Women, Peace and Security Initiatives: Central and Eastern Europe

INTERNATIONAL GENDER POLICY NETWORK
The International Gender Policy Network (IGPN) is a membership based, non-governmental organization and has been established in autumn 2005 in order to strengthen and foster the policy work impact of the woman's movement and to ensure the sustainability of women's movements in the Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia. Network of partners, formely affiliated to the Network Women's Program of the Open Society Institute (NWP OSI) and actively collaborating with the NWP OSI through national offices of the Open Society Institutes and later directly, as independent NGOs, conceptualized its cooperation and structure into common goals and mission.

The legacy of common work, experience and achievements and shared vision of substantial social change in terms of women's rights promotion, gathered under the umbrella of the NWP, were the main components of the decision to continue collaboration and advocate for inclusion of women's human rights into the national, regional and global policy agenda.

For more information, please click HERE

Naked Facts: Women are not Meat, Children are not Slaves and People are not Commodities
June, 2008
ASTRA is a nongovernmental organization in Serbia with a mission to combat human trafficking and trafficking of women in particular. To achieve this aim, ASTRA touches upon the causes of human trafficking, including post-conflict transitions, gender based discrimination and violence against women including domestic violence and the situation in Serbia in particular. Lastly, ASTRA has launched a comprehensive awareness-raising campaign to raise awareness about the trafficking situation, including initiatives concerning preventative education for youth, victim assistance to persons rescued from trafficking rings, legislative reforms and law enforcement practices that would protect victims and impede future trafficking activities, the knowledge base on trafficking related issues.

For more information and to visit the ASTRA website, please click HERE

WINPEACE: Women’s Initiative for Peace between Turkey & Greece
WINPEACE is a grassroots peace movement which started with the joint efforts of women from Greece and Turkey, who believe in social equality, equal opportunities and peaceful coexistence.

WINPEACE appeals to all women in both nations to join hands in this effort to know each other, to develop harmonious relations, to nourish peaceful ideas, to produce non-violent actions. The objective is to create a network for the de-escalation of tensions and in times of crisis to influence governments with peaceful interventions.

WINPEACE Aims:
• To take joint action in building a peace culture and enhancing women's role in conflict resolution;
• To urge Greek and Turkish governments to reduce their military budgets. The saved resources would be channeled to the human needs of women, education, health and the arts.
• To urge both governments to include women in conflict-resolution and prevention measures
• To make advocacy towards the realization of the measures detailed in the Security Council Resolution 1325 of 2000.

For more information, please click HERE

UNIFEM Commemorates November 25th and the 16 Days of Activism Campaign
23-25 November 2004
UNIFEM is supporting local NGO activities in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan during the 16 Days campaign, which highlight the correlation between violence against women, HIV/AIDS and trafficking in women and girls. Events include public discussion forums, press conferences in each province, exhibitions of literature on gender issues and an electronic forum to connect activists in the region with global activities and activists involved in the 16 Days campaign. Central Asian NGOs also plan to organize a regional conference — "Let's Stop Human Trafficking" — to develop a joint strategy to tackle the issue. As part of a UNIFEM programme on "Gender and HIV/AIDS," a national forum will take place in Kyrgyzstan on 23-25 November 2005 to develop a national plan of action to end violence against women, especially where it relates to and impacts on HIV-transmission. For more information contact yelena.kudryavtseva@undp.org or unifem@infotel.kg

In Moldova, UNIFEM is using the 16 Days campaign to raise awareness of the importance of the adoption of the Gender Equality Law, and how it is interlinked with eliminating violence against women. An open lecture and workshops will be held in collaboration with government and civil society partners, alongside a press conference and interviews on a local TV talk show. For more information, contact val_bodrug@mdl.net

1325 Workshop for Gender Advocates in Sarajevo
UNIFEM, Kvinna til Kvinna, Zene Zenema
October 25-26 2004
UNIFEM, Kvinna till Kvinna, and Zene Zenema supported a South Eastern Europe regional workshop to review SC resolution 1325 from the perspectives of gender equality advocates from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro and Kosovo. The workshop, 25-26 October 2004, aimed to develop a common regional strategy for advanced implementation of resolution 1325 and a common approach to advocacy at the national level for each country. For more information, contact Kathryn Alborough, kathryn.alborough@undp.org

