Women in peacekeeping: how to survive and succeed
Have you ever thought of what life is like in a conflict region? I had not. As a regular Swiss diplomat I was lucky enough to never really experience the challenges of conflict, until I was literally thrown into the midst of open hostilities with my assignment to Chechnya with the first OSCE Assistance Group in April 1995. My experience throughout that year in the war in Chechnya was such a strong eye-opener that since then, my interest for conflicts and their consequences, for ways out of them, but also for ways to alleviate the suffering of war victims has become an important part of my life, of my system of values and my very personality.
We arrived in Grozny in a Russian military helicopter from a military base in Southern Russia, six mission members from six different countries, five men and I, the only woman. Our luggage, 600 kg, included camping beds and sleeping bags, some dried food (they told us it was food for astronauts), which luckily we never had to use, two computers and a small generator. We were assigned to a residence with no windows and no doors – we did have a roof! No chairs, no table, no furniture at all, and no water, no electricity, no gas! No matches and no pocket lamp – they were at the bottom of our luggage –, so we were quickly caught up in the deep darkness night of a Caucasus night, illuminated only by occasional flairs which announced artillery firing all over the city. Also, and most importantly, in those first days we had no car or any other means to move around. So how were we to meet with our counterparts, Russian representatives and Chechens, located in very different places all over the region? We were forced to hire a “highly recommended” local driver and a car. And during our very first visit to the Chechens on the other side of the unofficial cease-fire line, this driver was immediately arrested by the Chechens, allegedly as a Russian spy.
In our mission we were all roughly the same age and had similar professional qualifications – we were diplomats at the Counselor level or military people – yet as the only woman in the group, I got my share of gender-related behaviour. We had a big fight about who would do what in our OSCE mandate, which included political talks, humanitarian support, human rights, the rule of law. I was kept kept away from all of it, but instead advised to go to the kitchen to train the few locals who helped us to get organized.
When soon after our arrival my colleagues went to see some interlocutors in a far-away village and stayed overnight without informing me (imagine, there were no cellular phones at that that time, just over 15 years ago!), I was left alone in the house with no doors, no windows, heavy fighting at night and the first thunderstorm of the spring. Needless to say, this was not the best moment of my life!
Since I was kept away from political work, I simply tried to make myself useful, looking into the aspects of the mandate which my colleagues did not really care about, such as human rights, humanitarian support, the rule of law. When the negotiations started on our OSCE premises, I was always around to receive the participants in the peace process, Russian representatives and Chechens, at the gate of our Grozny house. In this very tense situation I tried to make them feel at ease, helping them with any request they might have, be it even just tea or coffee.
Eventually I involved myself in the typing and drafting of peace or ceasefire proposals every time there was a deadlock in the negotiations – all in Russian, which was the language of negotiations. I did whatever I was asked to do. And little by little, I managed to gain the respect at least of the local interlocutors. When after several months I left Chechnya through a Moscow airport, a man who had been in the same plane approached me with flowers in his hand in the middle of winter. “Thank you, Heidi”, he said, “you were the human face of this mission. In the name of the Chechen people I thank you for what you have done for us!”
This very touching encounter made me understand that what matters, especially in such delicate environments as in a conflict is in fact something very different than just your professional capacities. It is all about values and personal skills. This is all the more true when you are a woman and when you have been put in a leadership position in a peace mission.
In the two decades that followed, I worked in other peacekeeping operations and peace negotiations, for the UN and the OSCE. After my experience in Chechnya, I was Deputy Head of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) and some years later the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) and Head of that same mission. I was also Personal Representative of the Austrian OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for missions in the Caucasus. In all of these missions, I learned how patient and persistent, how competent and flexible one had to be, not only to survive, but also to make the small difference that keep a conflict from sliding back into war!
Another very challenging experience was my appointment in 2008 as Head of the EU-mandated Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia. In just nine months I had to produce a comprehensive report, not only on the August 2008 war but also on all the underlying root causes, all the legal, humanitarian and human rights implications of that most unfortunate war in the South Caucasus. I also led a number of election observation missions on behalf of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation, and consider them to be among the most arduous tasks a regular diplomat, let alone a woman, may face in his or her career.
