News and Updates
An Open Letter to Friends of Afghanistan and Champions of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda
As the Afghan Peace process inches forward with a meeting in Turkey scheduled for mid-April, an inclusive and just process remains as important as ever. The inclusion of women will inform the substance of the meeting, give legitimacy to the process, and increase the chance of peace.
This open letter calls on Friends of Afghanistan and Champions of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda to take concrete action to ensure the systematic presence of the Afghan women peacebuilders in the upcoming Turkey meeting and beyond.
Call for Evaluation Consultant
ICAN is seeking to conduct a midterm review for the period of December 2018- December 2020, while considering the organization’s earlier history as context.
Upcoming Event: Elite Bargains and Political Expediency
Please join us for an LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security, ICAN and the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy co-hosted event, ‘Elite Bargains and Political Expediency: Sacrificing women’s lives in the name of security’, on Monday 22 March 2021 at 9:00 ET / 13:00 UTC.
In this third session of the Coming of Age of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, ICAN Founder and CEO, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, will be in conversation with Major General (ret) Patrick Cammaert who led UN peacekeeping operations in Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere; WASL partner Wazhma Frogh, Co-founder of the Women & Peace Studies Organization (WPSO) and WASL partner Cerue Garlo, a peacebuilder and civil society activist, to discuss what happens when the diplomats and politicians forge hasty elite bargains, leaving local communities and peacekeepers at the frontlines to face the consequences of their deals. The discussion will reflect on the gap between the rhetoric of inclusion and increased calls for the recognition and protection of peacebuilders and the reality of power politics, where ultimately the ‘deal’ leads not to peace but to perpetual violence.
CSW Parallel Event, March 23rd: SOAR With Women Peacebuilders
WASL/ICAN’s CSW parallel event, ‘SOAR WITH WOMEN PEACEBUILDERS: Join the She Builds Peace Campaign’, will take place on Tuesday 23rd March 2021 at 9:00 ET.
After a challenging year of unexpected and compounding crises, we invite our colleagues from the international community and women’s organizations around the world to celebrate the first birthday of She Builds Peace with us.
The event will highlight the achievements to date and opportunities for progress in 2021 using a dynamic and interactive format that will include participant activities, audiovisual presentations, and micro-workshops.
Boko Haram and Banditry: Northeast Nigeria’s Deteriorating Security Situation
“We need a special intervention, we need our country back, it’s becoming lawless”, warns women’s rights and peace activist, Hamsatu Allamin, WASL member and Founder of Allamin Foundation. The situation in northeast and northwest Nigeria demands urgent international attention, not only as a matter of humanitarian urgency but also for its impact on international peace and security.
Trust, Truth, and Transforming Violent Extremism
Far-right extremist ideology has found fertile ground in many countries amid the pandemic, and the movements embracing it are globally connected. Dr. Mia Bloom and Shannon Foley Martinez share their expertise on far-right extremism, and the role of women and gender.
“We are not afraid, we are resisting”: A strong message from the Director of Myanmar’s Gender Equality Network
At 8pm every evening since February 1, 2021 hundreds of thousands across Myanmar bang pots and pans to demonstrate their non-violent resistance to the military coup. This symbolic act is part of the Red Ribbon campaign, a nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement. The movement’s message is clear, explains May Sabe Phyu, Director of the Gender Equality Network (GEN) and a member of WASL: “We are not afraid; we are resisting the coup.”
“Let us go where the guns are loud”: How Esther Omam Builds Peace in Cameroon
“Women peacebuilders run to the problem when everyone else is running away,” said ICAN’s CEO and Founder, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini. This statement could not be truer of award-winning Cameroonian peacebuilder, Esther Omam. Esther’s career has seen her go from development worker to humanitarian responder to mediator and peacebuilder, in the South-West region of Cameroon.
Better Peace Animations now available in Ukrainian
During the pandemic we have been busy translating our materials and tools into new languages. In 2020 we launched a number of animations in Russian and Swahili, and we are excited to at this time share three of our existing animations in Ukrainian: Gendered Devolution: Why it matters, how to do it, Gender Responsive and Inclusive Ceasefires: Why it matters, how to do and Gendered Transitional Justice: Why it matters, how to do it.
ICAN Trains the Women Mediators across the Commonwealth on Gender Responsive Mediation
During three weeks in December the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN), provided an 18-hour training on Gender Responsive and Inclusive Mediation to 16 members of the Women Mediators across the Commonwealth (WMC), a network hosted by Conciliation Resources.
Funding Women Peacebuilders: Dismantling Barriers to Peace
Recognizing the value and need to channel equitable resources to local women’s peacebuilding organizations (WPBOs) have been constant stipulations of the value of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda since its inception at the turn of the 21st century. From the United Nations to its 193 member states, the desire and intent to support such organizations has increased over the years. But the chasm between donors’ good intentions and their political, financial, and administrative constraints has hampered the flow of funds to the grassroots women who need them the most.
Program Intern
The ICAN team seeks a highly motivated Program Intern to work on a range of research, coordination and program tasks. This unpaid winter/spring internship requires a minimum of 20 hrs/week and will run from January to May 2021 with a possibility of extension.
Abductees’ Mothers Association: On the Front Lines of Yemen’s Prisoner Swap
On the morning of Friday 16th October, the Abductees’ Mothers Association celebrated a major victory when Yemen’s warring parties completed the largest prisoner exchange in the history of the five-and-a-half-year long conflict. In a two-day process, 1,056 individuals held by both the Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government were released and transferred home. For many years, this coalition of mothers has been the only hope for Yemen’s forcibly disappeared.
Despite Tragedy, Peacebuilder Khedija Arfaoui Remains Resilient
On September 7, 2020, a Turkish court sentenced a man to life in prison for carrying out the Istanbul nightclub attack on New Years Day in 2017. 39 people lost their lives in the early hours of that day—including Dr. Khedijah Arfaoui’s son and daughter-in-law, Mohamed and Senda. Debates surrounding a moratorium on the death penalty have re-surfaced in Tunisia but Arfaoui continues to advocate for non-violence and remains opposed to the death penalty. Read the full story.
A restart on the WPS Agenda
At a time of significant global foreign policy challenges, the Department of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues is stepping up their game with a focused effort on the implementation of the U.S. Strategy on Women, Peace and Security.