WUNRN
http://www.inclusivesecurity.org/conflict-region/south-sudan-and-sudan/#.Vc4CDK3ovmK
Importance of
Women in Peace Negotiations Within & Between Sudan & South Sudan?
Sudan and South
Sudan share more than a border: the neighboring nations share a legacy of women
braving boundaries to help end war and build peace. Women built bridges across communities
and established grassroots peace accords. In both countries they have broadened
political discussions, moving conversations beyond who gets to run which
ministry and where borders are set. Instead, they have consistently raised the
underlying drivers of conflict, such as security, livelihood, and unbalanced
access to resources. Yet women’s presence and priorities continue to be largely
excluded from decision making.
The tenuous
relations between and within Sudan and South Sudan cannot be overstated. Today,
implementation of the peace agreement between the two countries has stalled.
Conflict broke out within South Sudan in 2013. In Sudan, continued violence and
repression increase internal instability. Policies that support women’s
meaningful participation are needed now, more than ever. With myriad national
peace processes occurring in both countries, there are significant
opportunities for women’s inclusion.
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https://www.newamerica.org/the-weekly-wonk/without-inclusion-no-hope-for-peace-in-south-sudan/
South Sudan – 10+ Peace Negotiation Efforts Have Failed, in Part, because Women & Civil Society Organizations,
the Most Committed Advocatesfor Peace – Have Had Only Token Representation at the Negotiating Table.
SOUTH SUDAN – WITHOUT WOMEN’S INCLUSION, THERE IS NO HOPE FOR
PEACE
By Kelly Case* – August 13, 2015
When warring parties agree to consider terms for peace,
it’s usually a cause for optimism. But as South Sudan’s belligerents mull over
a proposed compromise agreement in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, hope seems futile. The mediators have set August 17 as an urgent
deadline for ending the conflict. However, the unfortunate truth is that
without participation and buy-in from the South Sudanese people, peace stands
no chance.
South Sudan’s neighbors—in the form of the eight-country
trade bloc known as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)—have
struggled collectively to mediate an end to horrific violence between supporters of current
president Salva Kiir and former vice president Riek Machar since it erupted in December 2013. Now, joined by regional
and international stakeholders, including the US, they have prepared a draft
agreement and warned the parties that they must forge a deal by August 17.
Should the deadline pass without an accord, the US and other countries will
likely impose further sanctions against South Sudanese leaders.
While these steps—and the urgency with which they’ve been
set in motion—are commendable, the peace process, thus far, has suffered from a
fatal flaw. Like so many attempts to end war, it has focused on the needs of
those who took up arms, rather than those who have suffered at their hands.
Whether the parties agree to a deal next week or not, the success of the next
stage depends on broad inclusion of South Sudanese civil society.
Over the last one-and-a-half years, there have been more
than 10 rounds of negotiations to bridge the political and tribal differences
between the warring factions in South Sudan. During that time, the parties have
broken at least seven ceasefires, some of them within hours.
According to the UN, the latest violence has reached “new levels of brutality,” with both sides accused
of raping and murdering countless civilians and targeting villages for
destruction based on tribal identity.
These negotiation efforts have failed, in part, because
women and civil society organizations—the most committed advocates for
peace—have had only token representation at the table. Though they were allocated some seats, the selection process was co-opted
by the warring parties. It’s unsurprising, then, that the proposed agreement is based on the interests of
the belligerents, not on any substantive consultation with affected
communities. As a result, it overlooks some critical needs and perspectives of
marginalized groups.
For instance, according to the draft text, the body
responsible for overseeing and coordinating a permanent ceasefire will be
constructed entirely of military personnel, excluding the crucial voices of
women, youth, and broader civil society, who would help implement and monitor
terms of a truce. The agreement also fails to outline any confidence-building
measures to encourage the return of internally displaced persons, prisoners of
war, women, or child soldiers to their home communities. And, even though local
organizations will ultimately be responsible for ensuring the success of many
of the agreements’ measures on the ground, the draft text does not call for a
critical mass of civil society representatives in any of the bodies that would
oversee implementation of these programs.
Peace agreements aren’t just terms for ceasefires; they
address a wide range of political, economic, and social issues. The draft
accord for South Sudan is no different. It covers everything from power-sharing
in the new government to transitional justice mechanisms to oversight of land and
oil resources. These issues affect everyone in the country from residents of
remote villages to those who sit in the seats of power. Therefore, the populace
must be fully engaged in determining the way forward.
The best way to do this is by prioritizing meaningful
representation of civil society, especially women’s groups, in all
decision-making bodies related to the peace process. Not only can these
organizations bring the concerns of communities to the table, they are also the
constituency most actively trying to end the war.
Factions from the opposing parties have consistently
ignored their peoples’ calls to put aside differences and renew the hopeful
future promised during the country’s infancy, just four short years ago.
Instead, they’ve haggled over who gets to be vice president and how to split up
seats in parliament. Early reports from the talks in Addis allege that
both sides are demanding the terms of the draft agreement be modified to give
them 70 percent of positions in the proposed transitional government. Their
actions demonstrate commitment not to peace, but to the continued destruction
of their country.
Contrast that behavior with the actions and statements of
South Sudanese civil society, particularly women’s groups. In June, The
Institute for Inclusive Security gathered 12 South Sudanese women leaders who
are members of the Taskforce on the Engagement of Women, a
cross-border coalition of activists from Sudan and South Sudan. Though they’ve
each suffered unimaginably during the recent conflict—almost all have lost multiple
family members—these women continue to mobilize for peace, promote dialogue
between the factions, and demanding meaningful representation at the table.
They recently issued a powerful statement calling for an inclusive
process to end the violence. To the mediators and belligerents, they assert: “We
stand ready to support you.”
These women also insist that the negotiations and
subsequent agreement must address the root causes of the conflict and be driven
by the needs of the people. Like many peace processes, they say, South Sudan’s
has lacked transparency, with no formal feedback loop to allow the citizenry to
feel invested or to make their voices heard. As one member of the women’s
Taskforce put it: “What is our interest? Where are we in the
peace talks? Is that peace going to be sustainable if it doesn’t have the
people’s agenda at heart?”
The need for inclusion is not an exercise in political
correctness; it is vital to the agreement’s success. Globally, evidence
demonstrates that inclusion leads to better results. A recent statistical
analysis indicates that peace agreements are 64 percent less likely to fail when the process
of creating them includes civil society alongside political parties. Additional research shows that, in peace
negotiations where women had a strong influence, a deal was always reached
and implementation was much stronger.
On August 17, there are two equally likely
scenarios: the government and opposition may agree to a comprehensive peace
accord or they may not.
On August 17, there are two equally likely scenarios: the
government and opposition may agree to a comprehensive peace accord or they may
not. Either way, violence will continue unless the parties and mediators both
prioritize inclusion.
If they emerge with an agreement, successful
implementation will require understanding and addressing the needs and
priorities of communities—a task for which local organizations are uniquely
qualified. If they fail to settle terms, participation in the next round of
talks must be expanded to include those for whom peace is a priority—like the
Taskforce on the Engagement of Women—and restructured to provide these groups
with meaningful, not just token, representation.
Some may claim that any agreement to end this war is a
good thing. Certainly, the mediators are to be commended for trying. But by
prioritizing meaningful inclusion, they will vastly improve the long-term
prospects for peace. Traumatized by decades of war, the people of South Sudan
don’t need just any agreement—they need one that will last.
*Kelly Case is program manager for The Institute for Inclusive Security’s work in South Sudan and Sudan. She leads the organization’s efforts to advance the inclusion of women in the ongoing peace processes in and between both countries.