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BPW International resolution: Women’s empowerment in conflict zones for peace building

A BPW- Turkey project

Human Rights and Gender Equality are at the chore of the UN mandate.

Gender equality, SDG 5 is both a human rights issue and a precondition for and indicator of sustainable, people-centered development.

According to the CEDAW, “the full and complete development of a country, the welfare of the world and the cause of peace require the maximum participation of women on equal terms with men in all fields”.

Yet the achievement of Gender equality remains one of the biggest challenges of today’s society. Women and girls comprise about half of any refugee or displaced population, and they are facing specific challenges, due to their roles and positions in society

UN Resolution 1325, adopted 16 years ago, remains critical in the face of rising violence, extremism and conflicts. Even as women continue to bear the full brunt of war and post conflicts, there is increased recognition of their pivotal role as peacebuliders.

Along with the UN resolution, BPW International believes that empowering women living in conflict zones is key to encouraging peacebuilding worldwide and adopted the Resolution No: 2002-4 under the title of “Women’s Empowerment in Conflict Zones for Peace Building”.

As of mid march 2015 more than 1.7 million syrian refugees lived in Turkey.Women there are being subjected to arrest, losing their family members, facing economic hardships and gender-based violence; especially young girls at risk of early and/or polygamist marriage, pregnancy and trafficking.

As part of the solution, BPW-Turkey, a chapter of BPWInternational has submitted a project to UN Women in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and to the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Equality of Opportunity for Women and Men, to support and empower Syrian displaced women

The objecives of the project are to :

Develop gender-related indicators

Collect sex-disaggregated data

Implement women’s empowerment programmes to increase income generating capacities and self-confidence.

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Implement social programmes to promote dialogues with hosting community

Facilitate the mentoring programs for victims of torture and other traumas.

Initiate multiple partnerships with governments, universities, local NGOs etc.

Advocate for accountability AND transparency in monitoring and evaluation processes for compliance with international standards on HR & GE

Urge the Government to recognise the unexpected situation for women refugees and take immediate actions in terms of personnel and/or financial assistance.

The process was temporarily put on hold because of last July state of emergency in Turkey.

(BPW Europe is committed to supporting and advocating a comprehensive and sustainable migration policy and contributing to a humanitarian response. The President of BPW-Thessaloniki is planning to find a European Fund which is allocated for Greece. The approximate budget of the Project is 125 000 Euros.)

A 3mns presentation made by Marie-Claude Machon-Honoré, BPWI permanent representative to UNESCO, based on a concept note submitted by UN VP Arzu OZYOL for a BPW Turkey project on empowering Syrian displaced women in Turkey. The slides made by Arzu Ozyol were shown at the same time on two screens.