Women Peace and Security is a committee within the Human Rights Team. Its goal is to raise awareness about violence against women in conflict zones and the role of women in the peace-keeping process.
The theme of women and conflict resonates with the very origins of FAWCO. According to The Red Book, FAWCO: A History 1931-2011:
Caroline Curtis Brown founded FAWCO on the belief that "enlightened women, working cooperatively throughout the world, could do much to help achieve permanent international peace; and that this was especially true of American women living abroad who had acquired special experience in living in foreign lands among foreign people and foreign customs. Their American clubs not only provided a home away from home, she felt, but also served to promote sympathetic awareness of the needs and problems in countries other than the United States." Our founder's words are perhaps even more relevant today than in her own time. In our globally connected world, wars have a real impact on the lives of all of us, even when they occur in a distant land. A peaceful world benefits everyone.
by Therese Hartwell, Peace and Conflict Committee
While war and other violent conflict increasingly rob women of their human rights and their safety and security, all is not bleak. More and more women being affected by conflict are taking matters into their own hands and demanding change, often using uniquely female methods to promote cooperation and reconciliation.
One recent example...
Bridge the Human Rights Gap for Women on International Women's Day - March 8, 2014
Again this year, the Human Rights Team invites FAWCO clubs to observe International Women's Day by meeting at a bridge in your community as a symbol of support for women's human rights.
This campaign began in 2010 in neighboring countries Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which have...
“March of Peace” in Srebrenica, Bosnia Herzegovina
By Therese Hartwell, the former President of the American Women’s Group of Eastern Province, Saudia Arabia, and current member of FAWCO’s Ending Violence Against Women Team.
Download entire March of Peace article here
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to find yourself in the middle of a war, trying...