1 Peace processes and implementation of peace agreements

Norway works to ensure that both women and men are involved in peace and reconciliation processes in which Norway is engaged, whether at the negotiating table or during implementation. Norway is committed to preparing the ground for inclusive processes that safeguard rights regardless of gender in the early stages of conflict resolution efforts. Norway seeks to ensure that peace agreements include the human rights of all women and men and take into account their different needs and priorities. The Section for Peace and Reconciliation has two thematic priorities for its work on conflict resolution and peace process: women, peace and security, and transitional justice. The section has its own strategy for following through on its WPS commitments. More information about the strategy, experience gained from processes and dilemmas can be shared with missions on request.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will:

• promote inclusive peace processes and work systematically to encourage more women to take part in peace processes, dialogue initiatives and work
• on de-escalation and ceasefire agreements, both at grassroots level and in
• formal processes;
• ensure a good gender balance in Norway’s own delegations to peace negotiations and to international meetings where peace and security work is discussed, and promote relevant Norwegian and international candidates for roles in the UN and other international forums for peace and security;
• take a strategic approach to promoting gender issues in negotiations and peace processes, build bridges between civil society and the parties to negotiations, and work systematically to ensure that there are inclusive structures for the implementation of peace agreements;
• in connection with the implementation of peace agreements, facilitate women’s participation and seek to ensure that women’s rights, needs and priorities are safeguarded, and that any provisions on women’s rights in the agreement are implemented in practice;
• contribute to the protection of women peacebuilders and human rights defenders who are taking part or have taken part in peace processes and peace efforts in which Norway is involved.

In peace processes in which Norway is involved, we will:

• Endeavour to ensure a good gender balance in our own teams and among our special representatives.
• Carry out gender-sensitive conflict analyses, including actor analyses, and ensure that the results are incorporated into key decision/making processes.
• Create a strategy for ensuring women’s participation and integrating a gender perspective in dialogue with the parties during peace negotiations.
• Offer technical assistance and expertise to help peace mediators, facilitators, the parties and women’s organisations integrate a gender perspective into peace negotiations and facilitate women’s inclusion in processes.
• Advance women’s influence in early dialogue initiatives, negotiations and decision-making processes by
• emphasising the importance of international commitments to ensure women’s participation and rights, and highlighting the national and international benefits of following up these commitments;
• raising the parties’ awareness of the benefits of inclusion;
• urging the parties to include women in their delegations;
• identifying women’s groups that could play a role if dialogue initiatives evolve into a peace process;
• supporting and facilitating inclusion mechanisms, linking these with the formal process; supporting consultations for civil society, and ensuring that civil society’s views are presented, discussed and taken into account in decision-making processes;
• when necessary, providing practical and logistical support (for example within transport and security) to facilitate women’s participation.
• Support the role of civil society, women’s organisations, women human rights defenders and peace builders in implementing and monitoring peace and reconciliation processes and as actors that can hold the parties accountable for following up their commitments.
• Seek to ensure that preventing and combating sexual and gender-based violence are part of peace and reconciliation processes and peace agreements, and that the rights of survivors of sexual violence – women, men, girls and boys, and children born of war – are safeguarded. This can be done at several levels. It is important to take a comprehensive approach, for example by supporting
• preventive measures and mechanisms for monitoring abuse;
• transitional justice processes, justice and security sector reforms and states’ ability to hold perpetrators accountable;
• civil society efforts to combat sexual and gender-based violence and support survivors:
• zero tolerance of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (SEAH) by UN, NGO and INGO personnel, including grant recipients in particular.6

When Norway supports the implementation of peace agreements, we must seek to ensure women’s participation and influence and the protection of human rights.

To contribute to this, we will:

• Maintain the same focus on women’s participation in the implementation phase as in the negotiating phase. This means that we must work for women’s participation in committees and mechanisms for following up and monitoring agreements, in justice and security sector reforms, and in transitional justice processes.
• Support civil society organisations and women's groups that have or may play a role in the implementation phase.
• Endeavour to ensure that clauses in peace agreements that address women’s rights are respected, and that clauses pertaining to women’s rights and needs are implemented in practice.
• Ensure that an intersectional gender perspective is integrated into conflict analyses carried out by donor groups, the UN and other partners. Consider whether Norway also needs to conduct a conflict analysis.
• Develop a simple WPS strategy forNorway’s work in support of the implementation of each specific peace agreement.
• Endeavour to ensure that disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programmes do not have negative consequences for any groups regardless of gender or age and that they take into account the specific needs of female ex-combatants. Seek to ensure that these programmes have positive effects for all groups. This also applies to work on the reintegration of child soldiers.
• Promote gender perspectives in reintegration programmes. These must take into account the different roles women and girls may have in a conflict, and what challenges they may face when they reintegrate into communities. Conflict prevention measures should be included in these programmes.
• Advocate the provision of secure facilities for women and girls in camps, and the adaptation of any training that is provided to the needs of women and girls, in both practical (security, child care provision) and social terms.
• Support integration of the gender perspective and women’s participation into justice and security sector reform:
• women must be guaranteed due process and access to the legal system;
• women’s rights and gender equality must be included in reforms to ensure both safety and security and opportunities for women to work in justice and security institutions;
• discriminatory laws should be identified, and support for efforts to amend them should be considered.
• Work to end impunity for sexual and gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). This can be done for example by supporting the improvement of legislation and the capacity of the justice sector to deal with cases of sexual violence.
• Support transitional justice processes and alternative methods for reparation and justice. These must include mechanisms that ensure satisfactory protection of women’s rights to access to the courts, legal assistance etc.
• Support measures that involve men and boys in awareness-raising work aimed at combating sexual and gender-based violence in conflict situations. At the same time, it is important to remember that men and boys can also be victims of sexual violence in conflict situations and that the number of unreported cases is high. Victims of forced recruitment as soldiers and child soldiers may be of any gender or age.
• Monitor the situation for women human rights defenders and peacebuilders and assess what freedom of action and security is available to active and high-profile women. They play key roles during the implementation phase, and political and financial support for their work should be considered.
• Seek partners who are engaged in combating sexual and gender-based violence in conflict situations.It is important to be aware that the problem is not restricted to sexual violence and abuses committed by armed fighters, and that domestic violence may be exacerbated in conflict situations.
• Support measures to strengthen the gender perspectives in prevention of violent extremism. Such measures may include mobilising women’s organisations in combating violent extremism locally, regionally and globally, and measures to protect women’s lives, health and rights as part of the fight against violent extremism.