The role of women in changing conflict environments.. an invitation at the Doha Forum to spare women the scourge of conflict and violence

Doha

- To consolidate stability and progress, and make better and more sustainable decisions in various conflict environments, during the Doha Forum, academics and human rights advocates raised loud cries of the need to enhance women's participation and advocate for women's human rights in all efforts aimed at preventing and settling conflicts and building peace.

The cries came during a session entitled "Women's Role in Changing Conflict Environments" held during the twentieth session of the Forum, and addressed the continuing threat to women in conflict environments, their underrepresentation in development and peacemaking roles, as well as how to support and protect the empowerment and participation of women towards a safer and more peaceful future.

Dr. Amal Al-Malki, founding dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, stressed the importance of enhancing the role of women in various fields, especially the political and economic fields, especially since women currently do not have a role in the conflicts in the Middle East.

Al-Maliki said in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net: We need a new vision that takes women to the role of leadership and planning, and this model depends on the presence of a large number of women in decision-making centers, especially since when women participate in negotiations, the decision-making process is better and more sustainable.

Al-Maliki demands a change in societies' view of women (Al-Jazeera)

drastic change

There must be a radical change in the status of women, and societies' view of women must change so that they can play a greater role than their current role, especially since their empowerment in the Arab world is currently limited to health and education only, according to Al-Maliki.

She explains that women in the Middle East and the Arab world face a legacy of political situations, differences and conflicts, as the region has faced many political and economic challenges, and has become contexts for military operations, and then the Arab Spring and the "Covid-19" pandemic, which increased inequality and discrimination against women, As well as high levels of violence, sexual violence and child marriage.

As for Fawzia Kofi, the former chair of the Committee on Women, Civil Society and Human Rights in the Afghan Parliament, she considers that the role of women in changing and transforming the environment of conflict is not understood more than the Afghan women who have suffered over 40 years of oppression and conflict.

She indicated that women's participation in the peace process in Afghanistan was primarily related to women's rights and issues, as politicians and elites believed that there was no need for women to participate in the peace process.

In many regions of the world, women do not start the conflict, but by looking at the numbers and data, you find them victims in any conflict around the world, so women must be present in negotiations in different conflict environments, because the difference can only be made by happening with different people and interested in minority issues, according to for Covey.

Women's issues captured a number of sessions of the Doha Forum (Al Jazeera)

Women's Empowerment

She considered that it is very difficult to empower women when conflicts and wars take priority, as in the environment of conflicts and wars, the priority is to protect women and everyone, not empowerment, stressing that empowerment needs to mobilize forces and highlight the role of women, especially when women are part of the negotiation processes Decision making is better, as peacebuilding cannot be achieved without women.

It is imperative that men and women overlap in decision-making, and that men have a role in changing the stereotyped image of women, empowering them and giving them a role to participate in the dialogue table in order to solve problems in all conflict environments.

As for Dr. Sherine El-Feki, Regional Director of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, at the beginning of her speech, she touched on the United Nations resolution that deals with women, peace and security, at a time when women suffer from systematic violence against them in the midst of conflicts, where statistics monitor five Women in conflict zones of sexual violence.

inequality

Al-Fiqi explains that in environments of conflict and conflict, inequality appears between men and women, as well as the weakness of women who try to escape from these environments in order to obtain a better life and access to education.

Women and girls must defend themselves against the systematic violence based on the social framework, by accessing the power behind it, as well as working to change the prevailing and unjust laws, and there are groups who have succeeded in various societies, according to Al-Faki.

It considers that just as men were part of the problems faced by women in conflict environments, he can also be part of the solution, especially since conflicts affect everyone, and the bulk of the problem is when men are in a violent environment, and then violence increases in them. And they are more violent with women.

Photofat considers that men are part of the solution in enhancing the role of women in conflict environments (Al-Jazeera)

women's voices

For her part, Katrina Votovat, an official at the US State Department in the Office of Global Women's Issues, stressed that the office aims to empower women by involving them in the policies and political systems on which the United States operates, as it is keen to hear all women's voices.

She says that American law protects women's rights and imposes a climate for women's empowerment and their participation in decisions related to the protection of women during conflicts, as well as working to empower women and reduce the risks that women are exposed to in conflicts, as well as securing funding to help women and girls and empower them in various sectors to enhance their role in society .

The American official stresses that men must provide space for women in various negotiations, especially since women always become an important part of the solution in any crisis, and therefore they must be more involved in various countries of the world in the labor market and have representation in various important sectors as well as decision-making .