tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/women-in-conflict-7339/articlesWomen in conflict – The Conversation2023-02-02T18:54:59Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1991502023-02-02T18:54:59Z2023-02-02T18:54:59ZUkraine recap: Kyiv keeps its friends close, but will they send the latest warplanes?<p>The latest dispatches from the Institute for the Study of War make for sobering reading. After a few months in which the initiative on the battlefield was generally considered to be firmly with Ukraine, the pendulum appears as if it could be swinging gradually back Russia’s way.</p>
<p>This is by no means to say that Russia is suddenly “winning the war”, but since early December, with heavy fighting continuing around the city of Bakhmut in the Donbas region, Russian troops have been able to regroup and the war has entered what the ISW calls “positional warfare”, with both sides jockeying for advantage. There is also a fresh Russian push underway further south around the town of Vuhledar.</p>
<p>In its <a href="https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-january-29-2023">daily bulletin for January 31</a>, the ISW – an independent Washington-based think tank founded in 2007, which can call upon an impressive list of military thinkers including former CIA director David Petraeus – asserted that delays in the supply of sophisticated western military tech has a lot to do with this: </p>
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<p>Western reluctance to begin supplying Ukraine with higher-end Western weapons systems, particularly tanks, long-range strike systems, and air-defense systems, has limited Ukraine’s ability to initiate and continue large-scale counter-offensive operations.</p>
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<p>Last week, much of the talk around the war focused on the possibility of the supply of German and American main battle tanks to Ukraine. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, had been dragging his feet over whether to send state-of-the-art Leopard 2 tanks to help Kyiv, despite pleas from Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky and urging from Germany’s friends and allies in Europe, notably Poland and France. Washington, meanwhile, had been reticent about supplying its Abrams tanks, ostensibly because they were thought to be incompatible with Ukraine’s other military hardware.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507931/original/file-20230202-11840-4e4ele.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A chart showing how the Ukraine war has progressed and the supply of western weapons." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507931/original/file-20230202-11840-4e4ele.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507931/original/file-20230202-11840-4e4ele.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507931/original/file-20230202-11840-4e4ele.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507931/original/file-20230202-11840-4e4ele.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507931/original/file-20230202-11840-4e4ele.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507931/original/file-20230202-11840-4e4ele.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507931/original/file-20230202-11840-4e4ele.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">How western weapons have shaped the war in Ukraine according to the Institute for the Study of War.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Institute for the Study of War</span></span>
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<p>Happily for Zelensky and Ukraine, these issues have been resolved and the tanks will soon be en route to the battlefield. But it will take time for Ukrainian troops to be trained for their use and to integrate them into the country’s overall military strategy. As the ISW says, these were discussions that should have been resolved last June, which would have meant that Ukraine could have more decisively pressed home the advantage gained in its autumn counter-offensives.</p>
<p>Now the talk has turned to the air war, which at present is in a stalemate. Ukraine is begging for the west to provide it with modern F-16 fighters, which could give it the edge it needs to properly influence the situation on the ground. James Pritchett, an expert in air warfare at the University of Hull, <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-how-us-built-f-16-fighting-falcon-could-help-kyiv-move-on-to-the-offensive-198942">believes that</a> – while getting hold of these sophisticated multi-role aircraft would certainly boost Ukraine’s defensive capabilities – it would take some time to train up pilots and integrate them into Ukraine’s air defence systems.</p>
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<img alt="Institute for the Study of War map showing the progress of the conflict in Ukraine." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507942/original/file-20230202-12313-drog0p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507942/original/file-20230202-12313-drog0p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507942/original/file-20230202-12313-drog0p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507942/original/file-20230202-12313-drog0p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507942/original/file-20230202-12313-drog0p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507942/original/file-20230202-12313-drog0p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507942/original/file-20230202-12313-drog0p.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Where the conflict stands, February 1.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Institute for the Study of War</span></span>
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<p>In any case, Washington remains adamant it will not supply Kyiv with these aircraft, but – as with the tanks – there’s a great deal of pressure from various European countries which have equipped themselves with F-16s. But there is also a degree of concern at how Moscow would react to what they would almost certainly paint as further Nato provocation.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-how-us-built-f-16-fighting-falcon-could-help-kyiv-move-on-to-the-offensive-198942">Ukraine war: how US-built F-16 'Fighting Falcon' could help Kyiv move on to the offensive</a>
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<p><strong><em>This is our weekly recap of expert analysis of the Ukraine conflict.</em></strong>
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<h2>The truth about casualties</h2>
<p>Truth, runs the old adage, is the first casualty of war – and as with conflicts reaching back into prehistory, reported death tolls are very often wildly inaccurate. Lily Hamourtziadou, an expert in security studies at the University of Birmingham, has compiled a series of reports of casualty figures which <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-casualty-counts-from-either-side-can-be-potent-weapons-and-shouldnt-always-be-believed-198894">vary hugely</a> depending on who is doing the counting.</p>
<p>Having worked for years on the <a href="https://www.iraqbodycount.org/">Iraq Body Count</a>, Hamourtziadou knows whereof she speaks. In this fascinating discussion, she highlights the way warring nations will overestimate their foes’ death tolls while underestimating their own. It happens on all sides. Propaganda, she writes, is also a weapon of war and there are few more potent pieces of propaganda than “your side is losing loads more soldiers than ours”.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-casualty-counts-from-either-side-can-be-potent-weapons-and-shouldnt-always-be-believed-198894">Ukraine war: casualty counts from either side can be potent weapons and shouldn't always be believed</a>
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<h2>Women on the frontline</h2>
<p>Inevitably some of those military dead have been women, thousands of whom have voluntarily joined Ukraine’s armed forces since 2014, when Russia’s occupation of Crimea and territories in eastern Ukraine began. They started serving in combat roles in 2016 and all military roles were opened to women in 2022. Jennifer Mathers, an expert in international politics at Aberystwyth University, and Anna Kvit, a visiting research fellow at UCL, say this is <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-attitudes-to-women-in-the-military-are-changing-as-thousands-serve-on-front-lines-198195">changing the traditionally patriarchal attitudes</a> in Ukraine’s armed forces, something of which Kyiv is understandably very proud. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-attitudes-to-women-in-the-military-are-changing-as-thousands-serve-on-front-lines-198195">Ukraine war: attitudes to women in the military are changing as thousands serve on front lines</a>
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<p>But women who have been taken prisoner by the Russians have complained of extremely rough treatment at the hands of their captors and the threat of sexual violence is ever present. Meanwhile, fairly typically, many female recruits join up only to discover how difficult it is to find uniforms, body armour and boots that fit them.</p>
<h2>Away from the battlefield</h2>
<p>Supplies of news weapons and other support, financial and otherwise, are high on the agenda with Zelensky hosting the president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and senior EU officials in Kyiv this week. Leyen has said that the EU will support Ukraine “for as long as it takes” – but, as the University of Birmingham’s international security expert Stefan Wolff points out, at present this will not include fast-tracking Ukraine’s membership.</p>
<p>Kyiv sought – and was granted last year – candidate membership status, but the process from candidate to accession can take decades. However, up to now, the EU has given more in military and financial aid to Kyiv even than the US and, as Wolff points out recent moves to root out corruption in Ukraine’s political elite will not just help the war effort. It will encourage the EU to persist in its support for a country that – as he puts it – “is standing on the battlefield in a war against an aggressor that has sought to destabilise European democracies for years”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-kyiv-summit-with-eu-will-bring-the-two-sides-closer-but-fast-track-membership-is-unlikely-198891">Ukraine war: Kyiv summit with EU will bring the two sides closer, but fast-track membership is unlikely</a>
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<p>Over the past year, we’ve heard many times from Vladimir Putin and his cronies about Russia’s nuclear capabilities, always – you understand – in the sense that Russia would never be the first to resort to their use, but that if this conflict did escalate, then Russia has a huge nuclear arsenal.</p>
<p>So it’s somewhat depressing to hear this week from the US State Department that Russia is not complying with the countries’ last remaining nuclear arms agreement, which was renewed for five years in 2021. New START limits the development of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems and allows both countries to regularly, and with limited advance notice, inspect each other’s nuclear weapons arsenals.</p>
<p>Nina Srinivasan Rathbun, a professor of international relations at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, <a href="https://theconversation.com/russia-is-violating-the-last-remaining-nuclear-treaty-with-the-us-according-to-washington-199063">provides a brief history of arms limitations treaties</a> and warns that the lack of transparency and assurance that would result from the failure of this treaty could lead to pressure for both countries to develop new nuclear weapons and delivery systems will increase, along with the risk of miscalculations.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/russia-is-violating-the-last-remaining-nuclear-treaty-with-the-us-according-to-washington-199063">Russia is violating the last remaining nuclear treaty with the US, according to Washington</a>
