A seminar held on the sidelines of the 53rd session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, while debating women empowerment in conflict zones, has stressed the need for women’s inclusive and meaningful participation in peace building and creating an environment where their voices and contribution are heard and acknowledged.
The seminar titled, “Women in Conflict: Chal-lenges and Responsibilities” was attended and ad-dressed by former parliamentarians, diplomats, rights activists, writers and academicians hailing from different parts of the world including Julie Ward, former MEP (Member of European Parliament); Georgiana Epure, senior advocacy and campaigns officer at Girls Not Bride; Tazeen Hasan, the recipient of Harvard Spotlight award; Barrister Margaret Owen, President Widows for Peace Through Democracy; Ms Shamim Shawl, represen-tative of International Muslim Women Union (IMWU); Dr Shagufta Ashraf and several others. Whereas, the side-event sponsored by International Human Rights Association of American Minorities (IHRAAM) and Word Muslim Congress (WMC) was moderated by WMC representative and Chair-man of Kashmir Institute of International Relations, Altaf Hussain Wani.
The speakers, while referring to devastating im-pacts of Kashmir conflict on women, said the women have been the worst victims of the long drawn dispute. Besides bearing the brunt of violence, they said the Kashmiri women have lost their kith and kin during the ongoing conflict. They regrettably noted that sexual violence being leveraged as a weapon of war by the Indian forces in the region has been grossly overlooked at the international level despite growing awareness of urgent need to empower women in the conflict-hit areas.—KMS
