[ALBSA-Info] Fwd: Kosovar Women Call for Inclusion in Peace Process

[Agron Alibali]

> AdvocacyNet
> 
> News Bulletin - Number 57, March 8, 2006
> ******
> 
> KOSOVAR WOMEN CALL FOR INCLUSION IN PEACE PROCESS
> 
> Prishtina, Kosovo and Washington, DC, March 8, 2006:
> A powerful coalition of Kosovar women's
> organizations has criticized the United Nations and
> the government of Kosovo for the absence of women on
> the seven-man Kosovar team that is negotiating the
> future status of the province, and warned that the
> lack of a gender perspective in the talks will
> undermine any future democracy in Kosovo.
> 
> The complaint is contained in an open letter to the
> UN's Special Representative, Soren Jessen-Peterson,
> on the occasion of International Women's Day (March
> 8). "The women of Kosova are concerned that their
> voices have been ignored or marginalized by both
> national and the UNMIK leadership," says the letter.
> 
> 
> Also today, one of the signatories of the letter,
> the Kosova Women's Network (KWN), announced that it
> is joining with the renowned Serbian group, Women In
> Black, to monitor the status talks for a gender
> component.
> 
> In a telephone interview with the Advocacy Project
> (AP), Igo Rogova, the president of the KWN, said
> that the letter comes from all sides of the women's
> movement in Kosovo. "We are in one voice-Albanian,
> Serb, Turkish, Roma-all saying one word:  women's
> inclusion in the negotiations," she said.
> 
> The Kosova Women's Network, an AP partner, comprises
> 85 women's groups, including six Serbian and five
> Roma organizations.
> 
> The KWN and its allies have proposed that Adita
> Tahiri, an experienced politician, join the
> negotiating team.  They also want to see a woman in
> all of the subject-specific working groups that are
> being organized as part of the talks.
> 
> The UN maintains that Kosovar's political leaders
> should appoint the negotiators, but Rogova insisted
> that the UN has a mandate under UN Resolution 1325
> to ensure women's participation.
> 
> "No, it is not his job to appoint [women]," she
> said, referring to the UN's Jessen-Peterson.  "His
> job is to put pressure on my government because...
> it's still UN Administered in Kosovo. They (the UN)
> have total authority."  
> 
> Rogova said the protest letter will be sent to
> political parties and followed up today in Pristina
> with marches, press interviews, and meetings with
> political leaders.  The campaign will continue until
> the demands are met, she said, pointing out that
> civil society was able to force the resignation of
> Kosovo's former Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi on
> March 1.
> 
> The women's initiative comes at a sensitive time in
> the negotiations over the future of Kosovo, which
> has remained a province of Serbia since the 1999
> war. Both sides remain far apart, with the Kosovars
> insisting on full independence and the Serbians
> demanding that the province remain part of Serbia.
> 
> The UN is attempting to find middle ground and has
> asked Martti Ahtisaari, the former president of
> Finland, to coordinate. A decision on Kosovo's final
> status is expected within a year.
> 
> Rogova argued that gender must be integrated into
> the final status talks because women bring different
> perspectives from men. For example, women are more
> insistent that the fate of missing persons be
> resolved. Looking forward, Rogova expressed the hope
> that there would be a quota for women in any future
> Parliament.
> 
> Rogova also said there should be more women on the
> UN negotiating team, and complained that there is
> only one woman in the office of UN envoy Martti
> Ahtisaari.
> 
> * For a copy of the letter, see the KWN website:
> http://www.womensnetwork.org/
> * For AP's 2000 coverage of Kosovo's civil society,
> see: 
>
http://www.advocacynet.org/cpage_view/kosovo_summary_3_6.html
> * For AP's profile of Igo Rugovo's work on behalf of
> Kosovo women, see:
>
http://www.advocacynet.org/cpage_view/kosovo_igorogova_3_52.html
> 
> 
> #
> 
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