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A selection of our coverage of the conflict from the past week.Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1317552020-02-26T14:02:02Z2020-02-26T14:02:02ZA guerrilla-to-entrepreneur plan in Colombia leaves some new businesswomen isolated and at risk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316500/original/file-20200220-92558-1b3ifsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4003%2C2669&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More than 2,000 women were processed through demobilization camps in Colombia as the government transitions disarmed FARC guerrillas back into civilian life, Jan. 18, 2017. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/guerrilla-fighters-seen-during-a-line-up-inside-a-news-photo/641252372?adppopup=true">Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Women made up nearly a quarter of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/getting-to-yes-in-colombia-what-it-would-take-to-reintegrate-the-farc-66710">13,000 guerrilla fighters</a> disarmed by Colombia’s 2016 peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, <a href="https://theconversation.com/colombian-guerrillas-disarm-starting-their-risky-return-to-civilian-life-73947">or FARC</a>. Though implementation has been <a href="http://theconversation.com/violence-climbs-in-colombia-as-president-chips-away-at-landmark-peace-deal-with-farc-guerrillas-115112">halting</a>, the landmark peace deal officially ended Colombia’s 52-year armed conflict with this Marxist rebel group. </p>
<p>But even before the peace deal more than 19,000 fighters – including thousands of women – had <a href="http://www.reincorporacion.gov.co/es/agencia/Documentos%20de%20ARN%20en%20Cifras/ARN%20en%20cifras%20corte%20septiembre%202019.pdf">abandoned different Colombian guerrilla and paramilitary groups</a>, voluntarily or after being captured by the army. </p>
<p>In exchange for disarming, Colombia offered this first group of ex-combatants training in accounting, stock management, market analysis, development of business plans and US$2,300 – roughly eight months of <a href="https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=RMW">minimum wage earnings</a> – to <a href="https://www.reincorporacion.gov.co/es/la-reintegracion/centro-de-documentacion/Documentos/Documento%20Conpes%203554%20l%20Pol%C3%ADtica%20nacional%20de%20reintegraci%C3%B3n%20social%20y%20econ%C3%B3mica%20para%20personas%20y%20grupos%20armados%20ilegales.pdf">start a small business</a>. With the government’s assistance, thousands of former female insurgents have started small home businesses, tailoring clothing, making handicrafts or selling food. </p>
<p>Now, <a href="http://www.reincorporacion.gov.co/en/reintegration/Pages/dimensions/productive.aspx">the government is expanding its entrepreneurship program</a> to cover all 2,990 female FARC fighters <a href="http://pensamiento.unal.edu.co/fileadmin/recursos/focos/piensa-paz/docs/presentacion_censo_farc.pdf">disbanded under the 2016 peace deal</a>. </p>
<p>So I wanted to check in on past beneficiaries to see how they were faring. For seven months in 2018 and 2019, as part of my <a href="https://independent.academia.edu/PaulinaArango4">dissertation research on Colombia</a>, I conducted in-depth interviews with 12 retired female guerrilla fighters to document their transition back into civilian life.</p>
<p>They’re not doing so well. </p>
<h2>Transforming identities</h2>
<p>In Colombia, as in other conflict zones, rejoining society after war is generally <a href="https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/2018-08/gender-inclusive-framework-and-theory-guide.pdf">more challenging for women</a>. </p>
<p>Whether they served as soldiers, cooks, spies or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1596/0-8213-5968-1">sexual partners</a> to male fighters, women <a href="https://theconversation.com/colombian-militants-have-a-new-plan-for-the-country-and-its-called-insurgent-feminism-77148">militants</a> are frequently seen as abnormal, or unfeminine. Fighting violates traditional expectation of women as the peaceful and <a href="https://theconversation.com/getting-to-yes-in-colombia-what-it-would-take-to-reintegrate-the-farc-66710">nurturing</a> gender. </p>
<p>In Colombia, many of the women I interviewed said they were shunned when they returned to <a href="https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/files/4acdd8512.pdf">civilian life</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316498/original/file-20200220-92526-nmubqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316498/original/file-20200220-92526-nmubqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316498/original/file-20200220-92526-nmubqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316498/original/file-20200220-92526-nmubqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316498/original/file-20200220-92526-nmubqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316498/original/file-20200220-92526-nmubqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316498/original/file-20200220-92526-nmubqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316498/original/file-20200220-92526-nmubqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Female FARC insurgents days before their relocation to government-run transition camps, Vegaez municipality, Antioquia department, Colombia, Dec, 30, 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/guerillas-members-pose-for-a-picture-at-the-34-alberto-news-photo/630698248?adppopup=true">RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>“Even my family thought the worst of me – that I had become bloodthirsty or bad,” said a 33-year-old woman who was forced by her father to join the FARC when she was 17.</p>
<p>Other women reported feeling similar social exclusion. The perception of stigma prevented them from fully engaging with their local communities. All hid their pasts. Some avoided interacting with neighbors, afraid they would discover their secret.</p>
<p>This is the opposite of the government’s intention with the small business program, which aims to promote social interactions. Funded by the Colombian government, USAID and the <a href="http://escolapau.uab.cat/img/programas/desarme/ddr005i.pdf">United Nations</a> and designed following <a href="https://www.unddr.org/uploads/documents/IDDRS_4.30%20Reintegration%20WEB.pdf">U.N. guidelines</a>, entrepreneurship is supposed to help former insurgents <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14678802.2012.667661">gain community acceptance</a>, take control over their circumstances, rejoin the <a href="https://www.reincorporacion.gov.co/es/la-reintegracion/centro-de-documentacion/Documentos/Documento%20Conpes%203554%20l%20Pol%C3%ADtica%20nacional%20de%20reintegraci%C3%B3n%20social%20y%20econ%C3%B3mica%20para%20personas%20y%20grupos%20armados%20ilegales.pdf">labor market</a> and reduce poverty.</p>
<p>Promoting entrepreneurship is a popular development strategy for women, not just in conflict zones but also in poor countries with entrenched gender inequality. Since 2001 the World Bank has launched micro-lending and small grant programs in South Sudan, Liberia, Afghanistan, Haiti and Kosovo, <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/20618/WPS7098.pdf?sequence=1">among others</a>. </p>
<p>However, their effectiveness is <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2622220">unproven</a>, and some <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-microfinance-disappointed-the-developing-world-23206">studies</a> find entrepreneurship does not meaningfully improve women’s lives.</p>
<p>Running a home business seemed to isolate the former insurgents in my study. More than half told me they were unable to form the kind of social support system that research <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14678802.2012.667661">shows is necessary for reintegration</a>.</p>
<p>“I don’t like to go anywhere, I don’t like to visit anyone,” a 31-year-old woman told me. </p>
<p>She was particularly worried that if neighbors learned about her history as an rebel fighter, they would tell the gang members who control her neighborhood, endangering her life.</p>
<p>This social isolation effectively trapped some women in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.09.027">violent relationships</a>. One felt that working from home kept her from meeting new people who might have become a protective network. </p>
<p>“He punched me. I still have the bruise,” she said. </p>
<p>I could see the mark on her cheek. The attack was recent. The woman told me she hadn’t left the house in 15 days.</p>
<h2>Constraints to social inclusion</h2>
<p>Succeeding in business is difficult for anyone, in any country, under any circumstance. Research shows the chances for success are <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2622220">even lower</a> for poor female entrepreneurs.</p>
<p>My interviews in Colombia suggest that the Colombian government’s reliance on entrepreneurship may make female ex-insurgents financial situation even more precarious than it would otherwise be because they lack the safety net of formal employment. </p>
<p>“I was not used to having a business, so I gave credit to many people,” said one ex-combatant whose government seed-funded grocery store in Medellin, Colombia went broke.</p>
<p>When former insurgents who receive government benefits fail, they do not get another loan. They must find a job <a href="https://www.redjurista.com/Documents/resolucion_754_de_2013_agencia_colombiana_para_la_reintegracion_de_personas_y_grupos_alzados_en_armas.aspx#/">on their own</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316496/original/file-20200220-92502-wno0rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316496/original/file-20200220-92502-wno0rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316496/original/file-20200220-92502-wno0rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316496/original/file-20200220-92502-wno0rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316496/original/file-20200220-92502-wno0rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316496/original/file-20200220-92502-wno0rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316496/original/file-20200220-92502-wno0rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316496/original/file-20200220-92502-wno0rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many women left the FARC guerrilla group along with their partners, Colinas, Guaviare, Colombia, June 15, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/members-of-the-revolutionary-armed-forces-of-colombia-walk-news-photo/696684966?adppopup=true">RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another problem I identified with Colombia’s governmental entrepreneurship program was that it restricts grant recipients to low-skill jobs that may not align with an individual’s experience, skills and interests.</p>
<p>“My dream was to study dentistry, but I did not have a high school diploma,” a woman who was a dentist in the FARC told me. “I had to do tailoring.” </p>
<p>Sewing and selling underwear and jackets helped the former fighter support herself and her son through a divorce. But the work was not meaningful to her, and it did not further her long-term educational and career goals.</p>
<p>Running a small business at home also reinforced <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/3F71081FF391653DC1256C69003170E9-unicef-WomenWarPeace.pdf">unequal distribution of family responsibilities</a> for many of the women I interviewed. Because they were in the house, they were expected to do all domestic chores and childcare – all while cooking, sewing or selling food.</p>
<h2>Gender troubles</h2>
<p>The former guerrilla fighters I interviewed are years into the reintegration process. Their struggles signal great challenges ahead for Colombia as it returns thousands of <a href="https://theconversation.com/peace-makes-strides-in-colombia-but-the-battle-is-far-from-won-83601">FARC women</a> back to civilian life <a href="http://www.reincorporacion.gov.co/en/reintegration/Pages/what.aspx">by 2023</a>, the timeline for completing the reintegration process.</p>
<p>In some ways, however, Colombia is actually ahead of the game. Gender-specific policies are in short supply in war zones globally.</p>
<p>“Peace agreements are still adopted without provisions considering the needs and priorities of women and girls,” <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2019/sgsm19834.doc.htm">said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in October 2019</a>. </p>
