The first day of the Nobel Women's Initiative first international conference "Women Redefining Peace: The Middle East and Beyond" has been an inspiring and invigorating meeting. Activists from all over the world engaged in discussions, listened to each other, and focused on possible actions of the future. Diverse, yet committed, to a ‘different world' free from violence, discrimination, and poverty women re-stated the creative efforts of women to promote peace and work for justice in the various communities.  The day started with welcoming remarks from our host Nobel Laureate, Betty Williams stressing that what was once impossible peace in Ireland is today a reality. Betty also read a letter from Ireland's president Mary McAleese. Betty also indicated that even though Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been on house arrest in Burma for the past ten years, is not able to be with us at the meeting, the Laureates created a space for her placing her picture and flowers to symbolize her participation in the conference and as a continuous reminder of her struggle. Laureate Jody Williams then reiterated the goals and vision of the Nobel Women's Initiative indicating that the hope is to organize an international conference every two years. Jody emphasized that we are often dismissed politically and as activists because we are women. We are often relegated to talking only about ‘women's issues' as if women's issues is a narrow domain that only concerns women and no the whole society and as if peace, justice, war, and economics are not women's issues.

After an introduction into the "Gender Dynamics of Violence and Conflicts" by Valentine Moghadam that attempted to lay out the overarching picture in a global context, the rest of the day was structured around three panel presentations followed by conversations as well as an exercise of small group discussions involving the concept and practice of power, in its visible, hidden and invisible forms.  

The first panel presentation on "Women's Rights Violations in the Middle East: A Closer Look," featured Laureate Shirin Ebadi, Farida Shaheed, Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, and Nayereh Tohidi. The panelists discussed in more details the problematic aspects of violence in the various domains addressing issues of political linkages, violence in its various forms, fundamentalism, identity politics, and silencing and policing mechanism.

The Panel titled "Lessons from Darfur" featured Jody Williams reporting on her recent trip to Darfur and the various initiatives of divestment and accountability that have been taking place, and a comment from Abeer Mahmoud on the difficulties facing women in Darfur. In addition, Nan Lao Lian Won from Burma discussed targeted violence, including rape that the Burmese regime has inflicted on women in times of war and in times of peace and the efforts of women's organizations to counteract that. This panel made clear that the use of women's bodies as weapons of war between men has occurred in many places and the links need to be uncovered and discussed. It also unveiled the fact that divestment from Chinese entities that are supporting the military and gang actions in Darfur should also focus on the same efforts taking place in Burma.

The last panel on "Power and Its Impact" featured Antonia Juhasz, Yanar Mohammad, and myself discussing the varying ways in which US corporations, governments, and the funding and international aid agencies have contributed to increasing the conflicts in the region and dramatically negatively impacting women's rights. A challenge was laid out to prevent the privatization of Iraqi oil and for the support of the right of Iraqi people to self-determination. In addition, an important analysis of the role of oil companies and the private corporations of the US and multi-nationally in the current war and continued conflicts in the region. A negative assessment of the role of donor agencies aligned with US foreign policy interests and imperial project was also presented.

The day ended with inspiring comments from Laureates Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Wangari Maathai. They both emphasized the need to act and speak up and the important role that women have played in promoting non-violent resistance, putting into focus issues of self-determination, justice, equitable distribution, just governance, and sustainability.

Zeina Zataari is the Global Fund's Program Officer for the Middle East and North Africa.

Since the Global Fund's creation of the Now or Never Fund in 2003, we have granted an additional $4.6 million to women's groups around the world.

These grants have provided vital support to more than 200 women's organizations in 70 countries, including:

• In Colombia, Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas Bolivar (League of Displaced Women of Bolivar) literally built a City of Women through its Ciudad de Mujeres project, which constructed houses for over 500 women and their children displaced by the civil war that has ravaged Colombia for the past 36 years. In addition to providing shelter for female refugees, the League is committed to organizing women in pacifist resistance against the violence that violates the human rights of all Colombians, but particularly impacts women.
  
  The League is using a Now or Never grant of $50,000 to harness the power of mass media as a means of spreading the word about nonviolent alternatives and successful refugee reintegration projects promoted by the League and its allies.
  
