Women and civil society actors are often excluded from negotiation talks and agreements; as a result, they are unable to introduce their needs and concerns when an agenda for formal peace talks takes place, so most peace processes fail to involve a gender perspective in the new constitutions, legal provisions, mechanisms, and institutions. Consequently, many peace agreements are still missing out on the unique opportunity to integrate strategic gender and human rights objectives, and to address the structural roots of inequality in the reform of the courts, the police, the security sector, and other government institutions, building a more equitable society in the post-conflict reconstruction. To fill this gap the Security Council adopted Resolution (S/RES/1325) on women, peace, and security on the 31st of October, 2000. This Resolution, apart from reaffirming the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and peace negotiations, stresses the importance of their equal participation in all efforts for countries´ peace and security, urging all Member States to implement a National agenda for Women Peace and Security (WPS). Unfortunately, women´s protests are often disregarded and, in addition to being trivialized, they are also frequently oppressed and persecuted. As a result, many states continue failing at achieving gender equality in peacebuilding, even though they have ratified the United Nations 1325.
This article offers a comparative perspective on women´s movements´ participation in the current conflicts in Ukraine and Sudan. It also introduces readers to the struggles of these women, who are working hard to gain more influence and strength, fighting to be seen as proactive actors of peace talks. Through activism and public campaigns, women are trying to break free from the global images which limit their contribution and shadow their value as active peacebuilders. Undoubtedly, they are still facing plenty of difficulties; however, their involvement is proving to the world, and internally to the executive powers of different countries, that equal gender power is crucial for a lasting peace.
In the case of Ukraine, the role of international institutions is very much centered on supporting the military actions of the Ukrainian government. Consequently, Ukrainian women’s movements do not have strong support from institutions of international cooperation. On the contrary, however, they have closer relationships with European feminist social movements, which support their peace campaigns and ensure international coverage and resonance for the claims of pacifist women statements. The case of Sudan is different, where international institutions, above all IGAD, have an important role in promoting the role of women in the peace process. IGAD helps women’s movements to have leverage on national institutions and the transitional government. And, they have closer relations with UNWOMEN and other UN bodies. On the other hand, women’s movements operating in Sudan are fragmented, and mostly disconnected from international women’s movements. They receive poor media coverage and act almost in isolation, lacking strategic alliances that could improve their financial and operational support.Nonetheless, in both cases there are lessons and good practices that it would be useful to share, allowing these movements to learn new things from each other’s experiences. At the same time, if they combine their efforts, participating jointly with international peace initiatives and a unified message of peace, they would probably achieve a higher impact. The similarities and differences of the role of women’s movements can be understood by analyzing the evolution of these two conflicts and the role of women in the recent history of these two countries.
THE UKRAINIAN CRISIS
The crisis in Ukraine started on November 2013, when the pro-Russian government of President Viktor Yanukovych[1], decided not to sign a planned Association Agreement with the European Union. A huge demonstration started in Kiev, the capital, known as the ‘Euromaidan’ demonstration, which turned violent provoking the disappearance of the President and new early elections which brought current president Zelensky[2] into power. Meanwhile, pro/Russian Crimea, a region in the south of Ukraine, declared its´ independence and issued a referendum to join Russia. Since then, Russia has maintained its control over Crimea and supported pro-Russian separatist forces who also took control of parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on the eastern side of Ukraine (the Donbas), in 2014.
During these years the internal conflict between Russian-supported separatists, and Ukrainian government forces continued in the Donbas sporadically. A few intents of a ceasefire and peace negotiations started in 2015 with the Minsk Agreements[3], calling for the withdrawal of all foreign armed groups and constitutional reform, recognizing the special status of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Unfortunately, on February 24th, 2022, the agreement collapsed completely and Russia officially launched military action in Ukraine, with forces crossing into the country from Belarus in the north, Russia in the east, and Crimea in the south, thus transforming the Ukrainian conflict from an internal dispute into an international invasion.
As a consequence of the military attacks with modern and mass disruptive weapons, the conflict has inflicted untold suffering on the Ukrainian people, with thousands of lives claimed, millions displaced and crucial civilian infrastructure destroyed.
