Keynote Panelist “A Feminist Approach to the Root Causes of War & Violence”.

The Nobel Women’s Initiative 2017 international conference:
A GLOBAL FEMINIST RESISTANCE: The Evolution and Revolution—Adapting to Survive Thrive!
May 13-16, 2017
| bit.ly/evolvethemvmt
Mönchengladbach, Germany

Nobel Women’s Initiative uses the prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize and six courageous women peace laureates—Mairead Maguire, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Tawakkol Karman, and Leymah Gbowee—to magnify the power and visibility of women working in countries around the world for peace, justice and equality. The six women bring together their extraordinary experiences and work to spotlight, amplify and promote the work of grassroots women’s organizations and movements around the world. The Nobel Women’s Initiative was established in 2006.

PANEL: A Feminist Approach to the Root Causes of War & Violence

This panel will examine how oil and resource extraction, inequality, authoritarian governments and globalization are fueling war and violence, and will highlight some of the most effective feminist strategies for addressing these root causes—drawing from examples of powerful work from around the globe, including the Middle East, the United States and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

MODERATOR: Sarah Boukhary

DATE & TIME: Sunday, May 14th, 1335-1435

PANEL BIOGRAPHIES:

Antonia Juhasz, USA
Antonia Juhasz is an energy analyst, author, and freelance investigative journalist specializing in oil. Her writing appears regularly in numerous publications, including Harper’s Magazine, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, The Nation, Ms., The Advocate, CNN.com, and New York Times. She is a contributing author to seven books and the author of three: Black Tide: the Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill (Wiley, 2011); The Tyranny of Oil (Harpers, 2008); and The Bush Agenda (Harpers, 2006). She was a Fellow of the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeley. Antonia is on the National Advisory Committee of Iraq Veterans Against the War. In 2007, Peace Action named Antonia to the Women Peacemakers Honor Roll: “For women who have made a unique and lasting contribution to work for peace and justice in the world”. She lives in San Francisco with her cat, Lucky.

Julienne Lusenge
President of the Board of Directors and co-founder of SOFEPADI, Director of Fonds pour les femmes congolaises (FFC), Democratic Republic of Congo
Julienne is a staunch advocate for justice, peace and human rights and a fervent women rights activist. In 2001, Julienne co-founded SOFEPADI (Women’s Solidarity for Peace and Integrated Development), an NGO that promotes women’s and girls’ rights in Beni (North-Kivu). Julienne is the Director of the FFC – a national fund that mobilises resources to support grass roots women’s organizations in Eastern Congo. Julienne has touched the lives of millions of women throughout the country. Julienne has been recognized for her tireless work over the past thirty years to defend and promote women’s rights in her country often at great risk to her own safety and that of her family.

Yanar Mohammed
President, Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, Iraq
Yanar Mohammed started a network of shelters for women in Iraq in 2003. Recently established shelters in Mosul aid survivors of ISIS enslavement and women affected by conflict in that area. Yanar won the Rafto Human Rights Award in 2016.

Joumana Seif
General Manager, Syrian Women’s Network Relief Society, Syria, resides in Germany
Joumana Seif is a representative of Syrian Women’s Network in the Civil Society Support Rooms on the Margin of the Geneva Talks and an elected member of the Follow-up Committee – Syrian Women’s Initiative for Peace and Democracy under the auspices of the United Nations (Women’s Bureau). She is head of the Legal Committee in the Syrian Women’s Network. Joumana is also a member of The Syrian Feminist Lobby which is an independent, non-party political lobby group committed to equal participation of women and men in all political decision making processes concerning the future of Syria at all levels.

Sarah Boukhary
Crisis Response Programme Associate, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Switzerland
Sarah Boukhary is the Programme Associate of Crisis Response at the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Her area of focus is the MENA region and her research interests revolve around conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence, women’s rights in the Middle East, and transnational terrorist organizations. Prior to joining WILPF in January 2015, Sarah previously worked for Human Rights Watch in Beirut and the Arab NGO Network for Development, as well as in the humanitarian field.