Speaking last week at a panel discussion hosted by the Nobel Women’s Initiative in Washington, D.C., Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai discussed prospects for peace in Sudan and had these wise words on the future of a credible peace process in Darfur and throughout the country:
It is vital that any and all peace talks include the women of Sudan, who are already building a path to peace through their efforts to create dialogue and a consultation process…When women are not part of the peace process, their access to justice, reparations and the full range of their rights is jeopardized.
Also on the panel, Carla Koppell, the director of the Institute for Inclusive Security, urged the international community to:
[C]onvene other players, not the same armed actors, to shift incentives in negotiations to offer more seats for women, and ask for women’s groups’ input in a formal way.
The perspectives of Maathai and Koppell and leaders like them must not be ignored as the international community works to build a credible peace process for Darfur. Including women from the ground up is the only way to ensure that peace in Darfur—and throughout Sudan—is realized for all of its people.
Photo: Panel discussion in Washington, D.C., courtesy of the Nobel Women’s Initiative