Taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, this year’s COP29 presents a critical opportunity to address the links between militarism, climate action and gender justice, with a focus on redirecting military spending to meet urgent climate needs.
Amid escalating global military expenditures, which reached a record high in 2023, and as states convene to negotiate the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) for climate finance, COP29 offers a unique platform for feminist climate activists to amplify our demands. WILPF’s delegation will stress the need to shift resources from militarism to climate solutions, highlighting the disproportionate impact of the climate crisis on women and marginalised communities, and the essential role of feminist leadership in shaping climate action.
With discussions anticipated around equitable climate finance and a Loss and Damage Fund, COP29 provides an unprecedented moment for WILPF to advance its calls for peace, demilitarisation, and just climate finance on the global stage.
This year, a WILPF delegation comprises of:
Áine is a motivated intersectional feminist from the Scottish Highlands, particularly passionate about the gendered impacts of climate change and nuclear weapons. She has been the WILPF Scottish Branch Secretary since June 2023 and has represented WILPF at the UN in Vienna at PrepCom and New York at 2MSP. She is a Trustee of a young women’s leadership organisation and is dedicated to championing feminist peace in Scotland and beyond.
I am honoured to join the COP29 WILPF delegation, as in the face of both rising global temperatures and increasing levels of violence against women, I hope to draw attention to the importance of demilitarisation and feminist peace for climate justice.
I am a peace activist from Norway. For many years our local WILPF chapter campaigned against uranium weapons, joining the International Coalition to Ban Uranium weapons, ICBUW. Now we work to create awareness about military pollution and green house gas emissions and the need to move the money from war to peace and climate action. Five years ago, I made a small book called Security for whom?
I see it as an opportunity to contribute to create awareness about the huge military climate emissions and the global military spending that should be transformed to a source for climate finance, for the benefit of all.
Join WILPF’s delegation and allies in exploring the intersections of peace, climate justice, and demilitarisation at COP29:
Deepen your understanding through these essential resources:
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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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 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 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
