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Emily Guthrie

Emily Guthrie currently works at Sanad for Peacebuilding, a nongovernmental organization based in Iraq. She has lived in Iraqi Kurdistan for over thre

When it comes to peacebuilding, women are often relegated to more traditional gender roles while their untapped capacity to wage peace is left ignored.

In discussions of conflict and its associated processes of resolution, women are often defined by their relationships to their male counterparts or as tokens representing the brutality of war. Women are either the sisters, mothers ordaughters of both perpetrators and peacemakers, or they are mere poster children of victims caught up in battles over power, land and ideology.

When we think of war and armed conflict, we envision traditionally masculine traits such as aggression, power and strength. So why is it that we do not envision opposing traits such as trust, cooperation and fairness when seeking peace? As seen worldwide, when it comes to peacebuilding women are often relegated to more traditional notions of gender roles while their largely untapped capacity to wage peace is left ignored.

Before discussing exactly how to challenge these notions and to incorporate female actors into peacebuilding processes, we must first ask if women do in fact contribute to greater peace and stability. According to a number of research studies, womens participation and equality are both contributing factors to successful conflict resolution efforts and strong predictors of a states peace and stability.

One study found that womens inclusion resulted in peace agreements that were 20% more likely to last at least two years and 35% more likely to last for 15years. As for predicting peace, research indicates that states with higher levels of gender inequality are more likely to undergo internal conflict and that gender equality indicators are stronger predictors of peace than more traditional indicators such as GDP, religion or democracy.

Currently, we see that women are drastically underrepresented in peace processes worldwide. In 2012, a UN Women examination of 31 major peace processes since 1992 found that women comprised 4 per cent of signatories, 2.4 per cent of chief mediators, 3.7 per cent of witnesses and 9 per cent of negotiators between 1992-2011. Furthermore, another study found that from 1990 to 2010, only 16% of peace agreements worldwide contained specific references to women.

So why exactly are women being left out of peace processes across the globe? In short, sexism is both a cause and an underlying contributor to other obstacles to inclusion as women and their interests are not seen as priorities. When it comes time to sit down at the negotiating table, processes tend to focus on belligerents and their representatives who do not want to diminish their authority through the inclusion of other actors.

Furthermore, institutional constraints such as timelines and deadlines make peacebuilders wary of actor proliferation and the task of identifying legitimate and influential parties. Finally, the effects of conflict greatly differ when it comes to men and women. Research shows that while men make up the majority of those killed directly in armed combat, women suffer much more from the indirect effects of war and may in fact have a higher mortality rate due to indirect factors such as infectious disease, domestic violence, economic devastation and human rights abuses.

Due to this dichotomy in victimhood, peace negotiations often ignore continued threats against women once negative peace, or the cessation of violence, has been established.

These concerns are not entirely new to the international community and a number of efforts have been made to promote womens participation in peacebuilding activities. Passed on October 31, 2000, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 is perhaps the most widely mentioned expression of support for womens involvement in peacebuilding. It highlights the fact that in the post-Cold War era, civilians, and women especially, are more frequently the targets of violence and it outlines a number of principles for increasing womens participation in peacebuilding and decision-making. Since 2000, 63 countries have established national action plans to support the implementation of UNSCR 1325 and mentions of women in peace agreements have increased from 11% to 27%, likely as a result.

Iraq, which recently adopted its own National Action Plan (INAP) and was the first in the MENA region to do so, is poised to present an interesting test for such plans in reconciliation efforts leading up to and following the demise of the Islamic State (IS)within its borders. Despite increased hopes in the wake of a series of recent military victories there is growing concern about what exactly post-IS Iraq will look like.

Land disputes between the central government and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), the presence of and allegiance to multiple security actors, reprisal attacks and tribal conflict, difficulty in IDP returns, tensions between IDP and host communities, an ongoing economic crisis and numerous minority and ethnic conflicts provide enormous hurdles for future reconciliation and stability.

Research by Sanad for Peacebuilding found that barriers to womens inclusion in peacebuilding processes in Iraq largely fall in line with the rest of the world. In a focus group discussion, participants emphasized lack of womens capacity-building measures, family and social pressure to conform to traditional gender roles, pervasive use of negative stereotypes in the media and a lack of civic and human rights education programs as important contributors to womens continued exclusion.

Displaced Yazidis enter Kurdistan, Aug. 9, 2014 Ali Arkardy

Additional constraints, many of which are irreparable in the near future, also threaten overarching inclusion efforts. For instance, UN Iraq found that only 41.5% of Iraqi women believed that women should participate in political affairs and only 10% reported joining a clubhouse, social club, union, political party or a womens association.

Furthermore, male biases against womens social inclusion were further identified. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) found that only about half of men aged 10-30 in Iraq supported womens right to work. Finally, Iraqi women and girls currently have much lower literacy rates in comparison to their male counterparts, and the figures are much larger in rural areas. In 2013, the illiteracy rate of women and girlsaged 12 and older was 28.2%, which was more than double the male rate of 13%. The illiteracy rate of women and girls aged 15 to 24 in rural areas was 33.6%. All of these figures constitute considerable impediments to womens capacity and social willingness to support and participate in peacebuilding processes.

