Women as mediators
Germany supports projects worldwide that engage women in peace processes and strengthen their rights. Here are three examples.
In 2000, in Resolution 1325, the UN Security Council agreed that women should participate in peace processes as equal partners and be protected in armed conflicts. Since that time the Federal Foreign Office has been supporting projects that contribute to this.
Afghanistan: protecting threatened activists
Campaigning for peace and human rights is dangerous in Afghanistan. As a result, female peace activists are often threatened and need a safe place to go. One of these is the refuge where some 50 female peace activists and human-rights defenders can find sanctuary with their children when they are in acute danger – and where they can stay until the security situation in their home towns allows them to return. The centre does not only offer them safe accommodation, but also psychological and medical care and legal advice. Germany has been supporting the refuge since June 2020.
Myanmar: raising awareness of rights
Germany is helping a network of female Rohingya human-rights defenders campaign on the issues that concern them. The Rohingya are a Muslim minority in Myanmar where they have been discriminated against and persecuted for decades. In 2017, hundreds of thousands of them fled from the violence in the country. The project enables 15 Rohingya women to take courses in human and women’s rights. In addition, it helps them implement their own strategies for promoting their rights locally and internationally. The project partner is Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), an NGO that provides legal assistance to victims of human rights violations in conflict regions.
Burundi: economic support for women
Providing economic support for women can promote peace. That is the finding of a project in Burundi funded by Germany. The project partner is the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF). It supports a network of female mediators in Burundi that arbitrates or prevents conflicts at the local level. The mediators learned that they can also promote peace by strengthening women economically. This is because the women who received training and microcredits have shown a strong commitment to peaceful communal life in their countries.
More information is available here: https://ohnefrauenkeinfrieden.de/
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