Building Sustainable Peace for All Requires "Bottom-To-Top" Approach
By Marina Kumskova, Sarah Tunnel, Nela Abey and Yvette Dzakpasu
Joy Onyesoh speaks at the the High-Level Dialogue on building sustainable peace for all (Photo: Abigail Ruane/ WILPF)
On 24 January 2017 President of the UN General Assembly, Peter Thomson, hosted the High-Level Dialogue entitled “Building Sustainable Peace for All: Synergies between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustaining Peace Agenda”. The UN Secretary-General, Member States and other stakeholders called for renewed investment in conflict prevention, building more effective and accountable institutions, promoting social cohesion, ensuring meaningful participation of women and girls and moving towards renewable energy.
It was Joy Onyesoh of WILPF Nigeria that delivered the strongest advocacy for a human security approach. She utilised her experience responding to violence in Nigeria and developing early response mechanisms with local women peacebuilders to demonstrate the preventative impact of engaging grassroots women’s organisations. Her presentation during the High-Level Dialogue as well as during the civil society-led side event highlighted the differential contexts of local and regional peace architectures, the need for progressive, consistent actions, and the inherent link between arms proliferation and instability.
Read WILPF’s full analysis of the High-Level Dialogue on Building Sustainable Peace For All here
Listen to Joy Oneyosh’ discussion on the strategies women are using to keep their communities safe here