WILPF AND THE WILLINGNESS TO DISARM

RICHARD WARREN, UNRISD

The Geneva office of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is pretty small. In total it’s made up of just four rooms (including the kitchen cum meeting room cum library), but the second you walk in the door you’re made very aware that every inch is being used efficiently.

Their message is clear, not just from the plaque on the door, but by the posters that adorn the walls, the well-read books that sit on the shelves, the papers that seem to cover the desks, the buzz of the people working there. The message is that WILPF means business and will fight for their beliefs until they achieve their end goals – not least of which is World peace. But unlike from a speech being given by a contestant in a beauty pageant, you get the feeling that WILPF might actually make a contribution to moving towards this philosophical ideal.

WILPF was founded during the First World War by a group of 1,300 women who had travelled from Europe and North America (some representing countries at war with each other) to protest against the conflict that was ravaging Europe. Today, the daughters (and some sons) who inherited their legacy are numbersome, spread even further across the globe and have evolved alongside the issues they tackle.

I met Susi Snyder, WILPF’s Secretary General, at lunch one Friday. I found her eating at her desk and talking on the phone about reaching a critical will for nuclear disarmament. It was impressive. What’s more is that I’m pretty sure the person on the other end of the phone got the message and that if they didn’t agree with her before, they probably agree with her now. The view from Ms. Snyder’s desk is one that inspires (you can see the three-legged chair symbolising the fight against anti personnel land mines) although it’s clear from talking to her that no inspiration is really necessary. She truly believes in the cause.

What would you describe as WILPF’s end goal?
WILPF seeks to study and make known the root causes of war and to collaboratively create a world wherein the rule of law, not the rule of force is the order of the day. A peaceful world where resources are devoted to making sure that every person has food, clean water, housing, a decent standard of health and one in which they are secure enough from a myriad of threats to enjoy their full human rights.

That’s quite an end goal! How do you aim to achieve these targets? Is it feasible to achieve them?
WILPF monitors what governments are doing on a national level as opposed to what they are saying at the international level and then directs our advocacy based on that. Right now, we have two main projects in our NY office – www.ReachingCriticalWill.org and www.PeaceWomen.org. Reaching Critical Will monitors all multilateral disarmament for a advocating for comprehensive security solutions that consider human needs, while PeaceWomen works for the full and rapid implementation of UN SCR 1325. These projects feed information to our national sections for action and advocacy.

As for whether I think our ultimate goals are feasible, well, that’s a tricky one. To be honest, it depends on my mood on any given day whether or not I think it’s feasible. I think, like most NGOs, we are optimistic, hopeful, and energetic. Sometimes that energy wanes and pragmatism sets in. I think that the goals are possible, that the paradigm that prioritizes the wealth of the few over the health of the many can and will change. How long it will take, how many more people will pour their lives and hearts into making it happen? That’s a question I can’t answer.

So what would you say are the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I would say that the biggest challenge is the lack of political will. Imagine a world where all governments upheld all tenets of the UN Charter, of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, a world where all people were able to fully enjoy the rights laid out for them in the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. While the will of the people in most places fully support these ideals, governments, sadly, do not always respond to the will of the people. Increased militarism in a time when the majority of the world instead seeks sustainable, secure development is a key testament to this. Increasing political will is tied to increasing the accountability of governments to the wishes of their populations. One of our goals is to highlight what governments are actually doing and saying, so that the people these governments are meant to represent have a stronger voice in their advocacy.

What kind of relationship do you have with others in the international community?
We work in coalition with many organisations – both formally and informally. We are a main NGO Partner with UNIFEM in New York, focusing on women, peace and security issues – our www.PeaceWomen.org website is partnered with their www.WomenWarPeace.org site. We are on the board of the Conference of NGOs (CONGO) and are in the leadership of a number of formal NGO coalitions. We also engage with various UN agencies on specific areas of interest. Off the top of my head I recall organising an international women’s day seminar this year in the Council chamber of the Palais in coordination with UNIDIR and Geneva Forum.

Sounds fairly active! To look to the future, what would you say are the important issues for WILPF to tackle in the years to come?
One of the most unique things that WILPF brings to security discussions and peace building efforts is our perspective on the inter-relationship between economic, physical, environmental and rights based security. In the future, we will have to re-focus our efforts on the failure of cold-war security alliances to provide for holistic security. We will have to re-double our efforts to educate people on their governmental spending priorities, we will continue to work for a less militarised world. When the world spent as much money in 2006 on military and arms as it would take to fund 600 years of the regular UN operating budget, priorities are out of place. It is one of our ongoing goals, and challenges, to help the world come back to the spirit that wrote the original UN charter, to create a world “free from the scourge of war”.

To conclude, WILPF are putting in the hours and doing good work. If you don’t believe me, I imagine making the short walk from the Place des Nations to their almost nest like offices will change your mind.