A Mediator's Perspective: Women and the Nepali Peace Process

From 2005 to 2007, I was the Swiss Special Adviser for Peace Building in Nepal. This was a critical time in the resolution of a bitter decade-long ‘People's War', which culminated in a comprehensive peace agreement in November 2006 following an arduous year of negotiations. The peace talks in Nepal, like so many elsewhere, were notably absent of women. Yet they provided a wide range of contributions to the overall peace process. This paper reflects on this, as well as on what mediators and other third parties can do to include more women in peace talks.