Each episode features representatives from WILPF’s Women, Peace & Security and Disarmament teams moderating discussions with experts about different themes in international peace and security from a feminist lens. The conversations explore relevant policymaking and practice, identify opportunities and gaps, and recommend ways to advance change.
Season 1 features interviews on themes including disarmament, militarised masculinities, the gendered impacts of the arms trade, digital violence against women, and conflict prevention amidst the climate emergency.
Season 2 continues to explore different relevant issues in international peace and security, including episodes on military spending and the US military industrial complex, the weaponisation of artificial intelligence (AI), land grabbing including during armed conflicts, and the parallels between the nuclear and fossil fuel industries.
– Cynthia Enloe, feminist writer and theorist
In this first episode to kick off Season 2 of Think and Resist, we talk about the weaponization of artificial intelligence. The recent hype on AI in mainstream media has brought to the attention of the public various human rights concerns related to these technologies. From decision support systems that have been used by Israel in Gaza, to autonomous weapons that are being developed by several companies, the use of these technologies has been deeply problematic, and there is a risk of it worsening. In this episode, we explore some problems associated with autonomy in weapons systems, including from a gendered perspective, and will discuss solutions, including possibilities around their regulation and prohibition. This episode is hosted by Laura Varella, Programme Coordinator of Reaching Critical Will, WILPF’s Disarmament Programme.
Since its foundation WILPF has called for decreased military spending with an eventual abolishment. Over a hundred years later, the world’s military spending shows new record highs. In 2023 it increased for the ninth consecutive year, reaching a total of $2443 billion and we see new trends. For example, as a result of the war in Ukraine 39 of 43 countries in Europe increased their military expenditure in 2023 and states that traditionally have been prioritizing social welfare are now joining the arms race allocating funds from social welfare to military activities. This episode consists of two parts. In this part one we look closer at what military spending is? How is it financed and where do governments get the money for it? Why is it increasing? How does this spending impact the economy and what are some of the gendered impacts of it?
With the help of our guests for this episode that have long experience working with military expenditure as researchers, policy makers and advocates, we will unpack the meaning of military expenditure, debunk myths and explore the drivers behind military spending.
This episode is part 2 of a two-part set of episodes on military spending. In the second part of this episode, we take a closer look at military expenditure by diving into the arms industry of the United States, the country with the highest military expenditure in the world. We continue the discussion on common arguments for military expenditure and talk with Taylor Barnes who is a journalist at Inkstick and based in Georgia, United States. She has covered the so-called “defense industry” in the US for years and she will tell us how investing in the arms industry often follows promises of “good jobs”, not least in areas of smaller towns lacking future prospects struggling with unemployment. But is that the reason why we should have a so-called defense industry, to create jobs? And how good are these jobs? Who are they for? And how has this industry changed over time? These are questions we will discuss in the second part of this episode where we take a closer look at the gendered aspect of the defense industry in the United States.
This episode is the first of two episodes which dive into the connections between the nuclear and fossil fuel industries. Fossil fuels have been the engine behind the growth of modern capitalism, and have driven economic expansion, colonial and imperial exploitation, and industrialisation. This has come at a profound cost, namely, the potential livability of the planet for current and future generations of humans and other species. Meanwhile, there are few developments that are more reflective of the inherent violence and inhumanity of the global geopolitical order than nuclear weapons. The same states that have fueled the slow burning of the planet also possess the ability to bring an end to the planet as we know it.
Recent WILPF research has brought together activists, organizers, academics, and members of impacted communities together to discuss the nexus between the nuclear and fossil fuel industries, as well as state repression of activism against them. The report Petrobromance, Nuclear Priesthood, and State Violence analyses, from a feminist and gender-transformative perspective, trends and parallels in how the nuclear and fossil fuel industries operate and entrench their power; their impacts on communities, including gendered impacts; and the ways in which resistance against these industries is suppressed by police, militaries, and private military and security companies (PMSCs).
