March 8 is International Womens' Day and the anniversary of the launch of the PNND Gender, Peace and Security Program. PNND commemorates the day by highlighting actions, resources and events of the program.
PNND commemorates International Women's Day (March 8) by re-affirming the important roles of women in peace and disarmament, and by publicising actions, events and resources of our Gender, Peace and Security program.
The Gender, Peace and Security program was launched on March 8, 2021 with a special intergenerational forum of women leaders and youth in the peace, nuclear disarmament and security fields. The program outlines the disproportionate impact of nuclear weapons and conflict on women, supports and encourages women’s equal participation in program activities and disarmament forums, and promotes the inclusion of different gender perspectives and approaches to security, with an emphasis on common security and human security.
Below are just a few examples of the program activities.
Assuring our Common Future - Ensuring participation of women
In November 2020, PNND, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and other partners released Assuring our Common Future, a parliamentary handbook on disarmament for security and sustainable development.
The handbook includes a section on Ensuring Participation of Women in Peace and Disarmament, which highlights examples of such engagement including the Bougainville peace and arms disposal agreement (2001), and the International women legislators’ appeals for peace and disarmament (2008 and 2018) which were organised by PNND and partners.
Human Rights treaties and impact of nuclear weapons on women and children
In 2021, PNND’s Gender, Peace and Security team, participated in a joint submission to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on Denmark’s nuclear weapons policies and the Thule nuclear weapons accident. The submission focused on the responsibilities of Denmark under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and under the Right to Life to end its reliance on nuclear deterrence under NATO and to address the transgenerational impact of the Thule accident on Greenland women and children.
The submission was made on behalf of the Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace, Basel Peace Office, World Future Council and Youth Fusion. Alyn Ware, Michaela Sørensen, and Ian Anderson worked on drafting this submission to the United Nations CEDAW Review Committee, thus putting gender and nuclear disarmament on CEDAW’s agenda. Read more about it here.
Disarmament that saves lives, March 10, 2022
On March 10th, PNND will be hosting an online event: Disarmament that Saves Lives. The event will focus on policies and parliamentary actions to combat the proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons, and is the fourth international parliamentary event in follow-up to the publication of Assuring our Common Future, a parliamentary guide on disarmament for security and sustainable development. Small arms and light weapons have a disproportionate impact on women and children, which will be discussed in detail during the event by a number of women speakers. We look forward to seeing you there!
