Participation

It is with dismay that Women's International League for Peace and Freedom's project “MENA Agenda 1325″ learns of escalating attacks on women protesters in Egypt's Tahrir Square. Reports by our Egyptian partners and Human Rights Watch indicate growing levels of extreme sexual violence against women who have taken to the streets alongside men protesting for democracy and justice in Egypt.

The Youth Exploring Solutions (YES), a passionate, non-profit and voluntary youth-led development organization that is primarily a self-sponsored institution since its inception in 2007 has launched its project named and styled 'Enhancing Women's Participation in Leadership and Governance' in the Borough of New Kru Town on the campus of D-Tweh Public School.

Only one woman sat among the 14 people who flanked General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Egyptian state television as he announced Egypt's new constitutional order. In President Mohammed Morsi's cabinet, there were two – out of 24 people.

Last year, as rebels captured the main towns in northern Mali, UN Women registered a sudden and dramatic increase in rapes, not least in Gao and Kidal, regions where most women never report such violence to anyone, not even health practitioners.

Asha Hagi Elmi and her sister Amina spearhead efforts to bring dignity to the women of Mogadishu's refugee camps.

What are the gendered consequences of the war in Syria? Are the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the international human rights framework having any impact in shaping the response to the on-going crises? How can it be ensured that women play their proper role in bringing peaceful resolution to the crises and contribute to building a society, which respects women's rights and gender equality?

Women must be present! So said the parliamentary commission on banking standards, which has today called for a better gender balance at the heart of investment banks in order to prevent future economic crises caused by risk-obsessed male-dominated trading floors.

The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom with several international civil society organisations and the Syrian Women's Network (SWN) expect the Geneva Process to be renewed with the aim of bringing about a resolution to the crisis in Syria and the building of a democratic system. We demand the full and effective participation of Syrian women from civil society in any and all forthcoming meetings.

During a meeting held in Kigali last week, women activists raised concern that there is a lot that needs to be done to have women playing a more robust role in elective politics within the East African Community.

We Demand a Truly Democratic Government Respectful of a Participatory System based on Freedom and Peace! We will Continue to Resist the Authoritarian and Sexist Policies of the Turkish Government!

As one of the 79 members of Taksim Solidarity Platform on Gezi Park, Women for Women's Human Rights (WWHR)-New Ways continues to insist on the following demands of the Platform: