Let us build a European Women’s Security Council!

The European Union has been built out of the ruins of Europe. It was designed as an alliance for peace after the defeat of Nazi-Germany. „The ruins are the unsightly but nevertheless indispensable fundament“of a united Europe, said the Swiss writer Adolf Muschg. This history obliges us, and especially all European politicians, to be strongly engaged in peace politics. Anything else would be a moral betrayal of the vision and reality of the already united continent and the ongoing unification.

Unfortunately, some of the political decision-makers and economic forces see the unification process only as a profane opportunity for market enlargement. For them, economic interests and investments must be secured – if necessary also by military means. This attitude had a considerable influence on the European Security Strategy which was passed in 2003. This concept for the Common Security and Defence Policy of the European Union strongly relies on military rather than on civilian conflict management. This is to be realised through the establishment of a European armament agency and the establishment of European intervention forces acting worldwide which are, for example, able to occupy the oil fields in the Middle East together with the US army in order to defend European interests – as documented in the „European Defence Paper“ of 2004. These interests can be threatened by a “massive increase of energy costs or the disruption of commercial flows of goods”.

A small circle of mainly male security politicians who are lacking any democratic legitimacy have decided on these plans. Neither the Parliament of the EU nor any national parliaments have ever approved this security strategy. This policy is against the declared will of many men and women in Europe working in lots of different ways to overcome conflicts and crisis by civilian means. Further, this policy is contradicting the EU as an alliance for peace and is also against the fundamental principle of equal rights for men and women. Especially women are excluded from the decision-making. In times of crisis or peace negotiations they are not able to fully participate in the fields of security politics which are dominated by men – as we can witness at present in Kosovo. This means excluding them twice and in an undemocratic manner from an existential part of European politics.

The multiple instruments of civilian conflict management are not promoted enough and due to that they are also not applied. Also, in the EU and its member states the budgets for military and armament expenditure are at least a thousand times higher than those for civilian conflict management.

However, we invest all our energy in making Europe become a global player in the field of civilian alternatives. We that stands for the “German Women’s Security Council”, a voluntary network founded during the last war against Iraq consisting of women peace researchers and activists. Some of the members are representing organisations such as amnesty international, medica mondiale, WILPF, or the Heinrich Boell Foundation.

We call upon the women of Europe, to get powerfully involved in all spheres of security politics! We further request the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 is implemented consistently all over Europe and in all national and supranational institutions such as the EU, the OSCE or the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. As the Resolution 1325 of the 31st October 2000 states: women shall be part of all peace processes at all levels, locally, regionally and nationally, during conflict prevention, peace missions, national reconstruction, in parliaments, governments, justice, police and in all other state institutions. Women are half of Europe – half of European politics, European ideas, projects and visions for the future.