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Policy Brief Series: Women, Peace and Security and the Generation Equality Action Coalitions

WILPF’s Women, Peace and Security Programme has released six policy briefs on the intersections of Women, Peace and Security and the six Generation Equality Action Coalitions.

Image credit: WILPF
WILPF International Secretariat
23 February 2021

WILPF’s Women, Peace and Security Programme has released six policy briefs on the intersections of Women, Peace and Security and the six Generation Equality Action Coalitions. This new series provides analysis and recommendations on how each Action Coalition can advance feminist peace.

This timely series comes in advance of the 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women and the Generation Equality Forums in Mexico City and Paris.

Action Coalition 1: Gender-Based Violence

This policy brief looks at the root causes and drivers of gender-based violence, particularly examining issues including patriarchal systems of power, militarization and armed conflict, and militarized masculinities.

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Action Coalition 2: Economic Justice and Rights

This policy brief examines how capitalism and prevailing global models of economic development undermine the human rights of women and girls, including their ability to meaningfully participate in peace and public life, and how these systems also interact with militarism to contribute to armed conflict and instability.

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Action Coalition 3: Bodily Autonomy and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

This policy brief analyses how war and armed conflict limit bodily autonomy and impede diverse individuals, including women and girls in humanitarian settings, from accessing their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

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Action Coalition 4: Feminist Action for Climate Justice

This policy brief examines the interlinked impacts of militarism, capitalism, colonialism, and climate change on communities, and looks at the ways in which climate action intersects with the goals of the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

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Action Coalition 5: Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality

This policy brief looks at the varied impacts of technology and innovation on the rights of women and girls, including elements such as the weaponization of technology as a tool for warfare, online harassment and gender-based violence, and the digital divide.

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Action Coalition 6: Feminist Movements and Leadership

This policy brief analyzes how policymakers can better support activism and work for peace and gender equality, including by preventing and responding to violence against human rights defenders, financing the feminist movement, and democratizing decision-making to enable truly meaningful participation.

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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. 

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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