Women PeaceMakers Conference to Begin at USD

Precarious Progress: U.N. Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security

The four 2010 Women PeaceMakers arrived earlier this month at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice at the University of San Diego. In addition to the peacemakers, USD will be welcoming leaders from at least 45 countries to contribute to this year’s Women PeaceMakers Conference, “Precarious Progress: U.N. Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security,” from September 29 to October 1, 2010.

The international working conference coincides with a momentous year, marking both the 15th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the 10th anniversary of UNSCR 1325 – the landmark resolution created to address the victimization of women in conflict, and to recognize the integral, inspiring and often ignored ways in which women contribute to peace.
In anticipation of these celebrations, the conference will gather practitioners and policymakers of all levels to confront the global lack of response to protect or engage women in peace processes and conflict prevention. More than 165 international speakers and delegates will discuss and reflect on the implementation and challenges of resolutions related to women, peace and security.

The conference will open with a lecture from keynote speaker Monica McWilliams, Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. Open to the public, her lecture, “From Peace Talks to Gender Justice,” will address the challenges of turning the promise of peace accords and resolutions into stable post-conflict societies through the inclusion of women.

Also open to the public are the conference’s four panel discussions, which will examine peace processes, protection, security and justice. For more information on the conference, sessions open to the public and details on how to take part, please visit http://peace.sandiego.edu/precarious_progress.

Shortened bios of the 2010 Women PeaceMakers are included below. For full bios, go to www.sandiego.edu/peacestudies/ipj/programs/women_peace_makers/WPM2010.php.

2010 Women PeaceMakers

Sarah Akoru Lochodo of Kenya is the only woman negotiating among the semi-nomadic and pastoralist communities in her district. When Akoru was appointed assistant chief of Kainuk Sub-Division in 2002, it was a time when gun violence and cattle rustling plagued the region. Akoru had to carry a gun herself at times, even as she was stepping forward as the first woman bringing about non-violent resolutions to the region. She is well known as a community mediator who encourages discussion of the roots of the region’s violence and surrender of illegal weapons.

Peace activist and social worker Vaiba Kebeh Flomo of Liberia has worked since 1998 to heal both her nation and its women from the 14-year civil war between rebel groups and the Liberian army. Working at the Lutheran Church in Liberia – Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Program (LCL-THRP), Flomo supervises psychosocial services to war-affected women and girls and empowers them to build peace and promote nonviolence in their communities. Desperate to do more than respond to the war’s victims, Flomo and a colleague formed the Christian Women Peace Initiative and began mobilizing women to protest the war and register to vote.

Merlie B. Mendoza of the Philippines has coordinated peace in both government and grassroots capacities. As a peace practitioner and humanitarian, Mendoza has over two decades of peacebuilding experience ranging from the Office of the President in Manila to the conflicted frontlines of Mindanao. In 1989 she served the Corazon Aquino administration in various presidential departments and assisted the official Government Peace Negotiating Panel for Talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/National Democratic Front.

A dedicated activist, Nora Chengeto Tapiwa works to protect and procure the peace and human rights of her fellow Zimbabweans – in both Zimbabwe and South Africa. Currently in exile herself, Tapiwa is a widely known leader of Zimbabwean activists in South Africa. As founder and current secretary of the Zimbabwe Diaspora Development Chamber, she strives to create cohesion and unity among the Zimbabwean diaspora and within South Africa’s migrant communities at large.

About the University of San Diego

The University of San Diego sets the standard for an engaged, contemporary Catholic university where innovative Changemakers confront humanity’s urgent challenges. With more than 9,000 students from 69 countries and 50 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. The university's eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. USD's Envisioning 2024 strategic plan capitalizes on the university’s recent progress and aligns new strategic goals with current strengths to help shape a vision for the future as the university looks ahead to its 75th anniversary in the year 2024.