| ���Women's International League
����for Peace and Freedom |
 |
��������������Peace�����Disarmament�����Economic Justice����Environment����Racial Justice����UN����Human Rights����Contact |
|
��
 � � � � � �
� � � � � � � �
� Brief
History of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Of immediate importance: They also called for a conference of women to take place at the same time and same place as the 'conference of powers' that would meet at the end of the war to frame the terms of the peace settlement, and submit to the participating states their practical proposals to meet the conditions for a lasting peace. They also resolved to send 'envoys' to carry the messages contained in the resolutions of the Congress to the neutral and belligerent states in Europe and to the President of the USA. In the event, small delegations visited 14 countries during May and June 1915! Jane Addams, elected President of the Congress and of the International Women's Committee (beginning of WILPF) the Congress established, met with President Wilson who, according to the records, said that the Congress's resolutions were by far the best formations for peace which had been put forward until then.Again, according to the records, Wilson 'borrowed' some of their ideas for his own peace proposals he later made. As for long-term proposals, the resolutions called for disarmament, for equality between women and men and among nations, for a world institution that would provide continuous machinery to mediate arising conflicts to prevent them from growing into war. The women of the Hague sought an end to the war system and the transformation by non-violent means, from ( as we say today) 'a culture of militarism and war to a culture of peace and non-violence'. As has been resolved at the 1915 Congress, the International Women's Committee, convened a conference to decide on proposals to put forward to the governmental peace conference convened in Versaille in 1919. Because the French government refused permission to the German women delegates, the women's conference was held in Z�rich. A small group of delegates sat in Versaille to receive the submissions from Z�rich and get them to the participants in the governmental conference. The women's congress (in Z�rich) denounced the final terms of the peace treaty as a treaty of revenge of the victors over the vanquished, sowing the seeds of another world war. They decided to make the International Women's Committee a permanent organization and called it the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (Wilpf). Its aims and objectives were and still are 'to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make known the causes of war and work for a permanent peace'.
Wilpf was founded as an international organization to work globally, with its arms in individual countries and towns. We are not a federation of national organizations or bringing together national affiliates. Two of our founding members, Jane Addams and Emily Greene Balch, both US citizens, received the Nobel Peace Price, respectively in 1931 and in 1946 for their peace efforts and international outlook and work. Alva Myrdal, Inga Thorsson, Elise Boulding, Coretta Scott King and other good women of our times were and are members of Wilpf. We work to make women aware of their potentials and unique skills they have, and also of their responsibilities they must assume, to identify the root causes of conflict, prevent war and build peace. We strongly support and work for the development and realization of the UN Charter and the international conventions and treaties, etc. We put emphasis on the linkages among economic, social and cultural issues, and conflict, production and sales of arms and war. We therefore work for economic and social justice and the promotion and protection of individual and collective human rights and the rights of women. Total and universal disarmament (we have always used this terminology rather than general and complete) remains a priority for us. Only when governments will pursue the path to genuine disarmament will we also see a change in approaching the other global problems. We work for a return of the United Nations to a genuine universal body that seeks solutions of the world's problems on a multilateral basis, etc. To do so, we organize workshops, seminars, conferences; participate in those organized by others. We follow the work of the UN and of many of its agencies and programmes, we finance (miserably) two to three young women interns to learn about the UN and the work of international NGOs. we participate actively in NGO committees around the UN; we pushed for peace and disarmament issues to be included in the International Women's Year and the subsequent decade and the four world conferences (fed the idea and helped organize and run the women's peace camp in Nairobi). Initiated the 8 March women's seminar series on disarmament and peace issues and organized them every year since, with the opportunity of submitting a statement to the CD from the seminars. We publish an international journal and many of our national groups publish journals in their languages on peace, disarmament and justice issues and about the United Nations. We issue reports and occasional papers. We organize campaigns, at the moment have a campaign for nuclear disarmament - WIND - Women Insist on Nuclear Disarmament. We participate in the campaigns against landmines and small arms, etc. We are taking a keen interest and participate in joint NGO efforts for the ratification of the CTBT, having campaigned vigorously against nuclear testing, and in the NPT review process. Our efforts to bring about disarmament and an end to the war system are toward government policies, multilateral bodies, primarily the UN system, and NGOs. In the latter case, working closely with disarmament and peace organizations and above all women's organizations and individuals to make the achievement of disarmament and peace their responsibility.
� The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is the oldest women's peace organisation in the world. It was founded in April 1915, in the Hague, the Netherlands, by some 1300 women from Europe and North America, from countries at war against each other and neutral ones, who came together in a Congress of Women to protest the killing and destruction of the war then raging in Europe. WILPF is an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with National Sections in 37 countries, covering all continents. It's International Secretariat is based in Geneva with a New York UN office.
WILPF works on issues of peace, human rights and disarmament at the local, national and international levels, participating in the ongoing international debates on peace and security issues, conflict prevention and resolution, on the elimination of all forms of discrimination, and the promotion and protection of human rights. It contributes to analysis of these issues, and through its many activities, educates, informs and mobilizes women for action everywhere. WILPF has consultative status (category B) with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and has special relations with the International Labour Office (ILO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other organisations and agencies. WILPF holds a triennial Congress
for members and in interim years an International Executive Board
meeting is convened. These events are important to the organization and
are hosted by a different national section each year. The 2004 Congress
was held in Gothenburg, Sweden. The 2007 Congress was held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. WILPF works with many organisations and is a part of numerous international networks and coalitions. For a list see here. � Herstories:
Contact the International Secretariat Geneva to purchase these. Email: [email protected]
Listen to the Women for a Change To mark the International Women’s Year 1975, the International President of WILPF, Kay Camp, created a book called Listen to Women for a Change. It featured 50 women working for peace and social justice. To remember our recently passed sister Kay, and the remarkable women she honoured in this publication, we have reproduced it for the web. Read their stories here. � � � � How
Did Women Peace Activists Respond to "Red Scare" Attacks during
the 1920s? Photo
Gallery of WILPF History (from Swathmore Peace Collection) �
� � � � � |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| � | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
WILPF
1, rue de Varemb�,
Case Postale 28,
1211 Geneva 20,
Switzerland Tel: +41 22 919 7080 /Fax: 7081
To contact the website manager, send an email to [email protected] |
�
