Gendering Post-Conflict peace building in Cyprus For the past 42 years, the citizens of the divided island of Cyprus have lived in a political stalemate. Peace negotiations, between the south, controlled by the Greek Cypriot government of the Republic of Cyprus and the north controlled by a Turkish Cypriot Administration and the present Turkish army, have been on the table since the 1974 war. The entire process of peace agreements has been drawn-out and unproductive, ridden with intricate power relationships, having little regard to the representation of women in the negotiations. Cyprus’ overarching patriarchal conceptions, still to this day, reserve political power and privilege for men. Such social and political constructs see women as exclusive occupants of the private sphere, marginalising their needs, experiences and issues, effectively getting them to remain quiet, while men deal with the more important issues involved in the peace agreements. This paper will examine the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions (SCRs) on women, peace and security (WPS). Having as its base SCR 1325 1 analysis in light of the war, conflict and post-conflict situation in Cyprus, will consider the potential relevance of all SCRs on WPS to the process of peace agreements. Through problematizing the implementation and legal language used in the UN SCRs on WPS, conclusions will be drawn in relation to how Cyprus approaches gender, peace building and conflict resolution. Despite having ratified UNSCR 1325, Cyprus does not yet have a National Action Plan (NAP) for its implementation. 1 Security Council Resolution 1325, UN Doc. S/RES/1325 (31 October 2000) (SCR 1325)
Transcript
G e n d e r i n g P o s t - C o n f l i c t p e a c e b u i l d i n g i n C y p r u s
For the past 42 years, the citizens of the divided island of Cyprus have lived in
a political stalemate. Peace negotiations, between the south, controlled by the Greek
Cypriot government of the Republic of Cyprus and the north controlled by a Turkish
Cypriot Administration and the present Turkish army, have been on the table since the
1974 war. The entire process of peace agreements has been drawn-out and
unproductive, ridden with intricate power relationships, having little regard to the
representation of women in the negotiations. Cyprus’ overarching patriarchal
conceptions, still to this day, reserve political power and privilege for men. Such
social and political constructs see women as exclusive occupants of the private
sphere, marginalising their needs, experiences and issues, effectively getting them to
remain quiet, while men deal with the more important issues involved in the peace
agreements. This paper will examine the implementation of UN Security Council
Resolutions (SCRs) on women, peace and security (WPS). Having as its base SCR
13251 analysis in light of the war, conflict and post-conflict situation in Cyprus, will
consider the potential relevance of all SCRs on WPS to the process of peace
agreements. Through problematizing the implementation and legal language used in
the UN SCRs on WPS, conclusions will be drawn in relation to how Cyprus
approaches gender, peace building and conflict resolution. Despite having ratified
UNSCR 1325, Cyprus does not yet have a National Action Plan (NAP) for its
implementation.
1 Security Council Resolution 1325, UN Doc. S/RES/1325 (31 October 2000) (SCR 1325)
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UN Security Council Resolutions on women, peace and security
It is in this context, that the implementation of UN SCRs was necessary to
advocate for the increased participation of women in the deterrence of conflict and
resolution initiatives, as well as their protection during conflict.2 Considered by many
to be a crucial landmark, SCR 1325 epitomises the very first time ‘that the UN
Security Council specifically dealt with gender issues and women’s experiences in
‘conflict’ and ‘post-conflict’ situations’3 as well as advocating for ‘women’s equal
engagement in, and contributions to all stages of peace building, peacekeeping and
conflict prevention.’4 Since then, the UN Security Council has adopted seven more
resolutions on women, peace and security: 1820 in 2008, 1888 and 1889 in 2009,
1960 in 2010, 2106 and 2122 in 2013 and the latest, 2242 in 2015.5 Those will be
looked at in the context of Cyprus, throughout the course of this paper.
