Seminar series: Gender and Mediation – how to improve women’s role in peace negotiations (18.5.2009)

CMI organized three seminars in Finland during the course of last week. The topic was “Gender and Mediation – how to improve women’s role in peace negotiations" and the events took place in Tampere, Kuopio and Helsinki.

CMI would like to thank UNDP Helsinki, Tampere Peace Research Institute (TAPRI), University of Tampere and Crisis Management Centre Finland for their excellent cooperation and support in organizing the events.

To date, women are largely excluded from peace processes, either as participants in the negotiations but also in other formal processes related to peacemaking. The purpose of the seminars was to shed light on the specific question of women in peace processes, reflecting on both high level negotiations but also in the role of grassroots peacemaking and reconciliation.

The speakers addressed especially the reasons for excluding women in peace processes, and what difference it would make if women would be included in peace processes, and what should be done to create gender balance in peace negotiations.

The main speakers in all three events were Shadia Marhaban, President of LINA; an NGO network for women in Aceh, Indonesia and Hodan Addou, Gender and Crisis Prevention and Recovery Advisor at the UNDP in New York. In Tampere and Kuopio experts from TAPRI, CMC and Finnish Defence Forces International Centre (FINCENT) joined the panels.

The seminar panel in Helsinki was attended by President Martti Ahtisaari, Chairman of the Board of CMI and Minister Elisabeth Rehn. The panel session was chaired by Gunvor Kronman, Vice-Chair of the Board of CMI.

The seminars received support from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.


Links to partner organizations:

UNDP Helsinki

TAPRI

CMC Finland

Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland