The goal of IANSA's participation was to highlight how small arms control is an essential part of protecting women from armed violence, and should be at the core of any peace and security strategy drawing on SCR 1325.

IANSA women Jasmin Nario Galace, Associate Director of the Center for Peace Education in Miriam College, The Philippines; Bibiane Aningina Tshefu of Women as Partners for Peace in Africa, DRC; and Rebecca Peters spoke on a Panel about 'Securing Protection During and After Conflict'. They were joined by Agnès Marcaillou, UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA); and Rakhi Sahi, UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS).

This is a brief summary of Panel 2:

Rebecca Peters (IANSA) introduced the panel by calling into question the assumed dichotomy between crime and conflict, as well as between weapons of mass destruction and small arms/light weapons. She highlighted the need to take all forms and tools of violence into account when dealing with peace and security.

Peters’ introduction was followed by a powerful example by Agnes Marcaillou (UN Office for Disarmament Affairs) of why tools of violence — and the disarmament of these tools — must be addressed in peace and security. According to Marcaillou, a major oversight in 1325 is that disarmament is only mentioned in relation to DDR [Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration]. She went on to relay her own experience working in a male-dominated section of the United Nations. She often tells male colleagues that gender mainstreaming “is not about feminism, it is about business. Member states give us money to implement projects, and if I implement a project that only affects 50 percent of the population, that is bad business.” The men listen to her.

Jasmin Nario-Galace (IANSA) shifted the discussion of disarmament to the Philippines to illustrate the undeniable role small arms play in conflict. She ended her presentation by asking other countries to integrate small arms control into their National Action Plans and to develop national laws and policies.

Next Bibiane Aningina Tshefu (Women as Partners for Peace in Africa and IANSA) gave a moving testimony “in name of my sisters in DRC – the hundreds of thousands of women who have been raped and driven from their homes.” Tshefu highlighted that although there have been a number of U.N. missions, reports and resolutions in the past 15 years and despite multiple visits by celebrities to the DRC, little has changed. Most of what has been done has concentrated on the consequences rather than the causes of conflict. She told the audience that “now is the time to go from word to deed” and encouraged other nations to pass legislature similar to the U.S. Conflict Minerals Law.

Rakhi Sahi (UN Department of Safety and Security) ended the session with a vivid description of the second Indian Formed Police Unit (FPU) in Liberia, which she commanded and which consisted of 105 women. She closed her talk and the panel session with this quote: “If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.”

A full conference report is available at:
http://catcher.sandiego.edu/items/peacestudies/2010_IPJ_Conference_Repor...