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The International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) and
its partner programme, the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP)
applaud the Government of the United States for the adoption of the 2011 National Action Plan
on Women, Peace and Security and related Executive Order. We
congratulate the United
States for
joining the family of nations that have embraced and adopted this
agenda, and look forward to comprehensive US action across national and multilateral
entities.
ICAN/GNWP's mission -
similar to the simple yet profound goal of the US NAP - is to recognize,
support and elevate the voices and contributions of women active in the
promotion of peace, security, social justice, rights and democracy in
countries affected by conflict, transition and closed political
space. Our partners are self-empowered, courageous and committed
individuals, leaders in civil society, who are often doing the peace work
that neither international actors nor their own governments can
undertake. In its implementation of the national action plan, we hope
that the United States will ensure that mediation, peace making and
peacebuilding processes include systematic and structured engagement with
such actors, so these processes benefit from the wealth of experience and
dedication they offer.
We also hope the
potential magnitude of this plan is appreciated across the United States government. The resolution of violent
conflict and peaceful transformation away from authoritarianism toward
open societies remain the most elusive challenges for the international
community. The women, peace and security agenda offers an important
roadmap for sustainable peacemaking and preventive work. This
agenda is not about making wars safe for women, it is about ending the
horrendous practice of warfare entirely.
It offers a framework for
the inclusion of active nonviolent positive agents of change on equal
footing alongside the spoilers and armed actors, in the critical
discussion around peace, security and power. It is a transformative
agenda and we look forward to invigorated US leadership at home, and partnership at the United
Nations and in other regional bodies where the US is present.
As the process takes
shape we hope that bureaucratic markers of progress do not impede or
replace actual progress and practice in crisis contexts. We look forward
to seeing the US NAP come to life vis-à-vis US engagement in the Middle East, the Arab Spring,
across Africa, Asia, Latin
America and beyond.
We also offer one
poignant thought: Where would we be, if such a plan had been adopted and
implemented for the past decade? How many lives could have been saved?
What lost opportunities for peacemaking could have been salvaged? This
plan must be put into action immediately. In the next decade, its current
promise must turn into reality.
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ICAN/GNWP
for women's rights, peace and security
technical
expertise, capacity development, localized knowledge and - always -
independent perspectives
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