by Cynthia Petrigh | May 7, 2017
At Beyond peace, we document, research, observe and share findings and recommendations on best practice in upholding international norms.
Based on our field work as documented in other sections, and on research (with the Harvard project on Monitoring and Fact-finding; research on the Implementation of WPS agenda in the Arab with SDD/UN Women, etc.), we work with government officials and humanitarian professionals toward improved compliance with international norms and for non-violent resolutions.
We work with civil society in conflict -affected countries and in societies in transition: with Arab women through the Toledo international Centre for Peace (CitPax), with civil society and women’s organisations in Mindanao, in the Balkans with WIIS and the Belgrade Centre for Political Studies, with GPACC and many other networks around the world. (photo: meeting with NGOs in Patani, Thailand, Dec 2016).
We work with humanitarian professionals: the PHAP project, the ICRC, Institut Bioforce and the International Institute of Humanitarian Law, to contribute to the dissemination of a gendered approach to international norms and to upholding human dignity. (picture San Remo 2017)
To read our latest contribution to the Sanrmeo round-table: http://www.iihl.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Petrigh-2-REV.pdf
We share with government officials, security sector and civil societies our field observations and our recommendations. (on the picture, Workshop on SSR reform in Manila in 2012, with General Lina Sarmiento PNP, General Ferrer AFP, Father Calvo PAZ).
We work with the UK SU, with the UK PSVI, with the Malaysian peacekeeping centre and the Vietnam peacekeeping department. We regularly provide feedback to the EU institutions.
by Cynthia Petrigh | May 5, 2017
We support efforts to increase women’s participation in peace building, through advocacy, direct support to dialogue processes and by building women’s capacities.
« Nothing about us without us »
All of our programmes have a gendered approach. They include specific content on Women, Peace and Security and on the Prevention of Sexual Violence where relevant. We work with women’s groups to support their participation in peace processes; we train combatants on the prevention of sexual violence; we provide a gendered conflict analysis.
Recent stories from the field
In Guinea, efforts to increase women networks’ visibility and skills have been successful. Between others we supported the launch of Guinea’s Chapter of the African Women Leaders Network in 2023.
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Why and how support women’s participation?
May 2019
When I arrived in Cameroon in August 2018, women, as in many African countries, were very visible at work, in the shops, in the families, keeping together a country plagued by corruption, violence, weak governance and outdated patriarchal institutions. But they were invisible from the political arena. Even at the Ministry for Women’s empowerment, my interlocutor was a man. At the UN Women where I worked, the discourse was about protecting “women and children”, pushing women in the same category as children, into one group of victims deprived of any form of agency, objects of our assistance. I felt that the objective was not to transform the outdated, patriarchal and corrupt institutions; but to please the government and seduce the donors. Merely talking about the anglophone crisis was taboo.
The causes of the anglophone crisis include discrimination, perceived lack of opportunities but also the arrogance from the Centre. The initial, non-violent claims by anglophone lawyers and teachers was met with contempt and repression. At the UN, we organised our meetings with civil society in Yaounde, not in the conflict-affected Northwest and Southwest regions. How were we to know who is doing a real job on the ground? I wanted to show respect and go and listen to the anglophone women in their turf and in their own terms. In spite of warnings from the top UN peace adviser (“You can be kicked out of the country; there’s not much to see/do in Buea anyway; if I was you I wouldn’t go”), I travelled to Buea.
On my way, I stopped in Douala where I met with Cardinal Tumi, the Lead Convenor of the Anglophone conference, the only peace initiative on the table. We had a long discussion. He spoke of the upcoming Conference. I asked him: “Should only men represent the anglophone point of view?” He marked a pause. After a few minutes he admitted: “It never came up; we never thought of it”. During that initial meeting, he accepted to include women and put me in touch with Conference organiser Dr Simon Munzu. “You have great women”, was my line. “They are not coming to clap. They will have something to say. If you accept this, we will do our share; we will prepare them”. They accepted. I travelled to Buea with these good news in my pocket.
There, I met wonderful, skilful, courageous and articulate women. All women present were civil society leaders, and most of them had elected to join their efforts under a new umbrella organisation, the South West/North West Women’s Task Force -SNWOT. I was impressed by all of them, particularly the SNWOT leader Esther Njomo Omam Njomo. This was the week preceding the pre-electoral shutdown announced by the armed groups. And here, these women, most of whom were hosting IDPs and had to organise reserves for the coming days, had braved the security situation, had put aside their very real daily worries, and came to the meeting I had called for. That meant high commitment, and it also meant respect for the international institutions. Oh God! I hoped we wouldn’t fail them.
