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Urgent Appeal: The Five Points Initiative to Protect Civilians in Hodeidah

As of 18 June 2018, the Western-backed Arab coalition has continued bombardments on the Houthi-held Yemeni main port, Hodeidah. While the Council remains inactive, Yemeni women peace activists are working to develop humanitarian plans and support existing action.

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WILPF International Secretariat
22 June 2018

As of 18 June 2018, the Western-backed Arab coalition has continued bombardments on the Houthi-held Yemeni main port, Hodeidah. This upsurge in fighting comes at the heel of the UN Security Council’s presidential statement in March 2018 which called for the full and sustained opening of the port, and has impeded humanitarian delivery for the 600,000 people in the area. Yet, in spite of recognising the vast humanitarian impact of prolonged fighting in Yemen, most Council members remain cautious about taking positions on the situation.

While the Council remains inactive, Yemeni women peace activists are working to develop humanitarian plans and support existing action.

Women’s Solidarity Network Yemen has proposed a five-point response plan that urges the Council to increase engagement with women and civil societies and ensure that any action to address the humanitarian situation are gender-sensitive:

  1. Secure safe zones within Hodeidah, especially within areas with high population and areas with available social services;
  2. Abide and respect the rules of International Humanitarian Law and Geneva Conventions to protect civilians, including from being used as human shields, and protect civilian properties, including hospitals and schools, in addition to ensuring the commitment towards the implementation of UNSC resolutions, including 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security, as well as UNSC 2417 (2018) on banning starvation as a weapon of war;
  3. Facilitate the provision of relief supplies, including the establishment of camps for internally displaced populations, provision of mobile clinics, food and water; ensure the responsiveness of the humanitarian relief to the needs of women, children and people with chronic diseases such as kidney failure and diabetes;
  4. Opening humanitarian corridors facilitated by the United Nations or a neutral third party to secure humanitarian relief supplies and allow the safe exit of people, including those living in close proximity to the port and those seeking medical care. In addition to increasing the preparedness of other governorates to welcome internally displaced groups, ensure that the roads are secured from mines or have clear warning information;
  5. Support the national civil society to establish emergency plans and humanitarian operation rooms teams, emergency plans, hotlines to help civilians and ensure that these workers are not targeted and are protected.

While this plan is necessary to overcome the humanitarian crisis in short-term, the Network acknowledges that any humanitarian response will not be an effective way in solving the crisis as such. As reiterated in S/PRST/2018/5, “the humanitarian situation will continue to deteriorate in the absence of an inclusive political solution”.

Read Women’s Solidarity Network’s Five Points Initiative to Protect Civilians in Hodeidah here>>

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Melissa Torres

VICE-PRESIDENT

Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

Jamila Afghani

VICE-PRESIDENT

Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo

PRESIDENT

Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.

WILPF Afghanistan

In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region. 

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Demilitarisation

WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.

Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.

Militarised masculinity

Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.

WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.

Feminist peace​

In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.

In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.

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