UN Security Council Resolution 1325

on Women, Peace and Security 

Nino Lagvilava 
UN Security Council Resolution 1325 was passed unanimously on 31 October 2000. Resolution (S/RES/1325) is the first resolution ever passed by the Security Council that specifically addresses the impact of war on women, and women's contributions to conflict resolution and sustainable peace.

Negotiation between USA and Iran – Is it Possible or not?

Some Implications for the Middle East Security

Megi Benia, Georgia
On April 7, 1980, the United States broke diplomatic relations with Iran after the attack of American embassy in Tehran in 1979.
On September 2013, the presidents of America and Iran spoke directly for the first time since 1979, setting the stage for delicate negotiations that could reshape the two adversaries' relationship. As it was written in the article of “The Wall Street Journal” (27.09.2013) “The 15-minute call between Barack Obama and Iran's Hasan Rouhani, which focused on Iran's disputed nuclear program, topped a week of dramatic twists and turns. It also highlighted how critical Washington and Tehran have become to each other's pressing geopolitical goals.”

The conflict in Ireland

British-Irish dimensions

Tato Chkhaidze, Georgia
One might argue but to my mind even today the situation is similar to what it’s called ‘the Hobessian nature of the state’ - it is about ‘all war against all the rest’. Conflicts around the world still have ethnic, political and as many characters as one could imagine.

UN about Women, Peace and Security

Speech of Saraswathi Menon, Director of UN Women Policy Division. 
UN Women and OSCE Conference 
"Enhancing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian Region"
11-12 Nov 2013, Almaty 

Выступление Сарасвати Менон, директора политического департамента ООН Женщины 

на Конференции "Женщины, мир и безопасность: Обязательства стран и их эффективная реализация в Евроатлантическом и Евразийском регионах", организованной ООН Женщины и ОБСЕ 

Алматы 11-12 ноября, 2013

my and his story

Kato Kiknadze (Born in 1925)
Interviewed by Mariam Sekhniashvili in the village of Gulgula, Telavi District, in 2004
photo by Gala Petri

I was born in the village of Gulgula, to the Kiknadze family.We had an old house.I am an ancient and long-suffering woman.I’ve worked all over the place.I built half of this apartment on my own.My brother used to work as the director of a collective farm.He too helped me and attached some of the rooms downstairs to the old structure.One half of the house is my brother’s, while two rooms upstairs, the wine cellar and one room downstairs belong to me.

we were poor, we did have a love

Elene Khaduri (Born in 1939)
Interviewed by Maya Maduashvili at the Karaleti IDP Settlement, 2010
photo by Gala Petri

My maiden name is Elene Khaduri and my husband’s last name is Maisuradze. As far as I can remember, my childhood was tough. I was raised as a poor war child. I was raised by my relatives, then I was sent someplace else and so on, until I turned seventeen. When I turned seventeen, my close relative, a cousin, gave me out in marriage. He gave me out in marriage… My father went missing in action during the war [WW II]. He was drafted and we all… Not we only but everyone was in need at that time.

The Story of One Village

Archil Kikodze
photo by Gala Petri
From the collection of essays Exploring Torture published by the Georgian Centre for Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims in 2004.
This essay is based on numerous interviews with eyewitnesses of the events described therein.

It’s September 16, 1993.At about 5 AM, the residents of one of the Georgian villages woke up to intense gunfire.The gunfire heard was coming from the Abkhazian villages.It can mean one thing only.The adversary has violated the peace treaty reached earlier through the mediation of Russia.On one hand, this treaty enabled the village to catch its breath for a month.On the other hand, it left the village totally unprepared for a surprise attack.All armored vehicles have already been removed from the village, while no one has kept watch with a gun in his hands at the approaches of the village in a month.The locals who have just woken up are unaware of what’s happening in reality.The men arm themselves and head toward their positions around the village.Uncertainty takes over the village.The only source of information is the national television which makes optimistic forecasts and predicts a swift victory of the Georgian side in the renewed war.

Join GPPAC!

The Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC, pronounced "gee-pak") is a global member led network of civil society organisations (CSOs) who actively work on conflict prevention and peacebuilding. The network consists of fifteen regional networks of local organisations with their own priorities, character and agenda. These regional networks are represented in an International Steering Group, which jointly determines our global priorities and actions for our conflict prevention and peacebuilding work.

UN Security Council adopts new resolution,

urges women’s full inclusion in peace talks and transitional justice

Горисский район, Армения, фото Галы Петри

(18 October, New York) - The UN Security Council today demonstrated renewed determination to put women’s leadership at the centre of all efforts to resolve conflict and promote peace. By unanimous vote, the Council adopted a resolution that sets in place stronger measures to enable women to participate in conflict resolution and recovery, and puts the onus on the Security Council, the United Nations, regional organizations and Member States to dismantle the barriers, create the space, and provide seats at the table for women.

about The Project

Nino Lagvilava: The Project - ‘‘Support strengthening the role of young women in building peace and stability in the South Caucasus’’ is the Regional project financed by OSI (Open Society Institute) and implemented by IGPN - International Gender Policy Network in partnership with Taso Foundation in Georgia.

