RUSI lecture lunchtime May 18: achieving lasting Peace in Era of deadly conflicts

Event Details

Location: Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET, Great Britain

Date: Wednesday May 18 2011 1pm-2pm

A Royal United Services Institute lunchtime discussion –

‘Post-Conflict Missions: Time for a Rethink'

A Presentation by Lesley Abdela

Chaired by Margaret Gilmore

In a lunchtime discussion on May 18 2011 at the renowned think-tank, the Royal United Services Institute (founded in 1831 by the Duke of Wellington), gender/post-conflict specialist Lesley Abdela asks a simple enough question: why in this Age of Conflict do men who dominate negotiations so often fail to achieve a just and durable peace after deadly conflict? Lesley Abdela will assess why so many peace processes contain the seeds of future conflict. She contends peacemaking and peacebuilding ought not to be left so overwhelmingly to men, for one practical reason: evidence shows men on their own are not good at it. She will argue that if peacebuilding is to be effective and durable, political, diplomatic and military leaders must understand the importance of women's meaningful participation in all aspects of the peace-building decision-making process, political, economic and security system reform.

From her boots-on-the-ground experience in the Balkans, West Africa, South and South-East Asia and the MENA she comes to a conclusion – in the absence of women, viz the ‘Peace' of Versailles with its terrible consequences 20 years later, and most recent examples such as Sri Lanka, men will fail like Sisyphus in Peacemaking and peacebuilding attempts. She will offer practical recommendations for future peace processes and security system reform which apply to transition processes in the MENA region as well as conflict regions of the world.

There is no cost for this event. A decent sandwich/networking lunch is on offer by RUSI from 12.15pm at £10.

Margaret Gilmore is a Senior Research Fellow with the Royal United Services Institute and award-winning writer and broadcaster.

Event enquiries Tim Symonds (tim.symonds@shevolution.com) or Neil Watling (NeilW@rusi.org)

Lesley Abdela is Senior Partner in her own Consultancy Eyecatcher Associates/Shevolution. She is a widely-experienced Gender/post-conflict consultant and expert on UNSCR1325. She has worked ‘boots-on-the-ground' in Kosovo, Aceh, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Afghanistan and Nepal, commissioned inter alia by the OSCE, IOM, Sida, the British Council, USAID, European Commission, IGOs such as CARE International and Saferworld, and UN Agencies including UNDP, UNFPA. The Imperial War Museum sound archives hold 55 reels of Lesley Abdela's war- and conflict-zone recollections (total duration 1650 minutes, online link: www.iwmcollections.org.uk).

Lesley Abdela is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, the Royal Geographical Society and the Chartered Institute of Journalists (see www.guardian.co.uk/profile/leslieabdela). In March 2009, she won the UK Woman Political Journalist of the Year Award, succeeding The Guardian's Polly Toynbee and BBC's Stephanie Flanders.

Lesley Abdela can be contacted on mobile +44 7967 650 155 or +44 1435 882 655

Two principal international resolutions calling for far more women in peacemaking and peacebuilding processes are UNSCR1325 and the European Parliament resolution 2000/2025(INI), both passed more than a decade ago.

RUSI is the podium of choice for world leaders and senior policy makers, ideally placed to attract high-quality speakers and participants at its events.