The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, in cooperation with Dr. Afaf Al-Jabri, researcher, feminist activist and university professor, will hold five feminist seminars on various topics that are at the core of the feminist agendas of activist organizations in the region, between August and December 2021. During these feminist sessions, each topic will be discussed based on the feminist theoretical context around it, and the problems associated with it will be addressed in an interactive and participatory manner with the participants (based on their reality, experiences and different work contexts).

Organised by Peace Track Initiative (PTI), the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and the Dutch Ministry of Foriegn Affairs, in collaboration with NORAD, the High-Level Virtual Convening on Feminist Peace in Yemen, seeks to celebrate the efforts of women leaders of diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise inside and outside Yemen, and to present grassroots-centred, inclusive and sustainable agendas to support the peace process in Yemen. 

The Convening will take place over five days between 28 June and 2 July, 2021 | Yemen time | 2:30 p.m- 6:30 p.m. AST  |7:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. EST. 

It will bring together women leaders inside and outside Yemen, and key influencing stakeholders working on the peace process on the national, regional and international levels, to take stock and share lessons learned from their work in peacebuilding.

Join us for a discussion on the outcome of the report entitled “The Correlation between the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Iraq and Rates of Violence Against Women” a collaborative project between Asuda, a leading non-profit organization based in Sulaymaniyah, KRI, which is dedicated to advocating for the rights of women to live free from violence and oppression, and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).

SPEAKERS

• Shan Hiwa — Asuda for Combating Violence against Women Organisation
• Badradin Barzinji — Judge at Ministry of Justice
• Khidher Hamad Hassan — Lawyer and Human Rights Activist in Mosul

MODERATOR: Allison Pytlak, Disarmament Programme Manager at WILPF

With opening remarks by Arez Mohammed, Acting Director at Asuda for Combating Violence against Women Organisation

Since 2011 and the beginning of the Arab Spring, women’s participation in politics has increased but nowadays their participation, compared to men, is still low. This webinar will look at their participation and role in political parties and civil society organizations, as well as in the Syrian peace process.

SPEAKERS:

Sabah Al-Hallaq: Member of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, the Small Committee of the Third Center
Jafia Ali: Member of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, Expanded Committee of the Third Center
Manar Zuaiter: Member of the Lebanese Democratic Women’s Gathering

MODERATOR:

Amina El-Gamal

With closing remarks by Rola Al-Masry, WILPF

WILPF is hosting a CSW65 parallel event under the name “It is not about counting women – but making women count”.

The webinar hosts three representatives of WILPF’s partner organisations in the MENA region, who seek to highlight the need to conceptualise women participation beyond quantitative representation, focusing on women’s participation in various spaces, tracks and processes to achieve feminist peace beyond quota systems.

SPEAKERS:

Hajer Sharief – Co-founder of Together We Build it (TWBI), Libya
Oula Ramadan – Executive director at Badael, Syria
Wajd Barahim – Feminist Peace Project Coordinator at Peace Track Initiative (PTI), Yemen.

MODERATOR:
Salma Kahale, Interim MENA Director at WILPF

With opening remarks by Madeleine Rees, Secretary-General at WILPF

In this parallel CSW side-event, organized by the Peace Track Initiative in partnership with Food for Humanity and Wogood for Human Security, and supported by the Women International League for Peace and Freedom and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yemeni women leaders working to contribute to the peace process will share their experiences and expertise, provide lessons learned and recommendations to support the women contributing to the peace process in Yemen.

SPEAKERS:

H.E. Sahar Ghanem, Yemeni Ambassador to the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden
Rana Ghanem, politician and a human rights activist and Assistant Secretary-General of the Nasserite Unionist Public Party
Maha Awadh, chairwoman of Wogood for Human Security
Muna Luqman, Executive Director of Food for Humanity Foundation
Rasha Jarhum, Director of Peace Track Initiative and co-founding member of the Women Solidarity Network
Nisma Mansour, Media and Advocacy Officer at Peace Track Initiative and focal point for supporting the Youth, Peace and Security Agenda

MODERATOR

Salma Kahale, Interim MENA Director at WILPF

With opening remarks by H.E. Pascalle Grotenhuis, Director for Social Development and Ambassador for Women’s rights and Gender Equality