Winning the Peace:� Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace, Wilson Center announce concrete steps to include women in Iraq reconstruction

Washington, DC�Concrete steps to ensure that Iraqi women are included in their country�s reconstruction were announced today in a new report released by Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.� To create a just democracy in Iraq, women must participate fully in transitional planning and governance, according to �Winning the Peace: Women�s Role in Post-Conflict Iraq.�� The report offers the first blueprint for Iraqi women�s involvement in every phase of reform.

The report�s findings were hammered out during discussions between Iraqi women and US and international policymakers at a recent forum in Washington, DC.� Participants included the first woman judge in Iraq, the female Minister of Reconstruction and Development of the Kurdistan Regional Government, and the President of the Assyrian Women�s Union in Iraq, as well as 60 experts from non-governmental organizations and key international and US agencies.�

The report examines the critical role of women in four vital sectors of Iraqi administration:� democracy and governance, economic development, constitutional law and legislation, and civil society.� According to the founder of Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace, Ambassador Swanee Hunt: �As a stable and secure transition in Iraq proves elusive, the international community is ignoring that country�s most valuable untapped resource�its women.� They are highly educated and professionally skilled but have been effectively shut out of planning meetings.� Only if we include women do we have a remote chance for a democratic, stable, and flourishing Iraqi society.�

Interim Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center�s Conflict Prevention Project, Carla Koppell, says involvement of women will strengthen a free Iraq: �Women's leadership in the Iraqi transition to pluralistic self-rule will pay important dividends.� It will help ensure that inclusiveness and open discussion are hallmarks of reconstruction and will be critical if democracy and peace are to flourish.

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, says the report underscores the importance of women�s contributions in all levels of Iraqi government: �We must ensure the full and active participation of women in the rebuilding of Iraq.� It is necessary for long-term stability and the success of a democratic transition.� This report provides important steps that will help us win the peace.�

Democracy and Governance

Iraqi women have played a crucial role in sustaining their communities in the past two decades of intermittent wars.� Nonetheless, they are nearly excluded from the national leadership.� To advance women�s participation in governance and public decision making, immediate steps must:

• guarantee that women make up at least 30 percent of all governing bodies convened to rebuild and lead the nation;
• establish a national collective council for transitional leadership that includes community and non-governmental organizations led by women; and
• create a coalition of Iraqi women to advocate for issues of critical concern.

Constitutional Law and Legislation

Women need to be involved in the earliest drafting of a new constitution to prevent the erosion of women�s rights.� The separation of religious traditions from all civil, criminal, and family law must be explicitly outlined.� To safeguard women�s legal rights, we need to:

• form a committee of Iraqi women lawyers and other professionals to define women�s rights and interests, and draft protective provisions for an interim Iraqi constitution;
• draft a permanent, secular constitution that guarantees separation of powers, equality for all individuals, freedom of religion, and a bill of rights;
• abolish laws and decrees that violate human rights; and
• launch an educational campaign to inform Iraqis of their constitutional and legal protections in a democracy.

Economic Development

A healthy economy is fundamental to a viable democracy, and women�s robust involvement in the business community will accelerate fiscal recovery.� To support their activity, we need to:�

• appoint a full-time gender expert for the US Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq to make sure the needs and priorities of women are met;
• develop distribution channels for humanitarian aid to ensure that widows, single heads of households, and women with medical and reproductive health needs are included; and
• award building contracts to women-owned enterprises and gender-sensitive businesses.

Strengthening Civil Society

The period of post-conflict reconstruction is critical to the rebirth of civil society in Iraq.� A precedent can be created for non-governmental organizations to participate in new economic, political, and social institutions.� To help nascent organizations make their voices heard, we should:

• support women�s leadership roles and leverage women�s competency and experience in reconciliation, trauma, domestic violence, disarmament and demobilization;
• support existing women�s groups in Northern Iraq and encourage creation of new ones throughout the country; and
• secure funding to provide women with education, legal aid, and business and management skills training.

Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace advocates for the full participation of women in formal and informal peace processes around the world.� The Waging network includes women peacemakers from conflict areas ranging from Sudan to Sri Lanka, Colombia to Bosnia, the Middle East to Sierra Leone.� Waging was launched in 1999 to connect these women with each other and with policy shapers.

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is the living, national memorial to President Wilson established by Congress in 1968 and headquartered in Washington, DC.� The Center establishes and maintains a neutral forum for free, open, and informed dialogue.� It is a nonpartisan institution, supported by public and private funds and engaged in the study of national and world affairs.� �Winning the Peace� was undertaken by the Center�s Conflict Prevention and Middle East Projects.

The complete report, �Winning the Peace: Women�s Role in Post-Conflict Iraq,� can be found on the Web site www.WomenWagingPeace.net.