PRIO contributed to the Imagine Forum: Reimagining Peace Processes! organized by Höfði Reykjavík Peace Centre in cooperation with the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Nordic Women Mediators on October 10 in Reykjavik.
At a panel on “The Nordics as Peace Brokers: Shielding and promoting Women, Peace and Security”, PRIO Research Director Louise Olsson took the opportunity to raise three points about challenges in promoting Women, Peace and Security (WPS) – an area where the Nordic countries have many joint interests and where we need to both shield and progress WPS at a time of rising geopolitical tensions.
The first point was that we need to better understand the connection between gender equality and peace and how this plays out in specific conflict dynamics rather than have a generic approach to WPS when we seek to support progress. The second point was that we need to continue to review and strengthen the connection between political decisions and actual implementation. It is not enough to have a nice narrative on gender and peace, it has to be possible to translate decisions into sustainable actions. The third point is that as the Nordic states all want to contribute to women's inclusion and influence in decisions on international peace and security. To support that, there is a need to better understand and address violence targeting women taking part in decision-making processes. A good example of this is Norway's effort to bring out the security of women human rights defenders in the UN Security Council.
The Forum was introduced by Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, President of Iceland, and keynote speakers included Þórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörð Gylfadóttir, Minister for Foreign Affair.
