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informs this study in that the strategies employed by women’s organizing for peace generally builds from both identified practical and strategic interests, which considerably influence the organizations’ set goals and objectives for attaining peace. It also provides the basis for which the study assesses how diversified women’s practical and strategic interests have been consolidated by their different networks of organizations in Liberia, and its consequent outcomes on post-conflict activities. Thus, a point of convergence with the organizational theory, which this study also builds on, is the understanding that the practical consideration of women’s interests is likely to minimize the challenges of exclusion and gender-linked discrimination.
Taking cognizance of the question that formed the thematic focus of this chapter, the theoretical (peacebuilding, reconstruction and development theory; and Maxine Molynuex’s organizational theory) underpinnings to address it are quite plausible. Alongside these theoretic resolves, abound another inquiry that seeks to understand what approach(es) facilitate sustainable progress and best advance the inclusiveness of women and women’s organizations as equal stakeholders in post-conflict processes. Noting that both theories communicate the importance of human rights by emphasizing women’s gender equality, mainstreaming, and gender-responsive processes, makes it easy for the study to relate to the rights based approach to peacebuilding. This approach, grounded within the framework of international human rights principles, contextualizes and practically identifies human rights to be at the foundation of post-conflict and human development processes.
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conventions (including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the UN Vienna Convention, and those earlier mentioned in chapter two) to protect the civil, political, economic, and social rights of people. Sida (2012:1) defines human rights as those universal
“political, social and economic rights of individuals or groups (rights holder), which the state (duty bearer) is obligated to fulfil and defend.” The crux of human rights is the principle of equality, inalienable human rights to all (men, women and children) without any form or basis of discrimination. Ensuring access to these rights is crucial for the successful attainment of post-conflict processes. Moreover, it is in this human rights canon that the foundation of the rights-based approach resides.
The right-based approach (RBA) is a significantly profiled component in peace processes and development discourses across the globe. This approach underscores the fundamentality and centrality of safeguarding and realizing human rights and freedoms in all activities, including post-conflict developments and humanitarian assistance (Goonesekere 2005). To Molyneux and Lazar (2003:7 & 8), RBA is an operational people-centred development strategy that brings to the fore the importance of inclusive, participatory and empowering processes attained through the joint agency of the people. Likewise, the approach aims at transforming the relation between the citizens and the state by espousing a ‘vision that is more strategic and focused on what citizens are entitled to, and what they need for the advancement of their development’ (Molyneux and Lazar 2003:10 & 11). In the frame of post-conflict processes, this approach addresses the issues and dichotomies of the inequalities that undermine the human and civil rights of women, cause prejudiced and exclusionary practices, and impinge on their peacebuilding role as well as development progress.
The context of the rights-based approach to peacebuilding integrates international human rights standards into policies and actions instituted to support peacebuilding practices (Schabas & Fitzmaurice 2007:8). The outlook of human rights principles is, and remain a strategic component for achieving peace and development objectives, since it ventures to address issues of discrimination, exclusion, powerlessness and unaccountability that often impede peace and development success (OHCHR 2006:8). This denotes that promoting and protecting rights that go beyond human rights and include economic, socio-cultural, political
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rights to civic participation and development, and rights to peace and security, are a central component of peacebuilding and the (re)construction of post-conflict societies (Moser et.al 2001:37). The fact of this recognition and its implication for post-conflict processes is founded on the claim that sustainable peace can only be attained if the socio-economic inequalities, structural discrimination, and injustices that challenge effective peacebuilding are addressed (Schabas & Fitzmaurice 2007: 8). In light of these, InsightShare (2010:13) and Sida (2012:1- 2) aver that the overall goal of the RBA is to:
i. Build capacity of individuals and communities to understand, claim and fulfil their individual and collective rights;
ii. Structurally and systematically integrate the principles of human rights into peace- building and development processes;
iii. Encourage and empower the powerless and marginalized communities and groups, and strengthen participation in peace and development processes;
iv. Create platforms that encourage and support local ownership of peace and development programmes; and
v. Avail tools to strengthen the potential of states to build-up and increase the opportunities for constructive dialogues with rights-holders, and to fulfil their responsibilities as duty-bearers.
These fundamental aspects of the RBA intrinsically opine that women are an integral and significant part of post-conflict and decision-making processes, and only when women’s rights are taken into consideration would the processes be seen as integrated to effectively achieve its stated objectives. A sacrosanct connotation of the RBA and the above-discussed theories is to understand their practicality and relevance in existing global discourses and researches on the subject of this thesis, and principally in the context of African experiences. Evidently, a straightforward contention then would be that the processes and success of post-conflict strategies need to equip stakeholders at all levels, particularly women, to work towards the common goal of sustainable peace as hypothesized by this study. This is of importance given
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that the stakes in post-conflict processes are quite considerable, and adopting an inclusive approach remains a necessary component of what outcome is achieved.