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Innocent women increasingly bear the costs of war. The new forms of war that have developed in the aftermath of the Cold War, including a proliferation of small arms in developing countries, have seen women becoming targets of violence and rape tactics. The series explores this sad and disturbing reality in an episode outlining the story of 16 women in the Balkans seeking justice and a review of sexual violence laws.

The tremendous endeavour shown by these women’s fights for their rights is but one aspect of women’s issues in war and peace. Women have a clear ability to contribute to peacemaking and peacebuilding initiatives . The series helps to shed light on the question: what is it that women can contribute to peace building that men cannot or do not?

The series tackles these issues through five stories:

1. The legal fight of 16 women in Bosnia who had been imprisoned and raped by Serb-led forces (I Came to Testify)
2. The struggle for peace of a group of Liberian women who took on warlords and the Charles Taylor dictatorship (Pray the Devil Back to Hell)
3. The campaign by three Afghan women to ensure that women’s rights are protected in peace talks with the Taliban (Peace Unveiled)
4. The story of two women in Colombia standing up for those that have been terrorized and forcibly displaced as a modern war strategy (The War We Are Living)
5. A concluding episode, summarising the challenge to the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men’s domain (War Redefined)

The importance of these issues is unquestionable, and the series is a welcome initiative that should be built upon in raising awareness of changes that must inevitably take place: firstly, women affected by war must be given better protection, and secondly, that women should be consulted about every peace endeavour no matter what the level.

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The JPC said the activities will also include the monitoring of campaign messages emanating from political parties and politicians, voter and civic education messages, and the monitoring of equal access to all Government facilitates during the elections period.

JPC’s National Director Councillor Augustine Toe said the organisation is also planning to stage a general campaign against electoral violence in line with the Nation Elections Commission (NEC) guidelines, and will include all leaders of political parties.

“We are planning ahead of the electoral process to be able to manage elections violence that might erupt during elections period,” said Councillor Toe. “We are not praying for violence but as peacebuilders we must prepare ourselves and find ways to stop any form of conflict,” he continued.

There are rumors in every corner of Monrovia that the 2011 General and Presidential elections will be violent because some political leaders are making their followers believe that the elections will be rigged if their party does not win.

The JPC boss said it was unthinkable for any politician or political party to believe that the 2011 General and Presidential elections will be rigged, with the process not even begun yet. “How can they think that way? How can a team captain feel that the referee will cheat his team when the game has not started?” Councillor Toe jokingly said.

The JPC boss exerted that peacebuilding organisations in the country need to start preparing themselves for the 2011 election because, according it is being perceived that the 2011 elections will be violent. “The politicians want to stir up conflict during the elections and we, as peacebuilders must start building the peace now instead of sitting and waiting till conflict to break up before we start finding solutions.”

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Justice and Peace Commission (JPC)

The work of JPC covers areas such as conflict resolution training, access to justice and human rights monitoring in Liberia.

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Posted by Ruairi Nolan, Insight on Conflict, 26 January 2010

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