INCLUSIVE SECURITY: WOMEN WAGING PEACE ANNOUNCES COLLOQUIUM
Addressing Post-September 11th Conflicts

Warning that responses to the September 11 crisis must be broad-based culturally as well as politically, Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace, an international coalition of peace builders, will hold a two-week Colloquium focusing on averting or stopping violent conflicts, and stabilizing fragile regions around the world.

Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace, an initiative of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, will hold its Third Annual Colloquium November 3 - 16, 2001. The Cambridge, MA event will assemble more than 60 women from 20 conflict areas including Afghanistan, India, Sudan, Israel, the Philippines, Rwanda, Guatemala, and Russia. These women are working as investigative journalists, military officers, members of parliament, grassroots organizers, Supreme Court justices, academic researchers, and in other capacities -- often at great personal risk -- to end violence in their countries.

"In the face of a new type of threat, we need a new approach to defense and security," said Swanee Hunt, former U.S. Ambassador to Austria and Chair of Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace. "We are living in an era when traditional responses and methodologies for resolving conflicts are not adequate to the challenges," Ambassador Hunt added. "Similarly, the range of participants in the peacemaking process is not adequately inclusive; vital viewpoints are not heard. The exclusion of women from conflict resolution has been an inhibiting factor in achieving lasting solutions."

Founded in 1999, Inclusive Security: Women Waging Peace has worked with the Pentagon, World Bank, the White House, United Nations, U.S. State Department, G-8, and other major policy institutions as they have increased their commitment to the thorough integration of women in formal peace processes. Drawing on the expertise of Harvard faculty, as well as researchers from around the world, these institutions are breaking new ground in understanding the effectiveness of women and in changing the policy paradigm.

Partial lists of Colloquium delegates and Policy Day speakers, as well as an initial list of media-accessible events, are attached. Select Colloquium delegates and principals are available for interviews.

return to top