The
PeaceWomen Team
Women often resist the return
to traditional gender roles when their society is emerging from conflict; some
seize the opportunity and advance gender equality. We highlight several
outstanding examples in this edition of 1325 PeaceWomen E-News. The work of
Etweda “Sugars” Cooper, the recently announced winner of the “1325 Award” (item
3) shows how women can further women’s rights, particularly in this
post-conflict context. Beyond her remarkable efforts to involve women in
bringing peace to Liberia, Ms. Cooper also demonstrated how 1325 can be used as
an effective tool to empower women in post-conflict settings – she used the
resolution as a justification in lobbying for a 30% quota for women in party
political nominations. This sort of initiative is a concrete example of what is
meant by 1325’s call for a “gender perspective” in post-conflict reconstruction.
The vagueness of the term “gender perspective” and the fact that the resolution
itself provides little concrete guidance on this is should not be used as an
excuse for inaction. This newsletter features two valuable resources (item 5) in
this regard. The recent study on gender, justice and truth commissions sets out
useful lessons from several truth commissions. The popularity of this form of
transitional justice mechanism, and the fact that they are a powerful
reconstruction and reconciliation tool, necessitates that truth commissions also
incorporate a gender perspective. INSTRAW’s new guide on women, peace and
security is another welcome resource. Hopefully governments and other policy
makers will take full advantage of the recommendations, practical steps and good
examples it provides.
In bringing a gender
perspective to post-conflict reconstruction, it is vital that 1325 not be seen
in isolation. It can very effectively be used in conjunction with the Convention
to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to promote gender equality.
PeaceWomen’s analysis of two recent conflict affected countries reports’(item
4), the DRC and Georgia, to the CEDAW Committee demonstrates the links between
1325 and CEDAW. Post-conflict recovery requires development. It is vital that
gender equality be made a top priority from the start for any development to be
sustainable.
Regrettably, governments did not make this crucial link between gender equality and development during the recent general debate at the start of the 61st Session of the General Assembly. Although the general debate focused on “Implementing a Global Partnership for Development,” most delegates failed to mention women and gender. PeaceWomen’s 2006 GA General Debate “Gender Index” (item 5) includes all references to women and gender in statements delivered during the debate. We do applaud and look forward to advancing gender with the new President of the General Assembly, Sheika Haya Rashed Al Khalifa. She is the first woman to hold the position in decades and one of only 3 ever to do so. There remains, however, a serious need for increased participation of women at all levels of decision-making (including at the highest levels at the UN) – a fact emphasized by several of our featured news items (item 1). Calls for participation and voices of congratulations when a woman manages to make it to a position of power are, however, not enough. A fully integrated gender perspective is essential in post-conflict reconstruction and in all development. That governments do not even acknowledge this in their rhetoric is disappointing to say the least.
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ETWEDA COOPER OF LIBERIA ANNOUNCED AS WINNER OF “1325 AWARD”
Etweda Cooper, nominated by UNMIL’s senior gender advisor, was announced as the winner of The Dutch Women in Conflict Situations and Peacekeeping Taskforce 1325 Award.
This award aims to honour and encourage an individual or a civil society organization in a conflict country or region that has developed groundbreaking and effective initiatives to promote the rights of women and to increase their participation at decision-making levels in peace processes. The Women in Conflict Situations and Peacekeeping Taskforce monitors and enhances the implementation of resolution 1325 in the Netherlands. With the 1325 Award the Taskforce wants to honour the important work of civil society women in conflict resolution and peace movements. Women in conflict areas are the first to raise the issue of conflict-related gender problems and bear the greatest risks in forwarding an agenda of peace.
The 1325 Award, comprising prize money, a work of art commissioned for the occasion and a tour through the Netherlands to present the winner’s work, is a one-off prize granted to an individual or a civil society organization that has effectively and innovatively contributed to the promotion of women’s rights and the increase of their participation at decision-making levels in peace processes.In short, the 1325 Award aims to reward those who have contributed to the implementation of Resolution 1325.
All nominated organizations and individuals do work that is important to the cause of women. Sometimes their work is closely related to Resolution 1325, sometimes organizations address gender or peace issues in a more general way. Sometimes an organization affects the life of many, sometimes the impact is more focused. Comparing the work of very different organizations / individuals to one another is always very difficult. In this case, those nominees with the highest scores on all criteria made it to the shortlist. According to the jury, all shortlisted nominees definitely meet the minimal requirements to be awarded. Yet, after some debate, the jury thought one candidate scored best on all primary and secondary criteria: Etweda “Sugars” Cooper.
