The African Union's duty to prevent the political and security crisis in the DRC : A gendered perspective

Abstract

The current political and security tensions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, risk escalating into an all-out war as seen in that country in the past. There have been several unfruitful attempts to prevent and resolve the conflicts, while research is emerging that the participation of women in peace processes increases the chance of their success. This thesis mainly seeks to determine that the African Union must match its preventive and mediation efforts there with its gender equality agenda to increase their effectiveness. It mainly questions the extent to which the African Union’s prevention frameworks enable it to mediate the crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo using a gender-inclusive approach. To answer this question, the gender-sensitive analysis is applied to the data collected. This thesis finds that the African Union possesses an extensive set of policies in the women, peace and security area, beside its diplomatic tool, the Panel of the Wise, and the new African Union Mediation Support Unit that could help it tackle the crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a gender-sensitive way. This notwithstanding, African Union’s mediations in that country from 2015 to date have, to an insufficient extent, reflected its gender equality policies with respect to peace and security.