24th May, International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament
In Europe, in the early 80’s, thousands of women demonstrated against nuclear weapons and the arms race. From these mobilizations, the women peace activists declared 24th May as the International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament.
As FundiPau’s women members, we want to joint this Day with the following declaration:
90% of current armed conflict victims are civilian, and the majority of them, are women and children.
Through history, a lot of women and women organizations have acted, and still act today, as pacification, disarmament, mediation, and change agents in conflict environments, but their role has been relegated, in most of the cases, to anonymity.
Therefore, we demand:
The prioritization of the right to life and to human security ahead of the economic interests of the armaments and Military sectors, and the progress towards global disarmament.
A more active work in the conflict prevention and in the search for alternative ways to the use of force and violence in conflict resolution.
The application of the 1325 Resolution, passed the year 2000 by the Security Council of the United Nations that asks for the increase of women participation in the peace processes and urges the inclusion of gender perspectives in all the peace and security efforts.
And we acknowledge:
The constant and efficient effort of women organizations around the world that work for peace, reconciliation, nonviolent solving of conflicts, and disarmament, and we encourage them to continue their task. Some examples are: Wilpf, Women in black, Woman Peacemakers program or Woman for Peace coalition.
