ASIA PACIFIC WOMEN’S ALLIANCE FOR PEACE AND SECURITY Bangkok September 2014 By Shadia Marhaban

Reality ◦ In any armed conflict in the world women are the ones who suffer the most. ◦ In most armed conflicts, women are not only victims but actors performing active and/or passive roles ◦ Despite their important roles as actors in a conflict women are excluded in peace negotiations and in post-conflict peace management and they are treated merely as victims to receive charitable assistance from whatever funds still available after being distributed to the male ex-combatants. ◦ No two conflicts are the same and thereby there can’t be any one solution model to fit all. Everyone knows this but international programs are very often not designed specifically for a particular conflict by taking into account the local unique socio- cultural condition. As the sources of funds are mostly from or controlled by Western countries, programs are by design Western oriented. ◦ Women movements tend to treat female ex-combatants as not part of their movement but as target for assistance, as victims of conflict who need their help. This is not reintegration but perpetuating segregation of the society. Ex-combatants are not victims but actors of the conflict that should be embraced back into the fold of the society, as equals with dignity.

What can be done? ◦ Support combatant structures transformation/dissolution and collective/individual reintegration (on the basis of revised policies) ◦ Make sure the terms women ex-combatants written clearly in the peace negotiations and the eventual agreements ◦ No separation between female and male ex-combatants Reintegration programs; work for gender partnership in implementation of the programs.

What can be done? ◦ The guidelines must take into account the local condition of a particular conflict, at the level of negotiations as well as in the post-conflict peace management. National governments must be required to implement such guidelines in specific legal terms. International aids channeled through national agencies must require a listing of women beneficiaries in a pro-active way, not merely on the basis of demands from the women who are conditioned not to be assertive in such matters. Women ex-combatants are conditioned to accept whatever arrangement made for them because of their socio-cultural background and also because they are part of the military structure and thereby cannot question the decision of their superiors who are male. ◦ Any intervention should acknowledge that international support should only accompany, not patronize, local agents’ own transition processes.

Community based reintegration programming ◦ Many experiences have shown the ineffectiveness of reintegration programs based on helping individuals with cash assistance that has been more often than not spent for consumptive and not productive purposes. ◦ Community based reintegration programs will achieve two goals simultaneously: empowerment of the targeted individuals and their reintegration into the community. Experiences in Aceh have shown such system is particularly effective with women. ◦ The first step in such a program is to identity the targets in a community without the targets themselves being aware that they are chosen for a particular program not because they are ex-combatants. Some other criteria must be used that will also include them and other needy individual in the community. Working together for the success of the program is will create the opportunity to appreciate the positive sides of one another and the necessity to cooperate to make the program successful. ◦ A thousand dollars each given to an 10 combatants on individual basis will not have much meaning in economic term, but dollars allocated to a village cooperative society run by 5 ex-combatants and 5 economically weak non-combatant villagers will be a different story, especially if coupled with capacity training and monitoring. ◦ Experiences in Aceh with a couple of projects for women ex-combatants by my own organization Aceh Women’s League (LINA) have proven the system to be very effective. While the governmental programs of giving dollars to each of 3000 ex-combatants have been spent for consumptive purposes within a couple of weeks.

Conclusion Transformation processes from armed struggle to peaceful political participation are long-term processes that require sustained support on various levels. International assistance should not stop at the initial transition stages, such as in elections. There are parallel processes at less-visible levels that might benefit substantially from longer-term support, for instance the empowerment of less politicized militants and marginalized segments of membership such as women and youth. Political transformation should be understood in broad terms. This includes supporting different pathways to political participation (e.g. political parties, social movements, think tanks, etc), promoting participation of different segments of an armed group beyond the leadership, e.g. youth and women, as well as less-politicized rank-and-file segments, and supporting participation in government institutions, e.g. through ex-combatants election as Minister or appointment as public servants with duties to deliver government programs).

Thank You