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Celebrating Feminists’ Voices, Inspiring Global Peace

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#FeministPeace

WILPF Sri Lanka: A Leading Voice for Women’s Participation and Empowerment   

Originally founded in 1953, WILPF Sri Lanka later dissolved before making a major comeback in 2018 when it was reformed as a WILPF National Group. Since then, it has worked hard to rebuild partnerships with civil society organisations, engage in projects on women’s participation and grow the movement for feminist peace in Sri Lanka.

Image credit: WILPF Sri Lanka
  • 3 min
Nadee Gunaratne
8 July 2024

Today, the Group is strong and thriving, with a sharp focus on uplifting women’s economic and social empowerment and advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda locally and globally.  

WILPF Sri Lanka is led by Nadee Gunaratne, a lawyer and activist who has worked extensively for women’s rights and humanitarian development. We spoke with Nadee to learn more about WILPF Sri Lanka today, its key focus areas and how the Group is navigating through Sri Lanka’s ongoing economic crisis.   

Can you tell us a bit about WILPF Sri Lanka today, six years after the Group reformed? 

Nadee Gunaratne: WILPF Sri Lanka has five board members and over 200 members across the country. The Group has grown significantly over the past few years, with enormous creative work taking place in the areas of economic justice, women, peace and security, rule of law and governance. Democracy is the value and bedrock of feminist peace. 

WILPF Sri Lanka has created a young WILPF team with diverse talents and socioeconomic backgrounds, bringing diversity, peace and prosperity.  

How is Sri Lanka’s current socioeconomic context impacting the work of WILPF Sri Lanka? 

Nadee Gunaratne: Sri Lanka is facing an economic crisis that has been ongoing since 2019, with disproportionate impacts on women. To help uplift the economic empowerment of women, we have been working on a major project to help women build sustainable livelihoods through small businesses focused on selling herbal and organic products. We are also working on building women’s leadership skills and encouraging women to become more actively involved in Sri Lanka’s political processes.   

The economic crisis has also led to a high number of children living in government care. As a result, we have been working to support girls aged 16 and over who are experiencing extreme vulnerability to reintegrate into society and build long-term stability. We have also been focused on creating access to mental health counselling and psychological support to children, youth and communities throughout Sri Lanka.  

What are some of the challenges facing WILPF Sri Lanka this year? 

Nadee Gunaratne: One of our greatest challenges relates to the fact that many young people are migrating to other countries, which has led to their declining interest in participating in social movements. This is making it increasingly difficult to engage young people in our work.  

Can you share a recent achievement that you’re particularly proud of? 

Nadee Gunaratne: At WILPF Sri Lanka, one of our major goals is to increase the number of women participating in the political, economic and social spheres, contributing to the growth of equality and a more sustainable future for the country.  

Recently, we have made significant progress toward this goal with the creation of a new women’s empowerment platform called Beyond Childhood International. Created by a group of international partners, including WILPF Sri Lanka, the platform aims to help empower children, youth and women locally and internationally through access to experts from multiple sectors, skill-building opportunities and other educational and networking initiatives.  

Through Beyond Childhood International, which is still in its early stages, WILPF Sri Lanka members will be able to offer their expertise to help uplift women’s economic empowerment. We are very excited about the possibilities of this new platform.  

What does feminist peace mean to you? 

Nadee Gunaratne: Feminist peace means feminist decision-making and active participation in political and economic transformation, breaking the cycle of violence, economic stress and stereotypes. Democracy is the value and bedrock of feminist peace.  

Thank you, Nadee!

Visit WILPF Sri Lanka’s Facebook page to learn more about this National Group.  

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Nadee Gunaratne

Nadee Gunaratne is a lawyer and activist who has worked extensively for women’s rights and humanitarian development and is currently the president of WILPF Sri Lanka.

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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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.