The translation of the commitments and opportunities, advocated by UN SCRs
on WPS, from concept to practise has not been without its challenges. Despite the
emergence of more resolutions on WPS since 1325, women’s NGOs in Cyprus have
focused solely on 1325 to mobilize the Cypriot Government into action. In 2012,
GAT the Gender Advisory Team of Cyprus 6 , compiled a document of
recommendations for effectively incorporating a gender perspective in peace
2 Nicola Pratt a & Sophie Richter-Devroe (2011) International Feminist Journal of Politics, Critically Examining UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security 3 Security Council Resolution 1325, UN Doc. S/RES/1325 (31 October 2000) (SCR 1325) 4 UN Women, The 2012 Open Days on Women, Peace and Security, pg 3 5 Security Council Resolution 1820, UN Doc. S/RES/1820 (19 June 2008) (SCR 1820), Security Council Resolution 1888, UN Doc. S/RES/1888 (30 September 2009) (SCR 1888), Security Council Resolution 1889, UN Doc. S/RES/1889 (5 October 2009) (SCR 1960), Security Council Resolution 1960, UN Doc. S/RES/1960 (16 December 2010) (SCR 1960), Security Council Resolution 2106, UN Doc. S/RES/2106 (24 June 2013) (SCR 2106), Security Council Resolution 2122, UN Doc. S/RES/2122 (18 October 2013) (SCR 2122), Security Council Resolution 2242, UN Doc. S/RES/2242 (13 October 2015) (SCR 2242) 6 http://www.gat1325.org
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negotiations and peace agreements7 mainly focusing on SC Resolution 1325. The
recommendations put forward by GAT serves to support the argument that in essence
women are not absent from peace agreements as such, but their participation tends to
get written out of formal documents. Cyprus grass root feminist organisations, such as
GAT, are no different in such manner; they operate and contribute in peace
agreements, without being awarded the proper recognition.8 As explained in the
report, ‘GAT has been working on the implementation of UNSCR 1325 since 2009
and has in that time produced a number of texts and recommendations, which have
formed the basis of the present report’9
Women’s networks in Cyprus have paid insufficient attention to the remaining
resolutions on women, peace and security, perhaps in confidence that 1325 is still the
benchmark resolution. However, I argue, it is more beneficial for women’s NGOs and
civil society engagements to be able to refer to all eight resolutions at any time,
utilising the recommendations that suit their cause best. On the other side of the coin
however, there is a cloud of controversy surrounding the collective functioning of the
resolutions from an institutional perspective; it almost seems as if while they offer so
many diverse options, at the same time they offer nothing in practise as most of them
are seldom realised. In dealing with this predicament, there have been no
clarifications offered by the UN Security Council on whether the eight resolutions are
to be applied in conjunction or whether they should essentially repeal each other.
Notwithstanding, analysis of all eight resolutions on women, peace and security will
7 Women’s Peace in Cyprus: Recommendations of the Gender Advisory Team (GAT) on Implementing UNSCR 1325 Provisions on Women, Peace and Security, PCC Report 3/2012 8 Hadjipavlou, Maria (2013) Cypriot Women’s Struggles for Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, http://www.e-ir.info/2013/01/07/cypriot-womens-struggles-for-implementation-of-un-security-council-resolution-1325/ 9 Women’s Peace in Cyprus: Recommendations of the Gender Advisory Team (GAT) on Implementing UNSCR 1325 Provisions on Women, Peace and Security, PCC Report 3/2012
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be provided in various parts of the paper, unpacking the ones that are best believed
would prove more useful for women in Cyprus’ peace process.
Analysis of law:
Scrutinising the language used in SCRs brings to light the inconsistencies that
hinder their theoretical aspirations. The first mention of women and peace agreements
appears in paragraph 8 of SC Resolution 1325 calling ‘on all actors involved, when
negotiating and implementing peace agreements, to adopt a gender perspective’10 by
focusing on three things in order to achieve this. First, is an encouragement to pay
attention to ‘the special needs of women and girls’ in the peace process, which
instantly rings a few feminist bells. While on the surface of it, the term ‘special needs’
might be justified as referring the particular experiences of women as being different
to the ones of men, I would suggest that this places women under an ‘othering’ lens,
yet again treating them as the subordinate other. In an island ridden with underlying
sexism, a resolution consolidating any such stereotypes runs the danger of ultimately
hindering the societal perceptions of women.
The second and third limbs reinforce the protectionality that should be
afforded to women, presumably due to their ‘special’ status by calling for the ‘support
for local women's initiatives’ and the protection and ‘respect for the human rights of
women and girls’11. Significantly, such measures need to be implemented to ‘involve
women in all of the implementation mechanisms of the peace agreements’12, making
it obvious that women are only fit to contribute in carrying out the ‘implementation’
as opposed to actually participating, negotiating and contributing to such
implementation mechanisms. The language indicates an inherent stereotyping process
and a concealed but active exclusion of women, as it calls for their recognition as 10 SCR 1325, para 8 11 ibid, para 8 12 ibid, para 8
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‘special’ and different as well as their inability to actively and meaningfully
contribute to the Cyprus peace agreements.