<p>He said a “pitifully small” amount of aid to fragile and post-conflict nations – just 0.2% – goes to “women’s organizations.”</p>
<p>Colombia’s accord tried to do better. At the <a href="https://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/acuerdo-de-paz-con-las-farc-enfoque-de-genero/504340">FARC’s insistence</a>, women were on the negotiating team. The accord specifically commits the state to promoting <a href="https://kroc.nd.edu/assets/349904/200128_second_gender_report_in_english.pdf">equal rights for women and men</a>. </p>
<p>But my research suggests that making peace work for female insurgents will take more than a well crafted accord.</p>
<p><em>Stephanie Simmons Zuilkowski, a professor of international and multicultural education at Florida State University, contributed research to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131755/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maria Paulina Arango receives funding from the United States Institute of Peace. </span></em></p>Small business grants are supposed to help Colombia’s disarmed FARC fighters start new lives as entrepreneurs. But interviews with 12 female ex-insurgents suggests the government plan may fail women.Maria Paulina Arango, PhD candidate in International and Comparative Education at Florida State University and 2019-2020 USIP Peace Scholar, Florida State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/899512018-02-02T10:29:01Z2018-02-02T10:29:01ZHow Yemeni women are fighting the war<p>Since 2015, a Saudi-led coalition has waged war against Shia Houthi <a href="https://theconversation.com/saudi-air-strikes-yemen-has-been-in-a-downward-spiral-ever-since-the-arab-spring-39269">forces</a> in Yemen. <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29319423">More than 8,000 people</a> have been killed, and more than 49,000 injured; at least 69% of the population <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34011187">is reportedly in need of humanitarian assistance</a>. Million of Yemenis <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-n-aid-groups-warn-starvation-death-yemen-n818956">are facing starvation</a>. Weapons circulation is widespread and uncontrolled: in 2016, a UN report estimated that between <a href="http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_2015_125.pdf">40m to 60m firearms were circulating freely in the country</a>.</p>
<p>The conflict has had a devastating impact on the women of the country. Household breadwinners are usually men; many are fighting, injured or killed. There is an economic crisis in the private sector, and many public sector jobs are no longer paying salaries. The health and security of the female population is endangered <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/oct/12/yemen-cholera-outbreak-worst-in-history-1-million-cases-by-end-of-year">by exposure to cholera and other diseases</a>. And then there’s the issue of child marriages: the severe poverty crisis means that prepubescent girls are married off to repay debts, or to raise funds to feed <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/yemen-war-the-girl-forced-to-marry-at-11-whose-story-exposes-the-conflicts-toll-on-children-a7125151.html">the rest of the family</a>. </p>
<p>A woman from the Northern Ibb region, which is occupied by the rebel Houthi army, explained the situation to <a href="https://www.saferworld.org.uk/resources/publications/1125-awomen-nowadays-do-anythinga-womenas-role-in-conflict-peace-and-">a research team</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We live in a state of lawlessness: no security, no protection and no functional law enforcement authorities. A person may be shot dead for a trivial thing. The security situation doesn’t look like it did in the past. Now, there are informal groups behaving as if they were law enforcement authorities. These groups have power, and their power is the law. They use force against whoever disagrees with them or criticises their behaviour.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As the feminist scholar Cynthia Enloe has pointed out, women are crucial for war and play <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt14qrzb1">supportive roles for the military</a>. Indeed, many Yemeni women are not victims of war or just escaping or hiding from this war. In many contrasting ways, they are actively supporting it, and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/08/opinions/yemen-women-nadia-sakkaf-asequals/index.html">not only on humanitarian grounds</a>. </p>
<h2>Women engaging in war</h2>
<p>Although many Yemeni women discourage their family members from taking part in the conflict and very few take up arms themselves, they also <a href="https://www.saferworld.org.uk/resources/publications/1125-awomen-nowadays-do-anythinga-womenas-role-in-conflict-peace-and-security-in-yemen">help recruit men to the army</a>. They also support combatants by cooking food for them and helping to distribute it. </p>
<p>A young woman, Nasseem Al-Odaini, whose family has fled to the neighbouring Ibb region, stayed behind in Houthi-occupied Taiz and initiated an organisation that assist the combatants that support the former government. As she told <a href="http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemeni-women-keep-engines-war-running-battle-taiz-846276150">Middle East Eye</a>: “We want to encourage the pro-government forces to advance in the province, by raising the spirits of the fighters”.</p>
<p>Other Yemeni women try to mitigate the impact of the conflict the best way possible. For example, women engage in humanitarian relief and in providing social and psychological support for people who have been traumatised by the war. They also engage in peace processes when they initiate discussions of the conflict <a href="https://www.saferworld.org.uk/resources/publications/1125-awomen-nowadays-do-anythinga-womenas-role-in-conflict-peace-and-security-in-yemen">in their communities</a>.</p>
<p>Since the war is not equally intense in every part of the country, there are better possibilities for women to participate in peace processes around the port city of Aden, in the south, than it is in the north, where the Houthi army has taken control and Saudi coalition airstrikes are part of everyday life. Accordingly, women’s conditions and activities differ from one region to another.</p>
<h2>A blocked momentum</h2>
<p>In the north, local communities are more divided (between supporters and adversaries of the Houthi government) than in the south. When women enter the public and participate in charity work, they may be questioned by “de facto authorities” (read: the Houthi army) who, according to <a href="https://www.saferworld.org.uk/resources/publications/1125-awomen-nowadays-do-anythinga-womenas-role-in-conflict-peace-and-security-in-yemen">one woman</a>, would try to prevent them from doing their work. They would also tell women that they are not allowed to appear in public before men:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They [the Houthis] are opposed to women playing a role in public life. According to them, the woman’s role is restricted to cooking and housework. They marginalise women; they deny their role in the community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Women in Northern and Southern parts of Yemen <a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/yemen-womens-rights-must-be-front-and-center/">are not full citizens</a>. According to Amnesty International, they “face discrimination in matters of marriage, divorce, inheritance, and child custody, and the state fails to take adequate measures to prevent, investigate, and punish domestic violence”. Discrimination against women in Yemen go back far beyond the war and are associated with local customs according to <a href="http://www.refworld.org/docid/47387b712f.html">several studies</a>. And yet, Yemeni women maintain their engagement in the development of their country. </p>
<h2>An old engagement</h2>
<p>During the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-12482293">popular uprising in the country in 2011</a> where hundreds of thousands of Yemenis followed the “youth movement” and protested against the corrupt reign of the then-president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemeni women took to the streets to an extent that was <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/04/17/yemen.women.protest/index.html">unforeseen and unprecedented</a>. </p>
<p>Many women participants were independent of political groups, but in the later stages of the protests the Islamic Reform party – inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood – managed to take charge of the protest movement, raising independent women’s concern that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-politics-women/saleh-is-gone-but-yemen-womens-struggle-goes-on-idUSBRE83A0SX20120411">their rights would be disregarded</a>.</p>
<p>However, independent women and women belonging to the political parties, including the Islamic Reform party and the Houthi political wing, Ansar Allah, constituted almost <a href="http://www.mei.edu/content/yemens-national-dialogue">one third of participants</a>in the UN-guided National Dialogue Conference which followed the forced resignation of the President in November 2011. The aim of the 10 months long conference was to formulate a new and more democratic constitution for a united Yemen. However, the draft constitution which included <a href="http://pomed.org/blog-post/political-process/political-transition/yemens-houthis-reject-draft-constitution/">a general 30% gender quota was rejected </a> by the Houthi movement in September 2014, before the population had given their voice in a referendum. </p>
<p>By then disappointment with the process towards a new Yemen had given the Houthis wide popular support. They occupied major government institutions in the capital, Sana'a and removed the transition government recognised internationally. Interestingly, it was not the gender quota which made the Houthis reject the draft constitution, but the view to a power-sharing model <a href="http://pomed.org/blog-post/political-process/political-transition/yemens-houthis-reject-draft-constitution/">which did not give them what they expected</a>.</p>
<p>The Houthi movement’s occupation of the capital and seizure of government seemed to mark both the beginning of a war, and the end of momentum for women’s rights in Yemen – a country which generally figures in the lowest ranks of <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/GII">Arab gender equality indexes</a>. In 2014, a group of women from diverse political backgrounds pushed <a href="http://www.ndc.ye/news.aspx?id=4045">for political solutions</a> instead of war. Since then <a href="http://peacewomen.org/sites/default/files/What-the-Women-Say-Yemen-Winter-2016.pdf">they have been sidelined</a> from peace negotiations – but that doesn’t mean that Yemeni women have lost all hope.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89951/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Connie Christiansen received funding from The Danish foreign Ministry</span></em></p>Many Yemeni women are not victims of war or just escaping or hiding. In many and contrasting ways they are actively supporting it, and not only on humanitarian grounds.Connie Christiansen, Visiting associate professor, Lebanese American UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/667102016-10-12T02:21:28Z2016-10-12T02:21:28ZGetting to yes in Colombia: What it would take to reintegrate the FARC<p>The Nobel Committee has awarded Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos the Nobel Peace Prize.</p>
<p>His key accomplishment was the Sept. 26 signing of the <a href="http://www.altocomisionadoparalapaz.gov.co/procesos-y-conversaciones/Paginas/Texto-completo-del-Acuerdo-Final-para-la-Terminacion-del-conflicto.aspx">Colombian peace agreement</a> between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, as known as FARC. The signing marked the formal end of 52 years of civil war. In the words of Humberto de la Calle, the former chief government negotiator, the time had come to believe in <a href="http://currenthistory.com/Article.php?ID=1300">peace</a>. </p>
<p>But, not everyone agreed. </p>