While there is a vast array of boundaries affecting both womens inclusion and peacebuilding efforts in Iraq, a number of strategies may help mitigate their effects. First, the use of actor mapping, or the identification of influential actors, may help eliminate concerns regarding interest proliferation and representativeness.

Next, relevant entities are encouraged to provide trainings to increase womens peacebuilding capacities across numerous roles and modalities on the peacebuilding spectrum. Finally, rates of womens participation and their effects are virtually unknown in Iraq due to lack of gender disaggregated data from the government, local and international NGOs and international entities. The collection, use and examination of such data provide opportunities to have a better understanding of both gaps and opportunities.

The use of these strategies is paramount in central institutions such as the National Reconciliation Committee in the prime ministers office. The establishment of a monitoring framework in line with INAP, and the corporation of women in the committees stabilization mechanisms in areas such as Nineveh, Saladin, Anbar and Diyala will provide unique opportunities to capitalize on the crucial role that women play in society and to pave the way for womens future inclusion both in Iraq and in other conflict areas.

Furthermore, women should play a role in the design and implementation of trust-building mechanisms given womens vital role in communities nationwide.

The Iraqi National Action Plan has certainly provided a framework for womens inclusion in peacebuilding mechanisms moving forward. However, a conscious and concerted effort from the central government and KRG, local and international NGOs and international agencies needs to also be put forth in order to supplement the objectives of INAP. Otherwise, women will lose crucial opportunities to not only determine their futures but the future of Iraqi society as a whole.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observers editorial policy.

Photo Credit:Claudiad

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Original post:
Iraq's Women: From Poster Children to Peacemakers - Fair Observer

Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Splits Within Iraq's Three Communities Reshape Its Politics Wall Street Journal (subscription) MOSUL, IraqConventional wisdom holds that Iraq is a nation starkly divided among its three main components: Shiite Arabs, Sunni Arabs and Kurds. Yet, another dynamic is gaining importance. Each of these three groupsas well as the smaller ...

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Splits Within Iraq's Three Communities Reshape Its Politics - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

MOSUL, Iraq Two houses are all that remain standing on the street with no name in western Mosul, just blocks from the front lines of the battle to retake Iraq's second-largest city from the Islamic State group.

The once-bustling neighborhood has been reduced to rubble, its sidewalks piled high with a jumble of concrete, bricks and metal.

Standing amid the debris of what was once his home on the newly liberated street, Maan Nawaf blamed IS for the destruction around him. It was IS fighters, he said, who drew the devastating firepower of the Iraqi and coalition warplanes to the street by positioning snipers on top of the buildings after ordering residents to leave, including his elderly mother.

"We said we have a disabled woman, she can't walk. They said if you don't go, we will kill you," he said. The family knew the militants would make good on the threat: IS fighters killed two of his brothers, one of whom was a policeman, as well as his nephew, Nawaf said.

For the few residents who remain in Mosul's Wadi Hajar neighborhood, the war is far from over. Just blocks away, police units fired mortars at IS positions and helicopters circled overhead, firing into the streets below. IS returned fire only sporadically, the treacherous calm luring the residents into the street between the crashes of mortars.

Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes launched their assault on western Mosul in mid-February after taking the eastern sector of the city in more than three months of heavy fighting. While nearly two months of house-to-house battles have flushed the militants out of parts of the city's western sector, fighting rages nearby.

Food remains a problem. Few aid trucks reach the area and food distribution can descend into chaos. Among those who managed to grab a parcel at a recent distribution was Firas Mohammed al-Jibouri. Taking it home with his young son, he opened it in his living room to find a packet of baby milk, bulgur and two bottles of oil. There was also some sugar and wheat.

"It's just enough for one day. We are 25 people here 25. Just one day," he said, looking forlornly at the small pile of provisions.

A former truck driver, Jibouri has lost his livelihood: His house is one of the two still standing but his truck is gone. Any vehicles that survived the airstrikes were used for barricades or destroyed by advancing Iraqi forces fearful of car bombs.

Out in the street, Jibouri pointed at individual piles of rubble and recalled those who were killed there, many of them members of his extended family. One pile used to be the Khaled Ibn al-Waleed mosque, the centerpiece of the neighborhood. Jibouri said 43 people were killed there two months ago when it was hit by back-to-back airstrikes, the second striking as people were trying to dig out the victims of the first.

Surrounding one of the damaged trucks, a group of men and boys worked to remove a valuable intact wheel. One child rolled it away, and it wobbled away from him into a puddle of mud. As he struggled to lift it, a man and his young daughter sat silently in front of their house.

Mahmoud Alo said the only thing he hears from his daughter, Amna, these days is a brief yes or no. Clearly traumatized by the violence around her, she has been sleeping little and spends her days staring into space. As gunfire reverberated nearby, drowning out her father's words, Amna looked around nervously at a helicopter rocketing an IS position.

