Conflict

New York, 18 March: UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Hawa Bangura spoke about how the UNFPA works in countries across the world that either are in conflict or post conflict situations to help prevent sexual violence and the use of women’s bodies as weapons of war.

New York, 14 march: On 26 November 2013, the UN General Assembly voted to proclaim 2014 the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. peaking at a parallel NGO event at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW58), a Palestinian representative from the Arab Women’s Network, spoke to Gender Links about how Israeli occupation intensifies and entrenches patriarchy

After decades of marginalisation, South Sudanese women may soon be able to lead a normal life now that their country has gained independence and ended years of conflict with North Sudan.

Johannesburg, 7 March: We observe International Women’s Day tomorrow, which aptly sets the stage for the annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW58) held at the United Nations in New York starting on Monday. This year’s CSW also coincides with the 10th annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW). Ironically and hypocritically, the fall of the ‘tragic hero’, Oscar Pistorius, will continue to garner undue resources and dominate international headlines, while these events and women’s everyday oppression will be merely deliberated and largely unheard.

How do, could and should institutions responsible for security and the management of conflict in Tropical African societies respond to violent conflict? This IDS Bulletin is built on the observation that all governance (especially in Africa) is multileveled and networked À“ from the village to the international organisation, well beyond what is specified in formal government structures.

Thus the focus must be not only on the ways in which key conflict-management institutions evolve themselves but also on the changing ways in which the networks where they are embedded actually operate. This issue is about post-conflict reconstruction and the rebuilding of shattered states and societies, presenting fieldwork from articles covering the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Somalia.

Post-conflict governance systems have become more multileveled and networked than in the immediate post-independence era, and these local systems and the resolution of their problems, are key to the restoration of order. International actors are also central, as their prominence in networks ensures resources for reconstruction and development.

Their presence means that a country’s president no longer has the ability to set priorities and control the distribution of resources, and therefore local leaders, professionals, national NGOs and churches can challenge the president over policy and politics in a way that they could not previously. But this IDS Bulletin finds that these new or revitalised networks do not challenge the state as an institution itself À“ ultimately the key links in these networks are individuals and organisations that are embedded in the state and will not challenge its existence, unity or effectiveness.

The citizen’s score for peace-building and conflict resolution is 46%.
Gender-disaggregated data on peace building for Mauritius, particularly in the defence sector, is not readily available.

Both women and men in Zimbabwe scored the government 69% respectively, showing an increase in citizens’ perceptions that the country has become more peaceful and secure. Zimbabwe has moved from a ranking of number nine in 2012 to number five in 2013 in the region.

The focus of this mini-dissertation is the Sierra Leone post-conflict transitional and development process. The civil war in Sierra Leone lasted some eight years before finally ending with the signing of the LÁ²me Peace Accord on 7 July 1999. This Accord outlined the post-conflict transitional instruments to be employed in Sierra Leone, namely an investigative truth commission and a legal tribunal referred to as the Special Court. After the completion of the mandates of these two instruments, many developmental gaps still existed in post-conflict Sierra Leonean society. This particularly applied to women who continued to suffer from widespread inequalities and discrimination. This thesis suggests that a model of transformative justice, which advocates an integrated approach to postconflict transitions and the development process in general, would better have served the needs of women in Sierra Leone.

Overall, citizens scored the government 53% in terms of progress towards meeting the targets on peace building and conflict resolution in the SADC Gender Protocol.
There is no SGDI score for this sector.

Overall, citizens scored government’s performance at 73% based on their perceptions on progress made so far in meeting targets of the SGP. This puts the country at number four out of the 15 countries in the SADC region.