With the women in Buea on 19 September 2018.
They gave me a very good briefing on what was going on in the conflict-affected area. I realised that they were the women who can change the paradigm in Cameroon. They had the energy, the deep understanding of the crisis and the courage. When I told them that they were going to participate in the Anglophone Conference, they were thrilled. “We didn’t know we could join” they said. I was appalled to see once more that very capable women didn’t feel they were authorised to contribute. We agreed to work together to prepare their participation.
My intention (and my mission with the UN Women) was to make women count in peace and security issues in Cameroon, beyond this conference. My approach was three-pronged:
- advocate for their participation in any decision concerning the country (with the authorities, the Convenors of the anglophone conference, the diplomats in Yaounde, the UN etc). Bring to Cameroon women with high visibility like Nobel Prize winner Leymah Gbowee or negotiators from the Northern Ireland conflict, to showcase the added-value of women’s contributions.
- provide them with technical skills (on peace processes, mediation, agenda-drafting, comparative learning) so they could make more effective contributions to these fora
- give them visibility (bring them along to high level meetings, have them invited to regional or international fora)
A lot of good energy and sharing during the Douala workshop in November 2018. Experts Agus Wandi and Webster Zambara joined me to co-facilitate. It was a very successful event.
This plan worked brilliantly because:
– These women were competent and dedicated and they had a true leader who helped us organise complicated events in a difficult political environment
– They had their own disagreements, but unlike most of their male counterparts who were obsessed with power and personal gains, they were happy to discuss the core issues and look for solutions to the crisis
– They just needed someone to believe in them and that was my role. My status of a consultant protected me in a way, because I could take risks
– I had by then built a solid network of contacts and many allies and friends helped me. We also benefited from a context where most donors and diplomats lacked ideas and initiatives about this crisis and we filled the vacuum. SNWOT became the only show in town. They supported us.
The Anglophone Conference was not authorised by the government. But Esther and her group did not need anymore an invitation. During a workshop I organised for them, they established a plan of action and they started running their own activities. In a very daring move, they successfully organised a press Conference in Yaounde, the Centre of power. They articulated their own agenda.
Today, 14 May, Esther Njomo the Reach Out Director and SNWOT leader gave a briefing to the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon (to watch the briefing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gkBht8pWSU)
True to her own self, she did not make it a personal victory. “I am here to talk on behalf of those women, mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters who have lost it all to the crisis. Those who are trapped in the bushes, in the forests because they lost everything they could hold onto”, she said.
At the end of her very precise and compelling speech, she launched an appeal for the cessation of hostilities and for dialogue.
“ It is time for us to silencing the guns
It is time for us to start talking”
What are the lessons from this story?
Lesson #1: If you believe in women and give them a chance, you won’t be disappointed.
Lesson #2: you only risk a career move, they are risking their lives daily. Be courageous!
Lesson #3: We need to improve the protection of women human rights defenders.
The first meeting in Buea, w
by Cynthia Petrigh | May 4, 2017
Beyond peace designs and promotes innovative projects aiming at increasing compliance and reducing human suffering. The following 3 projects need support. You can endorse 1 of them! All support is welcome.
Project 1: Rewarding Compliance through an International Award for military upholding IHL and the Rule of Law
Funded so far:
Our first project aims at encouraging compliance by way of rewarding compliant behaviour of armed forces.
Rationale
While mechanisms are in place to criticize and punish armed forces’ behavior when at fault (civil society, Human rights NGOs, ICC, internal processes), or to reward armed forces’ bravery in combat (military promotions and medals), there is generally little way of promoting and rewarding those who comply with international humanitarian law (IHL) and Rule of Law and those who avoid massacres. It took 30 years for the brave soldiers who stopped the famous My Lai massacre to be awarded the Soldier’s Medal (one of them posthumously). How many heroes are left without any recognition, or, worse, are being sidelined or even punished for doing the right thing?
Yet, in many countries, policies and legislation are in place to enforce the rule of law and IHL. But the systems to reward those Commanders who apply and promote these standards are largely non-existing or ineffective. The main reason is that it is easier to identify those who engage in combat than those who prevented a massacre. It is also more in link with a millenary tradition. While understandable, this situation does not allow sufficiently for the successful promotion and implementation of national and international norms and policies.
