Feminist Peace Initiatives: Belarusia: much needed conversations about peace

In May 2024, Our House, the Belarusian International Centre for Civil Initiatives based in Lithuania, organised three webinars for Belarusian women dissidents to network, engage and share on issues related to feminist peace, peacebuilding, conflict prevention, militarisation and security. A total of 53 women anonymously participated in the webinars to discuss peace, non-violence and the challenges faced by women peacebuilders in the region. This project, supported by our Feminist Peace Initiatives, helped build solidarity among the women.

I only realised at these meetings how much I was tired of being afraid every day that someone will knock on your door and you will be arrested. It is impossible to live like this (…). I really want to act. Even if the result will be small, but it will be at least some result. I really want to be together and I really want to continue these meetings. It's just a breath of air in this quagmire.

The project provided a platform for Belarusian women to promote both a culture of peace and peacebuilding narratives and to strengthen women's voices against war in the highly militarised Belarusian society (Belarus is ranked 19th in the Global Militarisation Index 2023  by the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies). In such a militarised society  – exacerbated by the war in Ukraine  – women speaking about the possibilities of peace and non-violence are ignored, their voices unheard, especially due to the glaring absence of any public platform to support peacebuilding narratives. There is no freedom of speech in Belarus and no independent media. As a result, Belarusian women peace activists often feel isolated and disconnected. The project helped to break this isolation and foster a sense of community.

The videos of the webinars were watched live by more than 1840 people and were later shared on social media with more than 162,000 views. The webinar was funded by our Feminist Peace Initiatives, an instrument to support projects that emerge from our network Feminists Connecting for Peace.

I really enjoyed the discussion of what we can do together. It seems to me that this is what was missing  – discussion of concrete steps and what we can do here in Belarus. Sitting and being afraid of everything is not a good option. I want to be useful in some way.