Women in Politics
SWV recognizes the slow development of the "Women, Peace and Security" agenda in Armenia and understands the importance of including women in peace building processes, therefore, the NGO has implemented projects which aim to raise women's participation in the peace building process since 2011.
Forming its “Women, Peace and Security” pillar in 2011, the organization began to spread the “Women in Black” international feminist movement in Armenia, especially among young women living in the different regions within Armenia. Since 2016, the "Women in Black" movement, with the efforts of SWV, has acted as an independent body and is governed by its own young members.
In 2013, an Armenian monitoring group for UN Security Council Resolution 1325 was established, which prepared monitoring reports on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325. In 2015, within the peace building framework, the organization started an advocacy campaign aimed at raising awareness about UN Security Council Resolution 1325. In addition, an advocacy guide, known as "Women, Peace and Security", was created for the UN Security Council Resolution 1325.
In 2015-2016, SWV further strengthened its cooperation with "The Global Network of Women Peacemakers." This resulted in a new project, which aims to create a program of national activities about UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in Armenia in close cooperation with state authorities.
In April-May 2018 we witnessed the historical change curved in the smallest country of the South Caucasus region. Armenians from all over the world were involved in the phenomenon known as Velvet Revolution. Young people, elders, women and men together as a united power, were performing acts of civil disobedience, protesting against the incumbent regime and demanding the resignation of then PM Serzh Sargsyan. Armenia was in the limelight of the international audience and media.
Women, as active participants of the protests, were the driving force of the revolution. Alongside men, they were protesting, blocking the streets, being arrested and taken to the police stations.
The Project Coordinator of Society Without Violence, Avnik Melikan, gave an interview to Aren Melikyan, who worked in cooperation with the Chai Khana regional media platform, on the role of women in the Velvet Revolution. She highlighted two main features of the movement: first, that the mass protests took place not only in Yerevan, but throughout the entire country, and second, that the participation of men and women of all ages were equal. She introduced how women were behaving throughout the rallies, especially their ability to gather as self-organized groups and their capacity to block the streets by themselves.
You can watch the full interview in the video attached below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crL9-1uieiA
On the way of implementing a number of programs, "Society without Violence" NGO also implements the project, called "Increase women's participation and security in peace-building and security operations, by creating a basis for the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 for the creation of National Action Plan", financed by the UK Conflict, Security and Stability Fund, through the British Embassy.
The above program implemented the "Women, peace and security agenda. Implementation and advocacy of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 "capacity building workshop, on October 30, in Women Resource Center of Kapan, which aimed to address women's involvement in peace building processes to inform civil society organizations members of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325, as well as to provide them with practical knowledge of the National Action Plan advocacy.
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“Society Without Violence NGO is presenting to your attention a poster on The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) developed and translated into Armenian by our team. The poster includes the summary of 30 articles of the convention.
We are pleased to suggest you to download and use the poster in the frames of your organization’s activities.
Sincerely,
Society Without Violence NGO team
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