Participation:
Looking at SCR 2122 through an analytical lens, one can extract analogous
inferences. Paragraph 7(c) speaks directly to women’s participation, by requesting
‘the Secretary-General to support the appointments of women at senior levels as
United Nations mediators and within the composition of United Nations mediation
teams…’13 This part begs the question of whether that is a women peace and security
initiative or actually just a section about creating roles for women, irrespective of
whether they have a valuable agenda to promote. While tokenism is beyond the scope
of this paper, I suggest that the appointment of women does not always signify the
solution to women, peace and security challenges and even if gender parity is
achieved on a political level, it does not automatically assume the capability of
permeating throughout the political hierarchy. In terms of political participation, a
number of women in Cyprus appear at some high-ranking political posts: ‘these
include the Law Commissioner, the Commissioner for Administration (Ombudsman),
the Auditor-General, the Deputy Accountant-General of the Republic, and the
Commissioner for the Protection of Personal Data’14 Yet, as will be established in
subsequent sections, they are nowhere to be seen on the negotiating table. Identifying
several high-ranking positions held by women is usually successfully utilised by
Cypriot politicians in response to their failure to implement UNSCRs on WPS. SCR
2122 therefore holds the danger of perpetuating tokenism, failing to establish that it is
less important to have women in high-ranking positions, just for the sake of ticking
13 SCR 2122, para 7 14Koursoumba, Leda (2005), ‘The Gender Equality And The Empowerment Of Women In Cyprus’ Presentation By The Law Commissioner Of Cyprus, At The Annual Event 2005 Of The Olave Baden – Powell Society
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off a box, and more important that the gendered structures and institutions that
disadvantage women are eradicated.15
Likewise, Paragraph 1 of SCR 2122 appears to be a helping hand for women
who seek to mobilize their governments, as it reiterates ‘the need for consistent
implementation of resolution 1325 (2000)’ and the focus ‘on women’s leadership and
participation in conflict resolution and peace building’16 Women’s participation in
‘peace building’ specifically, warrants attention. Once again, the role of women is
limited to a stage of the peace process, when decisions during the ‘substantive or
framework agreements’17 have already been taken and means by which peace will be
achieved have already been arranged. Studies and debates carried out by women who
actively pursue women’s rights in Cyprus have considered the vitality of
‘peacekeeping operations’ work to improve the gender balance in peacekeeping
mission staff’18, once again focusing on the maintaining of the peace, instead of on
the achievement of it. The approach taken by Cypriot politicians regarding the
implementation of SCRs however, points to the problematic internal perception of
women when it comes to their involvement in the peace process, showing no signs of
attitudinal change. In October 2014, Mr. Menelaou, Deputy Permanent Representative
at the Security Council spoke at the Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace
and Security.19 While Mr. Menelaou immediately recognised that ‘resolution 1325
15 Heathcote, Gina (2014) Participation, Gender and Security in Rethinking Peacekeeping, Gender Equality and Collective Security, Edited by Gina Heathcote and Dianne Otto, pg 64 16 ibid, para 1 17 Bell, Christine (2008) ‘On the law of peace: peace agreements and the Lex Pacificatoria' Oxford University Press, pg 60 18Statement by Mr. Menelaou, Permanent Mission of Cyprus to the United Nations at the Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security October 2014, Security Council Chamber http://www.peacewomen.org/sites/default/files/scwps2014_statement_cyprus_0.pdf 19 Statement by Mr. Menelaou, Permanent Mission of Cyprus to the United Nations at the Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security October 2014, Security Council Chamber http://www.peacewomen.org/sites/default/files/scwps2014_statement_cyprus_0.pdf
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(2000) mandates that women should participate in making and keeping peace’20 he
proceeds by placing emphasis on ways by which women need to be ‘keeping’ the
peace instead of ‘making’ it.
Addressing the victimhood of women manifests in several SCRs following
1325 and this specific speech echoes SCR 1888, by stressing the necessity to ‘protect’
women, overshadowing the necessity to incorporate their contribution in the peace
negotiations. The tendency to reduce women to mere victims of ‘sexual and gender-
based violence’21 during war and conflict is a method by which women’s agency is
stripped away, rendering them perpetual victims in need of protection. Mr. Menelaou
proceeds by giving credit to Cypriot women who ‘have provided shelter and relief to
victims in the aftermath of war, struggling to learn the fate of missing persons,
participated in the international legal and political effort to restore the rights of the
displaced, worked to raise international awareness and promoted a message of peace,
reconciliation and peaceful coexistence’22 The gendered roles described above lend
themselves to problematic interpretations regarding the implementation of UNSCRs.
