Karen Tañada
Philippines

Karen Tañada is Executive Director of the Gaston Z. Ortigas Peace Institute. Since 1987, she has been a convening member of the Coalition for Peace, a national network of peace advocates and organizations that assert citizens' participation in peace processes at national and local levels. She is also a council member of the National Peace Conference, a coalition of representatives from basic sectors that advocates for the inclusion of justice and human rights issues in the national peace agenda. She is a leader of the feminist organizations PILIPINA and the Women's Action Network for Development, a national network of women's associations and nongovernmental organizations that are involved in addressing the economic and political empowerment of women, as well as violence against women. She has been appointed a member of the reciprocal working committee on social and economic reforms under the Philippine government's peace panel for negotiations with the National Democratic Front, a communist insurgent group.

Ms. Tañada's peace-building activities include:

• representing civil society on the government's committee at negotiations with the National Democratic Front in Oslo;
• serving as a board member of the Forum on Early Warning and Early Response, an international network that supports the development of early warning reports on and responses to violent conflict;
• directing the Peace Institute's program to address the legacies of authoritarianism, particularly pursuing memory, truth-telling, and justice;
• networking with Philippine civil society groups to broaden the peace constituency;
• helping to convene and organize demonstrations, forums, and campaigns to support the peace process, including "Women in White" and "All Out Peace Groups"; and
• studying gender issues in peace building and helping to strengthen women's participation in peace processes, as well as in politics and good governance.

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