PeaceWomen Across the Globe is an internationally active feminist peace organisation based in Bern with an office in Colombia. We support women and feminist peacebuilders in contexts affected by armed conflict in their diverse efforts to build lasting peace. To ensure their full, equal and meaningful participation in all stages of peace processes, we amplify their visions and demands, boost their efforts to shape peace processes and connect women and feminist peacebuilders within conflict-affected countries and across regions impacted by armed conflict.
Our political commitment is based on four international human rights standards, which form the basis for women's and human rights, gender-just peace policies and sustainable development. We are committed to their effective implementation, internationally and in Switzerland.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted by the United Nations in 1979, forms the basis for the legal and actual equality of women and men. By adopting the Convention, states undertake to take measures to put an end to discrimination against women in all its forms. Together with civil society partners, we work for its implementation in Switzerland.
Together with our network partners and like-minded civil society organisations, we take a public stand on peace-related issues and on violations of women's and human rights, hold decision-makers accountable and raise our voices in solidarity with our partners when they demand compliance with international human rights standards in their countries.
We take a public stand on peace-related events and issues, together with like-minded organisations or in solidarity with members of our global network Feminists Connecting for Peace. We also participate in consultations. Our feminist understanding of peace and the focus on women’s and human rights are central to this political work.
As a feminist peace organisation based and rooted in Switzerland, we support the feminist strike and the concerns and demands of those striking. On 14 June and beyond. We do so because gender justice and feminist visions of peace are at the core of our work, both in Switzerland and around the world.
Gender justice, political participation and social inclusion are prerequisites for lasting peace. But too little is being done in peace policy to overcome structural violence, economic and social discrimination. Too little attention is being paid to the special situation of women and girls in armed conflicts and war. As a feminist peace organisation, we work together with our partners and peace activists from all over the world to promote peace and demilitarisation. In doing so, we strive for structural change and towards peace and gender justice. Our work is based on universally accepted human rights standards and follows a holistic feminist approach.
With Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, the UN Security Council passed a milestone in feminist peace and security policy in October 2000, marking the launch of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. The WPS agenda lies at the core of our work across our programmes, in our advocacy and in our work with our global network Feminists Connecting for Peace.
Peace is more than the absence of war. Patriarchal power relations, structural violence and physical or psychological violence against women are also obstacles on the path to lasting peace. This is why we are committed to peacebuilding with a feminist, intersectional perspective. And because our understanding of peace is comprehensive.
Gender-based violence is one of the most common human rights violations worldwide. Particularly in conflict-affected contexts various forms of violence against women and LGBTIQ persons increase. Gender-based violence is a major obstacle on the path to gender justice and lasting peace.
In this podcast, our programme manager Andrea Filippi talks to the Oxford Society for International Development about our work for genuine peace and gender justice. With a particular focus on our work with our partners in Colombia, Ukraine and Palestine, she describes how we support women to become active participants in peace processes, thereby helping to shape sustainable peace. The OxSID is a student-run organisation founded in 2017. The podcast is available on Apple, Spotify and on the OxSID website.
What images does the word "peace process" conjure up for you? You probably imagine years of negotiations, a ceremony at which the parties to the conflict sign an agreement and shake hands? We have deconstructed this common image and taken an in-depth look at the question: "How do women influence peace processes?" The result is a graphic representation of the different stages of peace processes. With this tool, we put the role of women centre stage and show where they exert influence to drive peace processes and prevent setbacks.
Three different countries and contexts, each with different peace agreements and challenges in implementation. And yet, the three women from our partner organisations in Colombia, Nepal and the Philippines found many commonalities – in the experiences and insights shared by women peacebuilders and in what it takes to sustain peace. At a public panel in Bern, the three women talked about the importance of feminist principles in peacebuilding, particularly to prevent backsliding into armed violence, of safe spaces and self-care for activists and of not losing sight of the goal – sustainable peace.