WILPF Advocacy Documents

Date/month:

5 August 2011

Document type:

Resolution

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), meeting at the Quadrennial Congress in San José, Costa Rica in August 2011,

Recalling WILPF’s mission and work challenging the status quo, ending conflict, and promoting women’s rights and dignity for all, and its role in advocating for the adoption of United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 (2000),

Reaffirming the spirit of UNSCR 1325 as a holistic and meaningful policy for women affected by conflict,

Upholding the fundamental intent of UNSCR 1325 in the prevention of all conflict,

Asserting, in this context, that National Action Plans (NAPs) must focus on the prevention of conflict, including regulation of arms trade and disarmament to fully remedy violations of women’s human rights in conflict,

Recognizing the potential of international policy, but also that implementation of the women, peace and security agenda must ultimately take place at the national and local level,

Recalling that UNSCR 1325 urges member states to take action at the national level in the key areas of women’s participation in decision-making and peace processes, the protection of women and girls, and gender training,

Reiterating that NAPs have the potential of being an effective tool for the implementation of the spirit of UNSCR 1325 only if a comprehensive process is undertaken and that NAPs must be recognized as a means to an end rather than an end in and of themselves,

Emphasizing the vital importance of the participation of civil society and women’s organizations in making international policy and law work for women and that the process of developing a NAP serves to promote awareness about the role of gender equality to peaceful nations,

Noting that to date, 26 NAPs have been adopted and that WILPF has and continues to participate in many of these process,

Urges all member states, not just states experiencing armed conflict or states recently emerged from conflict, to prioritize the women, peace and security agenda through the development and implementation of NAPs and urges the committee developing NAP to include 50% women;
Demands the application of a human security framework in the development of any NAP, specifying that under a human security framework, NAPs must reflect the holistic spirit of SCR 1325 and include obligations articulated in Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Beijing Platform for Action, Critical Area E, calling for the control of excessive arms expenditure, and the UN Charter which calls for the “least diversion for armaments of the world’s human and economic resources” (Article 26);
Demands early, extensive, and genuine consultation in the planning, development, implementation, and evaluation stages with civil society organizations including women’s groups, and a broad constituency, in developing NAPs and regional action plans to make them the most effective;
Calls for NAP to be developed and adopted using a participatory, transparent process and for NAPs implementation to include mechanisms for accountability including indicators and specifically allocated budgets and resources;
Calls for NAPs to address all forms of conflict and the states’ role in other violent conflicts outside its own borders, including the particular situation of occupation, political violence, and protracted violence, including transfer of arms;
Urges that NAPs recognize and incorporate issues of violence experienced and articulated by women with their own borders and regions;
Demands that states ensure that existing domestic policies, including immigration and asylum, do not adversely affect women who have fled conflict zones and all women who have been forcibly displaced within or outside their own states, and that these elements are included in NAPs;
Demands that all actors respect in their policies and actions the fact that gender based violence is a human rights violation and often constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law and is used as a form of torture;
Advocates for funding to be made available to civil society organizations, including women’s organizations, to participate in developing and monitoring NAPs;
Encourages innovative processes, such as “twinning” or “cross-learning” with one or more countries to exchange ideas, experiences and resources to develop and implement NAPs; and
Urges states to present their annual reports to their parliament or government.

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.

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.