The Office of the UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide (OSAPG) organised a workshop in Kigali, Rwanda on 4 and 5 November 2024 for women active in communities that focused on the implementation of the Napoli Plan of Action and supporting women from Sudan who are countering violence and incitement to violence that could lead to genocide. I had the honour of participating in this in every respect special event.
The idea of the Napoli Plan of Action was initiated by Alice Wiarimu Nderitu, UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, who two years ago brought together in Naples women from different, mostly African countries, women from different walks of life who are actively working in various ways to improve the situation in their communities and societies. The aim was to exchange experience and come together to sketch out the plan. The goals of the action plan are to build sustainable support systems around the work of women in communities preventing genocide and related atrocity crimes, as well as advocating for and supporting women in having a more meaningful role in both global and local peace and security processes, given that few if any women are included in them. An African activist who took part in these consultations summed up the situation vividly: “They play war, then they negotiate a ceasefire, but no one asks us anything, our role is reduced to being raped.”
The final version of the Napoli Plan of Action under its full title “Plan of Action for Women in Communities to Counter Hate Speech and Prevent Incitement to Violence that Could Lead to Genocide and Related Atrocity Crimes” was endorsed by the UN General Secretary in June 2023, and it is available here. It is certainly a commendable initiative, but there are many factors that will determine its success. But, to be clear, responsibility lies with various levels of societies to thoughtfully put it into action.
I would like to use this opportunity to indicate another important UN publication: “Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes: A tool for prevention“ which was also discussed at the workshop in Kigali. It was published some ten years ago, but it is still current, given the way things have developed globally. It contains an analysis of risk factors that can be useful to both civil society and government officials.
Most of the Kigali workshop was focused on the escalation of violence in Sudan and we heard testimony from eight women from Sudan. They were all from different ethnic groups and all of them are currently refugees in other countries, some even in camps where countless people have fled (if I understood correctly, there are two million Sudanese in refugee camps just in Egypt). It was a deeply emotional experience to hear their words and it was touching how they kept together as a group and tried to come up with constructive ideas, despite the horrific violence that is currently going on. OSAPG devotes special attention to following the developments in Sudan and is planning focused support for women and their cooperation across lines of division.
This was an important experience for me. It was most significant to hear from the women from Sudan. It was also very inspirational to exchange experience about difficulties and strategies with impressive women from different countries. It was challenging to listen to people from the “Village of Reconciliation” in Rwanda during one of the sessions. And the opportunity to see Kigali is not negligible. I did not manage to see much, not enough to get a sense of how people live there now, and I am still sorting through my impressions from the Genocide Memorial where the workshop was held. It was also important for me to get more insight into the work of OSAPG and the UN Special Advisor, which is inspirational, sensitive and constructive.
Two conclusions from the workshop that were repeated by several women still echo in my thoughts: 1) genocide is committed by states (not by deranged hordes or outcasts, as it is often claimed) and 2) hate speech includes the denial that a crime was committed.
And let me end with a statement that Alice Wiarimu Nderitu repeated in various situations: “Support for women means support for prevention. Supporting women means saving lives.”