The Civic Solidarity Platform's Working Group on Women & Gender submission at the OSCE Parallel Civil Society Conference 2022
On Wednesday, 30 November 2022 in Łódź Civic Solidarity Platform representative Heidi Meinzolt, coordinator of the CSP WG on women and gender presented a statement on women and gender realities in the OSCE region.
The document includes the following sections:
The feminist dimension of peace
Striving toward human security
Understanding intersecting global crises and their impact on Women, Peace and Security
Including Youth in Peace and Security Discourses
Women’s participation in a (coming) peace process in Ukraine
Key observations:
- When assessing conflict, a gender-sensitive perspective is fundamental in understanding underlying, conflict-fuelling dynamics. Women and marginalized groups (such as minorities, LGBTIQ+ etc.) need to have access to meaningful participation in social and political life – at times of peace and conflict – as well as full enjoyment of human rights and ownership of their own bodies.
- A feminist perspective of peace is first and foremost concerned with power hierarchies within societies.
- Active peace commitment requires a radical will to diminish all forms of discrimination within and between states and societies to create egalitarian structures.
- Security describes a common transformative peace agenda combining protection, prevention and active participation in defending women’s rights as human rights, and peace. To live in security means a life free from fear and violence.
- To detect dangerous tendencies of extremism or authoritarianism, the experience (or prevalence) of gender-based violence in all these dimensions is part of early warning systems.
- A gender-sensitive approach is key against radicalization, violent extremism and all forms of discrimination and war rhetorics that promote hate and militarised answers.
- As climate crises which already today have a disproportional impact on women and marginalized groups (particularly Indigenous people), they are to be addressed as the highest priority under the Women, Peace, Security Agenda by OSCE in coordination with other relevant international bodies and OSCE participating States.
- When it comes to peace and security also young people are often unable to equally participate in conflict resolution and the promotion of peace even though young people are disproportionately affected by conflicts and violent structures.
- Research shows an increase in the durability of peace when women participate in peace processes.
- Furthermore, the statement highlights the importance to recognize, document and prosecute sexualized and gender-based violence (SGBV) as a weapon of war.
The statement was presented to representatives of OSCE institutions.
To learn more, read the whole statement. Attached please find a document in English.
We will be happy to receive your feedback or comments you have in relation to the document.
Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States depicted on the poster.
