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Celebrating Feminists’ Voices, Inspiring Global Peace

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Getting Ready for the Commission on the Status of Women!

5 March 2014

In just a couple of days, thousands of women from every corner of the world will converge in New York to share stories, build solidarity, and demand action to strengthen women’s roles, participation, and rights: the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 58) is almost here!

This year the 58th session CSW will focus on the priority theme: “Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for women and girls.”

WILPF at CSW58 highlighting women's power to stop was demanding development through disarmament. Join us in New York. See calendar (click for link)

WILPF at CSW 

WILPF is bringing over 60 women from around the world to participate in the CSW and is holding and co-sponsoring many events. Members and partners are coming from: Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Eritrea, India, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Nigeria, Syria, United Kingdom, and United States, as well as international staff.

We will be working to show that there can be no development without disarmament and women’s full and equal participation and rights. As the MDGs near their 2015 expiration, we call for a Post2015 sustainable development agenda that finances development with disarmament and which strengthens gender equitable conflict prevention processes. 

How you Can Get Involved

There are many ways for you to get involved, whether you are in or out of New York:

Join us at an event, share or learn about it on social media with our hashtags #WILPF100 #WSW2015 #DisarmSDGs and @WILPF @Peace_Women.

Four pictures of four women each holding a sign with a personal statementJoin us in our global movement, Women’s Power to Stop War, by raising awareness: take a photo of yourself with a sign saying why you support Women’s Power to Stop War, share with us, and be part of our “100 Women for WILPF 100” photo campaign.

Ask your government to support WILPF’s demands for financing development with disarmament, and use our monitoring tools here here.

Will you participate in CSW or have you in the past? If so, feel free to share your experience in the comments below. We would love to hear from you.

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Thank you!

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.

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