NATO chief: Women are key to success

Women and wider cooperation between international organisations are essential to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan according to the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

In a lecture delivered at the University of Edinburgh, the secretary general of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmusssen, called for greater involvement of women in the international communities approach to arresting and preventing conflicts.

Mr Rasmussen told the audience that “women play a key role in maintaining their families, they play a key role in children’s education, they are key to preventing conflicts of the past being transferred to the next generation”.

In his address the former prime minister of Denmark demanded a “fundamental rethink” of strategy between international bodies such as the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU) and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

He said that in the past there had been little attempt to work together. “NATO does war, the UN does peace, the EU dishes out money and the NGOs do their own thing,” said Mr Rasmussen, explaining historical perceptions between the bodies.

Mr Rasmussen was in the capital for a NATO Parliamentary Assembly summit held at the Edinburgh International Conference centre from 13 to 17 November.

The general secretary said that plans have been made to invite other leaders to NATO headquarters in 2010 to discuss the mistakes they have made, the lessons they have learnt, and where progress can be made. “This is not a vague attempt by NATO to subordinate others, it's about symmetry.

“In today’s peace operations we have to work together form beginning to end if we are to succeed,” he said.

Mr Rasmussen's identification of women as central to the reparation of societies affected by violence and war was expected by William Baron, programme officer for the Middle East and South East Asia for MercyCorps.

“There is a growing awareness of a need to support civil society and especially women's rights in conflict areas,” he told The Journal.

The ability to incorporate women in to rebuilding communities varies on the location of the conflict. In Iraq, where MercyCorps have several projects, it is “embedded into the community", however in Sudan, the “government get involved and make it difficult”, said Mr Baron.

“In situations of internal displacement, where community and social infrastructure is disrupted,” Mr Baron said “the cases of sexual violence, rape, abuse and domestic violence rise.”

An aid worker based in the capital of Sudan said that it was particularly difficult in the troubled north, where “the government is worried that if you build civil society then it can backlash on them”.

“The government is restrictive, they don't like civil society engagement and that is what any conflict resolution programme is,” she said.

The need to rebuild social foundations is crucial to peace, and Mr Rasmussen's latest appeal intends to increase social engagement and to entrench women in a role as mediators.

According to the Revolutionary Association of Women in Afghanistan, female political empowerment is a struggle in a “suffocating” state.

Programmes like this are easier to implement in Iraq than in the more dangerous Afghanistan, according to MercyCorps and United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)—who recently had to evacuate their team members from the country. UNIFEM oversees projects that aim to further female participation in their legislative circuit, enable women to attain decision making roles, and to address gender imbalance.

They finance many smaller NGOs who play a direct role in approaching communities and setting up projects. Mr Rasmussen addressed the growing opposition to the war, which has taken the lives of more than 230 British soldiers and several thousand more civilians according to the Human Rights Unit of the United Nations.

“Afghanistan is a clear example; it may seem far away to you, and when you read about so many of your soldiers losing their lives there you might legitimately ask 'why does what we are doing over there matter to your security back here?'" 

Pointing to Afghanistan as the “international grand central station of international terrorism” and the hub of the heroin drugs trade that kills “100,000 each year”, Mr Rasmussen defended the operation.

“When it comes to classic security, NATO remains the ultimate insurance policy for the almost 1 billion people living in alliance countries.

“But to deal with modern threats and challenges, we need to lift out eyes beyond our borders,” he said.

Mr Rasmussen was speaking to Edinburgh staff and students following an invitation by the Edinburgh politics society.

“It's an opportunity to hear first hand from people who are making decisions,” said Dante Mazzari, the society's president. Mr Mazzari said that the invited speakers “offer a different dimension to politics”.

“It was a real talk, it was meaningful,” he said. The speech was followed by a question and answer session, in which one speaker challenged Mr Rasmussen to explain the deaths of innocent civilians in Afghanistan.

Mr Rasmussen replied: “I have to tell you that a huge majority [of civilian deaths] are caused by the Taliban because they don’t care—to speak honestly.

“We are focused on minimizing deaths. We investigate those cases but the Taliban very often use, or misuse, civilians as a shield.”