Peace talks, at the international or national level, between state or armed non-state actors are an essential part of conflict prevention and resolution. Yet the process is fraught with challenges, especially in addressing the complex issues that define a conflict. These include the need for significant trade-offs to bring about an agreement, and the fact that negotiations tend to exclude or marginalize key constituencies.
Traditionally, the focus of peace talks has been on a core set of issues, such as security, territory, economy, and religion. But there is a growing recognition that addressing the root causes of conflicts is also critical to preventing and resolving them. This includes tackling poverty, global inequalities and exploitation.
As a result, there is more interest in expanding the scope of peace talks to include local or sub-national issues, as well as non-state actors, particularly those who are involved in armed conflict. Moreover, there is a resurgence of interest in bringing women into peace talks.
This is reflected in the rise of female mediators, negotiators and participants. However, the number of women in official negotiations is still too low, and barriers to their participation remain widespread. Efforts to include more women in negotiations need to be strengthened, from increasing the number of women and gender experts as observers to mediating or negotiating, and ensuring that all groups are guaranteed an equal opportunity to participate. It is also important to avoid using observer status as a substitute for real participation, and that barriers, whether legally enshrined or not, are removed.
