What’s going on in WPS? A weekly update (December 7 2020)

WPSN-C members share events, publications, and other resources on our members-only mailing list. Highlights are shared weekly.


This past week, elsewhere on this blog, as part of 16 Days of Activism, we shared “Marriage, shame and honour: How to ensure equality & justice for South Asian LGBTQ+ community members” by Adesola Anyaegbu, a graduate student at the School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa.


Peace Talks & Budget Talks: Delivering Action on Women’s Economic Rights and Empowerment in WPS

Wednesday December 9th 2020, 9.00–10.30 EST / 15.00–16.30 CET

Access the event here.

Hosted by the Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation and the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, this will be a high-level panel discussion on women’s economic rights and empowerment in the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

This will be a forward-looking conversation on how to better address issues of women’s economic rights, inclusive peace and economic processes, and gender-responsive recovery processes in the WPS agenda. The conversation will build on the report that Kvinna till Kvinna launched earlier this year: A Right Not a Gift – Women Building Feminist Peace.  


Amnesty International and Human Rights Day (December 10)

Every year in the lead-up to Human Rights Day, Amnesty International organizes a global letter-writing marathon. This year they are featuring several cases of women’s rights and LGBTI rights defenders.

This year’s cases include Nassima al-Sada, one of the women’s rights activists jailed in Saudi Arabia; Jani Silva, a women human rights defender advocating for environmental protection in the Amazon; Popi Qwabe and Bongeka Phungula, who were murdered in South Africa; and student Pride activists in Turkey, who face jail time just for organizing Pride celebrations.

This webpage includes links to online petitions, guidance for writing personal letters, specific child-friendly actions, social media actions, and more.

On December 10th, there will be a letter-writing virtual marathon culminating in a “fireside” chat with former and current Secretary-Generals Alex Neve and Ketty Nivyabandi, moderated by CBC’s Adrian Harewood. Sign up here.


Connecting International Humanitarian Law and The Women Peace and Security Agenda

Monday, December 14, 2020
10:00am to 11:15am EST
RSVP here to receive the Zoom link

Co-hosted by The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and The Principality of Liechtenstein.

The Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda often references International Humanitarian Law (IHL), calling upon governments and military actors to uphold the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols, and condemn violence against women and girls as violations of IHL. However, despite important commonalities, the potential synergies between WPS and IHL have not been fully explored either in theory or practice.

Join leading scholars, policymakers, and practitioners at an event that will share initial findings from a GIWPS-led research program, supported by the Principality of Liechtenstein, looking at commonalities, differences, and potential synergies between WPS and IHL, and ways in which the agenda could be taken forward.

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