UN Women continues to raise awareness on women’s participation in peace talks
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Inclusive peace processes in Georgia and integrating a gender perspective into the negotiations is one of the strategic areas of UN Women and includes raising awareness about gender-sensitive conflict analysis, and training women mediators.
While working towards this end, UN Women continues its partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia and its LEPL - Levan Mikeladze Diplomatic Training and Research Institute. In particular, in 2020, the institute developed a three-day training course that targets the representatives of various government agencies and civil society organizations working on peace issues.
This year, the training was organized on 13–15 December for the members of the Government Commission for the Development and Implementation of the Strategy for De-occupation and Sustainable Peaceful Conflict Settlement, as well as young representatives of civil society working on conflict issues. They talked about inclusive peace processes, negotiations and gender perspectives, reviewed the context and the experience of Georgia, and received practical information about peace talks through simulation exercises.
“Women have more gender-sensitive approaches to certain issues, so they often raise different issues during negotiations,” explained Mariam Tskhovrebashvili, one of the participants of the training. “I was deeply interested in the format of the Geneva International Discussions (GID), and with the help of the simulation exercise, I better understand this process.”
Together with Mariam, a total of 19 participants underwent training this year. It should be noted that it was led by Ketevan Chumbadze, Deputy Head of the Political Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Nino Berikashvili, Head of the Conflict Resolution Policy Division of the same department.
Studies show that a peace agreement that includes women is 35 per cent more likely to last at least 15 years, and peace agreements signed by women ensure a more durable peace. Consequently, the meaningful participation of women is essential for achieving sustainable, positive peace.
The training is part of the UN Women project “Accelerating Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Georgia”, generously funded by the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund of the British Government.