Women’s integration relies on keywords such as ‘shelter and relief’, ‘worked to raise
awareness’ and ‘promoted a message of peace’ all of which bring about harmful
stereotypes viewing women’s participation in the form of the ‘keeping’ of peace,
instead of ‘making’ of peace, stresses the fact that the role of women during conflict
is predominantly humanitarian. The report explains that ‘Cypriot women have been
particularly active throughout the years’23and therefore there has been a progress in
the participation of women in peacekeeping. Their involvement has been justified ‘in
international humanitarian organizations such as the Red Cross’ praising Cypriot
20 ibid 21 ibid 22 ibid 23 ibid
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women for having made ‘important contributions in solidarity and humanitarian aid
campaigns.’24 It soon becomes apparent that when the warfare and peace-negotiations
are resolved, women are summoned to re-construct the society and restore the pieces
left. Such analysis makes it obvious how women’s participation in peace agreement is
at the very least, unsystematic and Mr. Menelaou’s speech fails yet again, to ‘translate
women's activism into a presence at the peace table.’25
Peace agreements:
Christine Bell has classified peace agreements ‘in terms of the stage of the
process in which they occur’26 establishing the ‘three phases of peace process
negotiations: pre-negotiation agreements, framework/substantive agreements, and
implementation/renegotiation agreements.’ 27 In light of her three stage-function
classification, I will analyse the participation of women in the context of Cyprus
peace agreements and indicate that despite the implementation of 1325, women have
not been invited to all three stages of peace agreements, revealing ‘a gap between the
aspirations of global and regional commitments and the reality of peace processes.’28
Christine Bell and Dr Catherine O’Rourke have also recognised peace agreements as
‘document agreement between warring parties in an attempt to end the conflict and
establish politics as an alternative. Inclusion in peace agreement texts is therefore an
important starting point in achieving other political, legal and social gains for
women.’29
24 ibid 25 Rehn, Elisabeth and Johnson Sirleaf, Ellen (2002)Women, War and Peace: The Independent Experts’ Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women’s Role in Peace-building, pg 79 26 Bell, Christine (2008) ‘On the law of peace: peace agreements and the Lex Pacificatoria' Oxford University Press, pg 56 27 ibid, pg 56 28 Papastavrou, Sophia, Where are the women in the peace process? (2013) http://cyprus-mail.com/2013/11/10/where-are-the-women-in-the-peace-process/ 29 Bell, Christine and O'Rourke, Catherine, Peace Agreements Or Pieces Of Paper? The Impact Of Unsc Resolution 1325 On Peace Processes And Their Agreements http://ssrn.com/abstract=1781990
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Going back to the recommendations made by GAT, it is obvious that women are not
absent from grassroots practices of reconciliation and peace making, but in the case of
Cyprus they have yet to make it to the national negotiating tables.30 National Council
meetings in Cyprus are comprised exclusively of men, posing a few question marks
on the realistic implementation of SCRs on women, peace and security. The peace
agreement process and its eventual achievement hold ‘a distinctive quasi-
constitutional quality’31 reflecting conditions and declarations initiated during those
formal processes. Such formations are often included in the drafting of a new
Constitution, in which Cypriot women will not have a say. The picture below, taken
from a Cyprus Mail article32 published in 2014, demonstrates the reality of Cypriot
peace negotiations.
As described in the article accompanying the photograph, ‘the agenda [of the National
30 ibid 31 ibid 32 Cyprus Mail, Marathon National Council meeting produces neither decisions nor consensus (2014) http://cyprus-mail.com/2014/01/25/marathon-national-council-meeting-produces-neither-decisions-nor-consensus/
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Council meeting] consisted of the latest developments on the Cyprus problem, the
President’s trip to the UK, and the issue of recourse to the Turkish Immovable
Property Commission (IPC)…’33 Any such discussions leading to a possible peace
agreement enjoy the sole contributions of men, who have consistently failed to take
UNSCRs on WPS seriously. The verdicts are then communicated to laypeople, such
as women, who are asked to embrace those finalised decisions and participate by
preserving the peace established by men. Despite the theoretical recognition by
politicians of SCRs and the principle that women in Cyprus need to be part of the
peace process, the reality is that, as Mr. Menelaou made abundantly clear, the women
of Cyprus are seen as fit to solely keep the peace, not make it.