<p>In a referendum on Oct. 2, <a href="http://plebiscito.registraduria.gov.co/99PL/DPLZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ_L1.htm">50.2 percent</a> of the participating electorate voted to reject the peace agreement. The voter participation rate was 37.4 percent, with urban centers overrepresented at the polls.</p>
<p>Deciding how to treat the remaining 7,000 FARC guerrillas was a polarizing subject. Some saw the provision of stipends, support and training to demobilize FARC fighters as an investment in security. Others who opposed the peace accords <a href="http://www.eltiempo.com/politica/partidos-politicos/proceso-de-paz-antes-que-darle-plata-piden-que-la-guerrilla-aporte/16496885">framed it</a> as a form of <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/how-colombias-voters-rejected-peace">rewarding</a> – rather than punishing – individuals for their acts of violence.</p>
<p>Government and FARC negotiators are determining how to adjust the agreement in hopes of achieving a “yes” from the electorate in a future vote. Our combined two decades of research with former combatants and conflict-affected groups in Colombia provide insight into why reintegration is both challenging and significant.</p>
<h2>Reconstructing lives and livelihoods</h2>
<p>The process by which former fighters lay down their weapons, leave armed groups and transition back into civilian society is called disarmament, demobilization and <a href="http://unddr.org/what-is-ddr/introduction_1.aspx">reintegration</a>. </p>
<p>However, as researcher Sami Faltas <a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/13344928/5d16fcf2.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ56TQJRTWSMTNPEA&Expires=1475696708&Signature=roWR1vvKEM7jBnNH6kZpzFkn33k%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DDDR_without_Camps_The_Need_for_Decentral.pdf">writes</a>, “unlike disarmament and demobilization, reintegration cannot be imposed or centralized. … For this reason, it is usually the weakest link in the DDR chain.”</p>
<p>Although the current reintegration debate in Colombia focuses largely on the FARC, our research covers the experiences of many of the armed actors in the conflict. These include guerrilla fighters from the FARC and National Liberation Army, as well as paramilitary groups.</p>
<p>Reintegration requires former combatants to imagine a civilian life for themselves after a period of time when their livelihood, sense of identity and community came from affiliation with an armed group.</p>
<p>Disarming and demobilizing ex-combatants often causes them to worry about their security. A former paramilitary member <a href="http://ijtj.oxfordjournals.org/content/1/1/66.short">told us</a>, “We know that we’re being tracked down by the armed groups. They send murderers. That’s why I can’t just show my face around town. They’ll kill me.”</p>
<p>Ex-combatants also worry about economic security and their ability to support their families. For some, making money was part of their motivation for joining an armed group. As Vladimiro <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/258862/summary">explained</a>, “In my barrio, when anything is missing – when anyone’s been robbed – everyone starts looking at the people who don’t have jobs. I hated that feeling that everyone suspected me.” </p>
<p>For him, joining the paramilitaries meant receiving a salary and carrying a gun, both of which translated into respect when he walked down the street. The stipend for demobilized combatants is modest, and they become one more poorly paid male among many as they transition to civilian life.</p>
<h2>Gender matters</h2>
<p>The urgent need to guarantee physical and economic security for demobilizing combatants is frequently tied to former fighters’ understanding of masculinity. The peace agreement addressed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/08/19/the-colombian-peace-agreement-gives-gender-issues-a-central-role-heres-why-this-is-so-important/">aspects of gender</a>. However, it did not explicitly address masculinity or adequately provide for the security of former combatants.</p>
<p>Former paramilitaries <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/258862/summary">have said</a> that their affiliation with these groups helped them “feel like a big man in the streets of their barrios” and allowed them “to go out with the prettiest young women.” In the words of one <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/258862/summary">former paramilitary</a>, “in this country, the man who has a weapon is a man who has power.” Reintegration thus requires reimagining masculinity in a time of transition.</p>
<p>Not all fighters in Colombian armed groups are male. Female fighters, whose exact numbers are difficult to estimate, have joined armed groups for a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09592310802462547">variety of reasons</a>. Some joined because of past experiences with <a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/colombia0903/10.htm">violence in Colombia</a>. Or, they felt the armed group <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/isid/files/isid/14754830701693011.pdf">offered more protection</a> and a more secure livelihood than in civil society. Some were attracted to the possibility of achieving more <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09592310802462547">agency and equality</a>. </p>
<p>While some women experienced forms of gender equality within the FARC, they have also reported experiences of coercion and violence. These have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/03/24/women-in-the-farc-have-had-a-mixed-experience-you-wouldnt-know-that-from-the-new-york-times/">included</a> forced contraception, forced abortion, and separation from children and families. While some armed groups allowed open sexual relations between combatants, sex for female fighters was at times an exchange <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/03/24/women-in-the-farc-have-had-a-mixed-experience-you-wouldnt-know-that-from-the-new-york-times/">for protection</a> by higher-ranking males in the group.</p>
<p>When trying to reintegrate, female fighters also deal with stereotypes that portray them as having violated expectations of a peaceful, nurturing femininity. Official DDR programs at times box women into restrictive, narrowly conceived gender roles. </p>
<p>For example, Joshua Mitrotti, the head of the Colombian Agency of Reintegration, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/09/farc-deal-female-fighters/501644/">said</a> female former combatants have “sometimes lost their feminine features,” and that the program puts “a strong focus on accompanying them and helping them again reconstruct those feminine features they want to reconstruct.” Mitrotti did not elaborate on what a return to “feminine features” may entail for these former combatants.</p>
<h2>Stigma and its consequences</h2>
<p>The stigma associated with ex-combatants can complicate their employment prospects, social relationships and sense of identity during the transition to civilian life. The stigma partly stems from people’s concerns that former combatants may slide back into violence, or be recycled into a new armed group or criminal network. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://cdn.ideaspaz.org/media/website/document/53c8560f2376b.pdf">2014 study</a> by Fundación Ideas Para La Paz, an independent think tank in Colombia, confirmed that dissatisfaction with reintegration programs and their failure to meet demobilizing combatants’ economic needs can lead to their re-recruitment into armed groups. Weak <a href="http://jcr.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/05/09/0022002716644326.full.pdf+html">family ties</a> and <a href="http://cmp.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/11/20/0738894215614506.abstract">social bonds</a> between ex-combatants and the communities into which they enter further affect ex-combatant recidivism.</p>
<p>Collectively, these insights suggest that when disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs fail to provide former combatants with an adequate route back into civilian life, the alternatives for these individuals may involve a return to violence. The provisions outlined in the peace agreement included stipends for a fixed period of time, as part of a comprehensive program of reintegration. This assistance may help former combatants with the transition into civilian life.</p>
<h2>Justice in transition</h2>
<p>Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration are not solely a security issue. Reintegration is also a component of peace-building and justice after armed conflict.</p>
<p>Demobilizing fighters represents a dual challenge: On the one hand, they are reconstructing relationships and identities as they reintegrate into civil society. On the other hand, they are frequently viewed as violent perpetrators who inspire fear in those around them. The broader communities to which they return may rightly demand some accountability for the harms these combatants have caused. </p>
<p>The accountability provisions of the peace accord addressed violence through a <a href="http://www.eltiempo.com/politica/proceso-de-paz/amnistia-para-las-farc-no-aplicara-en-crimenes-de-guerra-y-lesa-humanidad/16682515">tiered system</a>. Demobilizing rank-and-file FARC fighters are eligible for amnesty, provided they were not involved in war crimes or crimes against humanity. Those who exercised command responsibility or were otherwise involved in these grave crimes, including torture, kidnapping and sexual violence, among others, must face the Tribunal for Peace. </p>
<p>At the tribunal, former fighters who confess and fully accept responsibility are eligible for five- to eight-year “sentences of restriction of liberty,” which have a restorative and reparative function, rather than punitive. Those who do not accept responsibility and are found guilty are eligible for sentences of 15 to 20 years.</p>
<p>Critics of these provisions of the peace accord include the former Colombian president and current senator, Álvaro Uribe, his supporters and José Miguel Vivanco, the head of the Americas desk at Human Rights Watch. In a much-quoted <a href="http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/paz/pacto-de-justicia-colombia-una-pinata-de-impunidad-denu-articulo-607243">statement</a>, Vivanco dubbed certain provisions of the accord “a piñata of impunity.”</p>
<p>What these objectors miss is the complex definitions of justice among conflict-affected individuals and demobilizing combatants alike. The <a href="http://plebiscito.registraduria.gov.co/99PL/DPLZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ_L1.htm">geographic distribution</a> of the referendum votes suggests that people in regions that experienced high rates of violence voted in favor of the peace accords. </p>
<p>Our research with conflict-affected individuals and former combatants highlights the broader range of justice that operates in war-torn regions of Colombia. It is not simply a dichotomy between criminal justice and jail time, or impunity for the damage former FARC members have done. </p>
<p>What the “no” vote revealed is the deep gap that exists between certain urban centers – whose inhabitants see the war as distant, past and currently a subject for television series – and people in regions of the country in which the living legacies of war are a part of daily life. In those areas, the peace accords were embraced not for their perfection, but for their promise. </p>
<p><em>The names of interviewees have been changed for their safety.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66710/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>A portion of Kimberly Theidon's research was funded by the Wenner Gren Foundation and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University. This article represents her views, not those of her funders. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>A portion of Roxanne Krystalli's research in Colombia has been supported by funding from the Social Science Research Council Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship. This article represents her views, not those of the Social Science Research Council or any other entities.</span></em></p>Scholars share their research with former combatants in Colombia, after a majority of Colombians voted against a peace deal. Can understanding reintegration help peace negotiations move forward?Kimberly Theidon, Professor of International Humanitarian Studies, Tufts UniversityRoxanne Krystalli, Ph.D. Candidate, The Fletcher School, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/596892016-05-20T13:25:23Z2016-05-20T13:25:23ZRape, murder, forced marriage: what girls in conflict zones get instead of education<p>Education is life-changing for children and young people, but the power of education is systematically ignored in situations of humanitarian crisis – and never more than at present. This neglect is reflected in the tiny amount allocated to children’s schooling in humanitarian responses: it <a href="http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002335/233557E.pdf">involves only 2% of humanitarian funding</a>. This neglect affects the lives of a generation of children and young people forever – once their education is disrupted it can never be retrieved.</p>