Under very difficult circumstances, Ms. Cooper succeeded in advocating women’s voices in peace negotiations, post-conflict processes and political institutions. Furthermore, the jury thinks Ms. Cooper plays an important part in the implementation of resolution 1325 and will continue to do so. She uses the resolution as a legal and international ‘weapon’ for her cause, but she also strifes to have the resolution embedded in legislative and political bodies in her country. Because of that, she inspires local, national and international actors to really act on Resolution 1325. She is firmly rooted in a influential organization, she has the power to influence large and diverse audiences and she has the charisma to unite people into peace.
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Winner’s Profile: Etweda “Sugars” Cooper, Liberia Women Initiative
Etweda Cooper, also called “Sugars” is known for
her speaking out: she shows no remorse for her stance on issues of politics and
human rights as they relate to women and children. Because of her leadership
skills and ability to quickly organize and mobilize she proved to be the right
person to let out the frustration of women who were being victimized during the
hay days of the civil war in Liberia. In response to that and the stalemate in
the peace process, she and other women founded the Liberia Women Initiative in
1994 to advocate for disarmament and free and fair elections but also to bring
pressure to bear on stakeholders for the inclusion of women in negotiating a
settlement of the Liberian conflict.
“Sugars” was in the vanguard of
ensuring that women were represented at fora discussing the return to democratic
governance in Liberia. These include the Accra Clarification on the Liberian
Peace Process in 1994 and the Liberia Agenda for Peace, Reconciliation and
Reconstruction in Monrovia in 1998. Throughout 14 years of civil war she used
mass action including picketing, sit ins and marches involving grassroots and
professional women and their groups to attract world attention to the plight of
women and children and to urge the international community to take action to end
the war.
As a strategist for the Liberian Women peace activities under
the auspices of Women In Peace building Network, WIPNET, Ms. Cooper was
unrelenting in lobbying factional leaders through visits, dialoguing and
pleading with them to resolve the stalemate in the Accra Peace Talks in 2003,
urging them to agree to a ceasefire and to constitute a transitional
administration. At the same time, she worked with and lobbied delegates, the
facilitators, representatives of the international community to ensure
neutrality of a Liberian to lead the transitional government.
“Sugars”
lobbied at the Accra Peace Talks for a woman to be head of the National
Transitional Government. Although these attempts proved otherwise, she was
undaunted in ensuring a 50/50 representation in the new interim leadership on
returning to Monrovia. With little success, but bearing in mind the perspectives
women bring to the political life of a country, she began advocating for a woman
president for the October 2005 elections. Her participation in the 2005 Women’s
Political Forum which outlined 10 sector areas of concern to women, led to the
drafting of the Women’s Manifesto to which she provided technical support.
Ms. Cooper was also at the forefront in lobbying
the National Elections Commission and Legislature for 30% party nomination of
women candidates in political parties using UN Security Council Resolution 1325
as justification and participated in the actual drafting of said Guidelines.
Part of the strategy to enhance and increase women’s participation in the
election was training women in leadership and campaign strategies. She mobilized
women to register as voters and to vote for a woman president and women
Legislators in both rounds of the 2005 elections. The result was a 50%+50 women
voters and a woman as president.
She served as member of the Board of
Directors of Habitat for Humanity Liberian and Habitat for Humanity
International Board; former chairman of the Board of directors of NGO Women
Secretariat of Liberia; former member of Liberia Democracy Research Center;
Board member Liberia rural women Association; Board member of the Society for
the Conservation of Nature of Liberia; Board member of the Women Development
Association of Liberia(WODAL); Advisor to the Coalition of Political Parties
Women In Liberia (COPWIL);
Founding member and Regional chairman West Africa
Network for Peace WANEP; founding member and Regional Adviser Women In Peace
building Network and member of Management Committee of the Mano River Peace
Forum. Ms. Cooper is currently the Secretary General of the Liberia Women
Initiative, she oversees the management of all the organization’s activities,
including fund raising and programming.
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Shortlisted Candidates:
Seven nominated individuals or organizations were selected for the shortlist of the 1325 Award. The other shortlisted candidates were:
• Shobha Gautam, Institute of
Human Rights Communication, Nepal Nominated by:International Alert, United
Kingdom
• Yanar Mohammed, Organisation of Women’s Freedom in
Iraq (OWFI), Iraq Nominated by: Hivos and Mama Cash, The Netherlands
•
Isha l’Isha Haifa Feminist Center, Israel Nominated by: The
Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, Sweden
• Justine R. Mbabazi,
Afghanistan Nominated by: Next Generation Connect International, Rwanda
•
Coalition of Grass Roots Women, Somalia, Nominated by: NOVIB,
The Netherlands
• Alianza Iniciativa de Mujeres Colombianas por la
Paz (IMP), Colombia, Nominated by: Programa de las Naciones Unidas para
el Desarollo (UNDP), Colombia
For more on the 1325 Award and the Women in
Conflict Situations and Peacekeeping Taskforce please visit: http://www.1325award.nl/index.php?id=10&ln=en