At a time where the world is appalled by the levels of savagery displayed by Daesh and other groups, it is about time we reward and encourage compliant behavior, not only during acts of violence but including all efforts made to prevent massacres and to uphold IHL, RoE and the rule of law.
We recommend the creation of effective mechanisms to support and reward the Commanding officers who take the right decisions and who respect national and international norms and policies. This 2015 project was presented at the Future Force Conference in The Hague in February 2017.
For more information and for support:
Thank you for your support!
Project 2: Develop and Implement the IHL and Prevention of sexual violence training in CAR
Funded so far:
This project is now completed. Thank you for your support.
The purpose of this pilot project was to improve the behaviour of the Central African armed forces (FACA) by integrating International humanitarian law (IHL) and prevention of sexual violence (PSV) in the training delivered by the EUTM Bangui.
After the eruption of the conflict in CAR in 2013 that saw widespread sexual violence against civilians, the country is undergoing an internationally supervised transition, including the deployment of the MINUSCA and of an EU CSDP military training mission (EUTM RCA). During the crisis, the Central African Armed Forces (FACA) were largely inefficient. The population considers that they failed to protect them and that they participated in the extra-judicial killings, the rapes and looting. In spite of the past misbehaviour, the deployment of FACA would be welcomed as the only symbol of state presence. But for that to be successful, the FACA would need to improve their capacities and especially their behaviour. The training currently available to them suffers serious gaps. As expressed by an observer: “what the FACA need is not to learn how to shoot strait, but to improve their behaviour”.
Beyond peace established a partnership with the EU training mission in CAR and obtained funding from the UK Government. The available funding allowed for a 6-month pilot project.
After conducting a context analysis, an applicable law analysis and a tactical environment analysis, we designed a tailor-made course for the CAR armed forces (FACA). The training curriculum is specially designed for the FACA and includes lectures, drills, and evaluations. It includes lectures, tactical drills, group work, practical dilemmas and an evaluation system.
From July to December 2017, we trained 900 soldiers, NCOs and Officers. We trained 8 Instructors with our unique methodology and contents. The project was saluted by CAR Minister of Defense and Speaker of Parliament. See more in “Even Wars have Limits” section.
If you want to support us establish similar projects in other conflict affected countries, you can contribute online:
- Make a donation through Paypal
Thank you for your support!
Project 3: Storytelling for a cause / Women’s narratives and strategies for peace and security
Funded so far:
This projects aims at identifying, highlighting and sharing effective women’s contributions in enhancing peace and security in their communities.
In 2000, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1325, which gives three directions to a wide array of actors including member States, policymakers, the military, humanitarian actors and donors:
- To empower women and ensure their active and meaningful participation in areas of peacebuilding, peacekeeping, conflict prevention, conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction
- To protect women’s human rights and prevent the violation of these rights in armed conflict and post-conflict situations
- To promote and mainstream a gender perspective in all aspects of peace and security
The resolution itself emerged after decades-long efforts to prevent the violation of women’s rights and to provide for their participation in policy-making and peace and security efforts, such as the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), in 1979; the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, in 1995; the ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions on Gender Mainstreaming, in 1997 ; the Security Council Presidential Statement (Bangladesh), on 8 March 2000; or the Windhoek Declaration and the Namibia Plan of Action on Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in Multidimensional Peace Support Operations, in May 2000.
While the international political and legal framework is set at the highest levels and while many Governments have come on board by designing their national action plans, there is still a huge gap to fill before this vision becomes reality. In 2014, the UN launched the Senior Women Talent Pipeline in order to fill one of its own gaps: the absence of women at highest levels of peace and security structures within the UN system.
The international movement to increase women’s inclusion keeps unfolding, with its successes and setbacks. But in parallel, women lead every day efforts on the ground to improve the security and safety of their communities and they design their own strategies in a very unique way
Purpose of our project
- To document and connect the various initiatives in favour of women’s participation in peace and security, by sharing local stories with high-level and mid-level audience (Track 1 and 2)
- To support these and other women around the world by sharing ideas and strategies that are effective and are not in the book and by creating role models
- Rejoice for all the good things that have been done discretly on the ground and that have contributed to improve people’s lives.
- Provide courage, a sense of hope and possibly a network, to women who are fighting for peace and security, isolated
By supporting this project, you contribute to enhancing community security, women’s participation, and a shared sense of increased and inclusive peace and security for everyone, at all levels. You add flesh, reality-check and concrete outcomes to our highest policies.
For more information and for a budget :
Thank you for your support!