Mamas
& Children During War
"When
the men fight, women and children mostly suffer."
Mobilised
Mothers
"Mobilized Mothers" describes hundreds of organizations
that are led by women trying to influence foreign policy outcomes
in conflict situations. Women are increasingly influential in nongovernment
organizations, often steered by women, and they occupy senior government
positions with growing frequency, according to the Women Waging
Peace program. Read
More.
Women
Waging Peace
In the face of a new type of threat, we need a new type of defense
system--one that fosters strategic personal relationships among
people throughout the world. Building relationships is a skill in
which women have excelled. Defying political stereotypes, in the
Balkans, Bosnian and Serb women are coordinating their pro-democracy
political campaigns. In Rwanda, Hutu and Tutsi women have created
micro-enterprise partnerships. Out of the depths of this tragedy,
policy makers would do well to reassess the untapped resources of
women throughout the peace building process, thus formulating a
new paradigm of inclusive security.
Read a Statement on the September 11 attacks from the Women Waging
Peace
Use
of Child Soldiers
Amidst intensive coverage of the terrorist attacks on New York and
Washington and the west's preparations for a military response,
there have been suggestions in the media that Osama Bin Laden's
Al Qaida organisation may have recruited and trained children for
military actions. CNN, for instance, carried archive footage purportedly
taken from a training camp in which boys who appeared to be 10 or
11 were participating in military training exercises with Al Qaida
fighters. Alongside these serious concerns, the current military
crisis highlights patterns of child recruitment. The United States
of America accepts volunteers from the age of 17 years and until
now has deployed 17 year olds in operations such as the Gulf War,
Somalia and Bosnia. The United Kingdom accepts voluntary recruits
from age 16; there are currently 6000-7000 under-18s in the British
armed forces. The UK is also the only European country which routinely
sends under-18s into combat, including during the Gulf War. In the
current crises, the youngest sailor with the Royal Navy task force
now heading for Oman is a 17 year old girl. Continued.
The
Revolutionary Association of the Women of Aghanistan (RAWA)
RAWA is a political/social organization of Afghan women struggling
for peace, freedom, democracy and women's rights in Afghanistan.
Their site details the effects on women of living in Afghanistan
under the Taliban and has statements about their response to the
attack on September 11 and the continuing US strikes against their
country. www.rawa.org
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