To date, ‘Cyprus is among the three countries in the European Union that have
the lowest representation of women in politics’.34 The Mediterranean Institute of
Gender Studies35 conducted a study in 2015, indicating that ‘Cyprus ranks as 74th in
relation to representation of women in the Council of Ministers and in 107th in
relation to women’s representation in parliament.’ 36 Despite that, the Cypriot
Government has taken ‘very limited action…to encourage women’s involvement in
political and public life’37 Similarly, on an international level the over-representation
of men ‘in formal decision making structures has not been identified [by any SCR on
women, peace and security] as a significant barrier to women’s representation’ 38
In the following section, I bridge the analysis of law with the specificities of the
Cypriot context, in order to advocate for the need for the Cypriot government to
33 ibid 34 EU justice 2014, House of Representative 2015 35 Pavlou, Susana (2015) The Gender Gap in Women’s Leadership in Cyprus Show Her She Can: Empowering Cypriot Women to Innovate and Participate AKTI Project and Research Centre 36 ibid, pg 3 37 ibid, pg 5 38 Heathcote, Gina (2014) Participation, Gender and Security in Rethinking Peacekeeping, Gender Equality and Collective Security, Edited by Gina Heathcote and Dianne Otto, pg 52
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examine its own participation practises when it comes to the inclusion of women in
peace agreements.
Repercussions for women in Cyprus
Thinking about peace as a continuum not only poses questions regarding the
women peace and security framework as such, but also allows us to acknowledge how
the different stages of conflict are gendered. A precise picture of what a post-conflict
stage should incorporate is very hard to imagine. Junne and Verokren have defined
post-conflict as a ‘conflict situation in which open warfare has come to an end. Such
situations remain tense for years or decades and can easily relapse into large-scale
violence’39 The situation in Cyprus is a bit more complicated than that; while there is
a mutually agreed ‘peace’, peace building negotiations have never really come to
fruition and inter-ethnic fighting and violence still occur occasionally at low levels.
Despite encouragements by SCR 1325 to implement women’s experiences in the
aftermath of the formal hostilities, Cyprus’ post conflict discourses mainly focus on
the experiences of women in retrospect, during the armed conflict and the 1974 war,
echoing the patronising protectionality offered by SCR 1888.
If you look back through the history of Cyprus, there is a tendency to
essentialise women’s roles in conflict and war situations and this sets the stage for the
limitations that follow for women in the post-conflict stage. The eternal confinement
of the modern history of Cyprus is signified in this photograph below, one of the most
renowned, post-war photographs in Cyprus.
39 Junne, G. & Verokren, W. (Ed). Post-conflict development: meeting new challenges. 2005, Boulder, CO
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The end of the war in September 1974 resulted in the partition of the island and the
influx of reports of around 1600 missing people, most of whom were Greek Cypriot
male soldiers who had fought the Turkish attackers.40 The veiled mothers of the
missing soldiers became the faces of the aftermath of the war. Once again women had
become symbols, assuming relational roles to men as mothers and victims of the
atrocities of the war. There is an assumption, by looking at this picture, that women
only stepped in at the very end of the conflict, to participate in a peaceful protest.
Such gendering of the conflict period in Cyprus carries on that image in the post-
conflict stage, creating an assumption that women are in no position to assume
political or military roles, but are rather the perpetual victims of war and conflict,
incapable of exerting agency.
Militarism and Nationalism
Cypriot nationalism and militarism discourses epitomise the role women play
in reproducing nations and national agendas. Recent research indicates that ‘the main
40 Missing Cypriots, since the 1974 Turkish invasion, Organisation of Relatives of Undeclared Prisoners and Missing Persons of Cyprus http://www.missing-cy.org.cy
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reason for the low representation of women in politics is the conservative traditional
features of the Cypriot society.’41 The failure of the education system, the media, as
well as the family, ‘to support and encourage women’s efforts to enter the political
arena’ is another reason for low representation.42 Being an ethnically divided island,
Cyprus has been documented as ‘one of the most militarized places in the world’43
with nationalism, patriarchy, sexism and racism escalating, ‘especially in the last few
years due to the continuation of the division and the influx of migrants and Turkish
settlers in the northern part of the island.’44The Cypriot understanding of post conflict
stage therefore, is the construction of a heavily militarised state, with apparent
repercussions on gender in peace and security. Military and political leaders are key
