Nobel peace laureates, Shirin Ebadi and Tawakkol Karman, are in Jordan this week meeting with women peacemakers and organizations from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Yemen. The laureates are there to support movement-building among women activists. The regional meeting will include site visits to highlight the situation of women and women refugees in Jordan by connecting with local grassroots initiatives and amplifying their work and messages.
The Middle East is facing unprecedented levels of violence, state-sponsored violence and extremism, displacement, and militarization. This environment has had grave impacts on the women in the region, but has also sparked a wave of grassroots initiatives aiming to tackle the crisis. Women are at the forefront of community efforts to bring an end to the violence and to restore a sense of normalcy to everyday life. At the same time, women are working to insert themselves into political efforts, such as the Syrian and Yemeni peace processes, to ensure women’s realities and voices are reflected in these processes.
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