WOMEN IN ACTION IN UKRAINE
Among victims and survivors, civilian women and girls of Ukraine are the ones facing the most severe consequences, aggravated by human trafficking and gender-based violence, to the loss of crucial livelihoods and rising poverty levels. The large-scale destruction of infrastructure has left survivor services, healthcare, and other critical forms of support out of reach for many.
Conversely, it needs to be said that Ukrainian women and girls are on the frontlines of this conflict. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian women are currently serving in the Ukrainian military, representing a significant portion of the country’s expanded wartime armed forces. Ukraine’s large contingent of female soldiers is highly respected and fully integrated, performing combat duties and serving as commanders. While many civilian women, even though they remain relatively underrepresented in Ukrainian politics, have merged into independent women´s organizations, engaging with the international media to promote peace messages worldwide.
The strength of the Ukrainian women´s movement and feminist culture started with the October Revolution of 1917, when Russian annexed Ukraine to new Soviet Union[4] “empire” with its capital in Moscow. In very few places in the entire early Soviet Union was there such an outburst of experimentation and creativity as there was in Soviet Ukraine, and that also applied to women’s emancipation, which was considered a priority by the Soviet government. On this occasion, Ukrainian women saw massive gains in their rights; as women’s suffrage was granted, abortion was legalized in 1920, and marital rape was made illegal in 1922, making the Soviet Union the first country to do so. However, when taking a closer look, one can observe that these gender empowerment reforms were mainly driven by economic reasons. Due to the shortage of men provoked by the death of so many during the First World War, Soviet Ukraine needed women to work in factories.
Truly, Ukrainian women have been systematically excluded from any decision making-power position and any role in active political life[5], until recent years. After achieving its independence from Soviet Union, in 1991, a feminist movement, more shaped upon Western European countries´ standards, began taking root. These groups are active in campaigning for gender equality, no discrimination policies and an effective role of women in politics and peacebuilding. As a way of proving the government´s support of gender reforms, in September 2018, the Ukrainian Parliament passed a bill that made men and women equal in the military and in law enforcement agencies, thus allowing women to gain higher military positions previously available only to men.
But once more in Ukrainian history, women’s rights are more linked to wartime circumstances and its need to increase the number of military forces, opposite to being a sincere interest in women´s empowerment and their ability to gain equality.
WOMEN´S MOVEMENTS AND PEACEBUILDING IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian leaders gave attention and opportunity to women’s contribution in humanitarian and security operations. The humanitarian emergency has been going on for the past nine years, since the war started in Donbas, in 2014. Women´s movements have been collecting and distributing humanitarian aid, supplying women who serve in the armed and defense forces, evacuating people and creating shelters, coordinating the transit of displaced people, volunteers, and authorities; recording crimes, organizing medical and psychological support for victims, and creating systems to collect among other talks[6]. But on a different note, Ukrainian institutions confine the role of women to security and humanitarian operations only, while they continue to officially exclude them from political negotiations and peace talks. As an example, it can be mentioned that between 2014 and 2019, Ukraine sent at least ten men, but only two women as delegates to peace talks, Iryna Gerashchenko and Olga Ajvazoonly Ajvazovska, while Russia sent none.Nonetheless, the main core of this article is to demonstrate that women are strong and they are not waiting to be given permission to act. Thanks to their hard work women’s activists successfully lobbied Ukraine’s parliament in 2017 to enact legislation criminalizing domestic violence and establishing resources for victims. The efforts of the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties, headed by Oleksandra Matviichuk, awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize for her work[7], is truly inspiring. They are mainly engaged in denouncing human rights violations, running multiple international mobilization campaigns such as the #letmypeoplego and #SaveOlegSentsov campaigns, for the release of illegally imprisoned people in Russia and in Crimea and Donbas. They also investigate, report, and submit human rights violations to various UN bodies, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the OSCE; and to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.Ukrainian women´s movements are also very innovative because they are certain that the current conflict in Ukraine has many similarities with other conflict worldwide, when it comes to women´s situations. So, they call for a worldwide “sisterhood” and a new humanist movement that would work with meanings, educate people, build grass-root support, and engage people in the protection of rights and freedoms. In their view, this movement should unite intellectuals and activists from different countries in war, because the ideas of freedom and human rights are universal and have no state borders.
