The eighth High-Level Seminar on Gender and Inclusive Peace Processes will be held in Helsinki, 10–12 October 2017. The High-Level Seminar is designed to generate more consultative processes by promoting women’s effective participation and building inclusive, gender-sensitive mediation capacity at international, regional and national levels.
Promoting women’s effective participation in conflict mediation and addressing their specific needs in peacemaking efforts is a high priority for the United Nations and Member States since the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security.
However, in spite of many global and regional commitments and initiatives, the number of women and gender experts involved in formal peacemaking processes remains rather low, and few peace agreements include gender-relevant provisions or harness the resources women may contribute to reach more sustainable peace.
The seminar is therefore designed to introduce peace envoys, mediators and senior mediation experts to practical "how-to" strategies and tools for more inclusive peace process design, as well as options for gender–relevant provisions, including specific language, for the key thematic areas of peace agreements.
This year, the High-level Seminar is organised by the Crisis Management Institute in Finland, in collaboration with the UN Department for Political Affairs and the PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security. Participation is by invitation only.
Contact: Julie M. Hansen, julhan@prio.org