  After six years of constant hard work, women are resisting the abandonment of the Colombian State and have begun to understand that only when organized will they achieve the reparation and compensation necessary to restore their dignity as human beings -- League of Displaced Women of Bolivar

• Founded in 2001, Solidarité des Femmes Activistes pour la Défense des Droits Humaines (Women Activists in Solidarity for the Defense of Human Rights) works to promote women's rights, build peace and strengthen the rule of law. The group is based in Uvira in South Kivu Province, an area that has borne the brunt of armed conflicts occurring in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1996. Over four million people in Eastern Congo have died during these years from war, starvation, and disease, thousands of women have been raped, social ties have broken down and violence has become a way of life.
  
  With a $55,000 Now or Never Fund grant the group was able to buy a second-hand vehicle for its community outreach, purchase computers and office equipment, and pay six staff salaries for six months. The group's programs helped women get involved in the electoral process and form tribunals to hear the cases of victims of violence. More than 350 women came forward to report cases of rape and received counseling from SOFAD
  
  We enjoyed a performance by SOFAD's youth theatre group and band, who were fantastic. The lyrics were about the need for national reconciliation, ending of rape, atrocities, the fact that no one has won the war. SOFAD has youth programs because so few can afford to go to school and are easily recruited into gangs and militias. -- Muadi Mukenge, Global Fund Program Officer for Sub-Saharan Africa, on a recent visit to SOFAD.

• Promotion of Women Empowerment and Rehabilitation (POWER) is the first and only independent organization in Pakistan for women with disabilities. POWER provides rehabilitation and vocational training programs to rural women with disabilities in Pakistan's remote North West Frontier Province. The group fulfills its mission of proving that women with disabilities can work as positive agents of change in the country's development. The Global Fund provided POWER with a seed grant in its first year to establish offices in Peshawar, provide training to members, and form links with other women's NGOs. Since then, 11 POWER groups have been formed in other towns, creating a provincial network.
  
  A $33,000 Now or Never grant is helping POWER take its vision even further with the creation of a nationwide network of POWER groups over the next three years.
  
  
• The Nobel Women's Initiative was established in March 2006 by Betty Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai, Rigoberta Menchu Tum and Jody Williams. Only 12 women in over 100 years have won the Nobel Peace Prize.  The mission of the Women Nobel Peace Laureates Initiative is to address and prevent the root causes of violence by spotlighting and promoting the efforts of women's rights activists, researchers and organizations working to advance peace, justice and equality.
  
  The Global Fund's $35,000 grant will help fund an upcoming international conference on Women and Conflict: Lens on the Middle East."
  
  We five women -- representing North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa--have decided to bring together our extraordinary experiences in a united effort for peace with justice and equality. -- Nobel Women's Initiative

Dear friends in women's /human rights organizations and all freedom-lovers,

We have launched our international campaign against honor killings in Iraq, and specifically about the current killing of Doa in the Kurdish part of Iraq. Although these crimes are committed all over the country and in dozens of killings every week, this particular one was committed in a public space and documented /video taped by the male-chauvinist viewers and observed cold-bloodedly by police staff.

Houzan Mahmoud, one of the strong leaders of OWFI, is the campaign coordinator. She is collaborating with Amnesty International in order to gain their voices for the campaign.

We are gathering signatures on our petition for the current time, in order to present them to the Kurdish regional authorities, whose top official is the president of our "democratic" Iraq. Houzan will be presenting them to the Kurdish authorities while I will be meeting the central Iraqi officials in the prime minister's office, the Ministry of interior, and Ministry of justice to remove the article which protects honour killing from the penal code (strangely enough, the authorities did not agree to remove it so far after four years of "liberation.")

Please circulate this petition among your members and make us stronger in our local campaign. A women's solidarity is most needed at this point in Iraq. Our lives do not need this extra danger which is rising tremendously in the chaotic times under occupation.

Visit our campaign and sign the petition.

Yanar Mohammed is the president of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, a Global Fund grantee.

Global Fund President and CEO, Kavita Ramdas, was interviewed in the May edition of FOLLY magazine. You can download the PDF of the interview on their website.