WUNRN
Institute for Inclusive Security
http://www.inclusivesecurity.org/latest-country-to-adopt-women-peace-and-security-policy/
Afghanistan Adopts a National Action Plan on Women, Peace & Security
By
Miki Jacevic
on November 19, 2014
As international
troops end their decade-plus engagement in Afghanistan, the country’s
government has taken a decisive step toward lasting security for its people.
Last month, 21 deputy ministers and agency heads approved a new national action
plan (NAP) to engage both women and men in sustaining a peaceful transition.
Inclusive Security’s Vice Chair, Miki Jacevic (front, fourth
from left), and members of the working group that wrote Afghanistan’s national
action plan, in Kabul, January 2012. Many of the group members gathered again
last month to celebrate the adoption of the NAP.
Recognizing the
Role of Afghan Women
The NAP
demonstrates Afghanistan’s commitment to elevating women as full partners in
creating a stable future for the country. For example, the plan calls for
increased recruitment of female police officers, who can play a key role in countering violent
extremism—and who currently account for only one percent of the force.
This week’s suicide
attack that wounded leading female Member of Parliament Shukria Barakzai—a member of our
Network—underscores why this is so important. The insurgent wore a burqa. Only
female police officers can perform searches of women (or those disguised as
women). Similarly, the plan outlines an ambitious goal of ten percent women’s representation in the Afghan National Army
in four years, which would be the highest level of any majority-Muslim country.
The
NAP demonstrates Afghanistan’s commitment to elevating women as full partners
in creating a stable future for the country.
The NAP also pledges
meaningful inclusion of women in negotiations with the Taliban, where they will
safeguard the rights Afghan women have worked so hard to gain in the last
decade. It suggests specific actions to strengthen the mediation and
negotiations role women have played, particularly as members of the Provincial
Peace Councils.
Over the last
couple of years, scores of women have directly engaged with various insurgent
groups to facilitate reintegration and reconciliation processes. On several
occasions, women have even been able to negotiate the release of hostages by
first building bridges to the “wives of the Talibs.” The NAP will strengthen
women’s roles in grievance resolution and more efficiently support their
mediation efforts. Such local initiatives will bolster the new phase of the
country’s peace process.
Working Together
for the Future
Over the last
three years, the Institute for Inclusive Security partnered with the Afghan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Finland in Kabul to build the
skills and knowledge of the working group that wrote the NAP. At the very first
meeting in January 2012 (in a Ministry conference room that was freezing due to
regular electricity blackouts), when I asked who had heard of UN Security
Council Resolution 1325, which calls on countries to adopt NAPs, only one
participant raised her hand.
During
subsequent workshops, these men and women—civil servants in a country where the
government is often perceived as corrupt or incapable—demonstrated immense
dedication to developing a high-impact policy that will serve all Afghans. They
learned how inclusion makes peace more sustainable and developed core skills in
strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, and critical thinking. The
result is a document—and an implementation structure—that has the potential to
reshape the country for years and decades to come.
To
my knowledge, no other country has developed a NAP with such significant buy-in
from those whose lives the plan will impact most directly.
Importantly, the
plan was developed with leading civil society institutions and provides a
blueprint for continued collaboration between these actors and the government.
Our local partner, the Afghan Women’s Network, not only helped draft the plan,
but also facilitated seven provincial consultations that generated feedback
from thousands of women across the country. To my knowledge, no other country
has developed a NAP with such significant buy-in from those whose lives the
plan will impact most directly.
The Afghan NAP
is an example of collaborative and effective creation of public policy. Even in
more stable environments, it is rare for 21 government institutions to
cooperate with each other to develop specific actions on a security policy—and
even rarer that such a process involves civil society representatives.
A group of
Afghan women detail their strategy for creating an inclusive peace process at
the latest in a series of workshops conducted with our local partner, the
Afghan Women’s Network. The national action plan will ensure that women like
this are included in negotiations with the Taliban.
A Policy with
Real Impact
Critically,
these actors have not waited for the NAP to be formally announced; over the
last two years, they have taken concrete steps to advance a more inclusive
approach to stabilizing their country. For example, Sheila Samimi, who
represents the High Peace Council on the NAP committee, initiated a nationwide
campaign to increase public awareness about the Afghan Reintegration and
Reconciliation Program. She and other women from the High Peace Council visited
all 34 provinces to gather close to 200,000 signatures of women in support of
the peace process.
Similarly, the
Ministry of Interior has recruited over 2,000 new female police cadets and
named two women as police chiefs. The Ministry of Defense has introduced human
rights courses in their curricula, while the Ministry of Justice has
established programs to train prosecutors and other criminal justice officials
deal with cases of gender-based violence.
Maybe the most
telling example is that of the Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs, which is
working with mullahs across the country’s mosques to lead monthly sermons that
highlight the importance of tolerance and social cohesion, including advancing
women’s rights.
It’s not often
that a single document can have such a far-ranging impact on peoples’ daily
lives, and on the security of a whole nation. Thanks to the perseverance of our
Afghan partners, especially my dear colleagues at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, the national action plan is one such document. In a time of
uncertainty and transition, it provides a beacon of hope for Afghanistan and
the world.
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