Policy Meeting
Vienna, Austria
July 4, 2024

The Europe and Middle East Regional Meeting concluded with a day-long meeting between Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace members and policymakers at the Diplomatic Academy on July 4, 2002. Following framing remarks by several leading speakers, the 117 participants spent two hours in small groups engaged in discussions on the potential impact of recent resolutions and statements adopted by leading international policy bodies.

The following topics were the focus of conversation at the roundtables:

Civil Society and Government Partnership: The November 2000 EU Resolution stresses the importance of active local involvement in the peace and reconciliation processes, and calls upon the European Commission to "support the creation and strengthening of non-governmental organizations, including women's organizations, active in conflict prevention and in post-conflict peace and reconstruction work and work towards the education of women's organizations in non-violent conflict resolution."

Security Sector Reform: UN Security Council Resolution 1325 calls on all member states to take into special consideration the role that women can play in creating more stable and secure environments in post-conflict societies.

Women at the Peace Table: UN Security Council Resolution 1325 urges "member states to ensure increased representation of women at all decision making levels in national, regional, and international institutions, and mechanisms for the prevention, management and resolution of conflict."

Women's Post-conflict Political Participation: In its "Gender Agenda," the OSCE calls on its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to "ensure that a gender perspective is included in OSCE's democratization and election sections, including the provision of technical assistance to increase women's participation in electoral processes."

Peacekeeping: Recently adopted international documents (e.g., UN Security Council Resolution 1325, EU Resolution) call for the full inclusion of gender perspectives in peacekeeping missions and for gender sensitive training for staff. UN Security Council Resolution 1325 asks the Secretary-General to expand the role and contribution of women in UN field-based operations, especially among military observers, civilian police, human rights and humanitarian personnel. Similarly, all OSCE missions have a gender focal point and the larger missions have full-time staff devoted to gender issues.

The keynote address was given by Monica McWilliams, a founding member and representative of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, which was established in 1996 to increase the representation of women at the Multi-Party Peace Talks. Ms. McWilliams was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998 and represents South Belfast, a constituency of 60,000 people. She was awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters from Lesley College, Massachusetts, for her work on the impact of domestic violence and political conflict on women's lives in Northern Ireland. Her publications include two books on domestic violence and several pieces relating to the Northern Ireland Peace process. As a signatory to the Good Friday Agreement, she was awarded the National Democratic Institute Award and the J F Kennedy Leadership and Courage Award. In 1999, she received the Frank Cousins Peace Award and Boston Immigration Centre's Woman of the Year Award.

Elizabeth Rehn addressed the closing plenary. Ms. Rehn is the United Nations Secretary General's Special Representative and coordinator of UN operations in Bosnia. Previously she served as the Finnish Defense Minister (the first woman to hold the post) and concurrently as the Finnish Minister of Equality Affairs. She also serves as one of two independent experts spearheading efforts by UNIFEM, the UN Development Fund for Women, to assess progress of the world's women, particularly those affected by conflict. Their findings will be documented in the upcoming report "Progress of the World's Women 2002." Ms. Rehn narrowly lost the Finnish presidential race in 1995.

Other speakers at the meeting included:

• Amb. W. Lyons Brown, US Ambassador to Austria.
  
• Vjosa Dobruna, one of only three women appointed to the joint interim administrative structure of Kosovo (part of the United Nations' Mission to Kosovo), where she served as national head of the department for democratic governance and civil society.
  
• Sumaya Farhat-Naser, an academic and human rights activist living and working outside Jerusalem.
  
• Amb. Swanee Hunt, Chair of Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace and Director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
  
• Valentine Inzko, Division Director for Eastern, Central, and Southeastern Europe at the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  
• Jara Maserova, Member (and former Vice President) of the Senate of the Czech Republic.
  
• Amb. Ernst Sucharipa, Director of the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna.

see also:
Europe and Middle East Regional Meeting
Women peace builders from Europe and the Middle East met in Vienna, Austria,
in early July 2002 to discuss their experiences and to take concrete steps
to include women in all aspects of peace.

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