In all my assignments in conflicts, the fact that I was a woman was always somewhat unusual, and of course not always really welcome, but eventually my persistence and patience paid off, both for me personally as well as for those who gave me the mandate. In the pages that follow I would therefore like to focus on my very personal and practical experience gathered over the years, and present a kind of check-list of the values and inter-personal competences what really matters when working as a woman in a conflict environment:
Integrity
Integrity, first and foremost. In peace missions a woman in a top position is closely scrutinized and observed at all times. In general, women in peace missions face more skepticism and suspicion than men in the same jobs. In the volatile environment of a conflict where nobody trusts anybody, the integrity of the Head of Mission is a key requirement; it will determine whether you are acceptable as a negotiator/mediator or not. You may be a good negotiator, but if at the same time you are a person who is politically or morally compromised, it inevitably fires back.
Credibility
Credibility is the other keyword closely linked to integrity; your interlocutors need to be sure that what you tell them during your meetings is also what you believe and what you will do. And if they trust you and tell you something in confidence, outside the official meetings, you must honour their confidence and not betray them. Sometimes they do it on purpose just to test you! Stick to the simple truth: your counterparts in any peace process are much better connected than you, they know much more than you, about the history of the conflict and about their counterparts on the other side. And they also – and very quickly – know everything about you. Don’t ever cheat them. It would be the beginning of your end in any peace process.
Common sense
Common sense is what you need most in the fragile environment of a conflict. Who, if not you, will be reasonable when everybody around you is excited and emotional about the smallest incidents? In all your thinking, in all your assessments, in all your decisions, at all time, you need to demonstrate common sense. It helps to de-escalate the situation and to come up with reasonable proposals.
Intuition
Intuition is a precious tool in any peace process. This is where women may have an advantage over men; if you can sense whether your interlocutor is honest or not in what he proposes, it helps. A woman may sense whether it is dangerous for her peacekeepers to take a certain road rather than another, just because she may by nature be more cautious or take fewer risks. Of course, intuition alone is not enough; you also need to be able to listen to good advice. You need to have a keen sense of when it is time to do certain things, and when it is not. This may save your life or the lives of your mission members! Intuition may also mean that you have an understanding for the concerns of your counterparts in the peace process; this suggests respect, which is always helpful.
Flexibility
In peace missions one needs to be unbelievably flexible. This applies as much for living conditions, which are often rather precarious, as for the frequently changing political and security environments. You need to adapt to any new situation quickly and be on top of events in no time.
Stamina and endurance
Peace operations are hardly ever conducted in a normal environment; your ability to cope easily with a difficult environment, with difficult people and difficult tasks will eventually determine if you are really able to cope with your job. What you also need is a solid physical condition, a sound mind and good mental and emotional health. Peace missions are a tough school; they really take all your strength.
Persistence and consistency
If you want to achieve something in a peace process, you need to be persistent and consistent, but not in a fanatic way. Fanaticism, anyway, is absolutely forbidden! Just don’t let anybody push you aside. You need to be perseverant and focused in doing your job, but at the same time you need to be modest and reasonable. Don’t ever triumph when you have managed to win a battle – in a peace process, everything is always fragile!
Competence
To be taken seriously as a woman in a leadership position you need to be really competent and show that you know as much or – better – even more than your male colleagues.
Patience
In peace negotiations you also need endless patience, and you need to be able to relax and take distance from a situation. A peace process is a long and arduous endeavor. In the conflict over Abkhazia (in Georgia), keeping a fragile stability or status quo in the four years I was the UN SRSG and Head of Mission was a constant challenge and a tremendous effort, yet, to the outside world it looked like almost nothing! “What did you achieve?” was the usual question journalists asked back home. “Well, we managed to keep stability and to prevent the recurrence of a war,” I would say, only to hear in response: “Not very much, is it?” Had these journalists known what this meant in terms of alertness, or the endless patience and the constant readiness to speak to everybody at any time of the day or the night, to go to places of ambushes and attacks at night and to see sometimes horrible things, they might have changed their attitude. But status quo or fragile stability is “no news”; this superficial attitude changed only when to the surprise of many the war in Georgia broke out in August 2008!
