| Kampala Resolution on Women, Peace and Conflict |
To: United Nations Security Council, NGOs, & Select U.N. delegationsPreamble: 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's 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.
The conveners of Women's Worlds 8th International Congress held in Kampala, Uganda, July 2002, adopted 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 who commit human rights violations against the local population or against 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 decision-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 media depictions of women, particularly in conflict situations.
14. The international donor community must provide sustained and adequate funding 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.
**The Kampala Resolution was drafted 27 July 2002 by Ancil Adrian-Paul, Eva Dalak, Marian Douglas, Patrick Mbuthia, and Gina Van Schalk. Reverend Grace Ndyabahika coordinated the Women, Peace and Conflict track and convened the drafting group.Sincerely,