Our guests for this episode are three of the experts who were interviewed for this report, who share more about their perspectives and work in Australia, the Mariana Islands, and the Philippines.
Further Reading:
Check out WILPF’s new report, ‘Petrobromance,’ Nuclear Priesthood, and Police Repression: Feminist Confrontations of Violent Industries, and Movements to Abolish Them. This report analyses, from a feminist and gender-transformative perspective, trends and parallels in how the nuclear and fossil fuel industries operate and entrench their power; their impacts on communities, including gendered impacts; and the ways in which resistance against these industries is suppressed by police, militaries, and private military and security companies. Drawn from research and consultation with activists, organisers, academics, and members of impacted communities, this research aims to create a shared knowledge base and illuminate paths forward for deeper collaboration across movements, including, but not limited to, among antinuclear, environmental, and land and water defence movements.
This episode is part 2 of a two-part set of episodes about the connections and parallels between the nuclear and fossil fuel industries. If you haven’t listened to part 1, we recommend doing so before starting this episode. In part 2, we continue the conversation with Dimity Hawkins, Kalani Reyes, and Mitzi Jonelle Tan.
Check out WILPF’s new report, ‘Petrobromance,’ Nuclear Priesthood, and Police Repression: Feminist Confrontations of Violent Industries, and Movements to Abolish Them. This report analyses, from a feminist and gender-transformative perspective, trends and parallels in how the nuclear and fossil fuel industries operate and entrench their power; their impacts on communities, including gendered impacts; and the ways in which resistance against these industries is suppressed by police, militaries, and private military and security companies. Drawn from research and consultation with activists, organisers, academics, and members of impacted communities, this research aims to create a shared knowledge base and illuminate paths forward for deeper collaboration across movements, including, but not limited to, among antinuclear, environmental, and land and water defence movements.
There have long been inequalities in access to and control over land and natural resources. However, with factors such as the increased commodification of land, globalisation, and the power of transnational corporations, the phenomenon of land grabbing has been on the rise. Land issues can be a driver of armed conflict and also can be prevalent during contexts of armed conflict and heightened militarization. Land grabbing has impacted communities’ ability to sustain their livelihoods and cultural practices and, in some cases, has also harmed the environment by contributing to pollution and carbon emissions. Communities who push back against these developments have often been met with severe repression and violence.
In this final episode of season 2, we speak with Juliana Nnoko-Mewanu from Human Rights Watch about what land grabbing is, why it’s happening, who is perpetrating it, and how it’s impacting communities. In our discussion we explore different case studies, including Colombia, Myanmar, and Papua, particularly focusing on the ways land grabbing relates to discussions on armed conflict.
For more about Juliana Nnoko’s research and work, you can visit: https://www.hrw.org/about/people/juliana-nnoko
Juliana Nnoko is a senior researcher in the women’s rights division at Human Rights Watch. Her work focuses on land and land-based resource rights, violence against women, and on the impacts of large-scale commercial land deals, tourism development, and armed conflict on access to land, including for women, in rural, Indigenous, and Afro-descendant communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. She has carried out research and advocacy on a number of human rights issues, including the rights of Maasai communities to ancestral land in Tanzania; armed conflict and Afro-descendant women’s access to land in Colombia; violence against women during the Covid-19 pandemic in Kenya; the rights of women to matrimonial property in Kenya; loss of land and risks to peatland by oil palm plantations in Indonesia; rights to customary land and forced evictions by commercial farmers in Zambia; and the right to housing more broadly. Her work incorporates an intersectional lens to investigate land rights violations related to gender, race, ethnicity, and indigeneity. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Juliana taught at Iowa State University, US, and the University of Buea, Cameroon. She holds a PhD in Sociology and Sustainable Agriculture from Iowa State University, and a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Northern Iowa.