Beijing +10 - CEE STRATEGY Meeting
Karat Coalition, UNIFEM
3 October 2004
Warsaw, Poland
Karat Coalition with the support of UNIFEM is organizing a Beijing +10 Regional Strategy Meeting, in Warsaw on the 3rd of October. Its purpose is to bring together a group of selected strategic women's movement activists, experienced in UN system, and particularly in Beijing process, including leaders of CEE networks to develop a strategy for CEE region within Beijing+10 reviewing process. This meeting will be a preparation for UNECE Regional Preparatory Meeting for the 10-year review of Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (Beijing +10), which will be held on 14-15 December 2004 in Geneva. The Beijing +10 questionnaires, filled by various organizations from the region, will also be the base for this discussion which will take place at October Meeting. We encourage you to share your opinion and complete the questionnaire. You can download the questionnaire in English and Russian from the website. Please complete it and send it to karat@zigzag.pl. Deadline for your response: 30th of August 2004.

Women Activists Cross-Border Cooperation Campaign – Caravan, Exhibition, Public Debates
Foundation Open Society Institute of Macedonia (FOSIM).
The program is a 3 year regional initiative, implemented in partnership with Transeuropeennes, Paris and NGOs from the SE region: Albanian Human Rights Group - Tirana; Center for Cultural Decontamination- Belgrade; Center for Women War Victims – Zagreb; Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis –Ljubljana; Kosovo Action for Civic Initiatives – Pristine; Pro Femina – Belgrade; Women’s Club “Princess Ksenija” - Cetinje; Urban-in – Novi Pazar; and Women to Women – Sarajevo. The initiative is a collective action of women activists from the region that share common values for peace, democratization, and women’s empowerment. In 2002/3, a caravan of over 50 women activists traveled through the region of the Former Yugoslav republics and Albania, in order to pass the imposed borders and to face the realities of the Other. A traveling exhibition of photographs was organized in the capital cities, followed by debates on imposed borders and raising public awareness against discrimination of all kind. Activities planned in 2004 consist of: publishing, dissemination and promotion of the book “Balkan Women for Peace”, as well as promotion and broadcasting of the film “Women of 12 Borders”. Public debates and training sessions will take place in all participating countries based on the experience of the 2002 Caravan. For more information on this project, please contact Marija Savovska, Coordinator FOSIM – Women’s Program Bul. Jane Sandanski br. 111, 1000 Skopje Tel: 02 244 44 88, ext. 106 and 02 244 67 60 Fax: 02 244 44 99, email: msavo@soros.org.mk, and/or view the website.

Women For Peace Exhibition in the South Caucasus
October, 2003
An exhibition, Women for Peace, was hold late this October under UNICEF's regional project on Women for resolution of conflicts and rehabilitation of peace in the South Caucasus. Organized by UN Women Development Fund jointly with the Artists Association Labirint-ARTA, the show will display large boards on the topic. Similar exhibitions were hold in Georgia and Armenia. A catalogue of the best works will be published. For more information visit United Nations Women Development Fund.

7th Annual Seminar “Women and Politics”
May 20-25, 2003
Since 1996, Zenska Infoteka–Women’s Information and Documentation Center, is organizing annual seminar from the series "Women and Politics", which brings together women from Easter Europe, Former Soviet Union Republics and Middle East. Zenska Infoteka organizes each seminar in cooperation with the Heinrich Boell Stiftung - Regional Office Sarajevo, Inter-University Center from Dubrovnik and WISE - Women International Studies Europe. The 2003 theme was “Contemporary Women’s/Feminist Movements in past-Comunist Countries: 10 year’s after”. 30 women for Eastern and Western Europe participated. For more information visit Zenska Infoteka - Women’s Information and Documentation Center.

Regional Women’s Conference
May 13-16, 2003
The conference, dedicated to women’s rights in the post-soviet countries, aimed at providing more information about the United Nations Convention on offences against women’s rights. On the first day, women were informed about CEDAW’s functions and duties. On the second day the participants worked to arrange the legal campaign in order to achieve state accord with the CEDAW demands such as ratifying the law about trafficking or about family violence. The participants received training on three important issues: planning the legal campaign, creating the coalition and lobbying. To read the May newsletter click here. For more information visit the Human Rights Information and Documentation Center.

