Engaging Women for Peace on the Korean Peninsula
Written by Chantal Komagata and Carolyn Handschin
In the spirit of UN Security Council Resolution1325 (SCR1325) on Women, Peace and Security, and with flickering hopes of new opportunities for peace and cooperation between North and South Korea, a fourth Human Rights Council (HRC) Side event was held on the theme “Korea Women, South & North: Peace Family Strengths, Rights and Development”. The Women’s Federation for World Peace, International (WFWPI), the Women’s UN Research Network (WUNRN) and the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) hosted this panel discussion to provide a platform for governments, UN bodies and civil society actors engaged on the peninsula. to assess and coordinate strategies for that future peace.
The UN Special Rapporteur (SR) on the Human rights situation in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK), Tomas Ojea Quintana has encouraged the continuation of the panels and expressed, “When I hear that women from the south and their networks globally have been reaching out to women in the north, investing in reconciliation, dialogue, cultural and humanitarian projects that have built bridges of trust, I feel encourage about the future of the Korean Peninsula”.
The panel chair, Ms. Carolyn Handschin, VP of the NGO CSW in Geneva introduced the focus of the panel which included initiatives that could be applied in the Korea case. She described the enthusiastic support for the panel theme, but the reticence to take an active stand. She reassured all that we cannot loose by making plans for peace. The three main speakers will be followed by several discussants from the audience.
Dr. Rajat Khosla, World Health Organization (WHO) and Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expert on Women’s Health opened the discussion citing the astonishing numbers of people living in conflict zones: 125 million. Still, almost 20 years after the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325, gender based violence accounts for 70% of that. Humanitarian agencies deal with abuse toward women and children who receive proportionately less access to services: less than 0.5 % GDP. Still women are too often seen as victims and not empowered as agents of change. The World Humanitarian Summit set this as priority, as well as sexual and reproductive health. The 2019 Security Council debate on Resolution 1325 adamantly confirmed women’s protection against violence and taking more seriously their engagement in all post conflict processes as critical to sustainable peace and development.
Dr. Thania Paffenholtz, is the Director of the Inclusive Peace & Transition Institute, of the Geneva Graduate Institute. Our focus is evidence-based analysis, she explained. What have women in the world done, and specially in peace processes? While everything is said in SCR1325, statistically it’s still very different. Human rights in governance and constitutions have had a positive effect on unification- on many levels. Evidence takes time to assemble, but it becomes more and more apparent that when women are involved, there is a higher rate of agreements and progress. Women are more effective: they make time to meet, women movements stretch beyond politics. An example is the women’s movement in Israel which had forged breakthrough in listening, whereas before there were only accusations. Networks have formed between these movements, sharing resources and knowledge.
Realistically, women are as divided as men, but when they overcome the divide, they are much more effective, also on grassroots, confidence building measures, as mothers, and for society. So it’s about sisterhood and solidarity. Actively influenced with soft measures, mobilizations, what we’d like politicians to talk about. Participation in political negotiations. The official form of delegation, activists, observers, lobbying works only if women had beforehand the possibility to exchange. Symbolic events to allow people to come together. International solidarity is not dependent on financial support; giving women access to talk to member states is key.
Invited again to elaborate upon the proposal to establish a major UN Office for Asia on the Korean Peninsula, possibly in or near the DMZ. Mr. Heiner Handschin, UN Office Director in Geneva for the Universal Peace Federation described the geopolitical justification for housing the work of certain agencies and institutes of the UN in Korea. He presented diagrams of a UN Complex that was proposed by the Office of the governor of Kyeonggi province to a conference at the UN in 2014 organized by UPF and WFWPI, including how it could be funded. He referred to the proposal of WFWPI, WUNRN and partners to create a “Peace- Zone”, a meeting place and refuge in or near the DMZ where North Korea and South Korea women could generate innovative peace initiatives, saying that it could be first step in a larger transformation. In the words of the SR on the DPRK, “Count on me to advocate for this "Peacebuilding/Partnership Meeting Place for Women”, an original and concrete initiative, which may help erase division and forge a vision of a sustainable peace and the respect for human rights”.
Discussants
Mrs. Lois Herman of WUNRN, but representing Women Across the DMZ, explained that few agencies work in NK, but the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) does and with whom we are in communication with about our proposals to engage women. NK women have the same goals and needs as we do, so we need to include them on a non-confrontational position, on a positive level. Women can lead the way through a different entry point. Christine Ahn, who could not join us today has been working tirelessly on peace between the Koreas.
Dr. Kathryn Botto of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace spoke of the prospect of de-nuclearization as an “opportunity to lifting sanctions and fostering humanitarian and development assistance, and further interpersonal contact between the two Koreas and the world, an important building block for peace”. North Korean refugee women face major obstacles of employment in South Korea, making up as much as 85 % of refugees entering the South in 2018. In the North, they are estimated to bring 70% of the family income. With less educational experience than the South Korean women, the northern counterparts , the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) claims that female refugees face “serious social, economic and political obstacles to integration”
Professor A. Basseer Jeeawody, Founder and President of the Emotional Well-being Institute (EWI) explained that his institute advances synergy toward a more flourishing world. The division of N and S has created a wound and a healing process is needed. Korean women need to recognize the wounds and their capacities to search for their personal, collective selves? Women can, and must find ways, like ants, to be purpose driven. There is no reason that this self-discovery, this self- healing process that has been working among indigenous Australian communities cannot be applied in the DPRK.
Intervening for Graduate Women International, Mrs. Stacy Dry Lara, emphasized education for girls. With a century of experience and an office in Korea, they are convinced that educated women could use their empowerment and well-being wisely to avoid war and promote development.