Further Reading:
Emma Bjertén (she/her) is the Manager of Reaching Critical Will. She contributes to the organisation’s monitoring and analysis of disarmament processes and liaises with UN and civil society colleagues. Prior to this, Emma worked as a consultant on gender-responsive small arms control at the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) and the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR). She also worked as a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), where she wrote publications related to the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda, disarmament, peace processes, and militarisation. She has a background working with gender mainstreaming strategies and ethical guidelines in the Swedish Central Administration. Emma has an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies from Uppsala University.
Genevieve Riccoboni (she/her) is the Programme Coordinator for WILPF’s Women, Peace and Security Programme. Genevieve has a range of prior experience in policy, nonprofit programming, and politics, and is actively involved in local community organizing against police violence in New York City. She graduated with distinction with an MPhil in World History from the University of Cambridge, and holds a BA with Joint Honours in History and Political Science from McGill University. She speaks German and Spanish.
Laura Varella (she/her) is the Coordinator of Reaching Critical Will. She supports WILPF’s advocacy and research on a wide range of disarmament issues, in addition to monitoring and reporting on multilateral disarmament fora. Prior to this, Laura worked with RCW as a consultant, contributing mainly with a project about explosive weapons in populated areas. She has a background in human rights law, having worked with NGOs in Brazil. She holds a Bachelor of Laws from the State University of São Paulo and a LL.M in International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.
Zarin Hamid (she/her) is the Manager of the Women, Peace and Security Programme and contributes to monitoring and analysis on women, peace, and security issues at the UN Security Council, and serves as the main liaison with key coalition partners, as well as UN, government, and civil society colleagues. She has previously worked at the Center for Women’s Global Leadership, where she ran the global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence Campaign. Zarin has coordinated trainings on human rights treaties, mechanisms, and advocacy. As part of her previous work, Zarin has advocated with the Security Council and Human Rights Council on gender based violence issues and engaged with UN country teams. She is experienced in delivering projects on building action for nonviolence, gender justice, and feminist peace. Zarin also worked with the Afghan Women’s Network (AWN), Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) and the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP), and served as civil society committee representative on the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, managed by UNWomen. She has an MA in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University, School of International Service and has earned a BA in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University, where she worked as a program assistant at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. She is also fluent in Persian.
In this episode, co-hosts Zarin, Genevieve, and Allison discuss the motivation behind creating this podcast series and about WILPF’s history and approach as a feminist peace organization. They outline what listeners can expect in future episodes.
In this episode we discuss the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda and disarmament – two major focus areas for WILPF. What is the WPS agenda, what is meant by disarmament, and how do they relate to one another? Why should those who are working on women’s leadership care about curbing militarisation, and what does gender have to do with disarmament and arms control? In this foundational episode, Cynthia Enloe, Maritza Chan Valverde, and Sylvie Ndongmo talk about the connections between these two areas, as well as the gaps and challenges in filling them.
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Why is the arms trade a feminist issue? This episode dives into the gendered impacts of the international arms trade, and the ways in which arms proliferation can undermine efforts to achieve the Women, Peace and Security agenda. With examples from Yemen and Nepal, Aïcha Madi and Shobha Shrestha explore how different arms control instruments function practically in efforts to limit human rights violations and gender-based violence, as well as the limitations to these instruments. They also ask: is feminist foreign policy compatible with active participation in the arms trade? Their answers and more in this episode.
Go further:
Article: RCW, Confronting the arms trade and war profiteering
Video: The international arms trade – a feminist issue?
In this episode, our guests delve into conversations about the relationships between masculinity, militarism, armed conflict, and violence. Anthony Keedi and Jennifer Rodriguez Bruno shed light on why it’s so important to also think critically about masculinity and men’s experiences in our gender analysis and work for peace. Tune in to expand your awareness about the social pressures as well as the social, economic, and political structures that generate violent or militarised masculinities, and how men can be mobilised in support of gender justice.