THE SUDAN CRISIS
To understand the current situation in Sudan, it is important to recall that violence is not unusual in the country´s context. Quite the opposite, the army has long been at the center of political transitions, and Sudan has probably had more coups than any other African nation[8].
The current civil war broke out on the 15th of April between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), chaired by Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the armed forces and in effect the country’s president, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti. Two years early, both forces, with support from the civilian population protesters, led a coup against longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir, giving life to what became known in history as the Sudan Revolution.
A joint military-civilian government was then established after the 2019 coup, and the transitional Military Council (TMC) was formed. However, the civilian population feared the group of militaries would resist the establishment of a democratically elected government, and would be unwilling to step out. So, meanwhile, an opposition umbrella group that had emerged over the months of protest, the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC)[9], consisting of labor unions, civil society organizations (including women’s organizations), political parties and neighborhood committees; pushed and obtained the signature of the constitutional declaration, in 2021, and the establishment of a new transitional executive body and a civilian prime minister. The FFC also pushed for the transitional government to incorporate Sudan’s traditionally marginalized groups, including women and those living in the periphery, and address these groups’ demands.
Despite these positive developments, when elections were due to be held, Gen Burhan took over with another coup in October 2021, ending the transitional government, and taking power for himself, claiming he was stepping in to avert a civil war. As a response Gen Dagalo, of the RSF, called Gen Burhan’s government «radical Islamists» and started to fight against him claiming it was to ensure the democratic progress they had yearned for. The civilian population has no trust in these armed groups finding Dagalo’s message hard to believe, given the brutal track record of the RSF against civilians on previous occasions. It formed a third pole, protesting these internal fights and calling for international peacebuilding interventions to stop the conflict and reestablish the civilian democracy for which they have fought for in the previous years.
Following this appeal, regional bordering countries recently agreed to lead the first mediation attempt by sending the Presidents of Kenya, South Sudan and Djibouti to Khartoum in order to facilitate a dialogue between the parties in conflict. Unfortunately, these mediation efforts yielded very poor results. The UK, US, and EU have joined in the efforts of persuading the parties to solve the crisis.
But Sudanese warring parties are far from establishing productive peace talks. On the contrary, the attacks are escalating into devastating military actions against civilian, while looting, raping, sexual violence, and random killings are progressively increasing. Sudanese women are, therefore, specifically targeted, making them the ultimate victims of this horrific conflict. In fact, despite the tragic loss of elders and children who are being killed in the war, Sudanese women are struggling on multiple fronts, because they are the ones left in charge of securing the livelihood, shelter, food, water, medical care, and protection for the entire family. Over the years, outbreaks of violence have caused the internal displacement of over 3.7 million people and over 800,000 Sudanese refugees are seeking safety and protection across country borders. Considering only the city of Khartoum[10], the current fighting caused over 600 civilian deaths in just one month.
SUDANESE WOMEN AND HUMAN RIGHTS STRUGGLES
Disappointment is strong among the women who, once more, saw their fundamental rights at the mercy of the armed forces, while their efforts and the roles they played in the revolutionary protests of 2018/19 has been completely forgotten or banalized. During the protests seeking to remove Al Bashir, women made up a substantial portion of those taking action, at times paying a high human cost, only to find themselves now amidst a power struggle between these two generals.
Sudan, different from Ukraine, has always been a very difficult place for women. In 1989, immediately after Al Bashir took control, he established his absolute power, becoming the only chief of the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation, and he dissolved the parliament, banned political parties, and strictly controlled the press. He Islamized the country, and in March 1991, he introduced the Islamic law (Sharīʿah), which was misused to oppress and deny women’s fundamental rights, making Sudan one of the worst countries in the Arab states for women’s rights.
For instance, the Al Bashir regime placed various restrictions on women’s employment in addition to policing their social lives. A series of ad hoc articles were inserted in the Sudan penal code to legitimize some of the oppression actions against women, and one of the most scandalous articles of the penal code, article 152, is used to justify arresting and flogging women for the way they dress[11]. Researchers also establish that 12.1 million women and girls have been victims of female genital mutilation and obliged to marry from the age of 10[12].
