Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission gave the following speech at a conference on Women, Peace and Security: Empowering women in peace and conflict in Brussels, yesterday. The title of her speech was: Turning words into deeds: making women actors of peace and security.
"I am delighted to welcome you all to this conference today, co-hosted by NATO and the EU, where we will discuss how to include women in the peace and security equation.
First of all, apologies from my colleague Mrs Catherine Ashton, Vice-President of the European Commission and EU High Representative, who deeply regrets not being able to attend this debate, due to an important meeting on Yemen today in London. She sent us a short message.
"I welcome the enhanced cooperation with NATO in the field of women, peace and security, and the joint commitment to push for implementation of existing international legislation. Only if we work together – internationally, regionally and with civil society – will we be able to combat the marginalisation of women that is a real threat to global security".
EU and NATO standing together to fight for women's rights
Today's conference is a unique event – for the first time ever, the EU and NATO join forces on women, peace and security – and I hope this will mark the start of a fruitful collaboration in this area. A big thank you to the Security and Defence Agenda for organising this debate and for bringing together such experts in this field – over 400 participants, from high ranking military officials and gender experts (12 military organisations, ministries and schools), to civil society representatives (31 NGOs, 51 Universities and think-tanks), high-level political decision-makers including members of Parliament (31 different international organisations and agencies, including 7 UN offices and agencies; 98 embassies, ministries and political parties), and numerous witnesses.
Allow me to introduce our impressive panel today:
First off on the floor will be Maria Teresa Fernández de la Vega, first Vice-President of the Spanish government, who will outline the priorities of the Spanish EU Presidency in this field. I would like to congratulate Spain again for its recent strong commitment to increase gender equality at all levels of society. The image of the Spanish Defence Minister Carmen Chacon inspecting troops while eight months pregnant has become a European symbol of breaking male/female stereotypes.
I am proud to welcome Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Secretary General of NATO, who is devoting a lot of time and effort to this issue. I look forward to hearing more about his initiative to create gender adviser posts to assist senior commanders in Afghanistan.
A warm welcome to former US Secretary of State, and my great friend Madeleine Albright who has shown long-standing commitment to the cause of empowering women and protecting them from violence and abuse. She is one of the driving forces behind the US government's engagement in this issue.
Our final panellist is Captain Linda Johansson, Swedish Gender Advisor to NATO, who coordinates gender training and is responsible for an overall implementation of a gender perspective into NATO.
Not a women's issue but a human rights issue
But before we kick off the discussion, let's remind ourselves of what we are talking about:
Violence against women and girls continues in every continent, country and culture. The results are devastating on women’s lives as well as on their families and on society as a whole. Between 20,000 and 50,000 women are estimated to have been raped during the war in Bosnia in the 1990s. In Liberia, a country ravaged by war for decades, three out of four women have been exposed to sexual violence. In the province of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 40 rapes are reported every day. However, women are not only victims, but they are actors in preventing conflict and bringing about sustained peace. To women, security goes beyond military strategies – from access to clean water and education to safe roads etc.
Sexual violence has become a tool of modern warfare. Excluding women from decision-making is a violation of human rights and a breach of democratic principles. As Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has put it so accurately, "Some say all this is cultural and there is nothing that anybody can do about it. I say it’s criminal and that we each have an obligation to stop it." This is not a women's issue but a human rights issue. I have come to realise that the security of a nation is best measured by the security of its women. Where women are denied equal rights, you frequently find instability; and where there is instability, women are often mistreated and violated.
The key role of international actors in implementing women's rights
Thanks to the UN and the US we today have a sound legal framework to protect and empower women in conflict zones. On the EU side I want to acknowledge the great pioneering work of Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner. But it is now time to turn this legislation into concrete actions, because the situation on the ground for women is not getting better…
The UN resolution 1325 on women, peace and security will be reviewed in October 2010. The aim of today's conference is to discuss and identify what we can do in the run-up to this. International organisations, such as the EU, the UN and NATO play a crucial role in the mission to empower women and ending sexual violence in war and conflict zones.
All EU and NATO-led operations must comply with UN resolutions relating to women, peace and security, and that they are supported by appropriate education, training, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
We need concrete, tangible actions. Training our civilian and military crisis management personnel in gender, engaging more women in our crisis management missions and operations, liaising with local women in the area of operations, making sure that our post-conflict reconstruction programmes account for women’s and girls’ needs… The list could go on and on.
NATO is committed to proactively mainstream gender issues into its policies, programmes and operations and to work on increasing the amount of female personnel and trained gender advisors. The Alliance will step up work with its partners and seek maximum cooperation with involved international actors to implement UN resolution 1325 and to coordinate in the area of training, education and standards.
From the EU side, we will further intensify our efforts. The creation of the post of new High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy allows for a more efficient integration of gender aspects in EU actions from conflict prevention to crisis management, peace-building and long-term reconstruction and development. HR/VP Mrs Catherine Ashton has asked me to underline that "the EU policy, as outlined in the EU Comprehensive Approach and the corresponding ESDP commitments, adopted by Ministers for Foreign Affairs a little over a year ago, will continue to guide our action. By the October 10th Anniversary, the European Commission will present, with the full support of the Member States, a report of results achieved so far."
Stop perceiving women as victims
To me, the most important three points in this discussion are the following:
How do we end impunity? According to a UN study (Secretary-General's in-depth study on violence against women from 2006), violence against women is the most common but least punished crime in the world.
How do we empower women and give them a say in decision-making and peace building? Women are systematically under-represented in decision-making. Today I learned that not one out of the 27 EU Foreign Ministers is a woman! Only six percent of ministers worldwide and ten percent of parliamentarians are women. In UN Peace keeping missions, they only represent 10-16% of the staff.
What can international organisations, such as NATO, UN and the EU do to integrate a gender dimension into conflict resolution? How do we measure the success of our actions?
We must stop relegating women to the role of helpless spectators, or merely victims, of our actions related to war. Be it with regard to preventing war, or with regard to resolving it, or in respect to more long-term reconstruction and reconciliation, or in political decision-making, women must be allowed to play their full role as members of a society.
Ultimately, unless we enhance the rights and responsibilities of women globally, many of our foreign policy goals will remain unachievable, and those we do achieve will turn out to be unsustainable.
Thank you very much to all panellists and participants for your contributions.
Now, let's turn our words into deeds!