Go further:
PRIO webinar: Masculinity and Militarism – Moving Beyond Stereotypes
Report: Men and masculinities in gender-responsive small arms control
There’s a lot in the news about new technologies, cyber attacks, and the use and misuse of online platforms. But what do all of these things have to do with gender? In this episode, Anne-Marie Buzatu, Lucina DiMeco, Tara Hairston, and Verónica Ferrari speak about the gender-related risks and harms in a digital world, including online violence and repression.
Go further:
Policy Brief: 2021, WILPF Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality
Website: Association for Progressive Communications
As the effects of the climate emergency become more stark throughout the world, more attention is being paid to the important links between climate and security. But from a feminist perspective, are these climate and security discussions focusing on the right things? Our guests Doug Weir and Lina Hjärtström talk about how militarism is impacting the environment, the kind of action that’s needed to prevent conflict in the face of the climate emergency, and why gender needs to be part of the discussion.
Go further:
Webinar: Feminist Resistance: Militarism and Climate Change
One of the pillars of the WPS agenda is participation – but what are the prospects for peace when it’s not safe for women leaders to participate in the first place? In our last episode of the season, we speak with Deanne Uyangoda, Inna Michaeli, and Samira Hamidi, who talk about the many risks, threats, and reprisals faced by women human rights defenders in response to their courageous work. They outline the many different actors – governments, armed groups, and community members – who are violently seeking to block women from challenging repression, authoritarianism, and militarism. Why is defending women’s free expression so urgent? More in our episode.
Go further:
Online article: OHCHR and women’s human rights and gender equality
In this last episode, co-hosts Zarin, Genevieve, and Allison take a moment to reflect on the podcast series. The speakers discuss the importance of moving away from the usual formal discussions and instead towards more candid conversations with people who are affected and those directly trying to make change happen.
A huge thank you to everyone for listening to this podcast, we hope you were inspired and learned something new along the way.
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You can listen to the other podcasts produced by WILPF and our Sections listed and available.
If you feel passionate about the topics discussed in Think & Resist: Conversations about feminism and peace, consider getting involved with WILPF! With National Sections and Groups in more than 45 countries, joining is easy. Learn more about how to join a Section or Group.
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.
Jennifer Menninger is a member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Germany and a dedicated advocate for feminist perspectives on disarmament, peace, and digitalisation. Jennifer has been an active member of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, focusing on the intersection of gender, technology, and security. She works as a Project Manager at the Platform Peaceful Conflict Transformation in Berlin.
Shimona Mohan is an Associate Researcher on Gender & Disarmament and Security & Technology at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) in Geneva, Switzerland. She is also one of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics for 2024. Her areas of focus include the multifarious intersections of security, emerging technologies (in particular AI and cybersecurity), gender and disarmament.
Adem Yavuz Elveren is a faculty member teaching economics at Fitchburg State University, Massachusetts, USA, and İzmir University of Economics, İzmir, Türkiye. He earned his Ph.D. degree in Economics at the University of Utah in 2008. He studies military economics and feminist economics. He is the author of Heterodox Economics of Military Spending (Routledge 2025), The Economics of Military Spending A Marxist Perspective (Routledge, 2019), Brain Drain and Gender Inequality in Turkey (Palgrave Pivot, 2018), and the co-editor of Gender and Society in Turkey: The Impact of Neo-Liberal Policies, Political Islam and EU Accession (IB Tauris, 2012).
Nan Tian is a Senior Researcher and Programme Director of the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. He joined SIPRI in October 2016 and has been responsible for monitoring and managing the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database. His research work at SIPRI includes issues related to the trends of global military expenditure, the demand and consequences of military spending and the transparency and budgeting on military-related matters. Nan’s work also involves assessing and analysing trends in the global arms industry. His other research interests include the causes and impact of civil conflict and the inter-links between conflict and military spending.
Malin Nilsson is Secretary General of the Swedish section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, WILPF Sweden. WILPF Sweden works for equality, peace and disarmament through political advocacy, by bringing local testimonies and analysis from women’s rights activists in conflict-affected countries to decision makers in Sweden. Together with other WILPF sections across the world, WILPF Sweden creates political will and capacity to address the gendered aspects of peace, security, disarmament and arms control.
