Join us for Women of Courage Workshop at UN Commission on the Status of Women #CSW66

KAIROS is hosting a virtual parallel event at the 2022 United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66), on March 22, 2022, at 10.00AM – 12.00PM EST. The workshop, ‘Women peacebuilders build back with environmental and economic security’, will focus on the intersection of Women, Peace and Security including women’s human rights in conflict situations, economic injustice and the climate crisis.
You are invited to an interactive discussion with partners on the challenges and opportunities for women and girls in the midst of conflict and a globe climate crisis highlighting the work of local women’s organizations, peacebuilders, environmental activists and human rights defenders to build back with sustainable peace, economic justice and respect for the environment.
Panelists

Chantal Bilulu
Program Officer, Women and Children Program, Héritiers de la Justice (HJ), Democratic Republic of the Congo

Natalia Atz Sunuc
President of the Board of Directors and Legal Representative, Kaji' Ajpop, Guatemala
Natalia Atz Sunuc is a Maya Kaqchikel woman and a victim and survivor of the Guatemalan armed conflict. She has been a part of social movements in Guatemala for over thirty years. She holds a Bachelor of Law and Social Sciences. Her areas of expertise are human rights, Indigenous peoples’ rights, food sovereignty, land and environmental defense, economic justice, climate justice, and free trade agreements. She is committed to social and gender justice. Natalia was an Honorary Witness for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

Sherry Pictou (PhD)
Honorary District Chief, Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq, & Assistant Professor, Schulich School of Law - Dalhousie University, L’sɨtkuk/Bear River First Nation
Dr. Sherry Pictou is a Mi’kmaw woman from L’sɨtkuk (water cuts through high rocks) known as Bear River First Nation, Nova Scotia. She is an Assistant Professor in the Faculties of Law and Management at Dalhousie University focusing on Indigenous Governance. Dr. Pictou is also a former Chief for her community and the former Co-Chair of the World Forum of Fisher Peoples. She is a member of the The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)Task Force on Indigenous and Local Knowledge. Her research interests include decolonizing treaty relations, Social Justice for Indigenous Women, Indigenous women’s role in food and lifeways, and Indigenous governance.

Beverly Longid
Coordinator, International Indigenous People Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation, Philippines
Beverly L. Longid is currently International Solidarity Officer of KATRIBU Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas. She also acts as the coordinator of Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL) of the Philippines (IPMSDL). She is Igorot belonging to the Bontok-Kankanaeys of Sagada and Alba, Bontoc, Mountain Province, Phillipines. Beverly has a background in law has been a longstanding advocate for youth, and for Indigenous peoples in the Philippines and abroad through her active role in social movements and human rights organizations.
Beverly has also been a member and officer of the Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance (CPA) since 1992, serving as Education Commission staff, deputy secretary-general and chairperson. She is now a member of CPA’s Regional Advisory Council.
Beverly was part of the planning team for the International Peoples Conference on Mining (IPCM) in 2015. She was also a delegate at the International Gathering of Women against Extractivism in Montreal in 2018.
For the past several years KAIROS and women of courage partners have participated in the CSW, highlighting our work and advocacy for sustainable, just and equitable peace. This year KAIROS’ workshop falls within the CSW66 theme of seeking solutions to “Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environment and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes.”
Local women organizations, Indigenous women and women human rights defenders and have pointed out the gaps in the intersection of gender, environment, and peace in policy and practice, particularly in conflict and post-conflict contexts. While gender issues, climate change, and security problems are interconnected in complex and powerful ways, gender dimensions of security and climate issues, primarily led by women, are often not understood, prioritized, or integrated in security and climate policies.
KAIROS and its Women of Courage partners have urged Canada and respective countries and territories to support women-led peace initiatives, which include climate and economic justice and increase the capacity of women and girls to participate in peacebuilding efforts using their local expertise and learned skills related to economic empowerment and environmental protection.
Please support our current action urging the Canadian government to increase its overseas development assistance to reach the international standard by 2030, meet its international climate commitments and ensure that funding reaches grassroots women’s rights and peacebuilding organizations. Take action now and write to your Member of Parliament.