The project aims to improve peace, security and democratic development in the Region of the South Caucasus via young women’s increased participation in peace and security policy analysis and planning. This will be done through the application of the international instruments such as UNSCRs on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and National Action Plan (NAP) for the implementation of UNSCRs on Women, Peace and Security which will represent an important opening for the post-conflict Region of the South Caucasus to include women’s issues in the political and security agenda. This will be an effective mechanism to advance more open and participatory process as well as effective and stable security and peace building activities in the post-conflict environment of these countries.

our reasons

Kristina Kosatíková: The past century has been a transformation in women`s rights, with countries in every region expanding the scope of women`s legal entitlements. Nevertheless, for most of the women around the world the laws that exist on paper do not always translate into equality and justice.

This unsatisfactory practice is not different when it comes to dealing with peace-building, recovery and post-conflict processes.  Five United Nations Security Council resolutions have together recognized the impact of conflict on women, established that sexual violence in conflict is a matter of international peace and security and have put in place concrete measures to ensure accountability of governments.

about the Peace

• "Peace is the only battle worth waging." Albert Camus (1913-1960)
• "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding." Albert Einstein
• "Peace is liberty in tranquility." Cicero
• "Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away."

WAR vol.1

War … why to?

Yesterday I planned to have a nice morning no matter what, with milky coffee and some “Beatles” music, but very first information which popped up in my mobile from CNN was about confusing situation in Egypt. Even though the morning was good, still there are some global things to give me reason think wider than just my private life limits, so here im going to talk about war, especially from the place full of troubles – Georgia.

There are many definitions of war. Merriam-Webster dictionary says that war is “a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations”, Stanford - “war should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political communities”. 

Our first message to the World

The world celebrates the international Day of Peace on September 21, 2013, but over the past 29 years, Universal Peace Day  has commemorated the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with citizens worldwide. The goal is to transform this remembrance of horror into a re-dedication to Life and Peace.
South Caucasus Young Women Experts’ Network for Peace and Security 

I will try to do my best

It’s a little bit trivially to repeat one more time that the peace-building and security issues are very important and necessary. Of course, it is, and everyone knows about that. And there are a lot of different projects which are directed to the peacebuilding and stability issues. But the essential feature of the project “Support strengthening the role of young women in building peace and stability in the South Caucasus” is that the participants are only young women who are welleducated and interested in.  I want to say that for me personally it’s interesting as well. What would I hope to achieve? Well, I’m more than sure that it will be very beneficial and fruitful. I hope this project will help me to develop my professional skills and to contribute to the peace-building processes in this region. It will be a useful experience. May be it’s a little bit obvious but all I want to say is that every organization and community needs professional and experienced persons who can make the contributions towards different social activities. And it can be reached only by trainings of individuals like me, like other members of this project.  For myself I can affirm that I will try to do my best in order to be an active member and to bring this gold experience to my organization and community and to use it in my future life.

Milana Ibrahimova, Baku

Milana: I'm active part of civil society

My name is Milana Ibrahimova.

I’m 21 years old. I studied the International Relations at the Baku State University, and now I’m doing my Master at the Baku Slavic University, the faculty of International Relations and Diplomacy. I was a Manager of International Relations at the European Youth Parliament (EYP) Azerbaijan. Now I’m a Secretary General of EYP Azerbaijan. I was a participant of lots of different projects and now I’m taking part at the Project “Support strengthening the role of young women in building peace and stability in the South Caucasus”.

Lilit: breathe in and out

Hi everyone, I’m Lilit Pipoyan from Armenia, Yerevan. Most of all I enjoy spending time with my family, walking, washing carpets and listening to the operas and Armenian folk music as for me there is nothing more beautiful in the whole universe than Armenian music. The only thing I can do well in my life is breathe in and out and help others to do the same. :)

Nina: help others!

Hi! This is Nino and I do plan to find and spread the power to change the world accenting people behind stage. While we are able to help others, we are obliged!
Nina Ananiashvili, Tbilisi

Aynur : I started as a volunteer

My name is Aynur Bennayeva, I am  22. I study Baku  State University, facility of information and library. I have been working at the Clean World Women Aid Social Union since December of 2012. I started as a volunteer. Now, I’m a part of several projects conducted by the Social Union. These projects are mainly related to prevention of domestic violence, addressing social problems of women and rehabilitation for victims of domestic violence. I also assist the Union in writing the reports to our donors.  

Tato: we can make a positive shift

Hello. I am Tamar (Tato) Chkhaidze. Politics and International Relations is sphere of my academic interest. Therefore, I am a part of young experts of peace, willing to make my say together with my colleagues. To my mind, by cross-fertilization of ideas within and outside of this group, we can make a positive shift in the peace and security of the South Caucasus.

Tato Chkhaidze, photo by Gala Petri