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WeAreWILPF: Autonomous weapons and engaging in WILPF’s work on disarmament

An image features a raised hand in a stop gesture on the left. Two drones are on the right, each in separate blue circles. Three icons, a peace sign, handshake, and coin, are on a red triangle in the bottom left corner.

We are pleased to invite you to a briefing and virtual get together focused on feminist perspectives on disarmament, with a particular emphasis on autonomous weapon systems and WILPF’s newly founded Disarmament Working Group.  In March 2025, the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems convened in Geneva for its latest meeting. The discussions emphasised the […]

Earth Day 2025

A colorful, swirling pattern with the text Earth Day 2025, Our Power, Our Planet in the center. Below, it reads #RenewableEnergyNow on a vibrant backdrop of blues, oranges, and greens.

Title: Earth Day 2025 Host: earthday.org  Open to: Public When? Tuesday, 22 April 2025 Event type: Advocacy Date About: Earth Day is an annual event dedicated to environmental protection and urgent climate action. The theme for Earth Day 2025 is OUR POWER, OUR PLANET, inviting everyone around the globe to unite behind renewable energy, and to triple the global generation of clean electricity […]

Global Days of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) 2025

A crowd of people at a protest hold signs. The main sign reads NO A LAS GUERRAS with an illustration of crossed-out weapons. Other signs and a rainbow flag are visible in the background. The text APRIL 10 - MAY 9 is at the bottom.

Title: Global Days of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) 2025 Host: demilitarize.org  Open to: Public When: 10 April – 9 May 2025 Event type: Advocacy Dates About: Militarism fuels war, injustice, and environmental destruction—yet governments continue to increase military budgets instead of funding peace and social justice. GDAMS 2025 calls for a shift from war spending to real security: disarmament, human […]

Global Call: Mobilising Men for Feminist Peace

Title: Global Call: Mobilising Men for Feminist Peace Host: WILPF IS Open to: WILPF members only When: Thursday, 27 March | 3:00–4:30 PM CET Event type: Members-only global call About:The Mobilising Men for Feminist Peace Initiative has been a key part of WILPF’s work, engaging men as allies in dismantling patriarchal structures and advancing feminist peace. As this initiative reaches the […]

WILPF UK Webinar: Women, Peace & Security

Webinar advertisement featuring a collage of diverse hands together. Text details: Tuesday 18 March, 19:00 pm, WILPF UK Zoom Webinar. WOMEN PEACE & SECURITY: UN Security Council Resolution 1325. Speaker: Sophia Close, Consultant on Gender, Peace and Security.

For over a century, strong women’s movements have advocated for peace, disarmament, and humanitarian action. This activism has been crucial in shaping global gender equality policies. 30 years after the 1995 Beijing Declaration and 25 years after UNSCR 1325, women’s movements remain a critical force for advancing gender equality and peace. While the pivotal role […]

CSW69: 30 years of insights from the Peace Train to Beijing  

The Peace Train, sponsored by the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom, brought 230 women and 10 men from 42 countries across Europe and Asia to Beijing for the 1995 Conference.  WILPF will focus on two issues highlighted in the Platform for Action: Women and the Environment and Women and Armed Conflict.  Through short […]

Young WILPF Network Meeting: Reconnect & Recharge

A group of seven people stand in a line, smiling and raising their fists in celebration. They hold triangular banners and wear conference lanyards. The setting appears to be a conference room with chairs and a large screen in the background.

Join us for the first Young WILPF Network meeting of 2025! During this meeting, young members will be able to connect and recharge. Space will be made for: 1) socialising (and meeting the new Young WILPF Regional Liaisons!); 2) sharing updates and experiences (from the Young WILPF delegation to the 2024 Awid Forum; and from […]

Matt Mahmoudi

Matt Mahmoudi (he/him) is a lecturer, researcher, and organizer. He’s been leading the “Ban the Scan” campaign, Amnesty International’s research and advocacy efforts on banning facial recognition technologies and exposing their uses against racialized communities, from New York City to the occupied Palestinian territories.

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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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.

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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.