Women peace activists refusing to be silenced

Although social media platforms can showcase the work of women peace activists and amplify their messages, their presence online exposes them to significant dangers. Particularly women peacebuilders and leaders face very real threats every day on these platforms. In an event we are organising together with the Embassy of Canada to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, we cast a spotlight on this issue. After the screening of the Canadian documentary Backlash, Misogyny in the Digital Age, two prominent women peace activists from Colombia and Sudan will share their personal experiences with hate speech and their strategies against these attempts to silence them.

The film Backlash, Misogyny in the Digital Age, directed by Léa Clermont-Dion and Guylaine Maroist, tells the harrowing stories of four women whose lives are overturned by cyber-violence. The four stories from Canada, Italy, France and the USA demonstrate what it means to live with so-called “virtual” violence.

Strategies against the backlash

Following the screening, feminist leader and former FARC peace negotiator Victoria Sandino Simanca Herrera (Colombia) and seasoned peace activist and gender expert Dr. Rabab Mohamed Ali Baldo (Sudan) will share their personal experiences of online and offline violence. They will also share their strategies on how they counter the backlash and why they refuse to be silenced.

PROGRAMME CHANGE: Victoria Sandino Simanca Herrera had to cancel her trip to Switzerland on short notice for work-related reasons. We were able to secure the Colombian lawyer Luz Marina Monzón Cifuentes (see biography below).

Information

The film is in English and French with English subtitles. The panel discussion will be in English and Spanish (translation to and from Spanish provided).

When: 6-8.30pm, Tuesday, 1 April 2025, followed by an apéro

Where: cineClub, Laupenstrasse 17, 3008 Bern, Switzerland

Registration: The event is free, but due to limited space, we kindly ask you to register by 24 March 2025 via this online form.

Welcoming remarks: H.E. Patrick Wittmann, Ambassador of Canada to Switzerland and Liechtenstein

Panel facilitator: Deborah Schibler, director PeaceWomen Across the Globe

Panel participants

• The Colombian lawyer Luz Marina Monzón Cifuentes headed the Unidad de Búsqueda de Personas Desaparecidas (UBPD) until 2023. She was the first director of the unit, which was established as part of the peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP guerrilla group with the mandate to search for people who disappeared or were forcibly abducted during the armed conflict. The UBPD is part of the comprehensive system for truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition. For more than 20 years, she has been working to promote human rights and represents Colombian victims in cases of forced disappearance. With over 30 years of experience working with victims, civil society organisations and institutions, she has played a key role in designing and promoting state policies to ensure the rights and freedoms of all people more effectively. In particular, her work has focused on populations that have historically been marginalised and discriminated against, including women, LGBTIQ+ people and ethnic communities.

• Dr. Rabab Mohamed Ali Baldo is a Sudanese gender and inclusivity expert and peace activist with extensive experience advocating for women’s participation in peace processes. Since the 1990s, she has played a key role in integrating women’s voices into Sudan’s major peace agreements. She has worked with UN agencies and served as a Senior Gender & Inclusivity Advisor for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), ensuring women’s roles in negotiations such as South Sudan’s Revitalized Peace Agreement. She is a member of FemWise-Africa and an active participant in various global peace networks. She is also the founder of the Sudanese Women’s Shuttle Diplomacy Initiative, which demands an end to the war in Sudan and the inclusion of women in the peace process. Amid Sudan’s ongoing conflict, she has been advocating for civilian protection and supporting Sudanese refugees in Egypt.

Interview with Rabab Baldo: "We women are never consulted."

Information about our work in Colombia.

More on our work for women's participation in peace processes.