Every year, hundreds of thousands of women, feminist organisations and civil society actors take part in the international campaign 16 Days Against Gender-Based Violence to highlight the fact that violence against women is a violation of human rights.

After the news broke of Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, reports began to circulate about sexualised violence perpetrated primarily against Israeli women. As time went by, more harrowing reports of acts of brutality became public. We condemn these acts of sexualised violence in the strongest possible terms and are shocked by the manifest misogyny and cruelty the women were subjected to. We distance ourselves from all those who relativise these and other acts of sexualised violence and stand in solidarity with the victims and their fight for recognition and accountability. With this collection of contributions, we strengthen the voices of those who have thought deeply about the issue of sexualised violence in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Women are both the spark and the driving force behind the wave of protests in Iran that have swept the country since the violent death of Mahsa Amini in a re-education centre for "inappropriate dress" and have led to massive human rights violations by state forces. We stand in solidarity with women's and civil society organisations fighting for the right to self-determination – including in Iran. In addition to solidarity, however, women in Iran also need concrete support. We therefore call on civil society organisations, governments and the international community to back up their expressions of solidarity with women in Iran with concrete measures.

Das Thema «Verhüllungsverbot» und die anstehende Abstimmung dazu scheint Feminist*innen zu spalten. Wie kommt das? Was würde eine Annahme aus feministischer Sicht bedeuten? Kann eine in der Verfassung festgeschriebene Kleidervorschrift bestehende patriarchalische Strukturen anfechten? Oder ist diese Abstimmung reine Symbolpolitik? FriedensFrauen Weltweit fragt in diesem Text nach den möglichen längerfristigen Folgen einer Annahme der Initiative und den dahinterliegenden Diskursen.

Das Schweizer Stimmvolk sagte am 7. März 2021 mit 51,2% knapp ja zur Volksinitiative zum Verhüllungsverbot. In der Initiative ging es angeblich um die individuelle Freiheit von Frauen und ihren Schutz vor patriarchalen Zwängen. Wir erachten dieses Verbot als gefährlich. Es befeuert anti-muslimischen Rassismus und instrumentalisiert Frauenrechte im politischen Diskurs.