| Leading
Voices for Women in Peace |
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"In war-torn societies, women often keep society going. They maintain the social fabric. They replace dislocated social services, and tend to the sick and wounded. As a result, women are often the prime advocates of peace. We must ensure that women are enabled to play a full part in peace negotiations, in peace processes, in peace missions."
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Forty-first session of the Commission on the Status of Women, 10 March 1997, SG/SM/6179
"While the credibility of peace processes that exclude participants on the basis of caste, ethnicity, religion and political affiliation are often called into question, the systematic exclusion of more than 50 per cent of the population on the basis of gender is rarely challenged. Why is it that we bring warlords to the negotiating table and not women?"
Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director, United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Statement to the International Conference on War-Affected Children, Winnipeg, 17 September 2000
"Women know intimately the horrific warfare and bloodshed that they face in conflict zones, but they also know the conditions that need to be met to ensure that the peace in their countries is sustainable, equitable and just. Women and children are the first victims of conflicts. Is it any wonder, then, that women are uniting to end the conflicts that destroy the lives of their loved ones, as well as their communities? Women are half of every community. Are they, therefore, not also half of every solution?"
General Assembly President, Theo-Ben Gurirab (Namibia), in
GA address on International Women's Day, 8 March 2000,
GA/SM/157
"When it comes to the involvement of women I must say that it took several years of robust debate, resistance and determination by women themselves, before they were included in the peace process. Oppressor and oppressed had to sit and look each other in the eye and move beyond anger, fears, bitterness, frustration. We had to do this in order to negotiate on behalf of the people of South Africa."
Baleka Mbete, Deputy Speaker of the South African Parliament, address to the 19 negotiating parties of the Burundi Peace Process, Arusha, 23 June 2000
"The direct participation of women at the peace table is the only way to ensure that women's demands are incorporated in the agreements."
Luz Mendez, Coordinator, National Union of Guatemalan Women, from Women at the Peace Table (36)
"In the newly emerging democracies, decision-making has remained in the hands of a predominantly male establishment. As a result, the new "democratic" policy and decision-making continues a culture that lacks genuine social sensitivity and a female perspective. The transition period is shortchanging women."
Central and Eastern European Women's Recommendations for Rebuilding Peace, November 1999
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