Report on the public event to celebrate International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament in South Korea – by Gyunglan Jung and Minjung Choi
In South Korea, Women Making Peace has celebrated International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament through seminars; statement issuance for peace and against war; peace vigils; and sending milk powder to North Korean children individually or with other groups.
This year, the 1325 Network, together with Women Making Peace, organized a public event at the National Human Rights Commission of Korea on May 22. The Korean Foundation for Women sponsored the event. The title of the event was “UNSCR 1325 and Korean Women”.
Currently, the South Korean government is developing a National Action Plan on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (NAP 1325). Since January this year, the 1325 Network has been actively engaged in this process. It consists of 43 CSOs, including Women Making Peace, Korean Women’s Associations United, Korea YWCA, and Korea Women’s Hot Line. The network urged the South Korean government to organize a consultative body among the South Korean government, civil society organizations and academics in order to jointly develop the NAP. Currently the government considers organizing a UNSCR 1325 working group as a consultative body.
South Korea is a UN Security Council non-permanent member; one of the executive board members of UN Women; the 10th highest donor country to UN PKO budgets; an OECD-Development Assistance Committee (DAC) member and a member of Friends of 1325. A South Korean NAP on UNSCR 1325 will hence be very influential nationally and internationally, as it will have great effects on women in South and North Korea, troop dispatching countries and developing countries that South Korea assists.
The objectives of the May 24 public event focused on identifying the meaning of a South Korean NAP in the context of a divided Korea; exploring the directions of the South Korean women’s activities to implement UNSCR 1325 by reviewing NAPs of other countries; and making suggestions for women’s participation in the process of developing the NAP.
At the public event, Mr. Luis Teodoro Cruz, the Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines, gave congratulatory remarks and Ms. Sanghee Kim, chairwoman of the Committee on Gender Equality and Family of the National Assembly, sent a congratulatory message to the conference. Ambassador Luis Cruz underlined that the Philippines was the first country to adopt a National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 in Asia. “The Philippine Action Plan calls for a close collaboration between government institutions and civil society groups to fully comply with the government’s commitment to increase participation in peace processes and address sexual violence against women in armed conflict situations.” He also expressed his support for the South Korean women’s endeavor to come up with a NAP.
Congresswoman Sanghee Kim pointed out that the South Korean National Assembly passed a resolution in February 2012, urging the South Korean government to adopt a NAP 1325. In December 2012, the South Korean government adopted the 4th Basic Plan on Women’s Policy, which included the development of a NAP as one of the tasks. She asked women to actively work for reducing tensions on the Korean peninsula and divert a confrontation between North and South Korea.
At the presentation, Ms. Hyunsook Lee, Executive Director of Women’s Forum for Peace and Diplomacy, and Gyunglan Jung, co-representative of Women Making Peace, gave presentations to the public. Ms. Hyunsook Lee gave a presentation on “Overcoming Division of the Korean Peninsula and National Action Plan on UN Security Council Resolution 1325”. She pointed out that the South Korean context was not properly reflected in the draft NAP, underlining Korea’s divided situation and its experience with sexual violence during World War II. Women suffered seriously from various conflicts, mentioning war widows, Japanese sexual slavery, women in sex industry near US military bases and so on. Overcoming the division of Korea is connected with addressing women’s problems. Women should recognize that women’s lives are affected by peace and security sectors. She also underlined that men’s views have been repeatedly used within conflict resolution efforts between North and South for 60 years, but have not been effective. The current insecurity in Korea is proof of the failure of a male centered diplomacy and security policy. Women should raise attention for this problem and work as peacemakers.
Ms. Gyunglan Jung gave a presentation on “National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 and Women’s Participation”. She stressed the importance of women’s participation in the peace process. “Women’s participation in peace processes is a right of women, as they represent half of the population and will have positive influence on the parameters of politics, economy, security and socio-cultural reforms in a post conflict society.” She urged South Korean women to actively participate in the process of developing a South Korean NAP and suggested to develop a women’s vision on peace or a people’s vision on peace. She gave examples of women’s active participation in developing a NAP in the Philippines and the Netherlands. She made three suggestions on women’s participation in the process: broad networking, thematic approaches on peacekeeping, peace processes, sexual violence and humanitarian assistance, and governance structures based on UNSCR 1325.
Four discussants gave comments on the presentations. Ms. Eunjoo Kim, Director of the Center for Korean Women & Politics, criticized the South Korean NAP draft for not reflecting the South Korean context and underlined that the process of developing and implementing a 1325 NAP should be a process to promote peace sensibility and women’s participation in peace making and human security.
Mr. Daehoon Lee, member of the UN Advisory Group on Women, Peace and Security in the Asia and Pacific Region, emphasized that in developing the Nation Action Plan, there is a need to consult with all stakeholders and groups concerned and collect their opinions. In addition, equal and just international relations need to be considered for the compliance with all international human rights and international humanitarian laws for adopting an effective and participatory National Action Plan.
Ms. Elli Kim, professor of the Ehwa Institute for Leadership Development, raised a question on how 1325 NAP will change women’s lives under the current security paradigm, which is not a peace paradigm. She commented on the importance of qualitative change in women’s lives through the development of a NAP. “Development of a NAP should draw not only on the increase of numbers of women in participation but also on the quality change of women’s lives.”
Ms. Soonduk Woo, co-representative of the Alliance for the Human Rights of Gijichon Women, pointed out that the South Korean government constructed Gijichon (US military camp in the South Korea) for the US military in South Korea after the Korean War. She urged the NAP to include the South Korean government’s support to Gijichon Women.
Participants came to the conclusion that women need to actively participate in the process of developing the NAP as peacemakers and to empower women’s capacity.
WPP In Action 