May 24: International Women's Day for
Peace and Disarmament
Copies of the information pack from
previous years are available from IPB and WPP (see addresses on p. 27 – PDF file
or signature below)
Peace East and
West
Some two million people around the world are victims of
trafficking, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour
said recently. She noted, “Reports today suggest that more people are being
trafficked than ever before.”
We begin this issue with an article on trafficking by
Annelise Ebbe. Trafficking may not seem at first glance an obvious issue for
peace activists. But it is. Profits from the illegal trade in guns, people
(mostly but not exclusively women and girls) and drugs fuel many armed
conflicts. In too many makeshift camps of refugees fleeing war, the first
outsiders to arrive are not medical personnel or humanitarian aid workers—but
traffickers with promises of desperately needed
jobs.
In economies that have been destroyed by war, human
trafficking and the smuggling of guns and drugs may
be
growth industries, and the best paid jobs available.
They help sustain the culture of violence that created
them.
Any effort to interfere with these money
makers—including organizing for peace and justice—is
dangerous.
Because of this danger it can be difficult to get facts
and figures on trafficking. It is known that in the
80% of those trafficked are women and girls. Many of
those trafficked come from Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States of
the former
Both Ebbe and the article of Sandra Ljubinkovic point
out an even deeper connection between war and the trafficking of women and girls
for sexual exploitation. Both war and trafficking are about domination
and
control by men, over other men and over women—key values
of the mind set they label patriarchy. Promoting equality between men and women
will undermine patriarchy and militarism, they argue—and free both
women
and men. Patriarchy, as the articles by the Russian
Soldiers’ Mothers show, hurts men also.
Building a culture of peace does mean confronting
violence. It means confronting even those who are supposed to be protecting war
survivors, such as United Nations peacekeepers. A recent report by Refugees
International
claims that “A ‘boys will be boys’ attitude in
peacekeeping missions breeds tolerance for exploiting and abusing local women.”
It is not only local women and girls who may face abuse, but women and girls
specifically
brought into the country to cater to foreign
peacekeepers. In one 20-month period, the United Nations peacekeeping department
completed investigations on 221 peacekeepers accused of sexual
misconduct.
The women whose work you will read about in the
following pages are building a culture of peace. They, and their male allies,
are confronting trafficking, teaching peace, opposing the spread of militarism.
They are
making a link between respect for women’s rights and
peace.
Women’s equality is being recognized as a cornerstone of
any sustainable peace. Two indications of this recognition are mentioned in this
issue: the 1,000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize and the new 1325 award from the
May 24 International Women’s Day for Peace and
Disarmament began in
Without peace, development is impossible, and without women,
neither peace nor development can take place.
The Women Peacemakers
Program (WPP) empowers women world-wide through gender-sensitive nonviolence
training and education.
WPP is a program of the
International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR). Founded in 1919, IFOR is an
inter-faith movement committed to active nonviolence, with branches and
affiliates in 43 countries.
IFOR has consultative
status at the United Nations (ECOSOC) and has included six Nobel Peace Prize
Laureates among its members.
International
Fellowship Of Reconciliation
Women
Peacemakers Program
Spoorstraat 38
1815
BK
The
tel +31 (0)72 512
3014
fax +31 (0)72 515 1102
http://www.ifor.org/WPP/
http://www.ifor.org/