"Whatever you ask her, she just says 'No.' Come she doesn't come. Bring this she doesn't understand," her father said.

He took her to a makeshift clinic, but the only thing the medics could do was give them some tranquillizers. With no immediate hope of further treatment and the war still raging around her, Amna sits sedated, and just stares.

At the other end of the street, al-Jibouri finished recounting all the death and destruction that has visited his neighborhood, trying to measure the cost of his new-found freedom from IS.

"It's a tragedy," he concluded.

More:
Street turned to rubble shows cost of fight for Iraq's Mosul - Fox News

Highlights

As of 30 March 2017, the DTM has identified 3,058,626 internally displaced persons (509,771 families) displaced after January 2014, dispersed across 106 districts and 3,648 locations in Iraq. For the same period, DTM has identified 1,639,584 returnees (273,264 families).

Notwithstanding that significant population movements were monitored across the country, overall the total number of identified IDPs remained constant, with a decrease of less than 1% (4,182 individuals). In particular, the governorate that reported the highest change in displacement trends was Ninewa, where it was recorded in the same reporting period an increase of approximately 85,000 IDPs (DTM Emergency Tracking).

Overall, the returnee population increased by 4% (60,222 individuals). Particularly, two governorates reported a significant increase of the returnee population, namely Anbar by 5% (36,684 individuals) and Ninewa by 6% (12,714 individuals).

SITUATION OVERVIEW

During the reporting period, between 2 and 30 March 2017, the governorate of Ninewa witnessed major developments. These are mainly related to the military operations to retake the west side of Mosul city, which started on 19 February 2017. Displacement movements have been recorded since 25 February and intensified during the month of March.

The vast majority of IDPs have been transiting through Hammam al-Aliel screening site and have then moved on mainly towards camps located in Southern Ninewa, and particularly in Al Qayarah subdistrict, or towards East Mosul city, transiting through Kokjali as an entry point.

During the reporting period, the DTM recorded an increase in the identified IDP population from Mosul of approximately 85,000 individuals, registering a 30% growth from the beginning of March 2017. Parallel to displacement movements, return movements particularly to East Mosul have also been reported. Between 2 and 30 March, the number of returns to Mosul increased by 18%, corresponding to over 12,000 individuals coming mainly from areas of displacement in Hamdaniya district.

As of 30 March, the DTM reports that up to 367,878 individuals (61,313 families) have been displaced since the onset of the military operations to retake Mosul on 17 October, 2016. Out of this, it is estimated that 78% (287,250 individuals) are still in displacement while 22% (80,628 individuals) have already returned to their place of habitual residence. Due to the challenges to validate IDPs records in out of camp locations which are affected by limited access, DTM is closely working with the government and humanitarian partners to harmonize displacement figures across Ninewa governorate.

Continued here:
Iraq: Displacement Tracking Matrix | DTM Round 68 - March [EN/AR/KU] - ReliefWeb

Isis has lost more than three-quarters of the territory it seized when it swept across Iraq in the summer of 2014 leaving in control of just seven per cent of the countrythe Iraqi military has said.

BrigGenYahya Rasool, a military spokesman, said the extremist group currently controls less than 12,000 square miles (30,000 square kilometres) in Iraq, or 6.8 per cent of the countrys territory. That is down from more than 40 per cent at its height.

The extremist group has also lost ground in Syria, and is currently fighting US-backed forces near Raqqa, the de facto capital of its self-styled Caliphate.

Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes have gradually pushed the jihadis out of a string of towns and cities over the past two years, and are currently battling the group in Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. Iraq declared eastern Mosul fully liberated in January, and BrigGenRasool said Iraqi forces have retaken more than half of the more densely populated western side.

Our troops are very cautious in their advance, BrigGenRasool said in Baghdad. The biggest challenge they face is the civilians.ColJohn Dorrian, a USspokesman for the coalition, said the fight for western Mosul has been difficult.

The enemys tactics are not only hiding among the civilian population but also actively pulling civilians into harm's way, surrounding their snipers with civilians, loading buildings that they are firing from with civilians and publicly executing civilians who are trying escape the danger, he said.

Victory against Isis has come at a staggering cost, with some towns and neighbourhoods reduced to rubble by airstrikes and shelling. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been displaced, and many have been unable to return even after the fighting because of demolished infrastructure and the lingering threat of attacks.

The push against the jihadis in Western Mosul is bogged down with Iraqi security forces fighting in a warren of small streets in the old part of the city.

The federal police said in a statement on Tuesday they have been reinforcing their positions in Western Mosul in preparation for a push on the al-Nuri Mosque where Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the Caliphatein 2014.

ColDorrian said the fight in Western Mosul had been tough but said Islamic State fighters had no escape.

Do not lose sight of the fact that even though the fighting is going to be very hard, this enemy is completely surrounded, he said. They aren't going anywhere.

Agencies

More:
Isis now in control of just 7 per cent of country, says Iraq - The Independent