Welcome new WILPF Sections

New Sections:
Nigeria
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Pakistan
Spain
Mexico

Summary congress decisons

Hello,

Under congress material you can now find a sumamry of all the congress decisions.

Update resolutions and congress material

Dear Members,
Please find the update and adopted resolutions from WILPF Congress in Costa Rica. Updated material from presentations can also be found under the section congress material. More documents will be uploaded the coming days.

A very successful Congress!

Please see summary below of WILPF Congress written by Maria Butler, Program Director for PeaceWomen Project in New York, US.

Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, WILPF Congress July 30th – August 6th 2011, San José, Costa Rica, Women, Peace and Security – Transforming the agenda

“Social advance depends as much upon the process through which it is secured as upon the result itself.” – Jane Addams

From July 30 until August 6 2011, women from around the world gathered together for the WILPF International Congress in San José, Costa Rica. WILPF – the oldest women’s peace organisation in the world – will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2015 when women peace activists will meet in The Hague again to honour and reaffirm the work and principles of their foremothers in promoting peace. This meeting in Costa Rica was the last official Congress – the highest decision making body of WILPF and the final authority – before the centennial event. Over 120 peace women travelled from twenty-four countries to discuss the theme “Women, Peace and Security – Transforming the agenda” and the work of WILPF members, sections and international.

With great enthusiasm, the 2011 Congress formally endorsed five new WILPF sections – Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Spain, Mexico, and Pakistan – and recognized the innovative and strategic work which these groups have been doing on redefining security and advancing women as peacemakers. The Congress also adopted 11 resolutions, the international programme of work 2011-2015 and several statements. In addition to officially reviewing the work of organisation and its future direction, operational issues were dealt with including the election of the new executive committee and formation of new standing committees and working groups.

The new Executive Committee was elected with overwhelming support for the new International President, Adilia Caravaca (Costa Rica). Other elected officers include: Kerstin Grebäck (Sweden), Dr. Ila Pathak (India), Neelima Sinha (India), Martha-Jean Baker (UK) (Vice Presidents), and Nancy Ramsden (USA) (Treasurer). The outgoing Executive Committee and the out-going Co-presidents, Annelise Ebbe and Kerstin Grebäck, were thanked for their work.

This was a special Congress with the dynamic new Secretary General, Madeleine Rees, at the helm who inspired, and challenged the meeting to be creative, focused and impactful. Madeleine articulated the integrated vision for WILPF 2011-2015 in an inspiring presentation that included personal anecdotes and her motivation for joining the WILPF movement. She described the integrated approach as a sort of “WILPF jigsaw”- where the many pieces of WILPF work fit together to form the whole. Directors of WILPF’s two Projects, Ray Acheson (Reaching Critical Will) and Maria Butler (PeaceWomen), presented their respective work, reports and objectives to the Congress and were enthusiastically received by the WILPF members gathered in Costa Rica.

The Congress agenda was packed with discussions on WILPF themes and strategies for moving forward. Workshops and roundtables allowed for maximum participation and covered issues such as: Environment; Nuclear Power and Nuclear Weapons; Food sovereignty and security; Resolution 1325 – global indicators; and Armed violence against women. Young-WILPFer (known as Y-WILPFers) also played a significant role in this Congress and organised the Gertrud Baer Seminar and workshops.

The resolutions adopted reflected WILPF position on: the Arms Trade Treaty; Forced Migration; UN Women; Nuclear Weapons; SCR 1325 National Action Plans; the high-level meeting on the Durban Declaration; and on the situations in the Middle East; in Nepal; and related to the Arab Spring; Palestinian Prisoners; and on Costa Rica Militarization.

Participates also had a private viewing of the “Whistleblower” – a movie in which Madeleine, then head of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Bosnia, is portrayed by Vanessa Redgrave. Following the screening of this horrific story, which takes place in the late 1990s when trafficking was at its height, Madeleine shared with WILPFers her experiences, the challenges and problems of human trafficking, sexual slavery, torture, and the role of UN, corporate contractors, and governments in these complex issues, and how WILPF can make a meaningful impact in this work.

The success of the WILPF Congress 2011 was testimony to the extraordinary Congress Coordinator, Karin Friedrich, and the host, WILPF- Costa Rica, and of course the many other WILPF sections who contributed financially and supported the organising efforts, particularly members of the Congress organization group.

Mrs. Sonia Picado, President of UN agency on Human Security, was honoured by WILPF Costa Rica and the Congress for her work. Anna Arroba Expert on Gender, Anthropology and Politics of the Body from Costa Rica and Sarah Masters of the International Network of Action on Small Arms (IANSA) made presentation to the Congress on the opening day.

A full report is forthcoming.

New updated program

New updated congress report can now be found under congress documents!

GERTRUD BAER SEMINAR FOR ALL WILPF MEMBERS

Gertrud Baer Seminar Day
30 July Saturday

Information: The purpose of the Gertrud Baer seminar is to welcome and give an introduction to the organizations to new members and sections. This day is planned and organized by young wilpf members.

10.00 – 10.45
Presentation: Who was Gertrud Bear and what can we learn from her and other foremothers for our work with WILPF? Presented with theatre and stories.

11.00 -11.15 Coffee

11. 15-12.00 Workshop: How does WILPF join diversity in the work for women around the world? Presented with creative pictures and poems.

