On Wednesday October 29th 2014, WILPF hosted a closed briefing with member states on “Syria and Iraq: Recommendations on Promoting Peace and Combatting State and Non-State Violence” at the Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations. Five women leaders from Iraq and Syria briefed member states and civil society on the situation of women in the region and their recommendations for promoting gender justice and peace.

As part of PeaceWomen's ongoing lecture series on Women, Peace and Security with the Mission of Liechtenstein to the United Nations and the Liechtenstein Institute of Self Determination at Princeton University, WILPF co-hosted the event “Boko Haram and the Cycles of Violence: Strengthening Prevention Using the Women Peace and Security Agenda” on 30 October 2014, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

On October 28, 2014, the Security Council held its fourteenth annual open debate on Women, Peace and Security with a focus on Displaced Women and Girls: Leaders and Survivors. The debate - which included 70 speakers - brought attention to the situation of the hundreds of thousands of women who have been displaced, and how women are disproportionately affected by the experience of displacement.

There was a disconcerting lack of gender perspective at the 24 - 30 September 2014 General Debate of the General Assembly's 69th session on "Delivering on and Implementing a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda.” Of the 197 statements that WILPF monitored for issues of gender and disarmament, only 98 contained references on women and gender.

This past month, WILPF was unanimously awarded the 2014 Peace in Progress award by the International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP)“for its century-long involvement in the work of women for peace, its commitment to disarmament, the defense of human rights and the persistence to obtain the recognition of the role of women in the building of peace.”

On 24 September 2014, forty-eight speakers, predominantly heads of state, unanimously adopted SCR 2178 in a summit presided over by President Barack Obama and opened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

Next week is the 14th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, and WILPF will be participating with women peace leaders from all around the world! Leaders from Syria, Libya, Jordan, Lebanon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Colombia, and Cameroon will converge to advocate, share their stories, and strategize on how to move forward.

This month, PeaceWomen is pleased to feature a guest article from The Women's Regional Network (WRN) compiled by Chelsea Soderholm, Regional Coordinator of the WRN.

Written by: Zainab Alam