This online event is in English and Spanish
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With the war in Ukraine, the question of how to build peace has become an actual and practical question in many European countries. The Women, Peace and Security agenda is built on the understanding that women and other marginalized groups in decision-making need a seat at the table of negotiations and have an important role to play in promoting a culture of peace.
In this web seminar we ask the question: ‘What can we learn from examples of feminist peace initiatives?’. It will reflect on how women’s rights defenders have mobilized in peace processes and what lessons and strategies were learned from them. Countries/regions we will address are the Ukraine and Russia, the former Yugoslavia, and Colombia.
Biography Speakers and Moderator:
Sonja Lokar is a freelance gender expert, sociologist and a specialist in political party development, and social welfare state issues from Slovenia. She has published more than 300 articles in Slovene, Croat, English, French and German languages. In 1990-1992 she was elected as Member of Parliament, in the first multiparty national election in Slovenia. From 1998-2018 Sonja worked as an Executive director/coordinator of the Ljubljana SEE regional Office of the CEE Network for Gender Issues. She is also one of the 
initiators of the Stability Pact Gender Task Force and its chair from 1999- 2009. Sonja Lokar is an expert in creating and implementing national and international projects on gender equality, she has created projects in Slovenia, and in 32 different countries. She was also a Member of the European Commission experts’ network of women in political and economic decision-making, LP Westminster Foundation consultant, and mediator in the OSCE Serbia and Kosovo Missions.
Inga Luther is the Managing Director of OWEN – Mobile Academy for Gender Democracy and Promotion of Peace e.V.. OWEN is
coordinating, together with partners from Ukraine and Russia, the six year long programme Women’s Initiatives for Peace. Through this programme, women from Ukraine, Russia and other countries come together regularly for exchange, dialogue and for cooperating in different local and regional activities. Inga Luther is also the project coordinator of “Miteinander Reden (Talking to each other)”. She is a Political Scientist and has a doctorate in history. She focuses on gender-sensitive peace education, biography and history work, and gender training.
Iliana María Colonia Llanos is a feminist, pacifist, and antimilitarist activist. She is passionate about civil society activism, and ensuring human 
rights of women. Since 2014, she has been a Peacemaker at Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres in Valle del Cauca and the Union of Citizens of Colombia, Cali section. There she promotes initiatives to include the participation and leadership of women and young people in peacebuilding processes and pedagogy for peace. Her other works are ensuring the endorsement and implementation of the Peace Agreement as part of peacebuilding, the recognition of women’s rights to political participation, truth, justice, reparation and a life free from violence with a focus on feminist perspective.
Moderator Cristina Reyna is a feminist activist and media specialist. Her expertise is on Gender and Development, SRHR, UNSCR 1325, women’s rights, 
GBV and migration. She is a WIDE+ Caucus member and member of the Gender and Migration Working Group. She has had multiple experiences in international organizations focusing on gender and development and project coordination.
Join us on Monday 12 September 2022, 6.00-7.30 PM CEST!
The event is part of WIDE+ new web seminar series “Feminist reflections to promote peace in Ukraine and beyond”. War is the most extreme form of violent patriarchy and nationalism against which we as feminists struggle. From a feminist perspective, we will discuss in this series what strategies there exist to promote peace-building and what we can do to minimize the harm to women and girls, especially regarding conflict-related sexual violence, human trafficking, any other form of gender-based violence, and lack of access to sexual reproductive health rights.