Summary: Peace as a living requirement*

Over the last few years the World March of Women has affirmed its commitment to the struggle for peace and the rejection of war and the militarization of society. The commitment of women in the field is supported by an active vision of peace which represents the full and active recognition of women's rights and training and solidarity activities that go beyond frontiers.

Why such an interest in peace? Because war is one of the most vivid expressions of the discrimination suffered by women. In all conflicts, enemies are `attacked' using the rape of women as a weapon: systematic rape as a integral part of `ethnic cleansing' in the Balkans; rape, abuse and assassinations in Rwanda; girl-child soldiers, domestic servants and sexual slaves for troops in conflict more or less everywhere in the world...

That women struggle for the end of conflicts seems, consequently, normal. But above and beyond cease-fires, women are demanding active participation in the processes of peace reconstruction. They want to be equally present in political spaces in order to create a society in which there is neither violence, nor domination of one person by another, or of one group by another group: “For us, peace is an active peace, which requires solidarity, the recognition of our rights. The construction of peace in the framework of neoliberal economic policy constitutes a challenge for women. There will never be peace without the eradication of the poverty, violence and exclusion with particularly effect the native and rural women in our countries”, state the Peruvians and Ecuadorians of the WMW.

Peace does indeed go well beyond the absence of war or arms in a given society. Peace exists not only when society recognizes the rights of women and when violence is eradicated, but also when everyone has access to employment and to income sufficient to feed, cloth, house and educate themselves and for medical services and care in old age. Peace exists when there is an independent and integrated justice system which insures that impunity does not reign. Peace is based on education that does not valorize violence and sexist behavior. It requires tolerance, dialogue, respect for diversity and solidarity. It is this solidarity and the awareness that wars are waged for the profit of the few, that they are fueled by fundamentalism, racism and the exacerbation of differences that have allowed many women to go beyond the political disagreements that imposed by their countries. The example of actions organized over and above the frontiers in the African Great Lakes region cited below is exemplary.

For more than a decade, the Great Lakes region of Africa has been the scene of armed internal and external conflicts between neighboring countries: Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Civil and tribal wars and rebellions followed by territorial occupations have created and continue to create innumerable civil victims through massacres, slaughters, and other massive violations of human rights. They have brought about the destruction of economic and social infrastructure, the fall in productivity and increase in the number of vulnerable people (orphans, widows, handicapped, child soldiers, etc).

It is women who pay the heaviest price. Already greatly disadvantaged by the patriarchal system in all areas, they have been victims of rape on a large scale, as much during armed conflict and in refugee camps, as in the home. These rapes have lead to the spread in HIV/AIDS cases, varied gynecological problems, psycho-somatic traumatisms, as well as societal rejection. The cycles of violence have also worsened the level of female poverty with many women having to assume the role of household head.

Rape and violence against women in the Great Lakes region of Africa

War leaves women and children particularly vulnerable. Women, young girls and sometimes children are raped, kidnapped, and forced into sexual slavery. The degeneration of economic and social structures makes the multiplication of violence easier. When women are forced to leave their homes, to find refuge elsewhere, they and their children risk separation from their families and are therefore exposed to diverse aggressions. They are therefore more easily forced into prostitution as a survival strategy.

Consequently, rape and violence tends not only to increase in conflict situations, but to become systematic: rape becomes a weapon of war that aims to destabilize and threaten a section of the civil population. The enemy uses women and girls in this way, because the humiliation and harm that is inflicted on them effects them profoundly, also touches and humiliates their families and even the whole community. Unfortunately, even when the war is over, rape continues to leave its mark.

The consequences of sexual violence

1, Physical or with regards to health: threats, cuts, mutilations, wounds; ripping of genitals particularly in women raped repeatedly; infections such as HIV/AIDS, damage to reproductive organs, even as far as rupture of the uterus; unbearable pains; unwanted pregnancies and an increase in the number of child mothers; negative implications for couple's lives.

