Madam, - We are pleased to see that the Government is to fund a conflict-resolution unit (The Irish Times, July 9th). We hope that within the unit there will be a practical fulfilment of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, as adopted by the council at its 4,213th meeting, on October 31st, 2000.
This emphasised "the importance of involving women in peacekeeping and peace-building measures," and called for "support for local women's peace initiatives and indigenous processes for conflict resolution" as well as the involvement of women "in all of the peace agreement implementation mechanisms."
It is regrettable that the implementation of this important resolution is never mentioned in reports of current international disputes and the problems of solving them - eg Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Darfur, Palestine/ Israel. So long as it remains invisible, and the role of women invisible, there can be no true end to armed conflict and no true reconstruction of shattered communities.
By the way, in regard to the "involvement of women," this must not mean one token woman among a tableful of men. There are more women than men in the world and they should take part in these meetings as a majority. - Yours, etc,
MARGARETTA D'ARCY, Chairperson, Women in Media and Entertainment, St Bridget's Place Lower, Galway.