leaders in the peace agreement process and women are only invited as civil society
actors. Political leaders disregard gender as insignificant in peace agreements,
excluding it from the political and peace discourse, which has been dominated by
purely ethnic concerns.45
Clearly, the patriarchal system of Cyprus has its ways in exerting control over
women, with militarism and nationalism posing a barrier to SCRs norm acceptance as
well as reproducing masculinities and femininities, spreading the necessity of gender
divisions and the slotting of women into their gendered box. Upon completion of
secondary school, usually at the age of 18, Greek Cypriot boys commence, not only
their mandatory two-year military service at the Cypriot National Guard but also their
immersion into a separatist, nationalist conditioning. For Greek Cypriot girls
41 Koursoumba, Leda (2005), ‘The Gender Equality And The Empowerment Of Women In Cyprus’ Presentation By The Law Commissioner Of Cyprus, At The Annual Event 2005 Of The Olave Baden – Powell Society 42 ibid 43 Hadjipavlou, Maria (2013) Cypriot Women’s Struggles for Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, http://www.e-ir.info/2013/01/07/cypriot-womens-struggles-for-implementation-of-un-security-council-resolution-1325/ 44 ibid 45 ibid
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however, an army service is not an option. There is however, what the government
considers, a corresponding responsibility for girls, in serving at the ‘Cyprus Civil
Defence Force’46. The Civil Defence Force of Cyprus locally known as ‘Politiki
Amina’, carries out ‘various humanitarian projects intended to protect the civilian
population and to help it recover from the immediate effects of hostilities or disasters,
as well as to provide the conditions necessary for its survival.’47 Based on gender-
specific paradigms such as these, men and women’s roles in consolidating peace in
Cyprus are no different. Men assume a combatant, decision-making role, while
women are called to embark on social and humanitarian work, aiding the recovery of
‘hostilities’ and ‘disasters’ created by the violence of men. Straightaway, it becomes
obvious that for women to participate in the making of peace in Cyprus, there needs
to be an eradication of the ‘gendered division of leadership spaces and roles that
disproportionately encourage men’s active and physical engagement in public life.’48
Ultimately, the militarised nationalist discourse indoctrinates an ethnic
separation, disapproving of any rapprochement attempts made by Greek Cypriots.
Any such attempts could effectively brand one as a ‘traitor’ for trying to make links
with the ‘enemy’. Coupled with rapprochement, gender is similarly not part of the on-
going militarised nationalist discourse that would ensure the participation of women
as envisaged by UN Security Council. One can start understanding why bi-communal
women’s non-governmental organisations, such as Hands Across the Divide (HAD),
are snubbed. ‘20 case studies of implementation of UNSCR 1325 in Europe’49 reveals
that HAD ‘seeks to foster alliances with individuals and organisations across the
46 See http://www.moi.gov.cy/moi/cd/cd.nsf/page19_gr/page19_gr?OpenDocument 47 ibid 48 L. Orina, Heather (2014) Enhancing Women’s Peacebuilding Participation: Household Gender Norms Change in Post-Conflict Burundi, pg 17 49 EPLO, European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (2013) UNSCR in Europe: 20 case studies of implementation of UNSCR 1325 in Europe, Cyprus by Hadjipavlou, Maria and Zenon, Magda, pg 18
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divide and abroad to ensure that gender equality is mainstreamed in peace efforts at
all levels’50, making it thus unappealing to the Cypriot nationalist discourse. Being
conferred the status of a rapprochement supporter that also happens to be a woman is
a twofold hindrance, rendering one unfit to adhere to the nationalist discourse and
therefore unable to be a part of ‘us’. The difficulty therein lies in actually realising a
method by which UN SCRs on WPS can transcend the militarised nationalist
discourse in Cyprus, shifting the politics of peace negotiations and the militarisation
of the armed conflict that make such spaces assume a masculine nature, into more
inclusive spaces.
Intersectionality:
It is important to recognise the harmful outcomes of militarism and
nationalism when it comes to the attitudinal reception of SCR on WPS and women
participating in the peace process. In the context of the Cypriot peace agreements,
subsists a struggle regarding the question of which women can realistically access
such process. SCRs on WPS incorporate no reference to the intersections of gender
with religion, ethnicity, race or sexuality, assuming an essentialist interpretation of
women. 51 By way of omission, SCRs seem to privilege ‘a universal gender identity in
understanding women’s experiences and responses to conflict, above other social
categories such as, nationality, class, ethnicity or religion…’52 This, I argue, becomes
of utmost importance in a multi-ethnic country such as Cyprus when looking at
women’s participation in the formal process of the peace agreements.