Regional Empowerment Initiative for Women - IREX
2003
The women NGOs Women at Work, AWIN (Association for Women's Initiative), ASTRA (Anti Sex-Trafficking Action) and Vojvodina's Initative for Women's Self-Employment, supported by REIW (Regional Empowerment Initiative for Women), offered a training course aimed at improving women's economic position to reduce their risk to become victims of sex-trafficking. Among the different activities, a Web Lab was formed where women and girls learned basic computer skills. Also, text books on women and the economy were published, and two trainings were organized on the topics of sex trafficking in women and children. With the financial support of the Ministry of Work of USA and coordinated by IREX (International Research and Exchanges Board), the REIW program has been developed also in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania and Russia. For more information visit the Association of Women’s Initiative.

Women Against Violence Meeting
September, 2002
The women’s organization Aureola in Struga, Macedonia, invited women’s groups from Albania and Kosovo to take part in a joint seminar on domestic violence. The aim was to exchange experience and increase co-operation between women’s groups in the different countries. Unfortunately, we do not have more information about this meeting. We will keep updating it. For more information visit Kvinna Till Kvinna.

Peace-Building in the South Caucasus Region Seminar
May 11-25, 2002
The Austrian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution, in co-operation with the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development organized the Peace-Building in the South Caucasus Region Seminar. The seminar intended to enhance a policy related discourse combined with a training workshop on conflict transformation aiming at the elaboration of relevant peace-building activities in the South Caucasus Region, and to explore ways for the population of the South Caucasus Region to enhance their existing, or to develop new, capabilities in peace-building. Middle level diplomats, diplomatic advisors, high level representatives of NGOs, university professors, middle level military officers, and community representatives were the target audience of the seminar. For more information visit the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development.

The Caucasus Coalition Against Violence
2000
WomenAid International, jointly with its Caucasus partner, launched The Caucasus Coalition Against Violence to promote and strengthen the human rights of women and children, develop protection strategies and increase awareness of violence in all its forms. The Caucasus Coalition Against Violence encourages the development and dissemination of gender-disaggregated and age-specific data on victims and perpetrators of all forms of violence. It intends to collect and disseminate information about violence, undertake and publish research, increase awareness and create a deeper understanding of male violence against women, and influence national and international policies on violence, among others issues. To participate in the Caucasus Coalition Against Violence click here. For more information visit WomenAid International.

Association of the Balkan News Agencies
1995
With the initiative of the Macedonian Press Agency, representatives of national news agencies from Greece, Macedonia, Bulgary, Albania, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Turkey, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Turkey, created the Association of the Balkan News Agencies with the aim of promoting the mutual understanding and cooperation in the field of news and information. The purpose is to contribute in the continuation of a climate of peace, friendship and cooperation in the sensitive region, and to develop a continuous exchange of news and all other information among the Balkan News Agencies for better informing the business world in the Balkans and the rest of Europe on opportunities for economic cooperation, investment opportunities and development in the Balkan region. For more information visit Mecedonian Press Agency.

Balkan Peace Team
1994-2001
The Balkan Peace Team, a coalition of organizations, including International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR), Peace Brigades International (PBI), and War Resisters International (WRI), was organized in 1994 as a response to Croatia and Kosovo’ request for an international peace force presence. The purpose was to work for a peaceful resolution of the conflict by involving international volunteers with local peace and human rights groups. From 1994 to 2001, the Balkan Peace Team focused on nonviolent conflict resolution, capacity building, and human rights advocacy. The project closed on March 2001, after an evaluation of the project’s organization and resources determined that it was not possible to continue working. For the closure statement click here. For more information visit Peace Brigades International.

Caucasus Network of Women
1994
Caucasus Network of Women is a regional initiative luanched by WomenAid International, in collaboration with WomenAid Georgia, which advocates for the needs of women in the region and supports the development of civil society. Is a virtual community created by a network of women on-line aiming to encourage and facilitate exchange of information and collaboration between individuals and organisations working on issues affecting women, their families and their communities. For more information visit WomenAid International.