Women, Peace, Security: ZIF & PC Asia seminar for Cambodian parliamentarians

From November 28 to 29, the Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF) held a seminar on “Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) for Women Parliamentarian: Techniques and Methodology for Parliamentary Mediation and Negotiation” in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh in cooperation with the Parliamentary Center Asia (PC Asia) under the auspices of the Cambodian Parliamentary Women's Committee.

The opening of the seminar took place in the Cambodian National Assembly at the invitation of the Committee with around 100 participants. The opening speech was given by the President of the National Assembly, Samdech Rathsaphea Thipadei Khuon Sudary, the first woman to hold this office. German Deputy Ambassador to Phnom Penh Jost Kadel also delivered a speech in which he emphasized the critical role of women, especially parliamentarians, in conflict resolution: “Without women, peace-building efforts lack critical perspectives. Their role as parliamentarians is crucial to ensure that women's voices are included at all levels of policymaking and conflict resolution.”

Sebastian Dworack, Head of ZIF's Policy, Partnership & Innovation team, also confirmed: “There are many possibilities and opportunities for effective negotiation and mediation in the parliamentary arena, not only in the drafting, deliberation and adoption of new laws, but also in representing the interests of the people you have elected. It is particularly important to ensure that the interests of all sections of society - men, women, young people and other groups - are adequately taken into account and represented on an equal footing. Our seminar aims to impart the necessary skills for this, including through the mutual exchange of knowledge.”

In addition to the two facilitators from the ZIF, Dr. Henri Myrttinen has been recruited as an expert in regional WPS implementation for the seminar.