Gender-sensitive parliaments can help end conflicts – IPU president

More women parliamentarians can play a major role in addressing global security conflicts, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) president, Duarte Pacheco, has said. Speaking Monday October 11, at a press conference on the side-lines of the ongoing IPU’s 145th assembly taking place in Kigali, Pacheco said gender-equal parliaments have the power to influence decisions that can prevent wars. The press briefing was also attended by Speaker of Parliament, Donatille Mukabalisa, and the IPU’s Secretary General, Martin Chungong. The assembly is being held under the theme “Gender equality and gender-sensitive parliaments as drivers of change for a more resilient and peaceful world.” Some of the subjects to be discussed during the assembly include terrorism, the effects of armed conflicts, the role of parliaments in addressing stopping the violation of migrants’ rights and human trafficking among other issues affecting the world. In view of the global average of the proportion of women lawmakers, currently at 26 per cent, delegates at the assembly highlight the need to have more women in parliaments. “Gender-sensitive parliaments can help bring more global security. This is because there’s no mother that feels well when she sees their children going to war. And that just shows the difference,” Pacheco said. He added: “I believe that with gender-sensitive parliaments we will be more open, and try to understand the positions of the others and to open to dialogue and avoid so many conflicts.” Drawing on the lessons from Rwanda, Mukabalisa said that to end the security challenges and conflicts, there's a need for parliaments to address the underlying root causes. “Conflicts are mostly the result of bad governance. As you know the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda happened because of bad governance and some people had been marginalised and denied their rights,” she said. “We need to ask whether the laws passed by parliaments address all those issues and whether through their oversight of the executive, parliaments ensure that the existing laws and policies are well implemented. If the interests of all citizens are protected equally, the conflicts and unending wars are prevented.” Mukabalisa added that thanks to inclusive governance women played a notable role in the rebuilding of Rwanda after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, something she said other countries should learn from. Chungong said that engaging women in peace processes can be the “game-changer.” “When women are involved in negotiations of peace agreements, those agreements tend to be sustainable. That is why we say that it is important for women to be at the table when peace processes are initiated.”

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Gender-sensitive parliaments can help end conflicts – IPU president