<p>Progress towards recognising education as part of a humanitarian response has been slow and the crisis has been worsening – resulting in millions more children and young people who are missing chance to go to school. There are now <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/558193896.html">more displaced people than ever before</a> – and around half of refugees are children. </p>
<p>And while the media is focused on the plight of families whose lives have been ruined by conflict in Syria, in other parts of the world millions of people have spent many years away from home. Dadaab, in northern Kenya, is the world largest refugee camp and has been in existence for more than 23 years. Strikingly, there are more than <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/4f439dbb9.html">10,000 third-generation refugees in Dadaab</a>, born to parents who were also born in the camps. Yet, while inhabitants of the camps see the importance of education as the <a href="https://gemreportunesco.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/for-refugees-in-kenya-%E2%80%98education-is-the-only-thing-we-can-take-home%E2%80%99/">only thing they can take home</a>, until recently there were no secondary school opportunities for the vast majority of young people there.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123180/original/image-20160519-30711-1a3vidh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123180/original/image-20160519-30711-1a3vidh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123180/original/image-20160519-30711-1a3vidh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123180/original/image-20160519-30711-1a3vidh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123180/original/image-20160519-30711-1a3vidh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123180/original/image-20160519-30711-1a3vidh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123180/original/image-20160519-30711-1a3vidh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123180/original/image-20160519-30711-1a3vidh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adolescent girls are the biggest victims in conflict settings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.worldhumanitariansummit.org/">World Humanitarian Summit</a> in Istanbul must be a turning point in giving prominence to education for those caught up in conflict for the sake of this and future generations of children and young people.</p>
<h2>Adolescent girls suffer most</h2>
<p>Adolescent girls’ education journeys are being blocked in four key ways, as our <a href="http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/centres/real/researchthemes/conflictandpeace/letgirlslearn/">new infographic shows</a>. First, with <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/560be1759.pdf">just 13% of the extremely small pot of UNHCR education funding</a> allocated to secondary schooling, it is no surprise that <a href="http://www.education-inequalities.org/">just 4% of the poorest girls</a> in conflict affected areas complete secondary school. As a result, adolescent girls in conflict zones are <a href="http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002335/233557E.pdf">90% more likely</a> to be out of school than elsewhere.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123181/original/image-20160519-30723-3uqfeu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123181/original/image-20160519-30723-3uqfeu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123181/original/image-20160519-30723-3uqfeu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123181/original/image-20160519-30723-3uqfeu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123181/original/image-20160519-30723-3uqfeu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123181/original/image-20160519-30723-3uqfeu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123181/original/image-20160519-30723-3uqfeu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123181/original/image-20160519-30723-3uqfeu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Girls have limited access to secondary schools.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These girls are not only invisible casualties – they also often become targets. Unsafe journeys to school and direct attacks on school buildings mean that for many girls, most famously <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23241937">Malala Yousafzai</a>, fulfilling their right to go to schooling means risking their lives. </p>
<p>Not only have <a href="https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/">attacks on schools increased 17-fold</a> between 2000 and 2014, but there have been <a href="https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/">three times as many attacks on girls’ schools</a> than boys’ schools in recent years. It takes just one day to destroy a school, but will take years to rebuild. In <a href="http://www.unicef.org/appeals/files/HAC_2016_Syria.pdf">Syria alone 25% of schools have been destroyed</a>, damaged or occupied since the conflict started.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123182/original/image-20160519-30699-1877kyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123182/original/image-20160519-30699-1877kyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123182/original/image-20160519-30699-1877kyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123182/original/image-20160519-30699-1877kyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123182/original/image-20160519-30699-1877kyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123182/original/image-20160519-30699-1877kyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123182/original/image-20160519-30699-1877kyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123182/original/image-20160519-30699-1877kyt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Schools are unsafe for girls.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even their journeys to school place young girls at risk of physical and sexual violence. More than half of adolescent girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo <a href="http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/A_Statistical_Snapshot_of_Violence_Against_Adolescent_Girls.pdf">report experiencing physical violence</a>. And while all the 51 countries affected by conflict since 1985 have reported <a href="https://www.womensrefugeecommission.org/images/zdocs/I-m-Here-report-FINAL.pdf">sexual violence cases against adolescent girls</a>, less than 4% of the funding requested by aid agencies accounts for programmes to tackle gender-based violence. In these situations, saving lives is inseparable from changing lives through education.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123183/original/image-20160519-30723-13i58z9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123183/original/image-20160519-30723-13i58z9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123183/original/image-20160519-30723-13i58z9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123183/original/image-20160519-30723-13i58z9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123183/original/image-20160519-30723-13i58z9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123183/original/image-20160519-30723-13i58z9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123183/original/image-20160519-30723-13i58z9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123183/original/image-20160519-30723-13i58z9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Girls face the threat of sexual violence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Limited opportunities</h2>
<p>Early marriage is also a frequent alternative to education in contexts of severely limited opportunities and unsafe journeys to school. More than <a href="http://www.un.org/youthenvoy/armed-conflict/">half of the 30 countries</a> with the highest rate of child marriage are fragile or affected by conflict. And the transitions can be sudden – there were <a href="http://www.unicef.org/mena/media_9469.html">18 times more early marriages</a> among Syrian refugees in Jordan in 2013 compared with 2011.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123185/original/image-20160519-30694-1coe2nu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123185/original/image-20160519-30694-1coe2nu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123185/original/image-20160519-30694-1coe2nu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123185/original/image-20160519-30694-1coe2nu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123185/original/image-20160519-30694-1coe2nu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123185/original/image-20160519-30694-1coe2nu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123185/original/image-20160519-30694-1coe2nu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123185/original/image-20160519-30694-1coe2nu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Education or marriage?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A lack of education can also result in girls being recruited to fight in armed forces. While figures are hard to come by, on one estimate, <a href="https://www.warchild.org.uk/issues/child-soldiers?gclid=CMnu6b7zprQCFebLtAodrBEA8A">around 40% of child soldiers are young women</a>. Once recruited, their lives are disposable, <a href="http://files.unicef.org/media/files/Beyond_Chibok.pdf">three-quarters of suicide bombers</a> in some West African countries have been identified as young women. And military and terrorist organisations abduct young women: in Chibok, northern Nigeria, <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/video-missing-nigerian-girls-offers-hope-families-160414072054519.html">Boko Haram abducted at least 276 girls</a> – at least 219 of them are still missing.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123186/original/image-20160519-30689-1e06cqx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123186/original/image-20160519-30689-1e06cqx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123186/original/image-20160519-30689-1e06cqx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123186/original/image-20160519-30689-1e06cqx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123186/original/image-20160519-30689-1e06cqx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123186/original/image-20160519-30689-1e06cqx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123186/original/image-20160519-30689-1e06cqx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123186/original/image-20160519-30689-1e06cqx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Girls as child soldiers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Education cannot wait</h2>
<p>There is an urgent need to remove the obstacles facing adolescent girls on their journey to school. The shocking statistics presented here provide clear evidence of a problem that can no longer be ignored. Facing up to the problem needs to be accompanied by taking action. </p>
<p>The launch of the <a href="https://www.odi.org/publications/10405-education-cannot-wait-fund-education-emergencies">Education Cannot Wait Fund</a> at the World Humanitarian Summit next week is a golden opportunity for world leaders to show their commitment to transforming the lives of children and young people for the future. </p>
