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Youth and women pivotal in peace efforts
Too many formal attempts at peace have exposed the failure to address the impacts of loss and violence against women and young people.
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Standing for their rights: Activists hold a peaceful rally to celebrate the International Women's Day in front of the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on March 8, 2019. (JP/Aditya Bhagas)
T
o bring about a bit of peace on the planet, involve those who are sick of bearing the worst brunt of decades-old armed conflicts, daily discrimination and chronic neglect of victims of violence. Involve the young and the women, for too many formal attempts at peace have exposed the failure to address the impacts of loss and violence against them.
Twenty-three years ago on Oct. 31, 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, stating the vital role of women in peacebuilding and peacekeeping. However, agreements to end conflicts have paid little attention to the acknowledgment of “the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women and girls”.
On Aug. 15, 2005, the historic “Helsinki MoU” was signed to end decades of war between government forces and the Free Aceh Movement, witnessed by Finland’s president Martti Ahtisaari, who eventually won the Nobel Peace Prize. He died last week, on Oct. 16, leaving a legacy of peace deals such as for Aceh.
The homework is far from finished. Student leader Aliyum Himam of the Ar-Raniry State Islamic University (UIN) in Aceh’s capital demanded the government’s responsibility for “sustainable peace”, especially for conflict victims.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo set up a team for “nonjudicial” settlements for gross human rights violations early this year. But ahead of the team’s visit to a site of torture and killings in Pidie in June, the acting regent ordered the destruction of the remains of the infamous Rumoh Geudong while Jokowi said a memorial “living park” would be built on the site.
Aliyum was among those addressing an international gathering on religious inclusion and peacebuilding at the Ar-Raniry UIN campus. The talks of Oct. 14-16 were the latest reminder that despite extraordinary suffering and risk brought by attacks and neglect by their own governments, youth and women strive for minimum safety and sanity for themselves, their families and communities.
‘If we don’t do anything, things will be worse for the younger generation,” said Fatin Jamjuree of South Thailand. Her Network of Civic Women for Peace campaigns against hate speech and gender-based violence on social media, and she has trained hundreds of people on digital literacy. Even when armed conflict is at a relatively low level she said insecurity continues from social media and violence within and outside the home.