Al Bashir’s cruelty against the civilian population is well known, and women were no exception. For this, he is considered one of the biggest world international criminals of all times. He has several arrest warrants ordered by the International Criminal Court with five counts of crimes against humanity: murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture, and rape; two counts of war crimes: intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking part in hostilities, and pillaging; three counts of genocide: by killing, by causing serious bodily or mental harm, and by deliberately inflicting on each target group conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction, allegedly committed at least between 2003 and 2008 in Darfur, Sudan[13].
Sudanese women have a long, courageous history of activism, fighting to claim the respect of their rights, even at time at risk of their own lives. During all these years, women gathered in social movements, overcoming their ethnical, educational, social, and economic differences, as a united front their common interests. Cases of women´s “insurgencies” against Shari ah’s law have cost many lives’, imprisonment sentences, and even death sentences, but women have been unstoppable.
As was the case of Ukraine, in Sudan, women were excluded from the negotiation table and this was made evident, once again, in the failed Juba peace talks tentative, in 2020, since the talks were structured in a way that excluded the presence of anyone who was not from the top leadership of the armed groups. Yet Sudanese women have showed a great leadership which might be able, not only stop the war, but also to help the Sudanese reconciliation and healing process. To do so, they must have equal representation within the political institutions; this is why women are demanding a 50/50 in name of gender equality and equal citizenship and are developing a common agenda despite a fractionalized history and political tensions. Standing united in the claim for political representation, Sudanese women achieved a great success in 2021, when Sudan’s Ministers Council ratified the United Nations’ 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
However, the majority-male council declined to endorse the notion that women are equal with men on all political and social levels and have equal rights in marriage, divorce, and parenting.
Thus demonstrating that Sudanese male aptitudes don´t differ from those of Ukrainian male leaders, and a patriarchal mentality is seen in both contexts.
To obstacle women’s participation in political life, the arguments used by male leaderships are very similar in Ukraine and Sudan. Mainly, the cultural argument, saying the countries are not ready for female political leaders, justifying all-male lists of nominees for main political roles. Then, the capability argument, claiming lack of capable women to partake in political decision-making. Finally, the emotional argument, whereas women are seen as ‘emotional’ and women´s debates are described as ‘quarrels’, which is put into contrast with discussions among men that are, instead, seen as ‘rational politics´.
SUDANESE WOMEN IN ACTION AND THE POWER OF INSTITUTIONAL MEDIATORS
Making sure that women are included in political processes in the new Sudan has turned out to be an uphill struggle, but women’s rights activists are working tirelessly. In this task, they are supported by many international organizations such as: UNDP, UNWOMEN, and, most importantly, by the East Africa Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), under the general belief that an African body would be in the best position to server successfully in the mediation for peace. In the case of Ukraine, the opposite has occurred. There, the international community is openly supporting military collaboration.
There are several women leaders that are forging the history of Sudan’s revolution. One of them is Rabab Baldo[14], who previously served as Senior Gender Advisor for IGAD’s Special Envoy in South Sudan. Rabab is currently a refugee in Egypt, where she has founded the Sudanese Women Against the War movement, mobilizing many women of the diaspora to work on peace statements. Rabab quickly became well-known as one of the most relevant African figures when it comes to empowerment of women and female social movements.
Another important Sudanese woman is Alaa Salah[15], her video clip, standing on top of a car leading a chant with a densely packed crowd of protesters went viral and was used in several international media outlets. She is inspiring many other women, who followed her example and have stood-up to claim democracy and respect of their fundamental rights. Alaa Salah, working with social media, is a Tsunami of modernity, innovation, and revindication for Sudanese society.
In conclusion, both these women, and many more like them, have been addressed by the United Nations, IGAD, and other international women´s organizations, and offered support in order to side Government through a successful transition, officially recognizing the need of inclusive elections and sustained peace.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMANDATIONS
As interpretation of the paper results, we could conclude that whatever its limitations, the initiatives of women´s movements in Sudan and Ukraine stand as a testimonial to positive impacts on peace building, even if women are operating in adverse conditions within the bounds of protracted, complex wars and general hidden obstructionism.