Taylor Barnes is a field reporter with the nonprofit media outlet Inkstick Media, which covers global security while, as a matter of policy, accepting no funds from defense contractors or government entities that could color its views. She covers the people and places tied up in the United States’ soon-to-be $1 trillion military budget. She also publishes the newsletter Military-Industrial America on Substack and skeets at BlueSky at @tkbarnes.bsky.social
Dimity Hawkins AM (she/her) is a queer nuclear free activist, researcher, and PhD candidate living as a settler in Australia. She is the Co-Coordinator of the Nuclear Truth Project, a co-founder of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), and is on the Board of ICAN Australia.
Kalani Reyes (she/her) is a Micronesian-Chamorro daughter of the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific ocean. She is an ocean advocate, and steward of the deepest trenches in the world, as well as a steward of coral reefs. In her home island she works as a Coral Reef Restoration Coordinator at the CNMI Department of Lands and Natural Resources. She loves connecting with others through sharing stories.
Mitzi Jonelle Tan (she/they) is a full-time climate justice activist guided by the principles of anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, collective action, community building, joy, and love. She is based in the Philippines and is the international spokesperson of Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines.
Juliana Nnoko is a senior researcher in the women’s rights division at Human Rights Watch. Her work focuses on land and land-based resource rights, violence against women, and on the impacts of large-scale commercial land deals, tourism development, and armed conflict on access to land, including for women, in rural, Indigenous, and Afro-descendant communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. She has carried out research and advocacy on a number of human rights issues, including the rights of Maasai communities to ancestral land in Tanzania; armed conflict and Afro-descendant women’s access to land in Colombia; violence against women during the Covid-19 pandemic in Kenya; the rights of women to matrimonial property in Kenya; loss of land and risks to peatland by oil palm plantations in Indonesia; rights to customary land and forced evictions by commercial farmers in Zambia; and the right to housing more broadly. Her work incorporates an intersectional lens to investigate land rights violations related to gender, race, ethnicity, and indigeneity. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Juliana taught at Iowa State University, US, and the University of Buea, Cameroon. She holds a PhD in Sociology and Sustainable Agriculture from Iowa State University, and a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Northern Iowa.
Maritza Chan is Ambassador, Deputy Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations. Ambassador Chan is an international peace and security expert and global feminist activist. With decades of experience as a professional speechwriter and arms control negotiator, Ambassador Chan’s platform revolves around arms control, gender and security, the rule of law, and anti-impunity reform.
Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo has been involved in WILPF since 2012 and was a member of the International Board between 2015 and 2018. Prior to her election as Africa Regional Representative, Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo was WILPF Cameroon Section President and co-coordinator of the African Working Group. Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo is a teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations. She has 20 years of experience advocating for the political and social rights of Cameroonian and African women.
Cynthia Enloe is Research Professor of Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies at Clark University in Massachusetts, USA. Among her most recent books are a fully updated edition of Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics, and The Big Push: Exposing and Challenging Persistent Patriarchy. Cynthia Enloe has been recognised for her contributions by several organisations, including The International Studies Association and the Gender Justice Caucus of the International Crimes Court.
Aïcha Madi is a political analyst and conflict resolution practitioner who specialises in security and gender issues. She is currently working on the promotion of women’s participation in the peace and political process in Yemen. She has had several field experiences in the MENA region where she worked with women victims of sexual and gender based violence as well as with victims of enforced disappearances and torture. She holds a BSc in international studies with a peace and security concentration from the University of Montreal and an MSc in public and international affairs from the same university.
Shobha Pradhan Shrestha is the founder and executive chair of Women for Peace and Democracy (WPD) Nepal. Shobha Pradhan Shrestha is a peace-building professional working in rural communities of Nepal on women’s empowerment, gender equality, human rights, the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. Shobha Pradhan Shrestha has been campaigning for arms control since 2003 and has been an active member of the Control Arms Coalition, Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, IANSA and a great admirer of WILPF work.
