CONTACTS

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COORDINATOR
Gina Torry
Tel. +1 (212) 682-3633, ext. 3121
Fax: +1 (212) 682-5354
Email: NGOWGCoordinator@peacewomen.org
777 United Nations Plaza, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10017

CORE MEMBERS

FEMMES AFRICA SOLIDARITÉ (FAS)
Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS), created in 1996, seeks to foster, strengthen and promote the leadership role of women in conflict prevention, management and resolution on the African continent. FAS’s work in this regard is set in the context of a wider campaign to protect and promote women’s human rights in Africa. For FAS, engendering the peace process is vital to achieving the lasting absence of conflict on the African continent. Efforts to resolve conflict and address its root causes will not succeed unless we empower all those who have suffered from it – including and especially women, who suffer its impact disproportionately. Only if women play a full and equal part can we build the foundations for enduring peace: development, good governance, human rights and justice. Its International Secretariat, based in Geneva, Switzerland, coordinates programmes in Africa and serves as a contact point for international organisations, NGOs and donor agencies. FAS established its International Secretariat in Geneva in order to facilitate its resource mobilisation efforts and to maximise the visibility of African women’s initiatives at the international level. To consolidate its presence at the international level, FAS has a permanent representative stationed in New York.

Contact: Mrs Bineta Diop, Executive Director
New York Representative: Solange Usher
Tel: + 41-22-328-8050
Fax: + 41-22-328-8052
Email: info@fasngo.org
Web: www.fasngo.org

HAGUE APPEAL FOR PEACE
In May 1999 the Hague Appeal for Peace held the largest civil society conference for peace in modern history. The conference called for the recognition of peace as a fundamental human right, the abolition of war and the right of women to take part in resolving and preventing conflict. Conference delegates approved the Hague Agenda for Peace and Justice for the 21st Century, which stresses the need to include women from all areas of society at all stages in any peace negotiating process. Thousands of local organizations launched their own campaigns as a result of the conference. The Hague Appeal for Peace has launched its campaign for Global Peace Education, which promotes women’s rights and needs as an integral part of any peace process.

Contact: Cora Weiss
Tel: (212) 687-2623
Fax: (212) 661-2704
Email: hap@haguepeace.org
Web: http://www.haguepeace.org/


INTERNATIONAL ALERT
International Alert (IA) was established as a conflict transformation organization in 1992. The IA international campaign ‘Women Building Peace: From the Village Council to the Negotiating Table’ was launched with the support of over 100 organisations in May 1999. Since this time it has played an important role in raising awareness of women’s experiences and perspectives of peace and security, in promoting and increasing support and resources for women in peacebuilding, and in creating new spaces for women’s voices in peace negotiations at all levels and stages. The campaign launched the first ever Millennium Peace Prize for Women, which was sponsored by International Alert and UNIFEM. Through the joint efforts of members of the NGO working group on Women, Peace and Security, UNIFEM, and supporting member states, the first phase of the campaign succeeded in pushing for the adoption of UNSC Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in October 2000. Phase two of the IA Campaign includes a Peace Audit in four case study regions (West Africa, the Southern Caucasus, South Asia and Latin America); monitoring the implementation of Resolution 1325 and possibilities for local, national and regional organisations using the resolution as an advocacy tool to support their peacebuilding work and security needs. Phase two, with the organic development of the Gender and Peacebuilding Programme, also involves documenting women’s peacebuilding ‘know how’ and developing an advocacy ‘tool kit’ of examples of processes that have worked. The Gender and Peacebuilding Programme includes a global policy component that develops policy and practice briefings relating to the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325. The areas of focus for 2004/2005 include: Gender and Peace Support Operations; Gender and Conflict Early Warning; Gender and Security Sector Transformation; Gender, HIV/AIDS and Conflict; and Gender and Reconstruction.

Contact: Nicola Johnston
Tel: + 44 207 627 6800
Fax: + 44 207 627 6900
Email: njohnston@international-alert.org
Web: http://www.international-alert.org/our_work/themes/gender.php


WOMEN’S ACTION FOR NEW DIRECTIONS (WAND)
WAND's mission is to empower women to act politically to reduce violence and militarism, and redirect excessive military resources toward unmet human and environmental needs. Since 1982, WAND has worked to: rewrite national budget priorities from the perspective of women; end the culture of violence in our society and prevent violence against women; empower women to act politically, encourage women's leadership and bring more women into the public policy arena to further WAND's goals; eliminate the testing, production, sale and use of weapons of mass destruction; clean up the environmental effects of nuclear weapons production. WAND is a membership organization with offices in Arlington, MA, Washington, DC, and Atlanta, GA, a national network of women state legislators known as The Women Legislators’ Lobby (WiLL), and a Political Action Committee (PAC) which helps elect women to Congress that will work for WAND's goals. WAND encourages its members and partners to support U.S. participation in international treaties and institutions that work for peace globally.