50 ibid, pg 20 51 Heathcote, Gina (2014) Participation, Gender and Security in Rethinking Peacekeeping, Gender Equality and Collective Security, Edited by Gina Heathcote and Dianne Otto, pg 52 52 Nicola Pratt a & Sophie Richter-Devroe (2011) International Feminist Journal of Politics, Critically Examining UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, pg 491
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The population of Cyprus is a mix of ethnic origins. According to Cyprus’
statistical service53 in a demographic report conducted in 2011 found that there is 76%
of Greek Cypriot, 10% Turkish Cypriots and 14% Others,54 That means that minority
groups such as Turkish Cypriot and Maronite, Armenian and Latin, referred to as
others, and especially those women are less likely to be able to participate in any
formal peace negotiations, despite their participation in grassroots activism, not only
because of their status as minorities but also because of the inherent nationalistic
discourse enduring in the politics of the island. It is therefore more likely that,
deploying the term ‘women’ as a unitary group, in the context of Cyprus specifically,
will translate into an exclusionary category favoring some ethnic groups more than
others.
In 2015, following a High-level Review of the UN Security Council
resolutions on WPS55, the UN passed SCR 2242 in October of the same year. Similar
to most of its predecessors, SCR 2242 focuses on women’s participation, with an
improvement in the very first paragraph calling straightforwardly for ‘women’s
meaningful inclusion in negotiating parties’ delegations to peace talks’56 While SCR
2242 ‘welcomes the efforts of regional organizations to implement resolution 1325’57
the nationalist rhetoric overwhelming Cyprus prevents regional organizations such as
Hands Across the Divide (HAD) and GAT to attract the essential attentiveness of the
Government, due to their intersectional and multiethnic agenda. In such context, ‘to
53Statistical Service, The Republic of Cyprus http://www.mof.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/index_en/index_en?OpenDocument 54 ibid 55 High-Level Review of SC Resolution 1325 (2000): from Rhetoric to Effective Result, Open debate of the Security Council (October, 2015), see at http://wps.unwomen.org/~/media/files/un%20women/wps/highlights/wps%20hlr%20open%20debate%20concept%20note%20october%202015%20edited.pdf 56 SCR 2242, para 1 57 ibid, para 2
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increase the funding’58 of those organizations, as suggested by SCR 2242, would be
considered absurd bearing in mind that any such funding would be perceived by the
Government as ultimately funding the unity between ‘us’ and ‘them’. Ethnic divisions
and inherent nationalism signify the unfortunate unsuitability of suggestions put
forward by SCR 2242 in the context of Cyprus. The following section, in examining
the reasons behind the ineffectiveness of SCR on WPS in Cyprus, deals with the issue
of plausible solutions by way of establishing a National Action Plan (NAP).
Potential solutions:
One of the main reasons why women in Cyprus are unable to penetrate
through the masculine political ceiling, which also keeps them away from the
negotiating tables, is the absence of accountability mechanisms in the resolutions and
the nature of the resolutions themselves. As with most resolutions concerning
women, the SCR resolutions do not compel an obligatory reporting on their
implementation on States, bearing the capacity of soft law documents. UN SCRs on
WPS simply ‘urge’, ‘encourage’, ‘request’ or ‘invite’ Member States to strengthen
gender equality, using declaratory and aspirational language, making them non-
binding products of Chapter VI.59 Whether UN Resolutions created under Chapter VI
are binding or not has been the subject of extensive debate60 which is beyond the
scope of this paper, but suffice to say that 16 years after the introduction of SCR 1325
Cyprus has yet to implement a National Action Plan, with no repercussions. The
recognition and understanding of the obligations stipulated in SCRs on WPS, as an
integrated part of the legal framework on women, peace and security should be the
58 ibid, para 3 59 Chapter VI, United Nations Charter 60See Appiagyei-Atua, Kwadwo, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security — Is it Binding?
