Women
War/Armed conflict
Transitional Justice/Dealing with the Past
Conflict transformation
Civil society/Civil society organisation
By “women” we mean people who identify as female, including trans, inter and cis women. In addition, we stress the need to include the voices and experiences of people who were socialised or are on occasion perceived as women, such as trans men, nonbinary and agender people.
War is both a general term of common language, referring to a phenomenon of organised collective violence that affects the relations between states or the power relations within a society, and a legal term under international law (jus ad bellum and jus in bello). “Armed conflict” describes a state of hostilities that is not dependent on a declaration of war nor on the recognition of the existence of “war” by its parties. In other words, all wars are armed conflicts but not all armed conflicts are declared wars. According to relevant jurisprudence and the International Committee of the Red Cross, an armed conflict exists whenever there is resort to armed forces between States (“international armed conflict”). When protracted armed violence occurs between governmental authorities and organised armed groups or between such groups within a State, it is referred to as a “non-international armed conflict”. In the case of non-international armed conflicts, a certain threshold of intensity is required (isolated incidents, tensions or minor skirmishes are not enough). As a general rule, we use the term “armed conflict”. We use “war” when we want to emphasise our partners‘ views and demands and when this term is better understood by certain audiences.
(Source: International Committee of the Red Cross)
The terms Transitional Justice and Dealing with the Past are used synonymously today. They encompass the entire range of processes and mechanisms through which a society attempts to deal with the legacy of systematic violence during an armed conflict or authoritarian regime. Such processes include: criminal prosecution initiatives, truth-seeking through truth commissions, rehabilitation programmes, institutional reforms or a combination of these measures. These are long-term, ongoing processes that can span generations and aim to preserve the memory of the past, draw lessons from it and prevent systematic violence from recurring.
(Source: United Nations Secretary General, Guidance Note, 2010)
Conflict transformation refers to "actions and processes which seek to address the root causes of a particular conflict over the long term, in the pursuit of just peace by peaceful means. It aims to transform negative, destructive conflict into positive, constructive conflict and deals with structural, behavioral and attitudinal aspects of conflict." (Véronique Dudouet, Powering to Peace,
Civil society is the area of social activity in which people come together to pursue public interests and social causes, or to help shape political and social processes. Citizens in a civil society are involved in non-governmental organisations, citizens’ initiatives and associations that operate independently of the state and the market. Civil society is of crucial importance for strengthening democracy and promoting the resilience of the community.
The term “civil society organisations” refers to all non-profit, organised groups, associations and federations within society that operate independently of government, the state and the private sector. Examples of civil society groups include universities, non-governmental organisations, voluntary organisations, organisations, movements and networks that operate in the social sphere outside the state and the private sector, environmental movements, associations of indigenous peoples, organised local communities and trade unions. They may be organised at local, national and international levels. Civil society organisations provide a wide range of services and carry out humanitarian work; they convey citizens’ concerns to governments, monitor policy and promote community participation.
Sources: UNESCO , IGI Global
