Welcome

IFOR's Women Peacemakers Program believes that programs that specifically empower women peacemakers, and encourage women and girls to become involved in peacebuilding and civil society building, are essential for development. (mission)

Highlights:

Voices of Peace from the Balkans and the Caucasus: 24 May 2009

Lesley Abdela - May 24 2009 Zorica Trifunovic - Women in Black Serbia

Every year WPP organizes 24 May, the International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament with a public event and a publication. This year the May 24 celebration focused on women peacemakers and musicians working for peace from the Balkans and the Caucasus.

one of the members of LéLéMam

The diverse group of the panellists, ranging from UN level to grassroots activists, proved to be a good mixture as the lively and fruitful discussions showed!

Merima Kljuco - accordeon Debate May 24 2009

Please read the preliminary report on the day. A final report on the day will be posted soon. Download here more pictures.

Release May 24 Action Pack

May 24 2009 Action Pack; Voices of Peace from the Balkans and the Caucasus

The 2009 May 24 Action Pack is ready! The Action Pack highlights challenges that women activists face in both the Balkans and the Caucasus and elaborates on the strategies these women apply to deal with the challenges. International activists and organisations such as Women in Black, Global Fund for Women, Kvinna till Kvinna, Musicians without Borders, Gulnara Shahinian and Lesley Abdela contributed with an article. To download the smaller size Action Pack click here

News and Announcements:

From the WPP Office

WPP, International Secretariat news: (read more)

25 June 2009: Non Violence Education and Training

WPP supports nonviolence trainings during 2009, by providing financial support (seedfunding). Read more

23 June 2009: Nonviolence in Iran

"When I was in Iran, I felt the energy of young people that wanted and needed change. Nearly two out of every three people is under thirty. Many of them highly educated, including many women. A hope for change is what brought millions of women and men to the ballot boxes. A hope for change brings these same people to the streets now. Demanding their rights and demanding their votes to be heard." Read the article by WPP Information Officer José de Vries

12 June 2009: New The Time is Now!

The past six weeks, two interns from Kyrgyzstan and Fiji have been working at the International Secretariat. They have produced a newsletter in which they share their experiences: Read The Time is Now!

11 June 2009: WPP concerned about Sri Lanka

The military defeat of the Tamil Tigers have not resulted yet in a peaceful situation for all parties involved. IFOR’s Women Peacemakers Program has been receiving disturbing responses from the field. Read more

3 June 2009: New WPP e-opportunities: issue 58

WPP's e-opportunities contains information about upcoming trainings, seminars, campaigns, recently published materials, and job openings related to the issues of gender, peace and nonviolence. Please find here issue 58, our latest version!

9 March 2009: International Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security, Monrovia, Liberia

On 7 and 8 March 2009, women and men from all over the world gathered in the Samuel K. Doe Stadium in Monrovia to landmark a historic moment: Women peacemakers rising to their feet, in order to effect lasting change in the world.

Read the article “This is our Time” by Isabelle Geuskens, WPP Program Manager, and see photos of this historic event with the participation of IFOR's WPP.

Read more here about this exciting event in this article by Euphemia A. Dzathor, WPP Afica Desk Coordinator.

16 February 2009: New Cross the Lines is out!

Cross the Lines-36 is out now! It contains articles on the incorporation on a gender perspective in civilian-based peacekeeping, on gender, youth and peacebuilding and on WPP's presence at the AWID conference in November 2008. It also contains news, resources and a calendar relatated to women, peace and security. Read Cross the Lines in English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish and Russian. For previous editions of this newsletters and others, visit our archive.

WPP news from the field: (read more)

29 June 2009: Police Bar Women Marchers - Zimbabwe

"Our march was going to be peaceful. Police must have felt our issues as women were not important and this is why we are embracing the opportunity for a new constitution as women to guarantee our basic freedoms.” Speaking at the one-day conference, the national co-ordinator of WCOZ Netsai Mushonga said women wanted to take half of the positions available in the sub-committees that will spearhead the constitutional review process. Read more

15 June 2009: Short stories of ordinary African women acting for change and peace amidst challenging circumstances

This article, written by the Regional Officer of the Women Peacemakers Program, describes three strong, pioneering women peacemakers, who have been trained by the Africa Desk of the WPP or are involved in its work. Read more

10 April 2009: Women in Transition

More than two hundred women, including several WPP Zimbabwe representatives, gathered in Harare to discuss the Global Political Agreement (GPA), the country’s current operational document, and to work out its use regarding the different aspects of women’s life in the country. Read more

02 February 2009: WPP Pilot Project: gender perspective in civilian-based peace work

In recent years IFOR’s Women Peacemakers Program has been receiving signals from the field that civilian-based peace services are struggling to implement a gender perspective in their work. Based on this observation the WPP decided to conduct a one-year pilot research on how to incorporate a gender perspective in civilian-based peace work. Read more

WPP UNSCR 1325 activities: (read more)

09 February 2009: Evaluating the Dutch National Action Plan on UNSC Resolution 1325 after one year of implementation

This report, “Evaluating the Dutch National Action Plan on UNSC Resolution 1325 after one year of implementation”, is the outcome of an evaluation commissioned to consultants Herma Majoor and Megan L. Brown of Femconsult by the Working Group 1325 (WG 1325). The WG 1325 is a coalition of Dutch organisations working to advance implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on women and conflict. WPP is part of this working group.

