The ongoing war in Syria has resulted in the world’s largest refugee crisis with more than 13 million people forcibly displaced since the beginning of the conflict in 2011. Kilis, a Turkish border city, is the main point of entry from Syria and is home to around 200,000 Syrians.
Kareemat, a women-led peacebuilding organization in Kilis, Turkey, is making a profound impact on Syrian refugee women and their families. Supported by ICAN, Kareemat addresses the challenges of displacement, isolation, and economic hardships through psychological support, language classes, and economic empowerment resources, fostering integration and reducing tensions between Turkish and Syrian communities.
Despite staggering challenges and limited space to operate, the Women, Peace, Studies Organization (WPSO) continues to provide support for women in every province of Afghanistan.
Funded by ICAN’s Innovative Peace Fund (IPF), AWAPSA launched a project across Kenya’s coastal counties to increase awareness of SGBV, educate women and girls on how to report instances of SGBV, and facilitate the reporting of cases to the police. One of the most significant and unforeseen outcomes of AWAPSA’s project was the establishment of Kenya’s first special court for handling SGBV cases, which opened in March 2022, at Shanzu Law Courts, Mombasa.
On June 2, 2021, the Coalition for Action on 1325 (CoACT) and the Embassy of Sweden in Kampala hosted a ‘Democracy Talks’ event to discuss youth participation in democratic processes in Uganda. The event was the culmination of over a year of CoACT’s efforts to mobilize youth to build sustainable peace in Uganda. Since May 2020, CoACT has implemented a program to increase inclusiveness and youth participation in election processes, funded by ICAN’s Innovative Peace Fund (IPF).
“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.
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.
