Leading the march for peace: “Women must not only be present at the table – they must be the building blocks of the process”

Sonja Licht, a sociologist and civic activist since the 1960s, has founded many local and international CSOs and women’s organizations, and received numerous international peace and human rights awards. She is the Founder and President of the Foundation BFPE for a Responsible Society in Belgrade, and a board member of Roma Foundation for Europe and the Roma Education Fund as well as member of the European Council on Foreign Relations. BFPE was instrumental in initiating and preparing the First National Action Plan (NAP) for the implementation of UNSCR 1325: “Women, Peace and Security” in Serbia, adopted in 2010 by the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

1. How have you seen women’s roles in peace and security evolve?

My generation believed that the horror of war would never happen again in our homeland – Yugoslavia. Unfortunately, we were wrong. Women were among the first who took to the streets in protest against fearmongering and warmongering narratives years before the destruction of Yugoslavia started in 1991. They were initiating and leading the majority of anti-war, human rights and humanitarian initiatives and organizations. There were efforts by nationalist political leaders to manipulate women for their agenda, but these were recognized early and marginalized. Apart from anti-war protests, women activists were building their own capacities to support refugees from war zones, organizing psychosocial counselling and hiding those young men who were avoiding mobilization. Women also played a very important role in keeping communication among like-minded peace activists alive in a country that was disintegrating in bloody conflicts, collecting documents about gender-based violence and war crimes, and learning by doing the basics of transitional justice. They were building civil society amid civil wars, refusing to accept fear and hatred as ideology. Their common efforts contributed to the fact that for the first time in history rape was qualified as a war crime and included in international jurisprudence. Unfortunately, the new generations have not had a chance to hear enough life stories of those brave women.

2. How do gendered notions of masculinity and femininity shape the way societies understand war, peace and security?

War is still understood in the majority of societies as a “boys’ game.” The very notion of hero implies a man with a gun, and very rarely are women considered heroic. Although women are not only victims – but also actively taking over the burdens of the war economy as well as other supporting activities in the harshest possible conditions – and are the majority of active anti-war protest organizers, they are rarely recognized as heroes. In order to change this masculine-based understanding of war, peace and security, the civic heroism of women, both in wars and in peacebuilding, should be much more widely recognized and promoted. This is why women are necessary around the tables where peace is being negotiated, as well as included in decision-making on how to implement peace agreements.

3. Why has progress on inclusive decision-making remained so limited?

Women’s role in decision-making has increased since the feminist agenda made progress in articulating the incredible waste of resources if a huge part of humankind is left out of designing the future. In the last 25 years, the participation of women in various security-related institutions has increased – including in the region of the Western Balkans – but one can hardly see women in the leading positions of ministries of defence, internal affairs and other state institutions of real power. The main reason is that women are being ignored where real power is generated and executed. Thus, the waste of resources is still a very urgent issue, since political elites are losing trust and credibility at an incredible pace everywhere. This is even more true now, when responsible and sustainable governance that can preserve peace and security is more necessary than ever.

4. What risks does gender imbalance in peace negotiations pose for sustainability?

The imbalance between women’s participation in peacebuilding – where women are doing the practical work by putting into action the ‘art of survival’ – and their absence in male-dominated formal negotiations carries huge risks for building a lasting and sustainable peace. Inclusive decision-making has to build the mechanisms for a lasting and sustainable peace. But this can be realized only through a genuinely participatory process. Women must not only be present at the table – they must be the building blocks of the process. 

In these times of growing uncertainty – with ongoing wars and threats of nuclear weapons, with the growing securitization of politics and deepening inequalities, with the imminent danger of climate change turning into climate catastrophe, and with the democratic order endangered by strengthening autocratic tendencies worldwide – peace must be augmented with sustainable development. ‘Responsibility for all’, versus ‘divide and rule’, should be the absolute minimum if we are serious about saving the planet and humankind. Without the full participation of women, these urgent and necessary requirements will not be met.

5. What one key lesson from the Western Balkans experience can be applied globally to strengthen the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda?

When we told our friends from the then European Community (now European Union) to beware that the Balkans might become their future, they looked at us in disbelief, even with a patronizing smile. Thirty years later, the ‘Balkanization’ of Europe and democratic backsliding of the largest democracies is, unfortunately, addressed on a regular basis. 

The main lesson from the entire Western Balkans – a political and geographical term refers to the group of non-European Union countries in Southeast Europe that are either candidates or potential candidates for EU membership, in other words, former Yugoslavia minus Slovenia and Croatia plus Albania – is that disintegration left almost all the small former-Yugoslavian States much less sustainable than Yugoslavia was, or could have become as a democratic federal State. It is a perfect example that divisions based on ethnic, religious and political animosities can easily be manipulated into hostilities, wars and even the annihilation of ‘others,’ while the manipulators fulfil their personal, often lucrative aims.

I strongly believe that women, with the support of like-minded people, regardless of gender, still have a chance to use the Women, Peace and Security agenda to strengthen international cooperation and turn it into a global movement for lasting and sustainable peace. Instead of letting the power-mongers and spin dictators turn us against each other, let’s work together for the benefit of all, and our still one and only homeland – our wonderful planet Earth!

This story is published as part of "The Past, Present, and Future of Women, Peace, and Security" campaign, commemorating the 25th anniversary of UNSCR 1325, to celebrate the power of peace. The campaign aims to foster a deeper dialogue on equality, justice and peace, honoring the legacies and amplifying the voices of 25 trailblazing women from across Europe and Central Asia whose significant contributions have transformed their communities, societies, and beyond. The content reflects the personal views and experiences of the author(s) and does not necessarily represent the official position of UN Women, its partners, or the United Nations.