12.00 -12.30 Interviews with members from the world

12.30-13-30 Lunch

13.30 – 14.45 Workshop: How do you take your ideas further? Crash course campaigning and the first basic steps and tools for women to organized.

14. 45 – 15.30 Team 15 Presentation Wilpf in 21st century

15.30 – 15.45 Coffee

15.45 – 16.30 WILPF Vision

Gertrud Baer Seminar

Dear Gertrud Baer Seminar participants

The seminar will take place Saturday 30th July between 10.00 – 18.00 at the “Casa del Cunho” (House of Mint), the glass building which is next to La Antigua Aduana/Teatro Aduana. A great organic lunch and coffee will be served to all the participants. If you could make a small monetary contribution it would be appreciated.

Staying at Radisson If you are coming from the Radisson Hotel, we will meet outside the main entrance at 9.10 Saturday morning. We will have 10 taxis coming to pick us up. Please bring a couple of dollars since you share the taxi, it should cost about 6 dollars =3000 colones one way (the driver will only take Costa Rica colones). Please do not be late, if you are you will have to take a taxi yourself.

Staying at Casa Ridgeway Rebeca, Costa Rica LIMPAL will be at Casa Ridgway at 9.15 am sharp. Walking to the Casa del Cunho takes about 25mins. If you have any questions please contact Ailhyn +506 8837 5289 or Rebeca +506 8334 9876
We all look forward to a great day, with interesting and forward-looking discussions.

All the best,
Y- wilpf organization team

Update congress information

Dear Congress participants,

Congress is coming up! I just wanted to inform you about some details.

When you arrive in Costa Rica. You will find several taxies outside the arrival area at the airport.

Take a taxi with an offical taxi license and agree on the price before you enter the cab. To go to Radisson, Casa Ridgeway or another hostel in downtown should be around 25 dollars.

If you arrive early and want to stay in less expensive place before transfering to Radisson you can take a look at the the alternatives below.

For example:
Hostel Pangea Barrio Amon ave 7 t3-3bis, Barrio Amon Ave 11 st 3-bis. ( 12 dollars per night).

Costa Rica Backpackers
Avenida 76 calle 21/ 23 ( 12 dollars per night).

—————————————

Casa Ridgeway ( Peace Hostel)
Calle 15 ave 6 y 8
( 15 dollars per night)
Direction:
Behind the Turrialba bus terminal on the westside of the Tribunales de Justicia (justice courts) of San Jose,Street 15, a dead end street, between avenues 6 and 8.
Tel 1 : (506) 2222-1400 , Tel 2 : (506) 2233-6168, http://www.casa-ridgway.com/

European Radisson Hotel
Direction: Calle Central y Tercera Av. 15, P.O. Box 538-2120, Calle Blancos, San Jose Costa Rica
Reservations: +1 (800) 395-7046 US/Canada Toll-free
Telephone: +1 (506) 2 010-6000 Fax: +1 (506) 2 257-8221
info@radisson.co.cr

When you check in at Radisson remember that you mention WILPF Congress. We have booked you as a group of people. Some people arrive earlier than other people some even several days before their assigned roommate. To avoid that people will not have room mates when arriving and then have to pay for full price of a room, we have treid to arrange so people stay with eachtoher when they arrive at the same day. We hope you will all be flexible in this arrangment.

Contact
Emergency Number in Costa Rica 911
Police 117

Adilia Caravaca
Home Number +506 22824434
Celllphone Number +506 88 77 58 08

Karin Friedrich
congress@wilpf.ch

If you do not have coins to use a public phone, just dial 1110, it is a collect call, which means the receiver pay for it, which is fine. Some voice in Spanish will tell you something, just dial Adilias number, and then when something else is asked, just say your name.

See you all soon!

Congress Countdown!

Hope you are all ready for a great and forward looking Congress. A reminder bring a rainjacket since there are usually rainfalls during the afternoon. Also, please remember to bring printed copies of the congress document.

All the best,

Karin

Congress Check List

Dear Members,

Congress is coming up and there is a lot of organizational work done to make the congress successful. I have attached a check-list below which I appreciate if you go through.

1) Look around on the site. since there is more info about the Congress program, visa requirements and accommodation options.

2) Visit the site and register under the tab saying ( REGISTRATION), please fill in as detailed as you can.

3) Visit the Congress fee tab and pay the congress fee. Either 200 USD or 150 Euro. I would encourage members to make an international bank transfer. The information on account number can be found under the same section.

4) Look over the program and congress related documents such as resolutions and report. Please print documents and bring them to Congress. There will be a limited amount of printed copies.

5) Many people have similar questions therefore please look over the Costa Rica travel Guide before sending emails.

6) If you have questions or concerns about the congress fee, choice of accommodation contact Congress coordinator Karin Friedrich congress@wilpf.ch

7) The people which has applied for visa letter should have received this by now if other solutions has not been made. For the people applying for VISA a scanned passport copy needs to be submitted to congress@wilpf.ch as soon as possible. This will be send to the immigration office in San Jose to make the visa process smoother.

8) Remember that each person is financially responsible to pay for their accommodation upon arrival, if other solutions has not been agreed upon.

Let`s together make it an interesting, forward looking and progressive Congress 2011.

See you soon,

Karin Friedrich
Congress Coordinator