WILPF at CSW59: Transformative Women, Peace & Security Agenda: The Need to Challenge Militarism

Date: 
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
PeaceWomen Consolidated Themes: 
General Women, Peace and Security
United Nation Theme: 
Events

Organised by: Women Peacemakers Program (WPP); Consortium on Gender, Security & Human Rights; Saferworld; SAMYAK; Reaching Critical Will (RCW); Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)

Panelists/Participants: Isabelle Geuskens, Executive Director - WPP; Carol Cohn, Director - Consortium on Gender, Security & Human Rights; Hannah Wright, Gender, Peace and Security Advisor - Saferworld; Anand Pawar, Executive Director - SAMYAK; Abigail Ruane, Manager of the PeaceWomen Programme - WILPF

Summary:

“We got our resolutions, but what about our revolution”

Taking into account the broad agenda of the Beijing Platform for Action, and reviewing the 15 years of implementation of UNSCR 1325, this panel discussion analyzed the gendered nature of peace and security mechanisms, by uncovering the linkages between hegemonic masculinities, violence and militarism and its current effects on UNSCR 1325 implementation. Hannah Wright opened the event with some overall comments and thoughts on the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda and the shift towards militarization in recent years. Anand Pawar commented that armies are based on the enemy system and thus, there cannot be an alternative to the word of peace nor to the idea of adding women to a system that glorifies “othering” and “the enemy” - militarization of the agenda won’t suffice. Abigail Ruane began by first looking back as to how far we have come in the past 100 years with WILPF; in the past 20 years with Beijing; and in the past 15 years with 1325. She stressed that we must “reclaim the peace agenda and move away from the over-militarization that is continuing to take over national strategies and regional commitments”. Further, Isabelle Geuskens discussed the need for concrete investments in disarmament; human security; and conflict prevention. She stated, “we got our resolutions, but what about our revolution.” Finally, Carol Cohn stressed the necessity for bringing together the knowledge feminists already hold and then coming up with a transformative WPS agenda that would lead to a feminist playbook for peace.