To the Women’s Congress of the Democratic Free Women Movement (DOKH): Solidarity greetings from women in the UK

January 31-February 1, 2015, in Diyarbakir

Your Women’s Congress in Kurdistan to be held in Diyarbakir in the coming days promises to be an important event where some key issues facing women everywhere will be addressed.

In today’s difficult times, women around the world are facing serious challenges to their basic civil rights and fundamental freedoms as well as to their very existence as independent human beings and to their lives. Continue reading “To the Women’s Congress of the Democratic Free Women Movement (DOKH): Solidarity greetings from women in the UK”

Event report: Feminicide in Sinjar

Report of a seminar held at Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, on Saturday 22 November, organised by Roj Women and Peace in Kurdistan Campaign.

On Saturday 22 November, representatives of several women’s organisations gathered in SOAS University for a seminar to discuss the use of sexualised violence in the recent conflicts in Iraq and Syria. In particular, the event sought to bring attention to the kidnapping of Yezidi women in the Sinjar province by ISIS fighters in August and discuss ways to campaign for their release. The seminar was introduced and chaired Isabel Käser, a PhD candidate, at the Centre for Gender Studies, SOAS, and included members of a newly emerging Women’s Alliance for Kurdistan, Iraq and Syria, a platform of UK based women’s groups who convened following the crisis in Sinjar. Continue reading “Event report: Feminicide in Sinjar”

Feminicide in Sinjar – sexual violence, conflict, and gender liberation in the Kurdish struggle

Peace in Kurdistan Campaign and Roj Women’s Association would like to invite you to


Feminicide in Sinjar – sexual violence, conflict, and gender liberation in the Kurdish struggle

[Venue]
Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS University, London WC1H 0XG

[Date/Time]
Saturday 22 November, 5-7pm

Three months after ISIS fighters attacked the Iraqi region on Sinjar, the fate of thousands of women kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery following the raids is still unknown and no international investigation into their welfare has taken place. However, just as it has done in the defence of Kobane in Syria, the Kurdish Women’s Movement has mobilised with allied organisations to take action for the missing women.

This event will bring together women activists and representatives of the Kurdish women’s organisations to give you first-hand information about how people have responded to the crisis on the ground. We’ll also discuss the unique potential within the Kurdish Women’s Movement for engendering gender liberation in the region and its role in the development of the Rojava revolution.

Come and join us for this exciting one-off event!
Continue reading “Feminicide in Sinjar – sexual violence, conflict, and gender liberation in the Kurdish struggle”

Call for Zilan Women’s Festival

CENI – Kurdish Women’s Office for Peace are organising the 8th International Zilan Women’s Festival, which will take place in Gelsenkirchen in Germany. This year, the festival will be focused around attacks on the social, cultural and political life of Kurdish women.

 

“We, at Ceni, Kurdish Women’s Office for Peace, organise the 8th International Zilan Women’s festival, which takes place this year on 16th June 2012 in the amphitheatre in Gelsenkirchen. The International Zilan Women’s Festival is an event at which women living in Europe and those from Kurdistan meet culturally, socially, ideologically, artistically and politically. Continue reading “Call for Zilan Women’s Festival”

‘A Woman’s Struggle’ – Roj Women’s Association Report

Roj Women’s Association has today published an important report entitled ‘A Woman’s Struggle: Using gender lenses to understand the plight of women human rights defenders in Kurdish regions of Turkey’. The report is based on fieldwork undertaken in April 2011, when Roj Women’s delegation to Southeast Turkey conducted 30 interviews with women human rights defenders, and focuses on violence perpetuated by security forces against women. Continue reading “‘A Woman’s Struggle’ – Roj Women’s Association Report”