<p>But realising change is not just about grand gestures at world summits. As commitments we have made together with others as part of the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/06/16/united-states-and-united-kingdom-%E2%80%93-announcing-new-partnership-advance">US First Lady’s Let Girls’ Learn Initiative</a> highlight, change has to happen on the ground. Changing journeys of adolescent girls requires working together with communities to ensure they finally get the education they deserve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59689/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pauline Rose does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Abduction, sexual violence, early marriage: a few of the choices facing adolescent girls who ought instead to be in school.Pauline Rose, Professor, International Education and Director, Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/549752016-02-23T04:12:16Z2016-02-23T04:12:16ZSexual violence: a weapon of war in eastern Congo for more than 20 years<p><a href="http://www.panzihospital.org/about/dr-denis_mukwege">Denis Mukwege</a> has been treating female victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1996. The subject of a new documentary by Thierry Michel, <a href="http://mgafrica.com/article/2015-03-21-film-the-man-who-mends-women-salutes-doctor-treating-rape-victims-in-dr-congo">The Man Who Mends Women</a>, Mukwege has dedicated his life to caring for victims of rape and other forms of sexual abuse in Africa. It is an epidemic that continues despite the supposed end of the Second Congo War in 2003.</p>
<p>Sexual violence is often a hidden dimension of war. The film illustrates how survivors work to rebuild their lives, organise to resist aggressors and denounce their crimes. They do so even when trapped in seemingly endless conflicts.</p>
<p>Through the testimony and actions of these brave women, impressive progress has been made to mobilise support and build collective awareness of this tragic oppression. Yet 20 years after Mukwege began his work, the fact remains: no one is yet able to protect women in conflict zones and to end the use of rape as a weapon of war.</p>
<h2>The coming of the second war</h2>
<p>Knowing the region’s history is critical to understanding the gravity of the situation. In 1994, widespread attacks on civilian populations in the border provinces of eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) led to an influx of hundreds of thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees, defeated soldiers and militia members fleeing the Rwandan civil war. Two years later, the Rwandan Patriotic Army - the armed wing of the Rwandan Patriotic Front operating under the orders of Rwanda’s current President <a href="https://theconversation.com/rwanda-paul-kagame-sur-orbite-jusquen-2034-53001">Paul Kagame</a> - destroyed the camps, forcing the refugees to flee deeper into the country.</p>
<p>In conjunction with Congolese opposition groups, the Rwandan army pushed all the way to the Congolese capital, Kinshasa. In 1997 it brought down the regime of President Mobutu Sese Seko. Rwandan forces then occupied eastern Congo despite the hostility of the local population. By August 1998 when its senior officers were squeezed out of command positions in Kinshasa, Rwanda unleashed the Second Congo War.</p>
<p>By early 1999 the front line stabilised and the DRC was effectively partitioned. The strategists from Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi had essentially achieved their goal. Now began a war within the war. Senior commanders of the occupying forces worked to enhance their own power, while their armies took on the administration and economic exploitation of conquered provinces - each in their own way and according to their own priorities.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/181/33459.html">December 2001 statement</a>, the United Nations Security Council noted that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the plundering of the natural resources and other forms of wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues unabated.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It condemned activities</p>
<blockquote>
<p>which are perpetuating the conflict in the country, impeding the economic developing of the DRC and exacerbating the suffering of its people.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Submission of populations</h2>
<p>The nature of the conflict then shifted because there was another war that had to be won - forcing occupied populations into submission for the long term. The war of conquest now overlaid a civil war - or rather, civil wars. In working to build national alliances and reduce local resistance, the occupying armies exploited and aggravated existing divisions between populations.</p>
<p>In the province of Kivu, the armies’ task was made easier by the multiplicity of community and tribal affiliations, ethnic groups and cultural areas (Bashi, Bahavu, Bavira, Bafuliru, Bahunde, Banyindu, Batembo, Banyanga…), tensions between shepherds and farmers, rivalries between professional organisations and various associations.</p>
<p><figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111541/original/image-20160215-22593-19t8sdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111541/original/image-20160215-22593-19t8sdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111541/original/image-20160215-22593-19t8sdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111541/original/image-20160215-22593-19t8sdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111541/original/image-20160215-22593-19t8sdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111541/original/image-20160215-22593-19t8sdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111541/original/image-20160215-22593-19t8sdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A soldier of the UN force in Beni, in the north-eastern Congo, in March 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/13313977255/in/photolist-mhvBzZ-pRDYch-nmbViL-mhxvtA-mhvBce-nmbVqu-pKCYeE-pWS1H6-bsf4VC-pcdSh3-9A1XfW-7SstUb-nTiJUN-nTjt22-i4nJEg-Tiq8M-TeMM2-dj57Fg-mhsW96-ocz9dP-9JZ2ad-aRs3VB-LmLwa-85dAUz-CL89Cp-DckGrn-DhiEyd-7g6wA7-mhvBWa-5HA5Fq-Cn7jm7-dbReY5-7ZxrkX-6R29Q6-36mmPk-9nJKrX-e6isEb-mhs7R2-9A1Y5E-DhiFUQ-Lfsud-aRsoFZ-dx4Mos-aRsoFg-aRs3Wc-aRs3WP-aRs3Vg-aRsoGr-aRsoEz-aRs3UD">UN/Sylvain Liechti/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure></p>
<p>The situation lasted until October 2013 when the main rebel movement supported by the Rwandan authorities, M23, was defeated by the intervention of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/05/congo-rebels-surrender-hopes-peace">UN troops</a>. The surrender allowed Congolese armed forces to retake the DRC’s eastern provinces. Beyond the urban centres and main roads, however, various armed forces and militia continue to exploit local resources and populations.</p>
<h2>Women still suffer</h2>
<p>Now 20 years long, the conflict is fuelled by armed groups that are being continuously renewed. Local populations are subject to violence and abuse not only at the hands of foreign armies, but also numerous guerrilla movements fighting for control of land, resources and people.</p>
<p>Among those implicated by women’s testimony are men carrying arms or wearing uniforms, including many Congolese military and police officers. So are “all the men” who, in the climate of impunity and violence, abuse their authority over local populations, and particularly women. It is no longer a question of a war, but the perpetuation of a state of lawlessness.</p>
<p>Many countries rebuilding after an armed conflict see rates of sexual violence remain high or even increase. The continuing instability in eastern Congo has led to the region being dubbed the “<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23086003">rape capital of the world</a>”, even if reliable statistics in this domain remain difficult to establish.</p>
<p>The attitude of the Congolese authorities is also questionable, revealed by their <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/dr-congo-bans-documentary-surgeon-denis-mukwege-who-treated-40000-women-raped-conflict-1518315">banning</a> The Man Who Mends Women for two months after its initial release in September 2015.</p>
<p>In this context, it’s astonishing that the DRC - the site of the first great African war, which caused the highest number of casualties since World War II - has never set up special tribunal. An independent authority is needed to fully assess this tragedy and establish the responsibilities of all the warring parties.</p>
<p>Tribunals in the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone and Rwanda at least made strong symbolic denunciations of sexual violence as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Translated from the French by Leighton Walter Kille.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54975/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>André Guichaoua has received funding in the context of the research work of his laboratory.</span></em></p>Even with the end of the war in central Africa, continuing instability in the region has triggered an epidemic of rape.André Guichaoua, Professeur des universités, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-SorbonneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/321642014-10-31T00:41:27Z2014-10-31T00:41:27ZOur forgotten allies against Islamic State: Iraqi and Syrian women<p>Women and girls living in Syria and Iraq have been <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/islamic-state-uses-systematic-sexual-violence-women/">subject to gross sexual violence</a>, economic strife and the psychological trauma of a war that, to them, seems endless. But women in these countries are not just victims of violence, they are also great agents for change. These women should be our best allies in the fight against Islamic State.</p>
<p>We have seen reporting on <a href="http://www.jump-in.com.au/show/60minutes/stories/2014/september/this-week-on-60-minutes/">female Kurdish fighters</a>; women who were university students, mothers and grandmothers. But women are not just taking up arms. Though missing from the news, women in Syria and Iraq are also working towards peace. For example, in the suburbs of Damascus, a women’s group <a href="http://www.inclusivesecurity.org/syrian-women-know-defeat-isis/">negotiated a 40-day ceasefire</a> between regime and opposition forces to allow the passage of essential supplies. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"518341128840830976"}"></div></p>
<p>The US-led international coalition needs to go beyond seeing women as passive victims of this war. Instead, it needs to connect with these women, whose work is central to long-term stabilisation and peace in Syria and Iraq. </p>
<h2>What is the world doing to help these women?</h2>
<p>Nearly eight in ten of the 6.8 million people who have been <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e486a76.html">displaced</a> by the conflict in Syria are women and children. The United Nations has appealed for <a href="http://syria.unocha.org/">more than US$2.2 billion</a> to meet critical humanitarian needs of displaced people, but the international community has committed only one-third of what is needed. </p>
<p>Gender concerns are <a href="http://www.syrialearning.org/resource/10858">being integrated</a> into humanitarian planning and programming, but women and girls still face huge challenges. </p>
<p>The International Rescue Committee recently completed a large <a href="http://www.rescue.org/arewelistening">survey</a> of Syrian women and girls. When asked “what are the biggest challenges you are facing?”, the most common responses related to the daily reality of sexual exploitation and harassment:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Constantly fearful, women and girls told us about extreme levels of harassment.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Islamic State is using <a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/16/the_islamic_state_of_sexual_violence_women_rape_iraq_syria">sexual violence as a weapon of war</a>. The <a href="http://www.uniraq.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=2373:srsg-bangura-and-srsg-mladenov-gravely-concerned-by-reports-of-sexual-violence-against-internally-displaced-persons&Itemid=605&lang=en">United Nations in Iraq</a> has said that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… some 1500 Yazidi and Christian persons may have been forced into sexual slavery. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>When sexual violence is used as a weapon of war, the social fabric needed to recover from conflict is threatened. Even the UN Security Council has <a href="http://www.un.org/press/en/2008/sc9364.doc.htm">stated</a> in the past that sexual violence:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… can significantly exacerbate situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of international peace and security.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6ugKcwZjdxE?wmode=transparent&start=541" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A recent PBS Newshour report on the women and girls enslaved by Islamic State fighters.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The women leaders we could be supporting</h2>
