Peace, Safety and Security: Ending gender-based violence; and Defending women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).
One of the main priorities of our work is to facilitate collective action by women’s rights organizations to promote feminist advocacy and analyses through an intersectional approach in defense of gender equality and empowerment of women and girls. Our work facilitates participation of women’s organizations, especially from the Global South, in international advocacy spaces, contributing to a global feminist architecture for movement building. This intersectional framework allows us to share experiences and common advocacy actions.
This topic is analyzed by FAR member, FemLINKpacific/GPPAC Pacific network. In the Pacific Islands region, FemLINKpacific, as the Pacific Regional Secretariat for GPACC, works in collaboration with WACC Pacific, across the twenty-two Pacific Island countries and territories linking peacebuilders in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Maohi Nui, Tonga and Vanuatu (http://www.femlinkpacific.org.fj/index.php/en/actions/policy-documents):
The network contributed to the development and adoption of the Conflict Prevention Frame-work, Human Security Framework and the Pacific Regional Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security to foster collaboration on gender, preventive action and human security in peace, early warning and early response (EWER) framework and an inclusive regional peace-building architecture.
To address the threats to human security, the organisation amplifies the call for gender equal-ity, participation of youth, people with disabilities, and other marginalized groups, as well as consideration of governance structures, such as the Arms Trade Treaty, and the campaign for a Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific through a women-led Pacific community radio alli-ance and media network.
As the Pacific Island region continues to experience a series of intensifying and extreme weather patterns and natural disasters the organisation has been at the forefront of progress-ing the Women, Peace and Security agenda in all stages of disaster management.
Another topic prioritized by FAR members is the effect of financial counterterrorism measures on women’s organizing, rights and gender equality worldwide. This analysis was produced by the Women Peacemakers Program (WPP), the Human Security Collective (HSC), WinG India and the Ecumenical Women’s Initiative (EWI): (https://www.wom-enpeacemakersprogram.org/assets/CMS/Resources/Reports/Policy-brief-CTM.pdf).
Based on a survey of grassroots women’s organizations worldwide conducted by WPP, as well as interviews by Duke IHRC and secondary research, the study addresses how, in practice, counter-terrorism financing (CTF) rules affect women’s rights organizing, women’s organiza-tions, and gender equality. The conclusions were based on research in 10 countries in Asia, MENA, Africa, Europe, and North America, and resulted in the following recommendations:
* Empowering young women and men for peace and engaging in nonviolent mobilizing for peace.
* Countering militarism and investing in a resilient and empowered civil society to advocate for accountable and responsive governments.
* Engaging with indigenous and marginalized communities to promoting women’s rights and leadership in local governance and peacebuilding.
* Supporting women on issues related to gender-based violence by providing psychosocial and legal support as well as economic empowerment (https://www.womenpeace-makersprogram.org/news/risk-avoidance-for-whom/).
– Advocating for women’s rights through political and economic empowerment in post-war contexts, and providing funds to women’s initiatives for peace and gender equality (https://www.womenpeacemakersprogram.org/news/day-16-of-16-days-campaign-shrinking-space-the-impact-of-counterterrorism-measures-on-the-women-peace-and-security-agenda/).
