Experts discuss women’s role in conflict cycle at OSCE security conference

Vienna, 19 June 2013 – On the margins of the OSCE Annual Security Review Conference, the Organization’s Gender Section today held a discussion on why women can make a difference in all stages of the conflict cycle. The Annual Security Review Conference aims to improve the security dialogue among OSCE participating States and review the Organization's security work.

Ambassador Miroslava Beham, the OSCE Senior Adviser on Gender Issues, stressed the importance of including women in all parts of the conflict cycle. “In order to prevent conflicts and create peace and security in all segments of society we need to understand the full dynamics of a crisis or conflict situation; that means understanding the needs and concerns of both men and women,” she said. “Only with such an inclusive and comprehensive approach to security we can hope to create more stable democratic societies that are more likely to be resistant to conflict.”

John Packer, Constitutions and Process Design Expert member of the UN Standby Team of Mediation Experts, added in his keynote speech: “Don’t expect the men around the peace negotiation table to become gender sensitive by themselves. If you don’t have women present at the table it is just not going to happen.

“With women there the discussion becomes different as the interactions in the negotiation teams change. But we need more than that; we need a ‘feminization’ of the peace process which would transform it from a sum-zero power-political game of ‘win-lose’, to an inclusive process that opens up possibilities for a shared vision of the future – a future to which both women and men have contributed and will gain,” Packer said.

Participants at the meeting also talked about the importance to teach gender equality at an early stage so that it is part of every child’s understanding, the need to include women at every level of society including the local level as well as the top echelons of society, and the necessity of including women in reconciliation processes not just the warring parties.