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next step in Cyprus’ agenda by introducing a NAP. There are currently 58 countries
that have introduced a NAP.61 The Guidelines for the development of a NAP on WPS
published by UN Women define ‘National Action Plans as developed by and for
national administrations to translate international and regional WPS resolutions,
protocols, and commitments into actions to be carried out by relevant national
administrative bodies such as ministries and government departments’.62 As explained
by Hadjipavlou and Zenon though, ‘Cyprus does not yet have a NAP’63 for the
implementation of WPS UN Security Council Resolutions and ‘because of the
continued division of the island and the different statuses of the two parts, there is no
probability of a NAP for the entire island in the foreseeable future.’64 Guidelines for
National Implementation of WPS resolutions released by UN Women, introduce key
steps to developing a WPS National Action Plan65 referring to the phases that a state
needs to complete in order to develop a NAP. Employing such Guidelines, the
government of Cyprus could establish a national Enactment Group, involving an
equal and balanced representation of civil society actors, academics with relevant
knowledge and statutory bodies, ensuring that WPS policy agenda will be
implemented at all necessary levels. 66
61List of National Action Plans for the implementation of UNSCR 1325 http://iknowpolitics.org/en/knowledge-library/website-database/list-national-action-plans-implementation-unscr-1325 62 UN Women, Guidelines for the development of a National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, pg 11 http://www.unwomen.org/~/media/Headquarters/Media/Publications/en/02BPlanonWomenandPeaceandSecurity.pdf 63 EPLO, European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (2013) UNSCR in Europe: 20 case studies of implementation of UNSCR 1325 in Europe, Cyprus by Hadjipavlou, Maria and Zenon, Magda http://www.peacewomen.org/sites/default/files/scwps2014_statement_cyprus_0.pdf 64 ibid, pg 18 65UN Women, Guidelines for the development of a National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Securityhttp://www.unwomen.org/~/media/Headquarters/Media/Publications/en/02BPlanonWomenandPeaceandSecurity.pdf 66 Ireland’s second National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (2015-2018), Deparment of Foreign Affairs and Trade. https://www.dfa.ie/media/dfa/alldfawebsitemedia/ourrolesandpolicies/ourwork/empoweringwomen-peaceandsecurity/Irelands-second-National-Action-Plan-on-Women-Peace-and-Security.pdf
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While there is no guarantee that legal commitments and policy initiatives in
the form of a NAP, will actually realise the WPS agenda, we could look at other
countries as a way of drawing a parallel. A study conducted on Women’s
Peacebuilding in Burundi67, revealed evidence indicating that when ‘macro-level
changes are in dialogue with micro-level adaptations in ways that support gender
flexibility and Resolution 1325 localization’68 women’s gender roles respond to
structural and normative shifts more progressively.69 It is however of utmost necessity
when creating a NAP to look at national priorities and challenges. An initial step for a
Cypriot NAP would entail scrutinising the areas in which the government fails to
incorporate women’s contribution, such as the peace process, and establish in detail
ways in which those challenges can be addressed, such as a potential quote system in
Cypriot political parties. Such actions stipulate where efforts need to be directed to
implement SCRs on WPS.
67 L. Orina, Heather (2014) Enhancing Women’s Peacebuilding Participation: Household Gender Norms Change in Post-Conflict Burundi 68 ibid 69 ibid
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Conclusion:
The biggest problem facing Cyprus is currently the deeply engrained patriarchal
mind-sets and stereotypes, which have been institutionalized in society, with the
political arena overwhelmingly failing to address structural inequalities and power
dynamics which are the foundation of gender discrimination. Women are trapped in
the national problem, unable to productively utilise the ever-changing security
imperatives of resolutions and escape their gendered box. Casual sexism is a reality in
the community, politics and ideology of Cyprus. When in light of the Egypt Air
hijacking incident on the 29th of March this year, President Anastasiades ‘was asked
to confirm whether the incident was over a woman, he laughed and said: ‘Always
there is a woman involved.’70 Clearly, Mr. Anastasiades was not referring to the
National Council meetings discussing the Cyprus problem and peace negotiations. In
the post-conflict stage, the emphasis is on the difficult tasks of reconstruction,
reintegration and reconciliation and through the SCRs on WPS the emphasis is on
women’s contribution in achieving those tasks. The adoption of a National Action
Plan in Cyprus could gradually result in the implementation of the SCRs on a national
level, as well as stimulate the promotion of a new set of norms, strengthen
democratization and participatory processes, both of which could prove to be
instrumental assets for women in participating in the peace process and guiding
Cyprus out of conflict into the realm of sustainable peace and a sustainable future.
70 BBC News, EgyptAir hijack: Cyprus president laughs off hijacking (29th March 2016) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35915230
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Bibliography:
1. Appiagyei-Atua, Kwadwo, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325
on Women, Peace, and Security — Is it Binding?
2. BBC News, EgyptAir hijack: Cyprus president laughs off hijacking (29th
March 2016) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35915230
3. Bell, Christine (2008) ‘On the law of peace: peace agreements and the Lex
Pacificatoria' Oxford University Press
4. Bell, Christine and O'Rourke, Catherine, Peace Agreements Or Pieces Of
Paper? The Impact Of Unsc Resolution 1325 On Peace Processes And Their
Agreements, http://ssrn.com/abstract=1781990
5. Chapter VI, UN Charter
6. Cyprus Mail, Marathon National Council meeting produces neither decisions
nor consensus (2014) http://cyprus-mail.com/2014/01/25/marathon-national-
