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181. Connecting Informal and Formal Peace Talks: From Movements To Mediators

Author:
Anjali Dayal
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS)
Abstract:
Women have been historically absent in formal negotiations and peace processes. However, their participation in informal, or Track II processes, is significant and well documented. Increasing women’s representation in formal peace negotiations is imperative to fulfilling United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325’s call for women’s full participation at all levels of peacemaking efforts and to promoting sustainable peace. One way to do so would be a concerted effort to link Track I and Track II efforts. A renewed focus from the UN Secretary General on the role of mediators in peace negotiations motivates this policy brief, which calls on the UN to nominate more women mediators, and to create a 1325 directive for all mediators to strengthen connections with civil society and women’s organizations, in order to increase women’s meaningful involvement at all levels of peace processes. Additionally, it points to the need for mediators to better link Track I and II processes.
Topic:
Women, Negotiation, Peace, and Mediation
Political Geography:
Global Focus

182. Women, Deradicalization, and Rehabilitation: Lessons from an Expert Workshop

Author:
Rebecca Turkington and Agathe Christien
Publication Date:
04-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS)
Abstract:
With the rise of violent extremist groups around the world, questions around how to disengage and reintegrate participants from these groups back into their societies have become urgent. To date, most deradicalization programs have been designed for men, and there have been few efforts to create programs that specifically address the needs of women returnees. The underlying assumption that women lack agency permeates legal and policy responses to extremism and can have serious consequences. Though women remain relatively neglected, their participation in violent extremism is only growing. Women represent up to 20% of Western recruits to the Islamic State, and Boko Haram has used female suicide bombers at unprecedented levels. As greater numbers of women are joining extremist groups, failing to investigate and prosecute them upon their return risks creating a dangerous gap in security processes.
Topic:
Security, Women, Radicalization, Rehabilitation, and Countering Violent Extremism
Political Geography:
Global Focus

183. The Use of UN Sanctions to Address Conflict-Related Sexual Violence

Author:
Sophie Huvé
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS)
Abstract:
The United Nations has recognized that sexual violence, when used as a tactic of war or as a widespread practice, can exacerbate armed conflict and hinder peace. The UN Security Council can use sanctions—specifically the designation criteria and the subsequent listing of sanctioned individuals—to prevent and curb sexual violence in armed conflict and address the impunity of perpetrators. Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) conducted the first review of how the UN Security Council has used targeted sanctions to address sexual violence in conflict to date. A review of eight sanctions regimes reveals the current approach is characterized by inconsistency across sanctions regimes, delayed focus on sexual violence, and weak implementation of sanctions. We conclude that the sanctions tool offers significant—and as yet largely unexploited—potential to advance women’s protection from sexual violence in situations of armed conflict, and make a series of recommendations for the Security Council and other stakeholders to improve the effectiveness of sanctions as a tool against sexual violence. In particular, the Security Council should systematically and immediately incorporate sexual violence as a stand- alone criterion when adopting a new sanctions regime, and should not hesitate to list perpetrators when there is repeated evidence of their conduct.
Topic:
United Nations, Sanctions, Women, Conflict, Impunity, and Sexual Violence
Political Geography:
Global Focus

184. August 2017 Issue

Author:
Aaron Brantly, Charlie Winter, Devorah Margolin, Michael Knights, Kristina Hummel, and Raffaello Pantucci
Publication Date:
08-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
CTC Sentinel
Institution:
The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
Abstract:
After a respite from mass-casualty terrorism for more than a decade, the United Kingdom this past spring suffered three such attacks in the space of just 73 days, making clear it faces an unprecedented security challenge from jihadi terrorism. In our cover article, Raffaello Pantucci outlines what investigations have revealed so far about the March attack on Westminster Bridge, the bombing at a pop concert in Manchester in May, and the June attack on London Bridge and Borough Market. The early indications are that the Westminster attacker, Khalid Masood, had no contact with the Islamic State and the Manchester and London Bridge attackers were, at most, loosely connected to the group. The current threat environment, Pantucci writes, continues to be mostly made up of individuals and smaller scattered cells planning lower-tech attacks with very short planning and operational cycles—sometimes remotely guided by the Islamic State—rather than cells trained and dispatched by the Islamic State to launch large-scale, Paris-type attacks, but this could change as more British Islamic State recruits return home. Our interview this month is with Edward You, a Supervisory Special Agent in the Biological Countermeasures Unit in the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate. While the full liberation of Mosul last month effectively ended the Islamic State’s caliphate pretensions, Michael Knights warns the Islamic State and other jihadis are already bouncing back in several parts of Iraq and more strongly and quickly in areas where the security forces are either not strong enough or not politically flexible enough to activate the population as a source of resistance. As the Islamic State transitions from administering territory to a renewed campaign of terrorism and insurgency, Charlie Winter and Devorah Margolin examine the Islamic State’s apparent lifting of its moratorium on using women as suicide bombers. In a commentary, Aaron Brantly argues that creating back-doors in encryption, or banning it, would create significant societal costs without stopping terrorists from accessing the technology.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Science and Technology, Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Insurgency, Counter-terrorism, Women, Islamic State, and Encryption
Political Geography:
Iraq, United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East, and Global Focus

