News

A group of high-ranking officials from the Colombian War College’s Course on Advanced Military Studies (CAEM) visited Norway from June 10th to 15th. The visit was co-hosted by NOREF and the Norwegian Defence University College, and builds on a long-term Norwegian engagement with the Colombian military.

On May 9^th NOREF co-hosted the event “Turning the Tables: women’s multiple roles in peace processes” alongside PRIO and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The event featured a panel with Mariam Safi from Afghanistan, Rida Al Tubuly from Libya and Rasha Jarhum from Yemen.

Despite women’s contributions to preventing and resolving conflicts, they are often either marginalized in or excluded from formal peace processes. Very few such processes have inclusion mechanisms, and when peace agreements do get signed, few of them contain gender-sensitive provisions.

In an open event in conjunction with the annual meeting of Nordic Women Mediators (NWM), prominent women from Afghanistan, Libya and Yemen will provide insight into the main obstacles facing women in peace processes today and explore ways forward in their respective countries.

A delegation from Nordic Women Mediators - Norway traveled to Beirut this week, to meet with counterparts in Lebanon and in the region, to share experiences with members of the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network and to team up with international actors and stakeholders working to place women’s inclusion in peace processes high on the women, peace and security agenda. 

This week, Syrian civil society actors met on the margins of the “Brussels III” Conference. The diverse group of Syrians travelling from inside and outside of Syria came together to discuss the needs and challenges facing Syrian civil society and to engage with the international community.

In Mosul, Iraq, local efforts for reconciliation and stabilisation continued as Nineveh National Association (NNA) came together for the fourth time on 1-2 February. 51 representatives from different religious and ethnic communities and from diverse parts of the Nineveh province attended.

The annual meeting of the Nordic Women Mediators (NWM) takes place in Copenhagen on 21 – 22 November 2018. Members from all five Nordic networks come together for a two-day meeting to discuss approaches to including women in mediation and peacebuilding, this year with a particular focus on Syria.

On September 11-13, some 500 Kenyans from all over the country met to launch an inclusive and structured national dialogue process at Nairobi’s historic Ufungamano House. Under the aegis of Kenya’s religious leaders, the first National Dialogue Conference (NDC1) convened men and women, youth, people with disabilities and organisations charged with their representation, as well as civil society, trade unions and the private sector. Ahead of the dialogue, NOREF provided preparatory training to 37 women taking part in the process.

In March 2018 regional women mediators networks and international organisations met in Oslo to discuss the possibility of establishing a wide global alliance of women mediators. Watch the video where select participants discuss options and potentials.

Mariano Aguirre will leave NOREF in 2020 following a decade-long commitment to establish and develop the Centre to its present status.

A group of high ranking officials (CAEM) from the Colombian School of War visited Norway in June. The visit was co-hosted by NOREF and the Norwegian Defence University College and builds on a long-term Norwegian engagement with the Colombian military.

Earlier this year Wilton Park and NOREF convened a meeting in Colombia addressing the challenges of reintegration of FARC former combatants into civilian life. The meeting provided an informal, unofficial opportunity for key stakeholders and Colombian and international reintegration experts to explore together how to tackle the challenging issues facing implementation of the reincorporation phase. The report of the seminar is now publicly available, in Spanish and English.

Well into the eight year of armed conflict in Syria there are not many highlights to report. Attempts to facilitate political solutions since 2011 have so far failed or stalled, despite the efforts made. The intra-Syrian talks in Geneva are still only so-called “proximity talks”, and the parties are as far from engaging directly with one another as ever. One aspect of the process which has not stalled, however, is the civil society track, as pointed out by Sara Hellmüller (swisspeace) and Marie-Joëlle Zahar (University of Montréal) in a new brief.

Support for constitution making is an important element of international engagement in countries emerging from conflict or political transition. This support often focuses on promoting inclusive constitution making, recognising that this can help establish a more inclusive state. An inclusive constitution-making process, however, does not automatically generate inclusive content and outcomes.

On 21-23 March, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PRIO and NOREF hosted a meeting of representatives from various regional networks of women mediators, including FemWise-Africa, the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network and the Nordic Women Mediators. The meeting, also attended by representatives from the UN and other key multilateral organisations, sought to discuss opportunities for the possible establishment of a wider alliance of regional women mediator networks. As a follow-up to the event, The Chair's statement is now available.