A workshop on conflict prevention, mediation and peace-building for women leaders from member states of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) was concluded on 12 January in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with the participants agreeing on a number of recommendations related to women's involvement in conflict resolution.
The conference was organized by the ICGLR with support from UNIFEM and aimed to enhance the effective participation of women in conflict prevention and peace processes. It was attended by representatives from governments, parliaments and civil society organizations from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania.
The recommendations of the workshop included that national women's forums should be established in the ICGLR countries, as well as a regional forum, to provide a platform for involvement in conflict prevention, mediation and peace building. Women should be part of the ICGLR observer missions for elections in the Great Lakes Region, particularly for the elections in Burundi and Rwanda this year, and the ICGLR Secretariat should organize trainings to prepare women delegations for participation in negotiations and peace building.
The training was organized in line with the aims of the ICGLR Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region and UN Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. At the end of the workshop, the women leaders committed to communicating the message of conflict prevention, mediation and peacebuilding, particularly to grass roots populations, and to actively contribute to sustaining peace in pre- and post-election periods
