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#CSW62: WILPF Amplifies Women’s Voices to Advance Feminist Peace for Rural Women

CSW62 opens its doors today at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to discuss challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls.

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  • 2 min
WILPF International Secretariat
12 March 2018

The sixty-second session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62) opens its doors today at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to discuss challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls.

Banner with drawings of a woman and the SDGs' logo behind her (a circle); of a field with a rising sun, of a faucet, of an autobus and of wheat crops.

WILPF reminds the international community that achieving gender equality for rural women and girls requires taking action for rural women across the conflict spectrum. This must include: ensuring the leadership of rural women and girls when identifying problems and creating solutions; regulating arms that risk gender-based violence in rural areas; and increasing accountability for implementation of commitments on women’s human rights and Women, Peace and Security for feminist peace.

In preparation for the session, WILPF has worked to strengthen the meaningful participation of rural women across the conflict spectrum. We delivered a statement at the 25 January 2018 CSW62 Multi-Stakeholder meeting in New York, which spotlighted the issue of Fulani herdsmen violence shared by WILPF’s section in Nigeria. We also advocated for strengthening language on women’s meaningful participation, disarmament and accountability for gender equality and peace in the CSW62 draft agreed conclusions.

During CSW62, WILPF will focus on amplifying the experiences and work of our sections and partners. Join us!

WILPF-supported Events:

Select WILPF Partner Events:

  • “On behalf of Themselves: Syrian Women Activists Organising for Justice”, Women Now for Development, 15 March 2018, 4:30PM, UN Church Center, 777 UN Plaza, 10th Floor;
  • “Impact of Israeli Occupation on Lives of Palestinian Women in Jerusalem”, Women’s Center for Legal and Counselling (WCLAC), 16 March 2018, 8:15AM, UNHQ Conference Room D;
  • “Gender Transformative Community Mobilization to Prevent GBV: Two Prevention+ Cases”, Sonke Gender Justice, 16 March 2018, 10:30AM, UN Church Center, 777 UN Plaza, Drew Room;
  • “From Words to Action: Women’s Participation in Arms Control”, International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), 22 March 2018, 1:15-2:45PM, UNHQ, CR B

In addition, WILPF will support mobilising youth leadership for intersectional movement building, through providing a capacity-building training for the WILPF US Student Practicum and engaging in strategic dialogues with activist and partners.

Group photos of WILPF members
Members of the WILPF US Student Practicum have arrived to the 62nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women. (Photo: WILPF US)

Join us at CSW62 events, read our blog posts, and share your thoughts with us via Facebook (WILPFPeaceWomen) and Twitter (@Peace_Women).

You can strengthen awareness, solidarity and action by using the following hashtags: #FeministPeace, #MeaningfulParticipation and #CSW62.

Raise your voice: This is the time to pressure the UN and Member States for more action on Feminist Peace that works for rural women!

To learn more about WILPF’s action around the 62nd Commission on the Status of Women, visit http://www.peacewomen.org/UN/csw-session/CSW62

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WILPF International Secretariat

WILPF International Secretariat, with offices in Geneva and New York, liaises with the International Board and the National Sections and Groups for the implementation of WILPF International Programme, resolutions and policies as adopted by the International Congress. Under the direction of the Secretary-General, the Secretariat also provides support in areas of advocacy, communications, and financial operations.

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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. 

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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.

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