On 8th March women’s organisations around the world celebrate International Women’s Day and make their demands for peace and gender equality public. On this occasion, PeaceWomen Across the Globe (PWAG) – together with its worldwide network of peace activists – launched a workshop series on feminist peace politics, disarmament and demilitarisation. PWAG organises this workshop series with the support of Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom (WILPF).

The peace negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government have been ongoing since September 2020, with only four women on the 21-member government negotiation team and none among the Taliban negotiators. We ask Sima Samar, founder of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and of Gawharshad University in Kabul, what the chances are for lasting peace.

With the adoption of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1997, Switzerland undertook to remove discrimination against women in all areas of life and to promote legal and actual gender equality. This explicitly includes the active promotion of disadvantaged groups until equality is achieved. Our demands show that there is still much need for action.

Since April 2023, Sudan has been embroiled in a brutal conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. As a result, tens of thousands of people have been killed, twelve million have been displaced, and famine is imminent. On 24 July 2024, the United States invited the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to peace talks in Switzerland to take place on 14 August. So far, similar initiatives to bring about a ceasefire have failed. Prominent Sudanese mediator and peace activist Rabab Baldo is part of our global network Feminists Connecting for Peace. She has decades of experience working for a just peace in Sudan and explains what needs to happen for the talks in Switzerland to succeed.