2020 started with a threat of a new regional war in the Middle East, the continuing spread of authoritarian regimes with identity-driving extremist ideologies, a gridlocked multilateral system and an assault on international human rights norms and processes.
At the UN it is hard to ignore the cognitive dissonance of a discredited Security Council and seeming fatigue at the wave of crises facing the world on the one hand, and on the other, the perfunctory conferences on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Climate Action, women peace and security and other visionary agendas.
How does this flailing of the global peace and security architecture impact people, especially the civilians living daily with the threat of violence and oppression. Two decades after the adoption of the watershed UN Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security (WPS), Sanam Naraghi Anderlini will discuss the role, experiences and ongoing contributions of women, particularly national and transnational women's movements in tackling some of the world's most intractable security threats and conflicts.
Drawing on over two decades of research, advocacy and practical work with the United Nations, civil society organisations across countries affected by war and violent extremism globally, she will reflect on how and why gendered analysis is essential to understanding emerging threats, and the strategic and practical ways in which locally rooted women's peace and security movements are harnessing the power of cultural indigenous practices and together with the promise of the global WPS agenda to raise uncomfortable truths, challenge conventional wisdoms, and offer solutions that are urgently needed.
The podcast from this event is availble to listen to here.
About the speaker:
Sanam Naraghi Anderlini MBE joined LSE as Director of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security in December 2019. Sanam is a globally recognised advocate in the field of women, peace and security, with 24 years’ experience as a peace strategist working on conflicts, crises and violent extremism with a mix of civil society, governments and the UN. Sanam is the founder and CEO of the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) where she spearheads the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL) comprising independent women-led organisations active in 40 countries, preventing violence and promoting peace, rights and pluralism.
This event forms part of the “Shape the World” series, held in the run up to the LSE Festival, a week-long series of events taking place from Monday 2 to Saturday 7 March 2020, free to attend and open to all, exploring how social sciences can make the world a better place. The Festival will bring together global leaders, innovators and change makers to investigate how we can learn lessons from the past, tackle the challenges of today and shape the future. The full programme is now online at lse.ac.uk/festival and booking will be open on 10 February.
Header image credit: UN Women CC BY-NC-ND 4.0