Women in International Dialogue
Viola Raheb
Consultant for communication and projects at the PRO ORIENTE Foundation, Vienna
“Women in International Dialogue WiD” is a Bruno Kreisky Forum’s initiative to bring together experts from different regions of the world in order to analyze current conflict scenarios as well as post-conflict situations from a women’s perspective and to make recommendations on what measures can be taken to improve the protection environment for women during and after conflict, to engage women in conflict prevention, and to ensure that peace processes are guided by women’s perspectives and address their needs.
The landmark adoption 10 years ago of resolution 1325 (2000) acknowledged the role of women in peace and security, not simply as victims but as agents of change.
Over the past 15 years, progress has been made in implementing resolution 1325 on various levels, including by UN Member States, entities of the UN system and civil society. They have invested in training, the development of policies, action plans, guidelines and programming to ensure women’s access to resources, justice and opportunities to participate in decision-making. UN peacekeeping missions have become more effective in engaging women in peace building. In certain post-conflict countries there has been a significant increase in the number of women in national politics.
However, despite these activities and successes, fifteen years after the adoption of resolution 1325, significant achievements are difficult to identify. In most situations of conflict around the world full participation and leadership of women in political processes remains elusive. The past fifteen years have also seen repeated instances of grave abuse and violence against women in conflicts.
We therefore need to discuss what can be done to accelerate implementation of the provisions of resolution 1325, to reach concrete results in women’s protection and in their full engagement in making, keeping and building peace.
Women´s Lives and Agency in the MENAT-Region. Between Political Activism and Realism
Conference in cooperation with the Department for Security Policy, Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence
Bruno Kreisky Forum, November 5-7, 2023
Viola Raheb and Heidemarie Winkel (editors):
WOMEN`S POLITICAL BIOGRAPHIES IN THE MENAT REGION
At the end of the conference at the Bruno Kreisky Forum in November 2023 on „Women’s lives and agency in the MENAT Region- between political activism and realism“, women from different countries and backgrounds were invited to shed light on their contexts, socio-economic and political developments, violence – especially gender-based violence – in times of war and its impact on women’s lives, engagement and agency. With the rise of populism and reactionary movements, women’s rights seem to need to be renegotiated. As a result of polarization and ambivalence, listening to and understanding women from the MENAT region is becoming less important.