2, Economic: Violence worsens the economic vulnerability of women - husband's how own and decide on the destination of their women's assets and resources; forced and early marriages; widows stripped of their assets that the members of her husband's family share between them, etc. Rape is accompanied by pillage, which leaves families without the means to survive. As widows, or forced to flee their homes and villages, they find themselves in refugee camps in conditions of abject poverty. Women and girls who are victims of rape and violence are marginalized, and often stop going to work in the fields or exercise their economic and subsistence activities.

3, Psychological: fear, shame, hallucinations, loss of weight, insomnia, giddiness, anger, panic, nervousness, fear of the unknown, hatred of men, isolation, guilt, involuntary movements, loss of confidence and enormous difficulties to express love and affection, etc. Consequently, many women avoid going to the field, the river, market, school. Some devote themselves to prayer, others to alcohol and drugs. Husband and fiancés disappear.

4, Socio-cultural: Rejection and isolation of raped women (therefore, if the act of rape was not public, victims are unwilling to denounce it for fear of social sanctions). Birth of children conceived of rape, many of whom are rejected by their mothers, the families of their mothers, and society in general (it is common that young rape victims who give birth no longer attend school, that nobody supports them or their children financially and that they end up as easy prey to prostitution). Destroyed societies and communal bonds are the ideal territory for organized crime with many kidnappings and the force of women into prostitution.

Legal questions in relation to rape and violence

Silence, indifference and the inactivity of political actors were for a long time the only reply to this phenomenon of violence. Unfortunately impunity is also often the rule, rather than the exception. In spite of the recognition, at International level, of rape and other acts of sexual violence as war crimes, measurements taken remain inadequate. The lack of justice remains unacceptable, but despite of this, some advances have been observed in the legal field in Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Peace through Solidarity: COCAFEM/GL, a Collaboration Born of the WMW

COCAFEM/GL (Collaboration of Collectives of Associations working for the Promotion of Women in the Great Lakes region of Africa) consists of four collectives from 3 countries from the area. Within the framework of the WMW in 2000, women of this region (members of the above mentioned collectives) gathered at regional level for discussions with a view to think through demands to be submitted to national, regional and international authorities. The COCAFEM/GL was thus created in June 2001 and, at the peak of the crisis, permitted women in a war zone to come together to discuss peace, strategies in the fight against poverty and violence inflicted on women, to share their experiences, to formulate common demands and even to conceive joint projects.

Vision: peace in the Great Lakes region, where each citizen, man and woman, can enjoy all his / her rights fully.

Mission: to contribute to the promotion of the culture of peace, tolerance, non-violence and respect of human rights, in particular those of women and children, improvement of the position of women in the Great Lakes region of Africa.

Objectives:
- to reinforce the capacities of the members of COCAFEM/GL and the creation of a legal, structured and operational framework of dialogue.
- to ensure that national decision makers, African and international institutions include women in the construction of lasting peace and to support the empowerment of women.
- to improve knowledge and the adoption of attitudes and behaviors favorable to the promotion of peace, human rights, gender and the struggle against the violence inflicted on women.
- to reinforce the economic capacities of the women of the area of the Large Lakes.
- to reinforce the actions of the COCAFEM/GL and its visibility by work in synergy and the mutual support enters the collectives members of the COCAFEM/GL and between the COCAFEM/GL and other organizations of the world.

- to reinforce the economic capacities of women in the Great Lakes region

- to strengthen the actions and visibility of COCAFEM/GL through work and mutual support with and between the collectives who are members of the COCAFEM/GL and between the Collaboration and other world organizations.

Work axes: the development of organizational capacities; advocacy, lobbying and negotiation activities; education around peace, human rights, gender and the struggle against violence inflicted on women; solidarity actions.

The principal accomplishments of COCAFEM/GL include:

The political stance of COCAFEM/GL in relation to the wars of the Great Lakes region:

COCAFEM/GL affirms that in the different phases of peace negotiations women have not been consulted, or involved in a very minimal way, despite the fact that it is they who are the first victims of violence caused by wars, as related by witnesses and the ever increasing number of victims. COCAFEM/GL demands that appropriate, realistic and effective measures be taken to bring a lastly end to the conflicts in the region, and that these measures be undertaken with the aim of creating a political environment capable of accelerating the development and empowerment of women.