On 29 September 2022, Academi Heddwch hosted an online discussion about Women, Peace and Security (WPS) in the context of contemporary South Asia, as well as in regard to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the future of WPS.
At the beginning of the discussion, Dr. Soumita Basu spoke about what WPS means for feminist peace work in South Asia, how WPS has served as a resource for feminist peace work in the region, and the dangers in engaging with WPS in South Asia.
Dr. Katherine A M Wright, Senior Lecturer for International Politics at Newcastle University then spoke about gendered silence in NATO’s response to the Russia-Ukraine War. She highlighted NATO’s role and silence on WPS in regard to Ukraine as well as how women are affected by the conflict, and the problem of media coverage.
Dr. Katherine Wright also said that despite challenges with NATO, we should recognise the success of them consulting with feminist civil society on their policies which can be considered a WPS success.
Prof. Toni Haastrup, Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Stirling focused on the future of WPS and what is happening globally in relation to WPS.
She said of the WPS agenda: “It’s not where we want it to be but…there are successes and we cannot discount that… In the African Union… acknowledging WPS helped to create a zero tolerance policy for African Union deployed Peacekeepers around sexual violence.”