Women, Peace & Rights

Episode No. 11Recording: June 21, 2022Host: Rita Manchanda, Women's Regional Network (WRN) Board Member.Guest: Dr. Habiba Sarabi, Member of Afghan Peace Negotiation Team, former Deputy Chair High Peace Council and former Bamyan GovernorDr Habiba Sarabi as a refugee today in Germany shares with Rita about the fading rights of the displaced people of Afghanistan. The 3rd largest group of the displaced population in the world,the Afghan refugees, asylum seekers and the IDPs. How the pr...

Episode No. 10Recording: June 8, 2022Host: Amalini De Sayrah, a writer, journalist and editor | Sri LankaGuest: Radhika Coomaraswamy, former United Nations Under Secretary General andthe Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict | Sri LankaAmalini discusses with Radhika about the Movement to End Voilence Against Women: Progress, Changes & Challenges.1. Gender-based violence progress in terms of awareness and readiness. The significant positive changes since the 1990s and...

Conversation date: 23 May 2022Host: Rukhshanda Naz, Ombudsperson, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, PakistanGuest: Justice(Rtd) Nasira Iqbal, Former Justice of the Lahore High Court, PakistanJustice Nasira, with her profound experience in the judiciary of Pakistan, talks about how women can break the glass ceiling and join the much needed legal professions in the country. The conversation navigates through below discussion points. What are the challenges for women to enter the legal profess...

Date: 11 April 2022Host: Rita Manchanda, Women's Regional Network (WRN) Board Member. Guest: Nimalka Fernando, Lawyer, President of International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination (IMADR), Former Commissioner of the Office of Missing Persons, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s full-blown financial meltdown has sparked a political crisis that has brought thousands of women and men to the streets demanding a regime change. A regime that swept into power on the Sinhala Buddhist majoritarian ...

Date: 7 April 2022Host: Rukhshanda Naz, Ombudsperson, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, PakistanGuest: Bushra Gohar, Former Member of Parliament, PakistanIn a country that experienced military rule and democratic government, women struggle to have a significant role in Politics. Bushra Gohar, a Former Member of Parliament - Pakistan, lays out her experience, efforts, challenges and the possibilities for Women in Politics in Pakistan. Bushra Gohar, in conversation with Rukhshanda Naz discusses; the rol...

Date: 1 March 2022Host: Judge Najla Ayoubi, Chief of Coalition & Global Programs at Every Woman Treaty.Guest: Heather Barr, Associate Director, Women's Rights Division, Human Rights Watch in Pakistan.Heather talks to Najla Ayoubi about the human rights situation in Afghanistan and its impact on women and girls.1. As per the Human Rights Watch 753-page report 2022 released in January, the political change in Afghanistan has worsened the human rights crisis in Afghanistan. Taliban denies th...

Date: 17 February 2022Host: Akanksha KhullarGuest: Zarqa YafataliSo as we have seen that after seizing power in Afghanistan on 15 August 2021, Taliban leaders made statements in which they claimed that their new regime would protect women's rights in the country. However, given the extensive history of the group’s discriminatory outlook towards women combined with the group’s newly imposed diktat and actions, it has become evident that Islamist Fundamentalists are set to implement massive rol...

Date: 3 December 2021Host: Ilana Landsberg-Lewis Guest: Ruth Ojiambo OchiengIlana Lansburg-Lewis is in conversation with a lifelong activist and expert, Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng from Uganda, offering some feminist reflections on women's rights and peace activism.

Guest: Betty Reardon, Founder of Peace Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia UniversityHost: Swarna Rajagopalan, Founding member of Women’s Regional Network.Professor Reardon's pioneering work in peace, Education and Human Rights has laid the foundation for a new cross disciplinary integration of peace education and international human rights, from a gender global perspective, one of the first to make clear the connection between sexism, patriarchy and militarism, she has held the g...

Guest: Fionnuala D. Ní Aoláin (Ireland), United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Human Rights & Counter-Terrorism.Host: Rita Manchanda, Women's Regional Network (WRN) Board Member."If the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda doesn't mean something now it's worthless!” says Ní Aoláin to governments and women’s networks on 20 years of commodification and misuse of Afghan women’s voices.1. What kind of response is possible of the international community and how do you see your role...