South Kivu, DRC; Photo © Sven Torfinn/Panos

OSI Forum: Women in Conflict Zones—Why Are Governments Failing and How Are Women's Rights Movements Responding?

Location: OSI-New York
Event Date(s): February 27, 2008
Speaker(s): Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng, Marie Claire Ruhamya, Gopal Krishna Siwakoti
Multimedia:   AUDIO

Women and children are often the intended and unintended casualties of conflict, and forgotten in the post-conflict transitional stages. Thousands of NGO representatives from around the world came together for the UN Commission on the Status of Women, February 25–March 7, 2008, to advocate on the topic of “Women’s Equal Participation in Conflict Prevention, Management and Conflict Resolution and in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding.”

At the following event, sponsored by the OSI International Women's Program, leading NGO panelists discussed their cutting-edge work addressing violence against women in conflict and post-conflict zones, their challenges, and where they see governments failing.

Speakers

• Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng, Executive Director of Isis-Women’s International Cross Cultural Exchange (Uganda)
• Gopal Krishna Siwakoti, President of INHURED International / PopWatch (Nepal)
• Marie-Claire Ruhamya, Founding Member and Spokesperson of Solidarity of Women of Burhale (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Aryeh Neier, President of the Open Society Institute, moderated. Phoebe Schreiner, Program Officer for the International Women's Program, introduced the event.