<p>There is increasing acknowledgement that victory against Islamic State will <a href="http://rt.com/usa/188256-hagel-dempsey-isis-hearing/">take more than just dropping bombs</a>. We know from recent experiences in Afghanistan that violent extremism thrives in places where governance and the rule of law are virtually non-existent. There, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-08-31/taliban-out-governing-afghan-govt/1411702">military analysts</a> knew that coalition forces were being out-governed by the Taliban. </p>
<p>Local community leaders <a href="http://www.inclusivesecurity.org/syrian-women-know-defeat-isis/">in Syria</a> now fear that people will become radicalised in places where there is no employment, education or other opportunities. But there can be no stability if we do not address the security concerns of half the population. </p>
<p>October 31 marks the 14th anniversary of the landmark <a href="http://www.unfpa.org/women/1325.html">UN Security Council Resolution 1325</a> that formalised women’s participation and protection as a priority of international peace and security. It was the first in a suite of seven resolutions to acknowledge the disproportionate impact of conflict on women and girls. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63107/original/vqkmbz4f-1414549033.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63107/original/vqkmbz4f-1414549033.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63107/original/vqkmbz4f-1414549033.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63107/original/vqkmbz4f-1414549033.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63107/original/vqkmbz4f-1414549033.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63107/original/vqkmbz4f-1414549033.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63107/original/vqkmbz4f-1414549033.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63107/original/vqkmbz4f-1414549033.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shatha Naji Hussein from the Iraqi organisation Women for Peace has won multiple global awards for her peace efforts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That resolution obliges member states not just to protect women from sexual violence, but also to increase their participation in prevention, mitigation and resolution of conflict. </p>
<p>In Iraq, women like <a href="http://www.equalpowerlastingpeace.org/2013/03/01/un-agency-honors-iraqi-human-rights-activists/">Shatha Naji Hussein</a> work to secure the right for women to build a safer future. It’s a two-way process between civil society and government to empower women to bring about positive change in their communities. It’s women like this that the international community need to support in the fight against Islamic State. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63110/original/7dvr8shp-1414549299.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63110/original/7dvr8shp-1414549299.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63110/original/7dvr8shp-1414549299.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63110/original/7dvr8shp-1414549299.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63110/original/7dvr8shp-1414549299.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63110/original/7dvr8shp-1414549299.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63110/original/7dvr8shp-1414549299.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63110/original/7dvr8shp-1414549299.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Syrian radio talkshow host and producer Honey Al Sayed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Institute for Inclusive Security</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We need to support women like <a href="http://www.inclusivesecurity.org/network-bio/honey-al-sayed/">Honey Al Sayed</a>, who is promoting leadership and tolerance in Syria by communicating positive messages at the grassroots level, particularly to youth groups. She co-founded the online radio station <a href="https://soundcloud.com/souriali">Radio SouriaLi</a>, which promotes civic engagement, community development and responsible citizenship, under the motto “Unity in Diversity”.</p>
<p>Only with local leadership can there be effective conflict resolution and transition. Women like <a href="http://www.inclusivesecurity.org/network-bio/afra-jalabi/">Afra Jalabi</a>, who started <a href="http://thedayafter-sy.org/excutive-summery-2/">The Day After Project</a>, have developed plans for a post-conflict, democratic Syria. </p>
<p>The Syrian Women’s League has conducted a comparative assessment of constitutions in the region to establish a set of <a href="http://www.inclusivesecurity.org/10-ways-syrian-women-building-peace-democracy/">guiding principles</a> for a new Syrian constitution.</p>
<h2>What Australia and our allies can do</h2>
<p>At the <a href="http://www.eventfinda.com.au/2014/annual-civil-society-dialogue-on-women-peace-and-security/canberra/acton">Annual Civil Society Dialogue on Women, Peace and Security</a> on September 23, Australia’s Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women, Senator Michaelia Cash, <a href="http://minister.women.gov.au/media/2014-09-23/civil-society-dialogue-women-peace-and-security">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… there are countless other women who have the skills and capabilities to participate in peace-building and peacekeeping. But they are denied the opportunity. This must be remedied.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Having made <a href="http://www.defence.gov.au/Operations/Okra/">military commitments</a> to the conflict with Islamic State, the Australian government now needs to <a href="http://wpsac.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/australias-international-response-to-islamic-state-the-forgotten-half/">prioritise the commitments</a> made in the <a href="http://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/women/publications-articles/government-international/australian-national-action-plan-on-women-peace-and-security-2012-2018">Australian National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security 2012-2018</a>. It is a whole-of-government policy, which has bipartisan support. </p>
<p>One of the strategies of the National Action Plan is to “take a co-ordinated and holistic approach” to women, peace and security. </p>
<p>Of course, Australia and our allies need to invest in the protection of women and girls affected by the conflict in Syria and northern Iraq. But as Cash rightly pointed out, women are not merely victims in this conflict: they also have vital skills and local knowledge.</p>
<p>To defeat Islamic State in the long run, the world needs to support Iraqi and Syrian women to be more actively involved in conflict mitigation, resolution and peace processes. Australia could be doing more – and we need to be pushing our allies to do the same.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32164/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Hutchinson is the Convenor of the ACT Branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (Australian Section). Susan currently consults to the Australian National Committee for UN Women Australia. She is also affiliated with other civil society organisations working to advance the Women, Peace and Security agenda. </span></em></p>Women and girls living in Syria and Iraq have been subject to gross sexual violence, economic strife and the psychological trauma of a war that, to them, seems endless. But women in these countries are…Susan Hutchinson, PhD Candidate , Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/297142014-07-28T12:30:46Z2014-07-28T12:30:46ZISIS may not be enforcing FGM, but Iraqis still have to face the horrors of war<p>The July 24 <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/24/isis-women-girls-fgm-mosul-un">report</a> by UN official Jacqueline Badcock that <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-isis-and-where-did-it-come-from-27944">ISIS</a>, the militant Jihadist group now controlling areas of Syria and Iraq, had ordered all women between the ages <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28466434">of 11 and 46</a> to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) was rightly met with both outrage <a href="http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/no-the-islamic-state-has-not-ordered-all-women-to-undergo-fgm--lyuebSA6Wl">and scepticism</a>. </p>
<p>Though certain Kurdish and other Iraqi sources maintain the <a href="http://basnews.com/en/News/Details/ISIS-enforces-female-circumcision-/27970">veracity of the story</a>, ISIS <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/24/isis-deny-ordering-fgm-girls-mosul">has denied</a> issuing the fatwa. The controversy comes at a time when FGM has been in the news as a result of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/girl-summit-2014">Girl Summit</a> and the British prime minister’s declaration that parents who allow FGM <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jul/22/parents-allow-female-genital-mutilation-prosecuted-cameron-law">will be prosecuted</a>.</p>
<p>ISIS and other jihadi groups <a href="http://www.news.com.au/world/isis-fanatics-hurl-public-execution-victims-into-deep-ravine-in-syria/story-fndir2ev-1226968737176">routinely</a> inflict physical, psychological and <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/24/world/iraq-violence/">cultural</a> harm on conquered or subject people. It was this background that gave the UN report popular credence. </p>
<p>Their cause is abhorrent and their members psychopathic, and they recognise <a href="http://www.news.com.au/world/iraq-crisis-isis-rebels-hunting-for-wives-in-baiji/story-fndir2ev-1226963903347">no robust private sphere</a> of life in which diversity or freedom of thought can operate. They are keen to inflict an ascetic, heavily circumscribed life on their subjects – particularly with regard to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/25/iraq-islamic-state-full-veil-warns-wear-women-punishment">female sexuality</a>.</p>
<p>Given that FGM is conducted by various groups which identify as Muslim and given that, unlike in Christian and Jewish scripture, there are <a href="http://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/publications/2011/De-linking%20FGM%20from%20Islam%20final%20report.pdf">contestable</a> hadiths or teachings in Islam which <em>can</em> be interpreted as not explicitly prohibiting the practice or setting limits on its severity – even endorsing it – there was no reason to believe that ISIS would be incapable of issuing such an edict if it wished. Indeed, so pernicious and devoid of irony is ISIS that the fatwa, if a hoax, may even act as a policy proposal.</p>
<h2>Reality check</h2>
<p>The reality, however, is that there are great cultural and geographical differences in FGM practices. Most practising communities are found in Africa, with the notable exception in Iraq of certain Kurdish communities. It’s not a practice which is grounded primarily in scripture and is also found in groups that identify as Christian, animist and otherwise. </p>
<p>While the practice has little or no cultural traction in the vast majority of Iraqi communities, the fact that some of the most fervent ISIS members are from North Africa and other parts of the Islamic world may either mean that FGM is endorsed by some of their members or that the “hoax” was propagated as a means of highlighting the foreign nature of the conquest and occupation.</p>
<h2>Forced cutting as subjugation</h2>
