ABSTRACT
Introduction This chapter analyses violence against women in post-war Timor-Leste, especially in the context of institutional change in the transition from war to peace. The chapter focuses on violence against women not only because it persists in post-conflict states,despite theenhancedpoliticalparticipationand representation of women in decision-making, as the Timor example highlights, but also because civilian security is one of the fundamental requirements of the peacebuilding process. In particular, this chapter addresses three issues related to the political, economic and social dimensions of peacebuilding and the role of women in this process, particularly in the context of UN Security Council Resolution1325(UNSCR1325).These include,first, theruleof law, includingthe reform of criminal codes, the police, the judiciary, and civil and family law; second, the peacekeeping economy and its impact on the sexual exploitation of women; and third, the reform of public administration. These areas are directly relatedtotheroleofUNtransitionalassistanceinpost-conflictstates,including in Timor-Leste, where the policies and priorities of external actors could have an enduring impact on gender relations. Notwithstanding cultural and other local factors that affect the status of women, these institutional frameworks determine the scope of post-war violence generally, not only against women, because institutions established in the process of the post-war transition are based on the realignment of power among groups engaged in civil war violence. The Timor-Leste case highlights particular challenges facing women and gender issues in peacebuilding. On the one hand, the end of the civil war and the ensuing transition to post-war democratization, with international assistance, can increase the representation of women in decision-making and state institutions. In July 2001, Timorese women won 26 per cent of the seats in the Constituent Assembly, even without electoral quotas being allocated to them. In 2007, 20 per cent of ministers and administrators within the executive branch were women. At the same time, gender-based violence (GBV) tends to remain pervasiveinpost-conflictstates.InTimor-Leste,despitethemassivemobilizationand empowermentofwomen for thefirst democratic electionsfivemonths earlier, nearly 40 per cent of all reported crimes in December 2001 involved violence
against women and girls, such as rape, attempted rape and sexual assault.1 Statistics from 2004 indicate that GBV constituted more than half of the cases reported to the police and approximately one-third of the cases coming before the courts that year.2 At the same time, the Timor-Leste case study also highlights that women can be vulnerable in the rapid post-war transition toward political and economic liberalization that characterizes the current approach to peacebuilding.3 This analysis is based on a literature review and an earlier trip to Timor-Leste as part of the global assessment supported by the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)oftheimpactofarmedconflictonwomenandtheircorrelativerole in peacebuilding. In extensive consultations on gender issues with civil society, legislators,governmentofficialsandrepresentativesofmultilateralandbilateral donors, it was agreed that violence against women has emerged as one of the most pressing issues in Timor-Leste. International interventions in the transitional period have several advantages. First, the international administration of local authority can generally apply high human rights and gender equality standards in accordance with international benchmarks, including the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action (PFA), and UNSCR 1325. Second, as the international administration becomes the de facto government, it can exercise influence in the design of the state system, thereby advocating gender equality in constitutional, legislative, judicial and electoral reforms. The establishment of the Gender Affairs Unit in the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) contributed to these goals by introducing mainstream gender perspectives in the UN mission’s planning and management and in the interim national decision-making process in the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT).4 Those who were involved in the drafting of Resolution 1325 made a conscious effort to emphasize the political empowerment of women, calling for their participation in peace negotiations, peacebuilding and other macro-level institutional reforms in order to build on the socio-economic origins of other international instruments on gender equality. Given that Resolution 1325 was adopted in October 2000, shortly after UNTAET’s arrival, the document was not widely known among Timorese women’s groups or national political leaders at the time. When the Women’s Congress was organized in Dili in June 2000, participants referred to the PFA when discussing issues pertaining to peacebuilding and women’s role in this process. Resolution 1325 was subsequently utilized by women’s groups to increase their participation in decision-making, including during the campaigning period for the 2001 elections.
