WUNRN
Forgotten conflicts, still a
responsibility
June 6, 2013
- WILPF International
During the
23rd session of the Human
Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, WILPF and our partners World YWCA and
Femmes
Africa Solidarité organised a side event on forgotten conflicts
to discuss how the Human Rights Council could address all armed conflicts in a
more holistic way. We invited distinguished panellists from
Indeed, the South of Madagascar, Western Sahara or the Central
African Republic, these and many other so-called ‘low intensity conflicts’ are
often forgotten or ignored by the international community, focusing on hotspots
where violence is higher.
However, serious human rights violations such as forced
displacement, repression, extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, enforced
disappearances and violation of freedom of speech, often take place in these
contexts. Furthermore, when conflicts remain unaddressed, the danger of violent
outbreaks remains and can be hastened at any moment by the flow of arms from
neighbouring conflicts and vice-versa.
The stagnation of conflicts also prevents the social and economic
development of the population, including the realisation of gender equality. On
the contrary, it contributes to the militarisation of society through the
uncontrolled flow of small arms. This has devastating effects on violence
against women, domestic violence and other forms of violence.
Nevertheless, global attention will often not come until violence
is very widely spread and the presence of arms is out of control. A
participatory approach to support the struggle of women for their equal
participation in conflict prevention, peace-building, post-conflict
reconstruction, ensuring women’s groups are included at all stages in the
international peace and security process, will be essential.
A serious process in addressing
the prevention of the outbreak of violence by the Human Rights Council would
include a follow up mechanism of low intensity conflicts safeguarding the
principles of prevention and participation.
WILPF, World YWCA and FAS recommend:
- That States address the root
causes of violence
- That the HRC is vigilant to
have a universal scope and to emphasize on the prevention of conflicts
rather than limiting their response to addressing the armed conflicts
already taking place
- That the HRC pays attention to
the impact that the flow of arms has on the population and especially on
women and children and that they strictly refrain from selling arms to
areas where human rights violations are taking place
- That States implement the UN
Security Council resolutions 1325, 1820, 1888, 1889 and 1960 and fully
include women and civil society in the prevention and mediation of armed
conflict and other conflict situations
- That States sign, ratify and
apply the Arms Trade Treaty