Anthony Keedi has been working in Lebanon for the past 15 years piloting and promoting the concept of engaging men in ending violence against women and masculinities in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region. He is a psychologist and also holds a master’s degree in gender studies. He is currently the Masculinities Technical Advisor at Abaad: Resource Center for Gender Equality. In his work thus far, he has managed the first ever White Ribbon Campaign in MENA; Developed Gender Equality Training workbooks and manuals on Masculinities in MENA; established the first psychological rehabilitation clinic for men with abusive behaviours in MENA; and participated in expert panels for the CEDAW commission as well as on the first Human Rights Council Resolution for engaging men and boys to end gender-based violence.
Jennifer Rodriguez Bruno serves as the Global Advocacy Manager for the MenEngage Alliance Global Secretariat working to advance the Alliance’s interconnected national-regional-global advocacy strategy. Through accountable advocacy practices that aim to work in solidarity, partnership and power-with – feminist, women’s rights, climate, racial and LGBTIQ activists, organizations and movements, Jennifer Rodriguez Bruno supports Alliance members in carrying out advocacy to advance intersectional feminist informed approaches to transform patriarchal masculinities and work with men and boys to advance gender justice.
Verónica Ferrari is Global Policy Advocacy Coordinator at the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), where she coordinates the organisation and members’ involvement in various global policy spaces such as the UN OEWG, ITU, the UN Human Rights Council, and the OECD, among others. Verónica Ferrari also represents APC at the Freedom Online Coalition Advisory Network, where she co-leads the Digital Equality Task Force. Before joining APC, she served as a senior policy advisor at the Government Secretariat of Modernization in Argentina, where she led the work with the OECD on digital government, open government, and innovation. Her work focuses on freedom of expression, privacy, gender and technology.
Lucina Di Meco is the co-founder of #ShePersisted, a global initiative dedicated to tackling gendered disinformation against women in politics. A women’s rights advocate and author, Lucina Di Meco has been recognised by Apolitical as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy and her work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, Time magazine, The Washington Post, Politico, Brookings, and The Council of Foreign Relations, among others.
Anne-Marie Buzatu is the Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of ICT4Peace Foundation. An international lawyer by training, she also worked for several years in the information technology sector as a web developer and database administrator. Anne-Marie Buzatu consults with governments and international organisations and develops and delivers capacity building in the areas of cyber (human) security policy, multi-stakeholder approaches to governance, and impacts of private commercial actors on human rights. She has also published several policy papers and articles in the areas of private security and cybersecurity.
Doug Weir has undertaken research and advocacy on the polluting legacy of armed conflicts and military activities since 2005. After working on conflict pollution and the toxic remnants of war for many years, he established the non-profit Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) to monitor and raise awareness of the environmental and humanitarian consequences of conflicts. He has contributed to a wide range of domestic, regional and international initiatives on conflict and the environment, with a current focus on the progressive development of the legal framework protecting the environment in relation to armed conflicts. www.ceobs.org
Lina Hjärtström has been a WILPF member for ten years, starting out with local activism. She has been chairwoman of WILPF Sweden and a member of WILPFs International Board before starting her position with WILPF Sweden as Policy and Advocacy Director in August 2021, now working on disarmament, environment and feminist peace.
Deanne Uyangoda is a Protection Coordinator for Asia-Pacific at Front Line Defenders.
Dr. Inna Michaeli, Director of Programs, AWID (Association for Women’s Rights in Development) Inna Michaeli is a feminist activist and sociologist, based in Berlin, Germany, raised in Haifa, Palestine/Israel, and born in St. Petersburg, Russia. In the past 20 years she took part in LGBTQI+ and feminist struggles, political education and organizing by and for migrant women, and Palestine liberation and solidarity. She is a Board Member of the Germany-based organization Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East. In the years 2005-2012 she has worked with the Coalition of Women for Peace, a feminist organization against the occupation of Palestine and for a just peace.
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.