Left to Right: Huma Ahmad-Ghosh, Rita Thapa, Socorro Reyes, Gloria De Silva and Ritu Menon

Gloria de Silva's paper gave a broad overview of Sri Lanka's ethnic, religious, political and social composition and background; the contradictions that exist regarding the status of women in Sri Lankan society, and the reasons for those contradiction; the history of violence and conflicts in the last 25 years, the mobilization of women around these issues of violence and conflict; and the needs and gaps that must be addressed in mobilizing women in building sustainable security and peace at local and national levels. Highlighting some of the misconceptions prevalent in the region regarding the status and mindset of Sri Lankan women, she expressed that women's involvement in security and peace-building is not an activity that should be confined to post-conflict situations. “In the prevailing climate of social and political violence, both in the private and public sphere, it has become essential that women, who are so often the victims and survivors of violence, take a stand on bringing about a State of non-violence by becoming key players in building peace and security”. Gloria believes that in the efforts to build sustainable security and peace, the empowerment of women at all levels is vital. She recommended that women politicians must use the space they have and should broaden their knowledge base and understanding of political issues and concerns; women politicians must also develop a sense of vision and commitment to develop the women's wings in their political parties to become a distinct entity and not just adjunct to the main male dominated party; She also pointed out that women's organizations and networks can play a vital role--they must not only lobby to increase women's representation at all levels, but must also ensure that women entering the political arena are educated, sensitized and committed to changing the inequalities that exist within the current structures and processes. Women's groups and organizations can play another important role by educating the Sri Lankan society, especially women, about the existing inequalities and constraints within current structures. An important recommendation was to include violence affected women in all security and peace building efforts.

Women in Conflict-Will Their Backs Hold

Rita Thapa, Nepal

Rita Thapa talked about the situation in Nepal both from the points of view women in the Maoist cadres and women who are themselves victims--wives of the civilian and Army Personnel. Starting the paper with women's social position in Nepal, Rita pointed out that growing up in a socio-economic environment based on patriarchy has significant implications for women in Nepal. Women's status, including their access to resources is lesser than that of men. This severely limits their personal, intellectual and social potential. Consequently when a girl grows up in Nepal, she has neither the voice and status nor the confidence to demand her rights, making her more susceptible to abuse, violence, exploitation and negligence. In the backdrop of the social position of Nepalese women, Rita Thapa talked about women in the Maoist movement; women left behind to run/sustain homes and families, farms; war widows and those displaced with or without families/men. She highlighted their resilience, strength as well as the challenges and hardships they face. Rita stressed on the need for a political solution and urged Nepal, its neighbors and the world community for taking responsibility and to act to bring peace, in order to avoid further human costs, loss and pain. “This eight- year insurgency has done enough damage for us all to have to work tirelessly for a very long time to come”, she reiterated.

Deconstructing the Human Rights Discourse: Relevance for Afghan Women

Huma Ahmad-Ghosh

Bangladesh Freedom Foundation, Bangladesh

As the title of the paper suggests, Huma Ahmad-Ghosh in her paper deconstructed the Human Rights Discourse in relation to its relevance for Afghan women. She discussed varying historical and political interpretations of human rights and their location in the debate on development for women in Afghanistan. Huma presented her argument by saying that while the Universal Declaration of Human Rights document of 1948 is ideologically and physically viable, it needs to be deconstructed when talking of women's rights in Afghanistan because this document was a product of a certain culture and is reflective of a western, secular, individualistic society.

Therefore, the term Universal is problematic and could be interpreted as yet another attempt at hegemonizing cultures and peoples different from the presumed homogenous culture of the west. “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and CEDAW should not be seen as ends in themselves trying to impose rigid guidelines for all. These documents while providing models on which to build, as drafts to incorporate national discourses, and guidelines to ensure rights to all citizens in a nation-state, have to incorporate a cultural specificity that along with international pressure and resource allocation for development can provide alternative frameworks for women's rights”, stressed the speaker.

She suggested that focus should be on creating an environment where women could be empowered through education and employment, to claim political legitimacy and to negotiate their rights in accordance to their social and cultural needs. “Human rights are not only about securing political and economic liberty and freedoms for the individual, but today involves the freedom to one's culture, religion and community. Indigenous groups, minority groups, women and Asian societies need to incorporate collective rights into their discourse on rights for women”, he emphasized.

Doing Peace--Women Resist Daily Battle in South Asia

Ritu Menon, India

Ritu Menon talked about women's role in peace and security and divided and explained it by using Cynthia Cockburn's classification of gendered power relations- four moments of armed conflict . She examined three of these moments while talking about women's peace activism:

1. The period of war and repression itself; the entry of armed forces; the escalation of communal conflict; the disruption of everyday life, and the brutalization o f the body, male and female (She talked about women's activism on issues of rape, dowry deaths, “sati” or widow immolation and during times of ethnic, communal, sectarian, fundamentalist and extremist violence).

2. The period of peace making or refusing the logic of violence.

3. The post-war or post conflict period, in which displacement and return, rehabilitation and sometimes reconstruction and reconciliation take place.

Comments

The Chair appreciated all four papers and said: “They were highly informative, insightful and provocative.”

Discussion

The comments on papers by the Chair were followed by an interesting discussion with most of the participants making comments and suggestions to the speakers rather than posing questions. Saba Gul Khattak suggested Huma Ahmad-Ghosh to also look at the context of patriarchy and how it is operating at the same time along with religion or race because it has been observed that western men actually end up promoting the same views as Muslim men in Muslim countries which shows that the dichotomies are not very clear between the west and the Islamic east. The other point Saba raised was with reference to the skill training programs and suggested Huma to look at women's economic empowerment more critically as it seldom works because given the kind of poverty and other constraints there are no markets for women having received these trainings, therefore, such economic solutions seem very limiting. Shaheen Sardar Ali suggested Huma to also look at the ‘politics of human rights'. Responding to Shaheen's comments, Huma talked about the relationship of the west with the east after 9/11 and how the feminists can get caught in the nationalist agendas. Adding to Huma's observation that cultural relativism helps the elite, Mohan Rao commented with reference to India and said that cultural relativism is problematic not just for the elite- it also helps the sub alternate patriarch.