Undermining Dichotomies: Women and the Peace Process in Afghanistan

This paper interrogates the equation of women and peace through the prism of the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program (APRP). The Programme was initiated in 2010 and is scheduled to continue through 2018. It is designed to create the conditions for inclusion of the insurgency within the democratic system and provide a roadmap for peace. The APRP builds on one of the central justifications of the war: the liberation of Afghan women. It requires gender mainstreaming in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 and subsequent Resolutions, so as to include women in all stages of the process. The APRP underscores inevitable tensions between international and local standards that purport to ensure women’s interests are protected in peacebuilding. The effort to impose gender mainstreaming on the peace process is emblematic of this tension. I argue that this effort has yielded partial gains for women who have internalized international perspectives on women’s rights, but it signifies the exclusion of those who do not. UNSCRs 1325, 1820, 1888, 1889, 1960, 2106, and 2122 assume symmetry in the positions of men and women: but fail to address the complex ways in which gender is perceived by power relations within particular societies. Considering men and women as though they confront similar obstacles reifies disparities between them. Formal numerical inclusion in the APRP, as in other political processes, has not and cannot ensure changed practices

Undermining Dichotomies: Women and the Peace Process in Afghanistan

This paper interrogates the equation of women and peace through the prism of the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program (APRP). The Programme was initiated in 2010 and is scheduled to continue through 2018. It is designed to create the conditions for inclusion of the insurgency within the democratic system and provide a roadmap for peace. The APRP builds on one of the central justifications of the war: the liberation of Afghan women. It requires gender mainstreaming in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 and subsequent Resolutions, so as to include women in all stages of the process. The APRP underscores inevitable tensions between international and local standards that purport to ensure women’s interests are protected in peacebuilding. The effort to impose gender mainstreaming on the peace process is emblematic of this tension. I argue that this effort has yielded partial gains for women who have internalized international perspectives on women’s rights, but it signifies the exclusion of those who do not. UNSCRs 1325, 1820, 1888, 1889, 1960, 2106, and 2122 assume symmetry in the positions of men and women: but fail to address the complex ways in which gender is perceived by power relations within particular societies. Considering men and women as though they confront similar obstacles reifies disparities between them. Formal numerical inclusion in the APRP, as in other political processes, has not and cannot ensure changed practices

Review Article Children with Chronic Granulomatous Disease

Patients with CGD are "experiments of nature." An abnormality of genetic coding of small part of a protein (cytochrome b) in the membrane of phagocytic cells results in abnormal oxidative metabolism of these cells. The metabolic defect is critical for production of reactive oxygen radicals, which are necessary for efficient intracellular killing of catalase-positive bacterial and fungal species within phagocytic vacuoles. Patients with CGD suffer recurrent severe and often lifethreatening infections with these same species of bacteria and fungi. Thus clinical evidence is provided for the importance of a normal oxidative response of phagocytic cells during the engulfment process for normal host defense against bacteria. Investigators, intrigued by this remarkable biochemical clinical correlation, have studied human granulocytes with the tools of modern molecular genetics. The abnormal gene has been located and defective-gene products have been identified in CGD patients. This knowledge has provided a basis for therapy of CGD patients with human recombinant interferon gamma, an immunomodulator which stimulates NADPH-oxidase activity in the abnormal granulocytes. Other treatment and replacement modalities are anticipated but most importantly these CGD patients have provided insights into the usually hidden mysteries of nature. We are very grateful to these patients as our teachers