• Peacebuilding and reconstruction

Peacebuilding and reconstruction

This report addresses the importance of ensuring the inclusion of women in peacebuilding in Sudan, Congo (DRC), and Uganda. The report points out that one of the main hindrances to women’s inclusion is the discrimination and violence that women face in armed conflict. Furthermore, the international community has failed to keep its promise to include women in the formal peacebuilding process, and women continue to be under-represented at national and local levels, and even stated commitments to their participation in formal government structures have not been fulfilled. In spite of the resistance to include women, there are a number of women’s organisations in all three countries working to promote women’s involvement in peacebuilding. However, they lack the necessary training support and financial backing so vital to such a movement.

The report makes several recommendations. They include the following:

• the two governing bodies of Sudan must ensure at least 25 per cent women’s participation in implementation of all phases of the Darfur Peace Agreement
• Sudan must extend land ownership to women and include women in all resource-sharing discussions, including those governing land and oil
• the government of Sudan must put an end to the support that still goes from within the National Congress Party and the army to the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda
• the government of Congo (DRC) must establish commissions to apply and monitor measures related to women in the new constitution
• the Congolese government should also strengthen the justice system by promoting reforms to end impunity for perpetrators of sexual violence, give legal aid to victims and establish special police and prosecutorial units to investigate sexual crimes
• the government of Uganda must immediately enact and provide funding for laws related to domestic relations, sexual offences, succession and domestic violence to protect the rights of women and children in the family and educate the population about those laws
• Uganda must also support communities to implement healing and reconciliation processes in conflict areas and build the capacity of female and male leaders to manage traumatised returnees, as stated in Article 9 of the Amnesty Act (2000)
• the governments of these countries must consult with local women to design, implement and monitor budgets, policies and programs to enhance the effectiveness of state spending to promote women’s rights
• these governments must ensure the primacy of laws that honour and protect women’s rights over customary law and other traditional practices and guarantee the enforcement of those laws; include men in discussions on promoting women’s rights.

[adapted from authors]

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