International feminist´s peacebuilding conference
“GIVE PEACE A CHANCE”
The Hague,
October 2024
About
the Event
Feminists always underlined close connections between feminism and pacifism as well as connections between patriarchy, violence, and war. Feminism sees war as social evil leading to the suffering of civilian population: women, children, and old people. Now, when the voice of peace is not loud enough, we need efforts to make women´s pacifist movements and initiatives strong and visible again.
On October 22–27, 2024, the international feminist peacebuilding conference “Give peace a chance” will take place in The Hague. We propose The Hague as the conference venue because it was the center of the women's pacifist movement on the eve of the First World War and in 1915 the international women's pacifist congress took place here, in which women's delegations from opposing military blocs took part.
The venue of the conference in the Hague will be City Monastery Willibrordushuis https://willibrordushuis.nl/gasten/
Address:
Willibrordushuis
Broeders van Sint Jan
Oude Molstraat 35
2513 BA Den Haag
Invited Speakers
Marielle Vavier
Vavier, born in the Netherlands, studied orthopedagogy at Leiden University. She has served as board secretary at Youth Protection and has been active in GroenLinks and its Hague branch since 2018. In 2022, she became an alderman focusing on poverty, inclusion, public health, care, and international affairs.
Ingrid Sharp
Ingrid Sharp is a historian specializing in gender history, the Weimar Republic, and women's movements, with a focus on the First World War and German cultural history. She holds degrees from Oxford and Leeds and has held leadership roles at the University of Leeds. Currently, she chairs Women in German Studies, UK, and holds a Senior Fellowship at the University of Graz.
Ulrike Auga
Ulrike E. Auga, born November 24, 1964, in East Berlin, is a German Protestant theologian, cultural and religious studies scholar, and gender theorist. She is a professor of Protestant theology and gender studies and currently a guest professor at the Intersectional Centre for Inclusion and Social Justice at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK.
Goran Lojancic
Goran Lojančić is a Balkan human rights defender and independent dialogue facilitator. He works to promote and implement social dialogue in the areas affected by wars and other violent conflicts. For over 12 years now, he has worked as a consultant with the Nansen Centre for Peace and Dialogue, and has developed peace building programs in the Balkans.
Cynthia Lazaroff
Cynthia Lazaroff, founder of Women Transforming Our Nuclear Legacy and NuclearWakeUpCall.Earth, is an award-winning filmmaker and author of "Dawn of a New Armageddon." Dedicated to reducing nuclear risks, she has pioneered U.S.-Russia exchange initiatives since the 1980s and co-founded the American-Russian Women’s Dialogue and Peacebuilding Initiative. A Princeton magna cum laude graduate, she produced the documentary series "U.S.-Russia Relations: Quest for Stability" and has received multiple awards for her peace efforts
Julia Garraio
Júlia Garraio, a researcher at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, specializes in democracy, justice, and human rights. She co-coordinates Policredos and GPS, and leads projects on sexual violence funded by the Science and Technology Foundation. Co-founder of SVAC and review editor of the European Journal of Women's Studies, she contributed to the study of child sexual abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church. Her research spans memory, gender studies, media, literature, and cultural studies.
Gorana Mlinarević
Gorana Mlinarević is a feminist activist and researcher focused on post-war issues affecting women in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the former Yugoslavia. She specializes in sexual violence evidence and gender justice in international law, having authored key studies and provided expert evidence to UN tribunals.
Christine Ahn
Christine Ahn is a Korean-American peace activist and Executive Director of Women Cross DMZ, advocating for an end to the Korean War. She led 30 international women peacemakers across the DMZ in 2015 and won the 2020 US Peace Prize for her work on the Korean peninsula. Ahn, who immigrated to the U.S. at age three, holds degrees from the University of Colorado and Georgetown University, and lives in Hawaii.
Ann Wright
Ann Wright is a retired U.S. Army Colonel and a former U.S. diplomat. She resigned from the U.S. government in 2003 in opposition to the U.S. war on Iraq. She has been on peace missions to North Korea, Iran, Yemen, Cuba, Gaza and Israel. She is an organizer for the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and is a member of Veterans For Peace & CODEPINK: Women for Peace. She speaks and writes on U.S. militarism around the world. She is the co-author of “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.”
Margreet Hogeterp
Margreet Hogeterp is the editor-in-chief of Vredesspiral, the Church and Peace magazine, and works as a storyteller and freelance copywriter. She studied General Literary Studies at the University of Groningen and is passionate about creating impactful stories through careful listening and questioning.
Lidija Zelovic
Lidija Zelovic, originally from Sarajevo, fled to the Netherlands in 1993 during the Yugoslav civil war. Now a filmmaker, she explores the impact of war on individuals and the possibility of reconciliation in her work.
