Building Movements, Promoting Plurality:
MENA/Asia Regional Women’s Rights, Peace & Security Forum

ICAN’s 2013 Forum brought together  65 women from  14 countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco and Sri Lanka. International participants included representatives from women’s NGOs, funders and governments. ICAN organizes a regional forum each year to provide an opportunity for women to share the recent developments in their countries, the impact on women, and women’s responses. The Forum also provides space for participants to share strategies, to learn from one another’s experiences on addressing common challenges, and to connect with international actors.

As per this year’s theme, discussions focused on the nature of growing extremism and sectarianism in the region, how it is impacting women and how women are responding. Attendees also discussed what is needed to build strong women’s movements that have the capacity to respond to challenges in crisis settings as well as impact social, economic and political developments at the national, regional and international levels. Participants agreed to enter into collaborative regional work on themes related to women’s rights, peace and security. Three groups were formed addressing issues of protection, prevention and participation.

The Forum is part of ICAN’s Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Program.
The brief from the 2012 Forum is available here. Please check back with us for a brief of the 2013 Forum.