Jetteke van der Schatte Olivier

Syrian Women Are Ready to Participate in UN-Led Geneva Peace Talks

January 20, 2016

While new Syrian peace talks organized by the United Nations remain tentatively scheduled to begin on Jan. 25 in Switzerland, a substantial group of Syrian women is preparing to convene in Geneva starting that day to demand an equal place at the negotiations table. Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, who …

Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, Middle East, Syria

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Women’s Voices Must Stay ‘Alive’ in ISIS-Controlled Regions

August 31, 2014

by Yermi Brenner

The extremist Sunni militant group called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which recently declared a caliphate in parts of the Middle East, now controls an area of 13,000 square miles in Iraq and Syria. Testimonies coming out about daily life in the ISIS-controlled region depict an agenda of fear and intimidation being imposed, …

Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, Middle East

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Syrian Women Win Active Role in Geneva Peace Conference

January 22, 2014

by Maurizio Guerrero and Dulcie Leimbach

The United Nations-led peace talks in Switzerland to begin the laborious discussions to end the war in Syria have officially started, but Syrian women activists who have been demanding to sit at the crucial peace-talks table on Jan. 24 in Geneva did not know until the last minute whether any women would be involved. …

Middle East, Peace and Security, Women

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Syrian Women’s Groups Push for Equal Role at Geneva II Talks

December 5, 2013

by Dulcie Leimbach

Recognizing that women in the Middle East and North Africa must play an active role in their countries’ political processes, especially amid the regional backdrop of upheavals and conflicts, the Netherlands government is providing money for a new program, Women on the Frontline, to help women-run initiatives organize themselves better to assert their rights …