Mekka Abdelgabar
Mrs. Mekka Abdelgabar, a leading expert on gender issues in Sudan and Darfur, founded the Darfur Women's Organization in the Netherlands (VOND). VOND empowers women leaders and youth, and is a signatory of the Dutch National Action Plans. Mekka established Sudan's first women's mediation committee, significantly aiding conflict reconciliation in Darfur and highlighting women's crucial role in peacebuilding.
Participation:
We invite women's organizations of different views and activities interested in developing an anti-war and peacekeeping agenda, regardless of their nationality, religion, political affiliation, primarily from European countries, to participate. The participation of representatives of women's NGOs and groups from other regions is also possible.
We invite everyone interested in promoting the peacebuilding agenda and pacifist initiatives to take part in the conference.
Make the voice of peace
aloud again
representatives of women's NGOs and groups
participants
more than
delegatess
Thematic blocks of the conference:
1) The pacifist movement and new reality. Challenges and possibilities. How to counteract the growth of militarism?
2) What is and can be the role of women and the women’s movements in a global anti-war movement and peacebuilding efforts?
3) Which changes would be needed in international security structures to support anti-war movements and peacekeeping efforts from civil society and neutral countries?
4)What are the new forms of dialogue, involving civil society, would work well to address the conflicts between warring countries? For example, alternative forms of dialogue, shared grassroots initiatives, lobby networks, facilitating information and media contacts to counteract propaganda, participation in political parties and labor unions, involvement of churches and social associations.
5) What are possible forms of women’s solidarity in promoting anti-war and peacekeeping initiatives? How can we promote these grassroots initiatives to the decision-making level?
Provisional Programme
Road Map
26.10.
Saturday
10.00-11.30 Presentations of International Funds and Organizations
11:30 - 12:00 Coffee break
12.00-13.00 Making a Road Map through workshops in different taskgroups with assistance of the moderator
13:00 - 14.00 Inhouse-Lunch
14:00 - 16:00 Making a Road Map through workshops in different taskgroups with assistance of the moderator
16.00 - 17.00 Coffee break and Plenary presentation of the Road map
17.00-17.30 Press-conference (with streaming)
17.30-19.00 Diner outside
19:00 - 20:00 Closing session and drinks
22.10.
Tuesday
Arrival
Arrival of the participants; meeting of coordinators
Feminism and belief in peace
24.10.
Thursday
9:30 - 10:00 Plenary session “Feminist approaches in anti-war movements; history of women's contribution to peacebuilding and reconstruction”
10.45-11.30 Comments and questions from participants
11.30-12.00 Coffee break
12.00 -14.30 Visit to the Peace Palace; visit to Vlaggenwacht/ walk to the Peace Palace and Vlaggenwacht
14.30 - 16.00 Plenary session: "Bondage between power blocks, religion, warfare, and gender-based violence"
15.30-16.00 Comments and questions from participants
16.00 - 16.30 Coffee break
16.30 -18.00 Dialogue tables on experiences of the participants
18:00 - 20:00 Diner outside
20:00 - 22:00 Social program or film
New forms of dialog and grass-root initiatives to achive peace
25.10.
Friday
9:310.00-11.30 Panel Discussion “The pacifist movement and new reality. Challenges and possibilities. How to counteract the growth of militarism?”
11:00-11:30 Coffee break
11:30 - 13:00 Meetup “Reconciliation and Transitional Justice: experience of different countries” (moderator Gorana Mlinarevic)
13:00 - 14:00 Inhouse-Lunch
14:00 - 16:00 Masterclasses
16:00 - 18:00 Bites and drinks
evening Diner outside
Militarism
23.10.
Wednesday
9:30 Coffee Break
10.00 - 11.00 Conference opening
11:00 - 11:30 Coffee Break
11.30 - 13.00 Pannel discussion with introductions: the choice between militarism and de-escalation [with streaming
13.00-14.00 Inhouse Lunch
14.00-17.00 Visit to the International Criminal Court (with bus)
18.00-20.00 Art Activism Programme + Social Dinner Inhouse
Departure
27.10.
Sunday
10:00 Walking to the Paleiskerk
10:30 - 11: 30 spiritual prayers and songs together with the Mennonite community with the assistance of Interreligious Kleurrijk Segbroek and the choir of the Haagse Dominicus
11:30 - 12:30 coffee/ thee in the Church
12:40 - 13:00 Back to the Guesthouse, cleaning and check out
13:00 - 14:00 Inhouse Lunch
result of the conference:
As the result of foresight and strategic sessions Road Map of solidarity for peace activities and networking will be elaborated. This Road Map will become a resource for consolidating and developing a network of peacekeeping and anti-war organizations. The conference will provide an opportunity for representatives of various international organizations and foundations to get acquainted with new NGOs, activists, and peace initiatives that were previously unknown to them. For representatives of civil society, the conference will provide an opportunity to get acquainted with new opportunities for organizational and financial support. We expect all these will give the start for the strengthening and consolidating a strong international feminist peace movement. We formulated it in our concept.
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