WILPF Advocacy Documents

Date/month:

27 July 2007

Document type:

Resolution

The 29th Triennial Congress of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, meeting July 21-27, 2007 in Santa Cruz, Bolivia,

Reaffirms all past WILPF resolutions on the Middle East, in particular, the Cyprus document (1997), Geneva (2000) and Sweden (2004), and, recalling the statement from 25th July 2007;

Laments that Lebanon, while still in the process of recovery after the 16-year civil war (1975-1990), is now forced to rebuild once more after the devastating 34-day war waged against it by Israel in July-August 2006;

Recognizes that the unexploded landmines, cluster munitions and all explosive remnants of the war have added to the already enormous and complex problems created by the use of these weapons since 1978. Between January and April 2007, more than 200 people have been injured, including 45 persons under 18, with 26 killed from cluster munitions. What makes cluster bombs so dangerous and heinous is the thirty per cent of the bomblets that do 271 not detonate on impact, but lie waiting for years on roofs, in gardens, in trees, beside roads or in rubbish for a slight disturbance to kill, maim and mutilate children, women and men, the old and the young. Every day the media reports more deaths and wounds arising from the 1.5 million cluster bomblets dropped by Israel on Southern Lebanon. The landmines planted by Israel which were not removed when it withdrew troops in 2002 continue to take lives and limbs, and will continue to do so until Israel provides the maps that will facilitate demining;

Urges all governments, the EU, the UN and NGOs to intensify demining assistance, and to also provide more human and economic resources for locating and deactivating unexploded cluster bomblets so that daily life can continue in Lebanon;

Calls on the UN and the international community, civil society and NGOs to put pressure on Israel to release maps detailing the location of landmines in Southern Lebanon so that experts can demine the area;

Calls for Israel to compensate civilian victims of explosions resulting from the use of cluster bombs;

Calls on the international community to do all that is in their power to bring about the release of the two Israeli hostages held in Lebanon;

Calls for an arms embargo and a boycott of Israeli goods created on Palestinian land to be imposed;

Demands that UN resolution 194 be implemented to guarantee the Palestinians’ right to return to their homeland, a principle outlined in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

Calls for the international community to provide impartial objective assistance to Lebanon to achieve a peaceful internal political situation by supporting all internal negotiations/dialogue efforts between the different/differing Lebanese political leaders/parties, so that a national unity government is agreed upon by all;

Further calls on the international community to support internal negotiations/dialogue efforts between the different/differing Lebanese political leaders/parties so that the Presidential election takes place on time as decreed by the constitution without external interference/imposition;

Calls on the international community to demand Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Lebanese lands. Calls for all parties to respect the territorial integrity of each country within internationally recognized borders to refrain from all violent acts against the civilian populations, and to work within the principle that all conflicts must be resolved through negotiations among the parties themselves.

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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.

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.