Overcoming Violence - Exploring Masculinities, Violence and Peace

WPP is convinced that in order to change cultures of war and violence, women peace activists need to work together with male allies. Therefore the WPP is in the process of organizing a Training of Trainers entitled “Overcoming Violence - Exploring Masculinities, Violence and Peace”. This Training of Trainers will take place late 2009 (probably November-December), and aims to:

Increase the knowledge on gender-sensitive non-violence of men working in the area of peace building,
Integrate the topic of masculinities in peace building curricula,
Increase the pool of male gender-sensitive non-violence trainers.

In the light of this training, WPP staff member José de Vries has attended the conference in Brazil Engaging Men and Boys in Achieving Gender Equality. For more information on Partnering with boys and men, visit the website of UNFPA.

During the conference in Brazil, the Rio Declaration was drawn up:

"We are outraged by the pandemic of violence women face at the hands of some men, by the relegation of women to second class status, and the continued domination by men of our economies, of our politics, of our social and cultural institutions, in far too many of our homes. We also know that among women there are those who fare even worse because of their social class, their religion, their language, their physical differences, their ancestry, their sexual orientation, or simply where they live. ...Read more

18 June 2009: WPP is looking for Trainees for ToT

The purpose of the IFOR Women Peacemakers Program (WPP) Training of Trainers (ToT) is to train male peace builders in gender-sensitive active non-violent peacebuilding.

Specific objectives of the ToT are:

To train male trainers on gender-sensitive active non-violence (ANV);
To explore the concept of masculinities in relation to issues of violence and peace;
To establish community-based teams who can multiply gained skills and knowledge;
To create a pool of male gender-sensitive ANV trainers;

For this innovative Training of Trainers, the WPP program is currently inviting applications. Application Deadline: July 15, 2009, 5 p.m. C.E.T.

The training will be given by Patrica Ackerman, a well-known non violent activist and Steven Botkin, Executive Director of Men's Resources International. Read more

Download the criteria and the application form

Women, Peace and Security

Campaigns and actions (read more)

01 July 2009: Israel Authorities detain Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire and other humanitarian workers

Israel has illegally seized, from international waters, the 'Spirit of Humanity,' a boat carrying much needed humanitarian relief for the Palestinians living under siege in Gaza. Its 21 human rights workers are being detained, one of them is Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire Take Action! Read the statement from the Nobel Women’s Initiative.

29 June 2009: Harassment and attacks on human rights lawyers in Tunisia

Human rights defenders Ms Radhia Nasraoui and Mr Raouf Ayadi were subjected to a "Zero six" full body and luggage search on their return to the country from Geneva. At around the same time Abdelwahab Maatar, returning from Paris, was beaten in Sfax airport for refusing to be body searched. Read more

25 June 2009: Petition Iran: stop the crackdown

Sign the petition calling on ALL governments to condemn the crackdown and withhold recognition of any Iranian government until election concerns are peacefully addressed.

24 June 2009: End Government Harassment of Pakistani Champion of Women's Rights

In 2002, Mukhtar Mai was gang-raped on orders of a traditional village council as punishment for acts allegedly committed by her younger brother. She fought back and testified in a rape case. For her activism, she has faced constant harassment. Take Action!

Be the change!

Other news items: (read more)

01 July 2009: Threats of legal proceedings against Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), expresses its utmost concern regarding the threats of judicial prosecution against Ms. Shirin Ebadi, human rights lawyer, co-founder of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC), and Nobel Prize winner. Read more

29 June 2009: AWID Analysis of Women’s Movements and 10 Case Studies from Different Regions of the World that Mobilized Women to Make a Difference

AWID’s Building Feminist Movements and Organisations (BFEMO) initiative undertook a series of 10 case studies from different regions of the world that had mobilized women to make a difference. The case studies are not a full representation of current women’s movements but rather an initial effort to document an interesting variety of movement experiences. Read more

22 June 2009: Conference 22 - 25 January 2010: Nonviolent Livelihood Struggle and Global Militarism: Links & Strategies

War Resisters' International is cooperating with Indian partner organisations for an international conference investigating the links between local nonviolent livelihood struggles and global militarism, including war profiteering. Read more

3 June 2009: Rape Crisis in East Congo Tied to Mining Activity

The acute crisis of sexual violence in eastern Congo is being tied to illegal mining interests in the region, which help finance the warring and competing factions that are perpetrating a worsening rape epidemic. Read more .

3 June 2009: Congo/Women Portraits of War: The Democratic Republic of Congo

This is an international photography exhibition and educational campaign to raise awareness of the widespread sexual violence facing women and girls in Congo. Read more

2 June 2009: India- Gujarat: Women create classrooms for peace

In 2002, Gujarat was the site of one of the worst communal riots in India's history, with tensions between majority and minority communities continuing to simmer long after the immediate violence. What made things even worse was the fact that many of those at the receiving end of the violence were from the poorest sections of society. Read more

2 June 2009: 2009 Report of UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women

Download here the report of UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against women, Yakin Ertürk: Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development.


home mission herstory definitions contact resources facts quotes success stories FAQ links