The Permanent Secretariat of the Community of Democracies is organizing a satellite event on “Building Sustainable Peace: The Importance of Women’s Inclusion” , to be held on the margins of the World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg, France, on November 19, 2018 at 13:00 – 15:00.

The panel discussion will be carried out in the framework of the Community’s newly-launched project: “Engaging Women in Sustainable Peace (EWSP)”, which seeks to contribute to international debate on women in the peace and security dialogue by inferring consolidated best practices from case studies. Additionally, the initiative aims to assess women’s beneficial inclusion in peace processes through a global perspective that embraces case studies from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.

The event will explore the role of women in peace-building processes, specifically women’s inclusion in the development of strategies for sustaining peace. The panel will also address good practices for advancing women’s participation in sustaining peace and discuss the achievements of women in contributing to peacebuilding.

The outcome of the discussion will serve as an input for a publication to be developed by the Community of Democracies (CoD) within the EWSP project. The publication will include case studies on how women are effectively involved in building sustainable peace and present recommendations on how government agencies and civil society organizations can develop strategies to ensure an inclusive approach to peacebuilding and peacemaking.

The event will be led by Ms. Mona Krook, Professor, Department of Political Science, Rutgers University, who serves as a consultant for the EWSP project.

The tentative point of discussion at the event will include: 

• Women’s involvement in post-conflict resolution processes, e.g. peace talks, transitional justice, mediation.
• Women’s organizing at the grassroots level to promote national conciliation and empower women at the local level;
• Implementation of the UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security;
• Women’s engagement in sustaining peace within political bodies, i.e. via the implementation of the women, peace and security agenda by parliament.