Women’s participation in African peace negotiations: cooperating with the UN agencies in Burundi and Liberia

Abstract

Drawing upon the cases of Burundi and Liberia, this paper studies cooperation between women and the United Nations (UN) agencies to promote and formalise women’s participation in peace negotiations. Ever since UNSCR 1325, the UN has supported women’s efforts to participate in peace negotiations and more broadly promoted the inclusion of societal actors. However – neither in Burundi and Liberia, nor in general – have women been officially recognised as full participants. Given their outsider position, how do women’s movements and delegations, in cooperation with the UN agencies, shape the structure and dynamics of peace negotiations and influence their outcome? I argue that cooperation between women and the UN agencies produces a ‘parallel’ form of diplomacy via the range of practices employed by women alongside official and formal peace talks. Despite their unofficial character, these practices nevertheless play a significant role in framing the course of peace negotiations.