July 2010 Update from the Women Waging Peace Network

Mishkat Al Moumin of Iraq
On June 9 Al Moumin testified before the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight at a hearing on “Women as Agents of Change: Advancing the Role of Women in Politics and Civil Society.” She discussed her experiences challenging Al Qaeda, including surviving a suicide bomb attack, as Iraq’s first minister of the environment.
Video of hearing: http://international.edgeboss.net/real/international/OI06092010.smi

Najla Ayubi of Afghanistan
Ayubi, program director of human rights, rule of law, and women’s issues, Asia Foundation, spoke along with Samira Hamidi at a June 17 event entitled “In the Midst of Milestones: Perspectives from Afghan Women Leaders.” At the event, co-sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson Center and Inclusive Security, the women spoke about the recent Afghan National Peace Jirga and emphasized the need for women’s active participation in the July 20 Kabul Conference. Ayubi also gave a radio interview to NPR in which she discussed the situation of women in Afghanistan and the consequences that reintegration of the Taliban could mean for Afghan women’s rights. 

Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls of Fiji
Earlier in June, Bhagwan-Rolls, a member of the Civil Society Advisory Group to the UN on Women, Peace and Security, and her organization femLINKPACIFIC gathered Fijian women leaders from Nausori- and Suva-based civil society and local government networks to broaden the understanding and use of UNSCR 1325. According to Bhagwan-Rolls, femLINKPACIFIC’s goal is to create a “sharing and consultative space so we can collectively, strategically utilize commitments including UNSCR 1325 to lobby harder for increasing the participation of women in key peace and human security initiatives at the national, local, and divisional levels. It is critical to maintain the visibility of women at this time so that policies are designed through a gendered lens.” On July 8 in Sydney, Australia, Bhagwan-Rolls spoke on her work as a leading advocate for the implementation of UNSCR 1325 in the Pacific at an event organized by the International Women’s Development Agency, UNIFEM Australia, and the Gender and Peace Commission of the International Peace Research Association. Bhagwan-Rolls also submitted a concept paper to the US State Department for the Secretary’s Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls.

Awut Deng, Anne Itto, Jemma Kumba, and Mary Jervas Yak of Sudan
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit named seven women ministers to the new regional cabinet, including Network members Anne Itto, Awut Deng, Jemma Kumba, and Mary Jervas Yak. Many Sudanese Network members were also re-elected to the national assembly and Government of South Sudan legislative assembly.

Visaka Dharmadasa of Sri Lanka
Dharmadasa also participated in the US House of Reprentatives hearing on “Women as Agents of Change” by submitting written testimony detailing how she came to be a leading peace builder in Sri Lanka following the disappearance of her son in an LTTE attack.

Nurgul Djanaeva of Kyrgyzstan
Djanaeva traveled to southern Kyrgyzstan’s Osh City, in the heart of the conflict between Krygyzs and the country’s Uzbek minority. There, she organized women’s groups to ensure women’s security in the region. Djanaeva also helped document acts of violence against women in refugee camps in southern Kyrgyzstan, where she reports, women are facing “terrible conditions and…need a lot of help.”

Mari Fitzduff of Northern Ireland
Fitzduff was in Washington, DC July 7–9 along with Ashima Kaul of Kashmir and Amina Rasul-Bernardo of the Philippines to participate in a conference on religion, women, and peace organized by Georgetown University’s Berkeley Center and the US Institute of Peace.

Samira Hamidi of Afghanistan
Hamidi, executive director of the Afghan Women’s Network, along with Najla Ayubi, spoke at a June 17 event entitled “In the Midst of Milestones: Perspectives from Afghan Women Leaders” (see description above in Najla Ayubi entry).

Ashima Kaul of Kashmir
Kaul was in Washington, DC July 7–9 along with Mari Fitzduff of Northern Ireland and Amina Rasul-Bernardo of the Philippines to participate in a conference on religion, women, and peace organized by Georgetown University’s Berkeley Center and the US Institute of Peace.

Jane Wanjiru Maina, Joy K. Mbaabu, Karambu Ringera, E. Njoki Wamai, and Sarah Mbere Wanjiru of Kenya
These Network members submitted concept papers to the US State Department for the Secretary’s Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls.

Monica McWilliams of Northern Ireland
McWilliams submitted testimony to the US House of Representatives hearing on “Women as Agents of Change.” 

Precious Dennis Mitchell of Liberia co-led a course on “Inclusive Security: Expanding Participation of Women in Peace Processes” in June with Inclusive Security's Evelyn Thornton and Miki Jacevic as part of American University's Peacebuilding and Development Summer Institute in Washington, DC. She led sessions on transitional justice and security sector reform, and provided context for a showing of the movie "Pray the Devil Back to Hell." She also spoke at a roundtable hosted by Inclusive Security, during which she described her role in making women's voices heard in Liberia's truth and reconciliation process. She detailed the strategies used to gather stories from women who were victims of violence during the conflict. She also discussed how, community by community, she is now convincing both men and women that women should serve in Liberia's military and police force.

Mossarat Qadeem of Pakistan
Qadeem is working with Kishwar Sultana and other women form Pakistani NGOs to form the Women Action for Peace Network (see more detail in Kishwar Sultana entry). Qadeem also submitted a concept paper to the US State Department for the Secretary’s Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls.

Amina Rasul-Bernardo of the Philippines
Rasul-Bernardo was in Washington, DC July 7–9 along with Mari Fitzduff of Northern Ireland and Ashima Kaul of Kashmir to participate in a conference on religion, women, and peace organized by Georgetown University’s Berkeley Center and the US Institute of Peace. Rasul-Bernardo is working on a project that encourages Muslim women religious scholars and civil society organizations to collaborate on peacebuilding efforts in the Philippines.

Mu Sochua of Cambodia
On June 2, the Cambodian Supreme Court found Mu Sochua guilty of defaming the country's prime minister. A human rights activist and a leader of the opposition, she has long been a target of the ruling party. Sochua has refused to pay any fines, telling The Phnom Penh Post that, “Firstly, I will not pay. Secondly, my conscience will not allow anyone to pay on my behalf….If I was afraid of this, I would not have sued Prime Minister Hun Sen.” Sochua was also in New York on June 21 for the premiere of Redlight, a film that explores child sex trafficking and features the work of Sochua and Somaly Mam, a fellow Cambodian and anti-trafficking activist. Sochua is also the recipient of the 2010 Human Rights Awards People's Choice Honoree from Global Exchange.

Kishwar Sultana of Pakistan
Sultana facilitated an Open Day on UNSCR 1325 in Pakistan and presented recommendations from women’s civil society organizations at the meeting. Sultana reported that she and her fellow women participants were able to integrate the recommendations the Pakistani delegation developed during Inclusive Security’s 2010 Colloquium into the set of recommendations she presented during Open Day. Sultana, director of the Insan Foundation, joins four other women from Pakistani NGOs, including Mossarat Qadeem, fellow Pakistani Network member and executive director of Paiman Alumni Trust, to form the Women Action for Peace network. WAP’s goals are to ensure women’s concerns are integrated into reconstruction and reintegration policies following armed conflicts and operations in Pakistan; women are involved in decision making at all levels of government, local to international; Pakistan establishes a fair, transparent, and efficient justice system; and, a national-level plan tackles radicalization of Pakistani youth.

Naila Ayesh of Palestine
Ayesh was featured in an Los Angeles Times article about women's rights in Gaza.