On 2 December 2024, UNIDIR’s Managing Exits from Armed Conflict (MEAC) Project, International Crisis Group and the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations will co-host a panel discussion titled “Beyond Stereotypes: The Many Facets of Women’s Association with Armed Groups.”
The discussion will draw upon original research from MEAC and the International Crisis Group, exploring women’s varied and complex roles in armed and criminal groups across Colombia, the Lake Chad Basin, the Niger-Mali border and Mexico. Moving beyond reductive labels of victimhood or perpetration, the discussion will showcase how the many facets of women’s involvement with armed and criminal groups are influenced by a myriad of factors such as age, marital status, gender-based violence and ethnicity.
Drawing on these insights, the event will provide evidence-based recommendations for more nuanced and gender-responsive conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts. The session will conclude with an interactive discussion, encouraging participants to critically engage with the findings and propose innovative strategies to integrate gender dimensions into global conflict prevention and resolution policies.
Agenda
3:15-3:20 PM: Welcome and opening remarks
- H.E. Ms Riccarda Chanda, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the UN.
3:20-3:45 PM: Panel presentations
- Sofia Rivas Balance, Associate Researcher, UNIDIR.
- Francesca Batault, Associate Researcher, UNIDIR, with video reflections from Chitra Nagarajan, Research Consultant, UNIDIR, and Fatima Yetcha Badu, Senior Researcher, Mobukar Consultancy.
- Floor Keuleers, Senior Analyst, Gender and Conflict, International Crisis Group.
- Cristal Downing, Project Director, Gender and Conflict, International Crisis Group.
3:45-4:00 PM: Recommendations for peacebuilding efforts
- Presenters share evidence-based strategies for gender-responsive peacebuilding.
4:00-4:35 PM: Q&A Session
- Moderated by Siobhan O’Neil, Head of Project, MEAC UNIDIR
4:35-4:40 PM: Concluding remarks
- Siobhan O’Neil, MEAC UNIDIR.
Where and when
2 December 2024, 3:15 PM – 4:45 PM, the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations, New York
RSVP
Attendance is by invitation only.