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Human Rights Council Starts Soon!

6 June 2014

Next Tuesday the HRC session of June will start with many exciting initiatives for WILPF. These are a few of the topics you will be hearing from us:

Civilian possession of Firearms and Gender-based Violence
Flyer for Guns and Gender Based Violence
Flyer for Guns and Gender Based Violence

A resolution will be tabled by Peru that will highlight the impact of the possession of firearms by civilians on human rights. This will be one of WILPF’s main focus during the session.

WILPF has long been underlining that militarism contributes to the widespread of small arms that are leaked among civilians. We have warned constantly that these affect women, they contribute to gender-based violence inside and outside the household and they have an indirect impact on many other women’s human rights and their autonomy to make decisions without violent threats. This was underlined in a recent publication by Sharna De Lacy, a member of WILPF Australia, that you will be able to read soon.

We will further be running a side event called Guns and Gender Based Violence with our disarmament and MENA programmes to raise awareness on these linkages on 12th June. Keep watching this page to hear more about it!

Transnational Companies and Human Rights

We introduced to you in March an initiative to have a binding instrument (a treaty) that would regulate a mechanism to ensure accountability and redress when human rights violations are perpetrated by transnational companies.

Indeed, there are numerous examples in which transnational companies violate human rights with impunity. Because  of the international nature of their work, it is extremely difficult for victims of their abuses to know how they can seek justice and to actually access the justice system that might be in a different continent many thousand miles away.

WILPF has co-signed a statement by the Treatymovement and we are also drafting a statement that will give a more in-depth look into the consequences for women, with the precious collaboration of our sections in the USA and in Nigeria.

Violence Against Women

This year the annual resolution on violence against women will be focusing on how violence against women affects many other human rights of women. We have been advocating for this approach a lot in the past!

Our paper on Civilian Possession of Firearms and its Impact on Women’s Rights is taking this approach and wants to link these two topics. Indeed, domestic violence is a constant threat for many women that prevents them from enjoying the right to public participation, freedom of movement or their sexual and reproductive rights, just to name a few examples.

The same goes for insecurity in the streets and the threat of gender-based violence that might prevent women to seek economic empowerment or political participation and that clearly restrains their freedom of movement.

Syria

Unfortunately, Syria is very much still on the table as one of the places suffering the most serious human rights violations. A delegation of civil society women from Syria will be attending with WILPF and will be also speaking at a side event.

Our advocacy will once again insist on the necessity to have civil society women participate in the peace process and the need for an immediate stop of the violence.

We will have a look at the many implications that this conflict is having on the lives of women.

The “Protection” of the family

Another resolution will be tabled to protect the family. WILPF is highly worried about the implications that his resolution can have on domestic violence, the rights of women, the rights of children and the rights of LGTBI, just to mention a few issues.

Protecting the family can be tricky, protecting it from what? The unity of the family has long been used as an excuse to hide domestic violence, women and girls being bitten up, raped or even killed by their husbands, fathers, partners or other family members has been seen as an internal matter of the family resulting in total impunity.

There is a high risk that the text will not acknowledge that families have multiple forms and that they must be founded on the principle of equality of its members. In many cultures we consider 3 or 4 generations to be part of the core family whereas in others only the last two generations are considered to be that core. Brothers, sisters and family in law might be more or less involve and may live under the same roof or not. Many families have a single mom or dad, children may be biological or adopted or both, families may have two dads or moms or not have children at all.

Should we protect the family or the members therein and defend their right to enjoy their family life with equality and freedom from violence? Many issues such as the need to allow for work life and family life conciliation, poverty, LGBTI rights, could be included in this resolution if the objective really is to protect the members of the family and their right to enjoy it in peace.

And many other issues!

From discrimination against women to Ukraine to Killer Robots, we will engage in as many topics as possible to keep you informed.

Sign up to our newsletter to find out more!

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Matt Mahmoudi

Matt Mahmoudi (he/him) is a lecturer, researcher, and organizer. He’s been leading the “Ban the Scan” campaign, Amnesty International’s research and advocacy efforts on banning facial recognition technologies and exposing their uses against racialized communities, from New York City to the occupied Palestinian territories.

Berit Aasen

Europe Alternate Regional Representative

Berit Aasen is a sociologist by training and has worked at the OsloMet Metropolitan University on Oslo. She has 40 years of experience in research and consultancy in development studies, including women, peace, and security, and in later years in asylum and refugee studies. Berit Aasen joined WILPF Norway five years ago. She is an alternate member of the National Board of WILPF Norway, and representing WILPF Norway in the UN Association of Norway, the Norwegian 1325 network and the Norwegian Women’s Lobby. Berit Aasen has been active in the WILPF European Liaison group and is committed to strengthening WILPF sections and membership both in Europe and relations across continents.

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Melissa Torres

VICE-PRESIDENT

Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

Jamila Afghani

VICE-PRESIDENT

Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

A woman in a blue, black, and white dress smiles radiantly in front of a leafy green background.

Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo

PRESIDENT

Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.

WILPF Afghanistan

In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region. 

IPB Congress Barcelona

WILPF Germany (+Young WILPF network), WILPF Spain and MENA Regional Representative

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Demilitarisation

WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.

Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.

Militarised masculinity

Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.

WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.

Feminist peace​

In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.

In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.