Contact: Sayre Sheldon
Tel: (781) 643-6740
Fax: (781) 643-6744
Email: cemsps@worldnet.att.net
Web: http://www.wand.org/

WOMEN’S DIVISION, GENERAL BOARD OF GLOBAL MINISTRIES OF THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
The Women’s Division represents United Methodist Women, a one-million member organization whose purpose is to develop women leaders and advocate for peace and justice. United Methodist Women (UMW) raise around $20 million a year for programs and projects related to women, children and youth in the United States and in more than 100 countries around the world. For the past 135 years, guided by the principles of human rights for all persons, UMW have been working to better the lives of women, children and youth through advocacy, education, development and humanitarian relief work. In 1960 the Woman’s Division established the United Methodist Office for the United Nations and built the Church Center for the United Nations. During the 2001-2004, UMW priorities have been: advocacy for debt relief for the poorest countries, public education reform, monitoring hate crimes and violence in society; and action to ban the recruitment and training of children as soldiers and the targeting of children, especially girls, for sexual abuse and gender-based violence.

Contact: Vina Nadjibulla
Tel: (212) 682-3633 ext. 3104
Fax: (212) 682-5354
Email: pnadjibu@gbgm-umc.org
Web: http://gbgm-umc.org/umw

WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM (WILPF)
WILPF, established in 1915, is the oldest women's international peace organization. WILPF brings together women from all over the world who oppose war, violence, exploitation and all forms of discrimination and oppression, and who wish to unite in establishing peace by non-violent means based on political, economic and social justice for all. The WILPF-UN Office in New York hosts two projects, PeaceWomen and Reaching Critical Will.

The PeaceWomen Project monitors and works toward rapid and full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. To these ends: PeaceWomen hosts Peacewomen.org, a website that provides accurate and timely information on women, peace and security issues and women's peace-building initiatives in areas of armed conflict; PeaceWomen works to facilitate communication among and mobilization of advocates and supporters in civil society, the UN system and governments working on women, peace and security issues; and PeaceWomen advocates for the integration of gender analysis in the governance, peace and security work of civil society actors, the UN system, and governmental bodies.

Reaching Critical Will (RCW) - http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org - is a disarmament initiative of WILPF that seeks to increase the quality and quantity of non-governmental organization preparation for and participation in various international disarmament fora.

Contacts: Sam Cook, Milkah Kihunah
Tel: (212) 682-1265
Fax: (212) 286-8211
Email: info@peacewomen.org
Websites: http://www.wilpf.int.ch, http://www.peacewomen.org, http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org

AFFILIATE MEMBERS

Affiliate members chose to participate in the initiatives of the NGOWG on a case-by-case basis.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL (AI)
Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights to be respected and protected. AI’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. In pursuit of this vision, AI's mission is to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights. AI has a varied network of members and supporters around the world. Although they come from many different backgrounds and have widely different political and religious beliefs, they are united by a determination to work for a world where everyone enjoys human rights.

In March 2004, Amnesty International launched a global campaign, Stop Violence against Women, a multifaceted campaign demanding change at the international, national and local levels through diverse actors and actions.

Contact: Sarah Sullivan
Tel: (212) 867-8878 ext. 4
Fax: (212) 370-0183
Email: ssulliva@amnesty.org
Web: www.amnesty.org

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S TRIBUNE CENTER
The International Women’s Tribune Centre (IWTC) is dedicated to achieving women’s full participation in shaping a development process that is just, peaceful and sustainable. IWTC was established in 1976 following the UN International Women’s Year World Conference in Mexico City. With a philosophical commitment to empowering people and building communities, IWTC provides communication, information, education, and organizing support services to women’s organizations and community groups working to improve the lives of women, particularly low-income women in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and Western Asia.

IWTC’s work is grounded on the premise that access to information and the ability to communicate are basic to the process of women’s empowerment, to women’s ability to re-defining development paradigms, to women’s participation in the public policy arena and to the building of democratic societies.

IWTC’s four major programme areas cover: Women Using Information Communication Technologies for Basic Needs; Using Global Policy for Transformative Action; Human Rights, Human Security, Women in the Peace-building Process; and Using Information and Knowledge-Sharing for Empowerment – Access and Management.

Contact: Vicki Semler
Tel: (212) 687-8633 ext 11
Fax: (212) 661-2704
Email: vickisemler@aol.com
Web: http://www.iwtc.org


WOMEN'S COMMISSION FOR REFUGEE WOMEN AND CHILDREN
For fifteen years, the Women's Commission has been working to improve the lives and defend the rights of refugee and internally displaced women, children and adolescents around the world through fact-finding missions and advocacy. Advancing sustainable peace through drawing the attention of policy-makers, donors and international community to the needs and contributions of displaced women, children and adolescents has been a cornerstone of the Commission's work. This includes highlighting the need for gender balance in all areas of peace-building and reconstruction through field-based reports, supporting local advocacy partners in Sierra Leone, Colombia, Afghanistan and Pakistan and hosting panels on the contributions of refugee and displaced women, children and adolescents at international events, including UN Beijing Plus Five (2000) and UN Commission on the Status of Women. The Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children is an independent affiliate of the International Rescue Committee.

Contact: Ramina Johal
Tel: (212) 551-3029
Fax: (212) 551-3180
Email: ramina@womenscommission.org
Web: http://www.womenscommission.org

WOMEN’S ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION (WEDO)
The Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) is an international advocacy organization that seeks to increase the power of women worldwide as policymakers at all levels of governments, institutions and forums to achieve economic and social justice, a healthy and peaceful planet, and human rights for all. WEDO brings together women of diverse backgrounds from all regions of the world to share experiences and expertise and to take action on common agendas in the United Nations and other international policymaking forums.

Contact: Doris Mpoumou
Tel: (212) 973-0325
Fax: (212) 973-0335
Email: doris@wedo.org
Web: www.wedo.org

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