The women peacebuilding experiences in these two countries show that they are acting proactively to change their future, with minimum financial support and funding, using innovation, solidarity, and their own power as lasting resources to overcome cultural barriers. It also proves that it is time for women to collaborate globally, sharing lessons learned, and think about the creation of integrated international civil society movements of women for peace.
Secondly, it is important to stress that women of Sudan and Ukraine are doing good, but indeed, they would be doing better with more serious support from their governments. National and international institutions could help further throughout, launching campaigns to educate public opinion to stop contesting the women’s presence, as well as reallocating institutional resources to Women Peace and Security Agenda implementation, upholding their engagement with UN Resolution 1325.
Thirdly, Women of Ukraine and Sudan work hard to advocate for peace, but they can count on the solidarity and empathy of women organizations around the world, which spontaneously support them and are ready to help and learn from their experiences. Empathy and solidarity are keys words among women´s organizations, and yet, separation, antagonism, and competition exist amongst them, making unity fragile, even in Ukraine and Sudan. However, women seem more aware that worldwide conflicts are intensifying, and that joining peace statements of women from Sudan and Ukraine will give much more strength to their protests, gaining even more global repercussions. At the very least, joint actions of such different countries will push the limits of what has been possible so far.
Lastly, it is important to stress the importance of the proactive role of international organizations in helping women to achieve equality in peacebuilding. The work of IGAD in Sudan is a clear example that international institutional responsiveness to gender promotion associated with adaptive peacemaking initiatives increases the chances of female inclusion, reanimating stalled peace processes and moving towards reconciliation phases, which should ultimately constitute the objective and outcome of any peace process.
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[1] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/dv/cvyanukovy/cvyanukovych.pdf
[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48007487
[3] Ukraine and the Russian-backed separatists agreed a 12-point ceasefire deal in the capital of Belarus in September 2014. Its provisions included prisoner exchanges, deliveries of humanitarian aid and the withdrawal of heavy weapons, five months into a conflict that by that point had killed more than 2,600 people – a toll that has risen to more than 14,000 now, according to the Ukrainian government. The agreement quickly broke down, with violations by both sides. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-are-minsk-agreements-ukraine-conflict-2021-12-06/
[4] When the Russian Empire collapsed in 1917 during World War I, the lands of today’s Ukraine became a battleground of violence and instability until 1922. Multiple communities of former tsarist imperial subjects imagined the future in radically different ways. https://origins.osu.edu/read/soviet-ukraine-nutshell?language_content_entity=en
[5] Only 3 elected to the Rukh[5] executive and at the 1990 Rukh congress only 10.24 percent of the 2,020 delegates were women, and only 2 of 45 executive positions were filled by women. Women constituted only 16.3 percent of the deputies from Ukraine elected to the USSR Congress of People’s Deputies in 1989 and only 13 (2.9 percent) of the 450 deputies elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR in 1990.
[6] During the war in Donbas that started in 2014, a «huge volunteer movement of women organizing humanitarian action and community dialogue» developed, according to Oksana Potapova, a feminist and peacebuilding researcher and activist who created Theatre for Dialogue, a non-governmental organization in support of the women’s volunteer movement
[7] https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2022/center-for-civil-liberties/lecture/
[8] Since gaining independence from the U.K. in 1956, there have been coups in 1958, 1969, 1985, 1989, 2019 and 2021.
[9] https://www.cmi.no/publications/7267-patriarchy-politics-and-womens-activism-in-post-revolution-sudan
[10] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/4/17/sudan-fighting-live
[11] https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudan-one-of-worst-countries-for-women-s-rights-survey
[12] https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudan-one-of-worst-countries-for-women-s-rights-survey
[13] https://www.icc-cpi.int/darfur/albashir
[14] https://unpeacekeeping.medium.com/when-it-comes-to-peace-no-effort-is-too-small-1f64bbad63e3
[15] https://time.com/5712952/alaa-salah-sudan-women-protest/
