WILPF Statement on the Situation in Georgia

WILPF Advocacy Documents

Date/month:

15 August 2008

Document type:

Position

Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Statement on the situation in Georgia

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) deplores the violent conflict in Georgia, and welcomes the ceasefire agreement negotiated by the European Union. In all negotiations we urge that parties respect United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

The international community and international organizations have neglected to support the civilian rebuilding of Georgia after the hostilities in early 1990. These current hostilities have destroyed infrastructure needed for people to survive. There are hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people in the region already, and this conflict has and will continue to displace even more.

Instead the continued sale of military goods and technologies in the region is causing people to raise their arms and not their voices. WILPF calls for an immediate halt to all arms transfers in the region. According to the Stockholm Peace Research Institute, Georgia ranks within the top ten spenders per capita on the military. (SIPRI Yearbook 2007, Table 8A.4., page 317) The ongoing military buildup inflames local tensions and encourages military responses as opposed to dialogue.

According to Human Rights Watch, there is a great likelihood that cluster munitions have been used in this conflict. The use of these indiscriminate weapons will increase the number of casualties if and when displaced people return. WILPF urges that an independent UN assessment be made of the area, and that the Georgians and Russians take full responsibility for cleaning up any explosive remnants of war.

The Georgian population is suffering from the ongoing geopolitical struggle in the Caucuses region. Therefore, WILPF recognizes that resource control, especially of the British Petroleum oil pipeline that runs between the Black Sea and Caspian oil fields, is a possible underlying cause of the current conflict, and that negotiations for a peace agreement must include settlement agreements regarding the future of the pipeline.

WILPF recognizes the countless women’s organizations in the region, including women from Abkhazia, Georgia, Ossetia, and Russia have been working to educate the public on the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, and the Beijing Platform for Action. WILPF calls on the governments of Georgia and Russia to include these groups as full and equal participants in the negotiations on a long term sustainable peace plan.

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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.

WILPF Advocacy Documents