Ability to listen
An ability to listen is indispensible iIn a peace mission, you also need to be able to listen. Talk to everybody, listen to everybody and treat everybody equally, even if at times you would prefer not to do so. And don’t accept criticism from anyone who accuses you of meeting with x, y or z who are the “bad guys”. In a conflict environment it is your privilege but also your duty, for the sake of objectivity and impartiality, to see and talk to all the stakeholders. Don’t forget, the loser of today may be the winner of tomorrow.
Impartiality
Impartiality is the watchword “par excellence” in any peace process, even if at times it is very difficult to remain impartial – we all have our sympathies and dislikes, but be aware that your credibility is at stake if you don’t stick to the rule of impartiality.
Resolve
As a chief of mission, you also need to have sufficient resolve to make decisions, taking into consideration all the risks and dangers involved. This may also mean that you make mistakes – and consequently need to bear the responsibility for your decision. In peace processes there are no easy solutions! One of my colleagues in a UN mission sent a helicopter to a particularly dangerous area as requested by the mandate. One party to the conflict had warned him of the imminent danger, but he thought he had to comply with the mandate; the helicopter was shot down with peacekeepers on board, no one survived. It is difficult to continue to live and work after such a disaster!
Don't be over-zealous
So, don’t be over-zealous: “above all, not too much zeal!” as the French philosopher Talleyrand would have said. You may take unnecessary risks if you are over-ambitious.
Motivate your team
As head of a peace mission, you need to make your team work. There is no ideal team; mission members are human beings, and jealousy, incompetence, ill will – you name it – are everywhere. As a leader, you have to motivate your people to give and do their best. This requires strength and Salomonic resolve. And it takes a lot of energy. A Russian proverb says it well: “The dogs are barking, but the caravan moves on.”
Accountability
Accountability is another keyword on my list is accountability; be aware that you will need to account for each and every step; don’t cheat, in the long run this doesn’t work.
Set the tone
Be aware that any person in a leading position, but especially as a woman leader in a peace mission, will be closely watched all the time: how you look (smiling? tired? nervous? relaxed? worried?), how you dress (the dress check is usually merciless, especially from other women) and how you react in critical or dangerous situations. You have to demonstrate self-assurance and self-control at all times; if you set the tone, the others will accept and follow you!
Know yourself
And very important: if you engage in peace missions, you need to know your weak and your strong points; in other words, you need to be able to look into the mirror without being afraid of what you see; if not, your counterparts in the conflict will be only too happy to show you the mirror – usually not to your advantage.
An absolute requirement for a peacemaking engagement is empathy and humanity. It may sound pathetic, but it is not, on the contrary. You had better not engage in conflicts where people have suffered a lot, if you are not able to have true respect and deep feelings of sympathy for those who have gone through hell and very often continue to suffer.
Anyone undertaking such a mission must clarify for him- or herself: can I live with and in a conflict environment? Many difficulties in the missions result from not having really clarified this point prior to engaging. Whoever says peace operation says responsibility; you must decide whether you can live with such a responsibility. What do I mean specifically? Casualties, attacks, hostage takings and ambushes on yourself or the members of your mission are a constant reality – they do take place. To live with this is not easy.
One must never lose sight of one’s image of the world at its most reasonable.
When in a leading position in a peace mission you always need to take into account and be prepared for the worst case scenario: Srebrenica, Ruanda, Somalia, Darfur, Liberia, Congo, South Ossetia and many others have happened and continue to happen!!! Maybe the worst case scenario never happens while you are on mission, but if you rely on good luck, you are badly advised. It may go well many times, but you have to be prepared.
What has helped me personally is discipline. Discipline as a way of life. Of course, you need to take your task seriously. But take time for yourself: get enough sleep, even if it is not always easy, eat well, exercise regularly and, most essential, don’t lose contact with culture and nature – they are an endless source of recreation and balance. Very useful to me in my sometimes arduous missions has been holding fast to a personal motto or a firm belief. One of mine is: “never give up”!
Let me conclude with Friedrich Dürrenmatt, one of my favorite Swiss writers, who has given us the following word of wisdom: "One must never lose sight of one’s image of the world at its most reasonable".