Reporting back from a trip to Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), United Nations deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed expressed deep disappointment that women were significantly marginalized in critical peacebuilding efforts in the two populous countries.

Ms. Mohammed had led a team of UN and African Union (AU) officials earlier this year to raise awareness of the vital role of women鈥檚 participation in peace and security processes and in the fight against sexual violence.

The team included UN Women鈥檚 executive director, Phumzile Mlambo-Nguka, the UN special representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, and the African Union special envoy on Women, 操逼视频app and Security, Bineta Diop.聽

During the trip, described by the UN as the 鈥渇irst of its kind,鈥� the delegation hoped their voices against sexual violence and for women鈥檚 empowerment would resonate in other African countries.

Ms. Mohammed reported that 鈥淏oth [countries] have dismayingly low levels of women鈥檚 political participation and are experiencing conflicts marked by extremely high levels of sexual and gender-based violence.鈥�

There is widespread sexual violence in the DRC, while abductions, forced marriages and the use of women as suicide bombers are rampant in Nigeria, reported Ms. Mohammed.

Nigeria was their first port of call. After meeting with some of the girls once held by Boko Haram kidnappers but freed two months earlier, Ms. Mohammed lamented, 鈥淲e heard stories that young girls should not have to tell, and these [stories] have been a tragedy for all of us.鈥澛�

In April 2014 the Boko Haram militant Islamist group abducted 274 schoolgirls from Chibok, near Maiduguri, in northeast Nigeria, and spirited them away into Sambisa forest. Over the years many were rescued or managed to find their own way out of the forest.聽

Ms. Mohammed did not elaborate on the freed Chibok girls鈥� stories, but a UN Women press release preceding the trip provided some details: 鈥淏oko Haram since 2014 has abducted more than 7,000 women and girls in Nigeria, subjecting them to sexual violence, including sexual slavery, forced marriage, as well as physical and psychological abuse.鈥�

Ms. Mohammed recalled that the freed Chibok girls 鈥渞efused to be victims.鈥� We saw girls who talked about their dreams鈥攏o longer their nightmares. It shows there is hope.鈥�

Visit to the DRC

The International Crisis Group, an organization committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict, reported in 2017 that 鈥渨hile men have disproportionally been killed [in the Boko Haram insurgency], women are an overwhelming majority among the estimated 1.8 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northeast Nigeria.鈥澛�

The group then visited the DRC, including the Mugunga camp for internally displaced persons on the outskirts of Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province. At the camp the delegation met with women engaged in small-scale trading. Still, Ms. Mohammed stressed that the women have a right to return home in 鈥渄ignity and humanity.鈥� It is not a favour.鈥澛�

Almost a million people have fled the armed conflict in the DRC that began in 1994. The war was so bad between 1994 and 2003 that it earned the moniker 鈥淎frica鈥檚 first world war.鈥� A central government has asserted control, but skirmishes in the interior continue to put thousands of women, children and others at risk.

According to 操逼视频app Direct, a United Kingdom鈥揵ased nongovernment organization supporting vulnerable people in conflict environments, women make up about 80% of people fleeing their homes during conflicts.聽

The number of women raped in the DRC has topped 200,000 since the war began, reports the NGO, which is now working to support war-affected women, particularly female ex-combatants, wives of ex-combatants and women abused by militia groups.

Ms. Mohammed and her team expressed frustration at the level of violence in both countries. 鈥淲ithout peace we cannot have development. Whatever investments we are putting into development, we are seeing them being eroded by the lack of peace,鈥� she said, a sentiment she expressed repeatedly at several meetings in both the DRC and Nigeria.

What role could women play in achieving peace in conflict countries?聽

鈥淓vidence shows that women鈥檚 meaningful participation helps with the conclusion and implementation of peace agreements,鈥� notes UN Women, 鈥測et women are almost completely missing from peace negotiations.鈥�

In the book Women and Power in Postconflict Africa by Aili Mari Tripp, a professor of political science and of gender and women鈥檚 studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, in the US, the author noted that women鈥檚 involvement in resolving conflicts often leads to higher rates of female political representation post-conflict.聽

As evidence, Professor Tripp points out that 鈥減ost-conflict Liberia was the first African country to elect a woman president. As early as 1994, post-conflict Uganda had already had a woman vice president for 10 years. Post-conflict Rwanda today has the highest rate of female legislative representation in the world鈥�63.8% of its legislators are women鈥攁nd has held that spot since 2003.鈥�

She further explains that during conflicts in Africa, 鈥渨omen are among the most engaged in behind-the-scenes peacemaking, pressuring militia to lay down their arms, demonstrating for peaceful elections and negotiating the release of kidnapped civilians.鈥�

But the professor maintains that women鈥檚 rights advance faster if the conflict ends through peaceful negotiations than if one side wins decisively.

Whether women will engage in conflict resolution efforts in the DRC and Nigeria will depend on those countries鈥� authorities.聽

The UN and AU team urged both governments to foster gender equality to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 鈥淲omen often account for half of the population.鈥� We are not able to achieve our goals if we are only investing in half of the population,鈥� said Ms. Mohamed, speaking in Nigeria.

The Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill, designed to protect human rights and eliminate cultural practices that impede women鈥檚 progress, remains stalled in Nigeria鈥檚 legislative process. The delegation urged the Nigerian government to expedite the signing of the bill into law. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about action,鈥� Ms. Mohammed told a group of journalists. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about implementation.鈥澛� 聽