upon governments to invest in programs that deal with the roots
causes of armed conflicts in order to secure a just and sustainable peace.
These include dealing with prejudices and stereotyping, genuinely tackling
poverty and inequitable development, investing in democratic governance
that prevents war, promoting coexistence and the right to be different.
Governments should also show restraint and stop employing militarism
against innocent civilians.

We urge the United Nations to implement their own Resolutions, including
the recently adopted SC Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, in
order to lead the way.

We the women participating under this theme therefore, call upon the
conveners of the Women's Worlds Congress 2002 to adopt the following
Resolution:

1. Create an Observatory on Gender, Peace and Security that will be based
in Europe. The Observatory will engage in research and documentation,
trainings, the creation of a database of women, peace and security experts
and organisations. This Observatory, must be financially supported by the
international donor community, and will be responsible for funding women's
peace-building activities.

2. Disseminate information on women, peace and security activities,
processes and best practices, through the internet and other communication
medium; this includes making accessible a database of women leaders and
professionals in conflict, peace and security issues.

3. Develop and provide training to women for them to effectively
participate in peace, security and reconstruction processes; including
mandatory gender awareness, human rights and humanitarian law training for
all staff involved in peace keeping missions.

4. Encourage national governments, international organisations and civil
society to achieve gender balance in peace-keeping, peace negotiations,
reconstruction and early warning especially at decision making levels; by
requiring national governments- as member countries of international
organisations- to provide an annual gender audit detailing the numbers of
women sent or seconded to international peace processes and missions and
the professional capacity and level of these women.

5. Create and effectively implement mechanisms that ensure the security of
women and children in conflict areas.

6. National governments and international organisations must commit
themselves to holding accountable national troops and staff involved in
peacekeeping missions that commit human rights violations against the local
population, or that of other international staff.

7. National governments, international organisations and civil society,
must integrate programs on gender awareness and peace education at all
levels of the educational system, contributing to the organisation of the
youth and building their capacity to participate effectively in peace
building.

8. UNHCR, the UN system and other international organisations responsible
for refugees and others conflict affected populations must provide
effective programmes including income generation, training and education
for these populations in order to contribute to their peace and security
needs. Women refugees must be included in the decisions making mechanisms
of the camps in order to ensure the equitable distribution of relief aid
and other types of assistance.

9. Women's reproductive health needs as a direct result of sexual violence
and rape in war, resulting in STD's, HIV/AIDs and other reproductive health
problems should be recognised as a human rights issue and specialised
treatment should be provided.

10. War affected women should be included in international peace missions
and peace exchanges. Women themselves should be instruments of peace,
building on the wealth of their experiences in the community and at the
grassroots level.

11. Traditional mechanisms used by women for conflict resolution and peace
building should be supported and institutionalised

12. Countries, groups and individuals responsible for manufacturing and
peddling arms must be held accountable to existing international standards
and mechanisms, and required to commit themselves instead to investment in
development.

13. United Nations must appoint a Special Rapporteur to oversee and produce
a report on the media's depiction of women, particularly in conflict
situations.

14. The international donor community must provide sustained and adequate
funding for a minimum of 5 years for activities related to women, peace and
security issues. The funds will be held in trust by the Observatory as
elaborated in point 1.

15. Women and men must advocate for the adoption of this resolution by
their respective governments and engage in advocacy and lobbying at the
national, regional and international levels.