UN agencies must design peace processes that are inclusive of women, Omamo says
Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Ambassodor Raychelle Omamo has encouraged the need to uplift and amplify the voices of women in building, negotiating, and keeping the peace.
In a debate on women and peace security at the United Nation headquarters in New York, Omamo said the uplifting of women voices will bolster their contribution in conflict prevention and peacemaking by investing in women across the peacebuilding and peacekeeping continuum.
“I am pleased that many delegations underscore the imperative to invest in local women and bring them from the periphery to the center of the women, peace and security agenda,” She said.
She said women are quietly working, organising and mobilising for peace at the grassroots, in villages, in IDP and refugee camps, in sprawling informal settlements and myriads of other locations.
According to Omamo, the Council and other UN agencies continue to encourage and design peace processes that are inclusive of the people, and particularly women at the grassroots level.
“Peace cannot be confined to meetings and speeches in conference halls, but must spread from the streets. In this sense, peacebuilding and peacekeeping are manifestations of the dignity, courage, tenacity and ambition of ordinary people,” said Omamo.
She noted that the East African country is currently holding the presidency at the UNSC, recognizing that women peacekeepers, for instance, must acquire new skills and competencies to better perform their critical role of protecting women and children, particularly in conflict zones.
She said governments ought to invest in the physical protection of women and girls from abuse and violence.
“We must invest in the homegrown, conflict management skills and knowledge of local women. We must invest in building capacity for new mediation and negotiation competencies. We must invest in livelihoods and the recovery of women and children,” she said.
“We must invest in their peace and rights advocacy and utilize their agency as interlocutors in counter violent extremism programmes, in DDR initiatives and in climate action and adaptation interventions in conflict zones.”
In this regard, Omamo noted that Kenya is committed to this call adding that the country is training women in counter-IED skills at the humanitarian support school in Embakasi, Nairobi.
“…where we are also offering training in engineering within the triangular partnership program.” she said.