<p>One of the problems that this topic highlights in the specific context of fanatical warfare and conquest is how bodily mutilation (and the word is appropriate here, though not necessarily in <a href="http://www.thehastingscenter.org/Publications/HCR/Detail.aspx?id=6059">other cases</a>, since the subject of the cutting is intended, in this circumstance, to feel mutilated and suppressed) has been as a means of humiliating, subjecting and “converting” conquered people. </p>
<p>While forced FGM would appear to be relatively rare, the practise of forced circumcisions of men is more common. Jewish groups in antiquity circumcised slaves and conquered groups. In recent times, Luo men in Kenya were <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jan/09/world/fg-circumcision9">forcibly circumcised</a> by the larger Kikuyu tribe and other circumcising groups. And there have been sporadic incidents of Muslim groups <a href="http://jme.bmj.com/content/suppl/2013/09/06/medethics-2013-101626.DC1/medethics-2013-101626supp.pdf">forcibly circumcising</a> non-Muslim people, including in Iraq, at various times in the history of Islam. </p>
<p>All forms of non-medical genital cutting are grounded in identity, marking someone’s transition either from childhood to adulthood or from one cultural group to another. Forced circumcision not only means inflicting physical pain and suffering on victims, it also means cutting away their identity and marking permanently and irreversibly their subjection to another cultural group. </p>
<p>The alleged ISIS fatwa seems unlikely to be true, but it does remind us of the long tradition of extremists in various parts of the world using mutilation to subjugate people, with forced cutting as part of subjugation a long tradition with men. The horrors experienced by women, <a href="http://unu.edu/publications/articles/rape-and-hiv-as-weapons-of-war.html">through rape</a> (also <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/report/93960/health-rape-as-a-weapon-of-war-against-men">experienced by men</a>), forced marriage and forced conversion, among other things, are already significant enough. </p>
<p>We can but hope the ISIS fatwa is indeed a hoax, but the horrors perpetuated by these jihadi groups already demonstrate that their arbitrary and limitless power in the areas under their control is the very worst scenario for residents. If they want to inflict FGM or rape or forced conversion or murder on people, they have the capacity. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/29714/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew T. Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The July 24 report by UN official Jacqueline Badcock that ISIS, the militant Jihadist group now controlling areas of Syria and Iraq, had ordered all women between the ages of 11 and 46 to undergo female…Matthew T. Johnson, Lecturer, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/186162013-09-26T02:13:53Z2013-09-26T02:13:53Z‘White Widow’, ‘Black Widow’: why do female terrorists perplex us?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31949/original/y8nsxwmm-1380155116.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">British woman Samantha Lewthwaite is suspected of being a ringleader in the Kenyan mall terror attacks. But why are we so surprised at the idea of a female terrorist?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Dai Kurokawa</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>While the <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/09/foreign-forensic-teams-join-kenya-mall-probe-2013925161123515149.html">Westgate terrorist siege</a> in Kenya propelled terrorist group <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenya-mall-attacks-somalias-anarchy-spreads-18518">Al Shabaab</a> and, to a lesser extent, the <a href="http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/kenyas-muslim-youth-center-and-al-shababs-east-african-recruitment">Muslim Youth Centre</a> (MYC) back onto the global scene, the alleged involvement of Samantha Lewthwaite, the <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/world/role-of-white-widow-in-kenya-westgate-shopping-centre-terrorist-attack-probed-20130923-2u8qp.html">“White Widow”</a>, has seemingly shocked both media and audiences internationally.</p>
<p>A convert to Islam at the age 15, Lewthwaite married <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4762591.stm">Germaine Lindsay</a> in 2002. Born in Jamaica and also a convert to Islam, Lindsay is known for his role as one of four 7/7 London bombers. Currently suspected as a ringleader in the Westgate plot, Lewthwaite has suspected links to Al Shabaab and is wanted in Kenya over terrorism-linked charges.</p>
<p>While the shock of the involvement of a female terrorist has made headlines around the world, females engaging in acts of politically motivated violence is not a new, or rare, phenomenon. In fact, there is an array of examples internationally of acts carried out by females - notably including the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzdoMbYnb7w">assassination of former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi</a> by Tamil Tiger suicide bomber Thenmozhi “Gayatri” Rajaratnam in 1991. </p>
<p>Females are often utilised by terrorist organisations for specific functions. However, why females become terrorists is often overlooked and can differ from their male counterparts.</p>
<h2>The ‘Black Widows’</h2>
<p>An example of where females are used prevalently in terrorist attacks are the <a href="http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data_collections/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=3971">“Black Widows” within Chechnya</a>. The Black Widows are female suicide bombers generally of Chechen origin, who have lost husbands (though sometimes also sons and brothers) in the Chechen secession wars against Russia. </p>
<p>The first renowned Black Widow was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/opinion/31pape.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">Khava Barayeva</a>, who blew herself up at a Russian military base in Chechnya in 2000. Black Widows were <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/mar/29/black-widows-women-moscow-bombings">also involved</a> in the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20067384">2002 siege</a> of the Moscow Nord-Ost theatre by Chechen rebels, in which 130 hostages were killed. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31958/original/fmbqtmfg-1380159783.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31958/original/fmbqtmfg-1380159783.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31958/original/fmbqtmfg-1380159783.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31958/original/fmbqtmfg-1380159783.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31958/original/fmbqtmfg-1380159783.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31958/original/fmbqtmfg-1380159783.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31958/original/fmbqtmfg-1380159783.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chechen ‘Black Widows’ were involved in the 2002 siege of the Nord-Ost theatre in Moscow, in which 130 hostages died.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/NTV</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although the Black Widows are often considered to be an overall phenomenon rather than an organised group, an alert was issued to the Russian security forces in 2004 regarding a woman known as <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/1436622/Meet-Black-Fatima-she-programmes-women-to-kill.html">“Black Fatima”</a>, who was thought to be the principal recruiter of female suicide bombers within Russia. Some attacks have been carried by group calling itself the “Black Widows Brigade”. </p>
<p>The most recent instance of a suicide attack by a Black Widow was in <a href="http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/25/18491887-black-widow-bomber-kills-one-wounds-14-in-russia?lite">May this year</a> in Dagestan.</p>
<h2>The ‘Mother of Believers’</h2>
<p>One of the more controversial cases of the utilisation of women as terrorists was a previous tactic used by Ansar al Sunnah in Iraq. Known as the “Mother of Believers”, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7869570.stm">Samira Jassim</a> admitted to recruiting, indoctrinating and training women to carry out suicide attacks for the organisation, particularly in the Baghdad and Diyala provinces.</p>
<p>On her arrest, Jassim said she had recruited 80 female suicide bombers, 28 of whom went on to carry out attacks. She also admitted to taking advantage of these women and had some of them raped to shame them into conducting the suicide attacks. After the rape, Jassim told the women that the only way they could escape this shameful act was to act as a suicide bomber. </p>
<p>Though this type of manipulation of females is incredibly rare and not generally used by terrorist organisations and insurgencies, in this case it was used as a means to carry out an attack while avoiding detection.</p>
<h2>Why do women commit acts of terror?</h2>
<p>From a tactical perspective, there are a variety of different reasons why women are used in terrorist campaigns. If the terrorist organisation or insurgency’s membership is depleted, women are often recruited into the movement to not only build up numbers, but also to fill tactical gaps. Women are often considered capable in achieving “surprise attacks”, because they are least expected. </p>
<p>Particularly in relation to attacks on “soft targets”, such as public gatherings, markets and ceremonies, women are often considered to be able to blend into the crowd and subsequently are able to avoid detection. However in some movements, such as the <a href="http://www.insightcrime.org/groups-colombia/farc">Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia</a> (the FARC), women are considered the military and are <a href="http://www.academia.edu/148962/Terrorism_Gender_and_Ideology_A_Case_Study_of_Women_who_Join_the_Revolutionary_Armed_Forces_of_Colombia_FARC_">put on the frontline</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31959/original/sznbyfcg-1380160045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31959/original/sznbyfcg-1380160045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/31959/original/sznbyfcg-1380160045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31959/original/sznbyfcg-1380160045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31959/original/sznbyfcg-1380160045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31959/original/sznbyfcg-1380160045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31959/original/sznbyfcg-1380160045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/31959/original/sznbyfcg-1380160045.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women also provide material, frontline support for groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Claudio Reyes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Why women choose to become terrorists depends on the individual, the organisation, and the political goal or aim of the group. In the case of some females - such as the Black Widows - it is to avenge the loss of a loved one such as a husband, brother, son or cousin. Sometimes the act of terrorism is also conducted to redeem the family name. </p>
<p>In this respect, women can become involved in terrorism for personal, rather than ideological, reasons. However, in the case of some movements like the FARC, female involvement is seen as a means of evening out patriarchy, and giving women a sense of empowerment, participation and accomplishment.</p>
<p>It is not surprising that significant attention has been given to the alleged involvement of the “White Widow”, because the idea of a female terrorist is unexpected and quite confronting for some. However, it is also highly unlikely this will be the last time a female terrorist is propelled onto the scene.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/18616/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Phelan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While the Westgate terrorist siege in Kenya propelled terrorist group Al Shabaab and, to a lesser extent, the Muslim Youth Centre (MYC) back onto the global scene, the alleged involvement of Samantha Lewthwaite…Alexandra Phelan, Teaching Associate/PhD Candidate at Global Terrorism Research Centre, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.