185. Girl Ambassadors for Peace: Young Women and Girls Read and Lead to Counter Violent Extremism and Build Peace

Author:
Katrina Leclerc
Publication Date:
07-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP)
Abstract:
Violent extremism has become the biggest threat of this modern age. This paper claims that violent extremism is an outcome of radicalization and that the involvement of women and girls is essential in order to counter violent extremism across the world. Throughout the paper, violent extremism and radicalization will be analyzed to further understand the importance and influence of gender mainstreaming, as well as offer a discussion regarding the importance of local grass-roots initiatives to counter violent extremism.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Violent Extremism, Women, Radicalization, and Violence
Political Geography:
Global Focus

186. No Money, No NAP: Manual for Costing and Budgeting National Action Plans on UNSCR 1325

Author:
Mavic Cabrera-Balleza and Agnieszka Fal Dutra Santos
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP)
Abstract:
The United Nations Security Council resolution (UNSCR) 1325 was adopted in the year 2000, thanks to sustained women’s rights and peace activism from around the world. At its core lies women’s meaningful participation in peace negotiations, post-conflict peacebuilding, conflict-prevention, peacekeeping operations and humanitarian planning. We know that women’s contributions to effective implementation of resolution 1325 and its supporting resolutions - UNSCR 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2103), and 2242 (2015) - are essential for a more peaceful and equal world and the achievement of all of the Sustainable Development Goals. These collective ambitions are more important than ever, as we mark the 17th anniversary of resolution 1325 amidst continuing conflict and insecurity in many countries around the world. Yet, translating these resolutions into practical action on the ground remains challenging, with a persistent gap between commitments and actual political and financial support. Sixty-eight countries have so far adopted National Action Plans (NAPs) to implement UNSCR 1325 and supporting resolutions, but only 16 out of 68 NAPs have a dedicated budget. NAP implementation will only be possible when the funding is provided. Political will must be supported by targeted financial and other resources.
Topic:
Gender Issues, United Nations, Women, Sustainable Development Goals, Peace, and UN Security Council
Political Geography:
Global Focus

187. Not the Usual Suspects: Engaging Male Champions of Women, Peace and Security

Author:
Jolynn Shoemaker and Sahana Dharmapuri
Publication Date:
09-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Our Secure Future
Abstract:
Men who participated in this study highlighted the transformational potential of Women, Peace and Security to redefine how the international community conceptualizes and approaches security. • Among male champions of Women, Peace and Security there is a common view that current institutions and approaches are failing to achieve peace and security and that it is time for change. There is a recognition that gender forms a foundational pillar of social justice and that it is impossible to achieve social needs and human potential without addressing gender.
Topic:
Security, Women, Peace, Men, and WPS
Political Geography:
United States and Global Focus

188. Designing Our Secure Future: Inaugural Convening, Ottawa, Canada

Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Our Secure Future
Abstract:
Our Secure Future (OSF) believes that women’s full participation in society makes the crucial difference in achieving more effective governance and lasting peace. OSF aims to strengthen the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) movement by amplifying women’s voices, strengthening the global network of women peacebuilders, and promoting committed action by multiple stakeholders to turn policy into practice. Founded in 2016 with a mission to strengthen the Women, Peace and Security movement to enable effective policy-related decision-making for a more just and peaceful world, we set out to understand how best to achieve our vision of achieving a more peaceful future transformed by women’s full participation. After a series of consultations with multiple stakeholders in the WPS field during the summer and fall of 2016, we found that the issues of developing a shared vision for the Women, Peace and Security agenda and collaborating on common narratives were recurrently named as being critical to making progress in this field. The overwhelming feedback pointed to the nee
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Gender Issues, Women, and WPS
Political Geography:
United States and Global Focus

189. From the Ground Up: A Preliminary Dialogue on the Nexus of Economic Policy, Gender and Violent Extremism

Publication Date:
09-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN)
Abstract:
Women peace practitioners and rights activists have long been concerned by decisions made at global and national levels that at the local level impact dynamics of economic exclusion, threaten social cohesion and exacerbate vulnerabilities to radicalization. Violent extremism and state responses to it place significant economic burden on societies. The members of the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL) have consistently draw attention to this gap between policy intentions and realities on the ground. Their lived experiences of the economic dynamics in contexts affected by violent extremism, combined with desk research on the state of current policy and practice, and the multistakeholder Global Solutions Exchange (GSX)2 meeting on these issues held at the UNDP headquarters in New York in March 2017, inform the findings of this report.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Violent Extremism, Women, Economic Inequality, WPS, and Political Extremism
Political Geography:
Global Focus

190. Education, Identity and Rising Extremism: From Preventing Violent Extremism to Promoting Peace, Resilience, Equal Rights and Pluralism (PREP)

Publication Date:
09-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN)
Abstract:
In November 2016, during ICAN’s fifth annual Women, Peace and Security forum, members of the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL) and other women-led organizations in over 30 countries analyzed the role of formal and informal education in contributing to enabling conditions and mitigating extremist violence. They also highlighted their own practical experiences and lessons learnt in providing education to prevent violent extremism by fostering peace, resilience, equal rights and pluralism (PREP) in formal and informal spaces, including through the teachings of alternative religious narratives. Their experiences, combined with desk research on the state of current policy and practice, and the first multi-stakeholder Global Solutions Exchange (GSX) meeting on the nexus of education, gender and extremism held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris in March 2017, inform the findings of this report.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Human Rights, Violent Extremism, Women, Resilience, Pluralism, Equality, WPS, and Political Extremism
Political Geography:
Global Focus and Global South