Operation Guidance Note: Women in Peace Process and Agreements

The aim of peace agreements is to bring an end to conflicts and to build peace. Accordingly they define the political, civil, economic and social structures in postconflict societies. While women, during conflict, suffer the added burden of being targeted by gender-based sexual violence, which has become a weapon of warfare and one of the defining characteristics of contemporary conflicts, they also participate in conflict as armed combatants. This gives them a unique perspective, which needs to be taken into account during the peacemaking and post-conflict peace-building process.