Publications:
From policy briefs and reports to contributions by activists in the Feminists Connecting for Peace network to the biographies of the 1000 PeaceWomen: our publications provide an insight into our political and project work and into the activities in our global network.
In the May 2025 issue of Fem*Fém magazine, our colleagues Liv Halperin and Camille Bernheim write about promoting creative agency, sustaining peacebuilding and making use of political opportunities as crucial factors in creating a peaceful society after armed conflict. The multilingual magazine Fem*Fém is published by the association Feministische Wissenschaft Schweiz FemWiss (Feminist Science Switzerland). The articles in Fem*Fém 68 deal with the topic of (anti)militarism and focus on feminist perspectives on war and resistance.
What role can civil society organisations play in strengthening women's participation in peace processes ? These and other questions are addressed in this publication. It is a result of the sharing of knowledge between the partners in Colombia, Nepal and the Philippines, which began in 2019 with a first face-to-face meeting and reached an interim conclusion in 2021 with the joint development of this publication. (English and Spanish)
Publications resulting from the civil society project accompanying the Swiss National Action Plan on "Women, Peace and Security" are listed under Political work - Our commitment . Publications on other advocacy topics, such as Agenda 2030 and the Istanbul Convention, are also available there.
Civil society priorties for the 5th Swiss National Action Plan 1325 2024, English, German, French
Civil society report on the 5. NAP (2024)
674.99 KB, PDF
Policy Brief: "Centering Care in Women, Peace and Security: Civil society's voice in Switzerland's implementation of the Fourth National Action Plan 1325" 2022, English
Policy Brief: Centering Care in WPS (2022)
1.36 MB, PDF
"No Peace without Care Work" 2021, flyer in German, English, French
No Peace without Care_flyer
991.48 KB, PDF
"Women, Peace & Security and the Prevention of Violence: Civil Society Perspectives" 2019, German, English
Report: WPS and the Prevention of Violence (2019)
14.07 MB, PDF
"Women Peace Security - reloaded: Civil Society Alternative Report to the National Action Plan 1325 from a Gender Perspective" 2016, German, English
Women Peace Security - reloaded: Civil Society Alternative Report
2.19 MB, PDF
1000 PeaceWomen Across the Globe 2005, book in various languages
Read the biographies of the 1000 PeaceWomen here in English and German, as they were published in the book in 2005.
Advocacy and lobbying
Women
Peace process
Civil society/Civil society organisation
Patriarchy
Decolonialism
War/Armed conflict
Advocacy refers to strategic efforts – including through lobbying, public relations or direct political communication – to influence public opinion, policy and the allocation of resources to achieve specific social or political goals, particularly in the interests of marginalised groups or those affected. Lobbying can be understood as a sub-area of advocacy that is explicitly and directly aimed at political decision-makers in order to influence proposed legislation and political decisions.
(Sources: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Netzwerk Friedenskooperative)
By “women” we mean people who identify as female, including trans, inter and cis women. In addition, we stress the need to include the voices and experiences of people who were socialised or are on occasion perceived as women, such as trans men, nonbinary and agender people.
A peace process is the sum of all steps, initiatives and actions of formal and informal peacebuilding that strive for transformative structural change by tackling the root causes of conflict and violence before, during and after armed conflict. A peace process is seldom linear: it takes place in stages or phases that often overlap, without a clear timetable. A peace process is more like a puzzle made up of several successive small steps than a large, meticulously planned attempt to end a conflict based on a manual. At any stage it can go off track – even after a peace agreement has been signed – and suffer setbacks.
See: https://1000peacewomen.org/en/focus-areas/peace-processes
Civil society is the area of social activity in which people come together to pursue public interests and social causes, or to help shape political and social processes. Citizens in a civil society are involved in non-governmental organisations, citizens’ initiatives and associations that operate independently of the state and the market. Civil society is of crucial importance for strengthening democracy and promoting the resilience of the community.
The term “civil society organisations” refers to all non-profit, organised groups, associations and federations within society that operate independently of government, the state and the private sector. Examples of civil society groups include universities, non-governmental organisations, voluntary organisations, organisations, movements and networks that operate in the social sphere outside the state and the private sector, environmental movements, associations of indigenous peoples, organised local communities and trade unions. They may be organised at local, national and international levels. Civil society organisations provide a wide range of services and carry out humanitarian work; they convey citizens’ concerns to governments, monitor policy and promote community participation.
Sources: UNESCO , IGI Global
The term “patriarchy” describes a social system in which social relationships, values, norms and patterns of behaviour are predominantly shaped by men and which favours men. Historically speaking, patriarchy describes a social order in which social status, land, property and rights are administered by fathers and passed on to their sons. Even today, patriarchal structures prevail worldwide, creating a hierarchy between the sexes. Examples of this include the gender pay gap for equal work, as well as the unpaid and undervalued care work carried out by women. Behind this lies a deeply ingrained belief: that men are superior to women and other genders. This attitude is one of the main causes of violence against women, girls and queer people.
Sources: Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy glossary ; Medica Mondiale glossary
Decolonialism (as well as decolonisation) in international cooperation, humanitarian aid and peacebuilding refers to the deconstruction and dismantling of colonial and neocolonial ideologies, which regard the way in which the Global North thinks and evaluates knowledge as superior. The aim is the redistribution of power and resources that were not only accumulated by colonial powers during the colonial era – and from which they continue to benefit and which they continue to expand to this day. Furthermore, decolonialism aims to highlight and overcome the attitudes and patterns of behaviour that became entrenched during the colonial era. From the perspective of critics of colonialism – a position we share – decolonialism encompasses both a critical perspective and a practice that challenges the enduring legacy of colonial power in knowledge, politics and peacebuilding. Decolonialism and decolonisation call for the dismantling of dominant Western structures that marginalise local, indigenous and feminist knowledge and power. Instead, decolonialism centres the voices, experiences and leadership of those most affected by violent conflict and historical oppression.
PeaceWomen Across the Globe regards decolonialism as both a critical lens and a practice that challenge the ongoing legacies of colonial power in knowledge, politics and peacebuilding. It calls for dismantling dominant Western frameworks that marginalise local, indigenous and feminist knowledge and power. Instead, decolonialism centres the voices, experiences and leadership of those most affected by violent conflict and historical oppression.
Sources: Peace Direct: Race, Power and Peacebuilding, 2022; PeaceWomen Across the Globe "Guiding principles for decolonial peacebuilding", 2025.
War is both a general term of common language, referring to a phenomenon of organised collective violence that affects the relations between states or the power relations within a society, and a legal term under international law (jus ad bellum and jus in bello). “Armed conflict” describes a state of hostilities that is not dependent on a declaration of war nor on the recognition of the existence of “war” by its parties. In other words, all wars are armed conflicts but not all armed conflicts are declared wars. According to relevant jurisprudence and the International Committee of the Red Cross, an armed conflict exists whenever there is resort to armed forces between States (“international armed conflict”). When protracted armed violence occurs between governmental authorities and organised armed groups or between such groups within a State, it is referred to as a “non-international armed conflict”. In the case of non-international armed conflicts, a certain threshold of intensity is required (isolated incidents, tensions or minor skirmishes are not enough). As a general rule, we use the term “armed conflict”. We use “war” when we want to emphasise our partners‘ views and demands and when this term is better understood by certain audiences.
(Source: International Committee of the Red Cross)
