The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) congratulates the three women who today jointly received the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, namely President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, Leymah Gbowee, gender activist in Liberia, and Tawakkul Karman, gender activist in Yemen. The award was given in recognition of their non-violent struggle for the safety and protection of women, and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.
ACCORD honours the Nobel Committee, whose awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to these three phenomenal women is a reflection of how seriously the world is now embracing the role of women in peace and security matters. The prize is affirmation of the growing global leadership of woman, and acknowledgment that neither peace nor democracy comes without their full support and participation.
This Nobel Prize also adds impetus to the ground-breaking United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325, which has become a rallying point for the role for women in peacemaking, peacebuilding and peacekeeping. In addition to contributing to the promotion and implementation of 1325, ACCORD places great priority on facilitating gender mainstreaming in the peace and conflict field internationally, and will continue to ensure that gender is a cross-cutting theme in the organisation’s policy, research, interventions and operations.
