Hosted on the United Nations WebTV service and organised by the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA), this 90 minute recording documents the high-level dialogue towards a continental framework on women, peace and security in Africa. The meeting took place at the 59th Commission on the Status of Women in New York, and featured delegates representing a number of states and large organisations. A large number of speakers put forward their points in two and a half minute slots, and a keynote speech was given by Bineta Diop, special envoy for women, peace and security at the African Union (AU).
Diop’s talk concerns the AU’s vision for a continental framework for results. She speaks of the tiredness expressed by women in camps in the Central African Republic, and how women in the region have been impacted by religious based conflict. Diop recognises the need for gender concerns in military contexts, and goes on to insist that women should be made part of reconciliation processes.
Another speaker is the Special Envoy on Gender of the African Development bank, who raised a number of points including that despite playing a key role in peacebuilding, women are largely ignored from the process. She highlights that from 2008-12, women were signatories to just 2 of 61 peace agreements in Africa, and of the 31 major peace processes between 1992 and 2011, less than 3% of mediators and 9% of negotiators were women. The special envoy goes on to say that we need to do more than simply “add women and stir”; we need to fundamentally re-examine the processes themselves.
A final example speaker is Zainab Hawa Bangura, the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Bangura argues that women’s inclusion must be pursued at every level of society. Not only is this women’s empowerment, it is also empowerment that includes the entire community, and indeed country. She believes that the AU’s results framework can help make major strides in increasing women’s representation in peace and security, by assessing national action plans and highlighting gaps in implementation