Nordic Women Mediators‘ Annual Meeting 2024 in Reykjavík

The Nordic Women Mediator (NWM) Annual Meeting 2024 was held at the University of Iceland on 11 October. The meeting gathered 35 attendees, including network members from Iceland, Finland, Danmark, Sweden and Norway, operational partners, ministry representatives and guest speakers, in Reykjavík. The NWM annual meeting was also held in cooperation with the Institute of International Affairs at the University of Iceland, and we thank them for the invitation to participate in the Imagine Forum Conference on 10 October to all network members.

GRÓ GEST – Gender Equality Studies & Training Programme, of which Irma Erlingsdóttir Member of the Icelandic Network is the director, along with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs are Operational Partners of the Nordic Women Mediators Network in Iceland. The representative of the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs in the meeting was Ms Auður Edda Jökulsdóttir, also a Member of the Icelandic Network. María Mjöll Jónsdóttir, Director General, Directorate for international Affairs and Policy at the Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs addressed the meeting on behalf of the ministry

The annual meeting was opened by Dr. Bjarney Friðriksdóttir, Member of the Icelandic Network and Human Rights Expert, who welcomed the NWM participants on the behalf og the host, the Icelandic delegation to the annual meeting in Iceland. In her powerful opening speech Bjarney emphasized on the importance of women’s active roles in mediation, peacebuilding, and addressing systemic challenges to global peace and justice, in a world where justice and equality seemed to be put aside. She gave the word to NWM-Iceland member and the Chair of the Annual Meeting: Helen Ólafsdóttir, Member of the Icelandic Network and Security Sector and Development Specialist.

The programme constisted of a panel discussion, where Bineta Diop, Founder and President, Femmes Africa Solidarité , Fawzia Koofi, Former Afghan Lawmaker and Peace Negotiator, Heba Zayyan, Regional Advisor, Women, Peace, Security, and Humanitarian Action, UN Women, Regional Office for the Arab States (Online), Svitlana Zalishchuk, Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and Former Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, Miriam Coronel Ferrer, Southeast Asian Women Peace Mediators and Nuha I. Abdelgabar, with breakout groups working with specified questions; workshop, led by Justine Abi Saad, Program Manager for Civil Peace Program at GIZ –ZFD Lebanon and Nita Yawanarajah, Deputy Director of Oxford Process on today’s complex global landscape where mediators must continuously reassess their approaches addressing evolving mediation practices and adapting skills for global challenges.

The meeting elaborated on rethinking mediation structures, as a Nordic network on women, peace and security that in solidarity and cooperation with other similar networks working for equality and peace for all that could come together on a global scale and contribute to achieving important and meaningful changes in the multilateral international system. looking for alternative strategies to ensure participation of women in peace processes, as well as exploring methods of mediation via remote platforms such as hybrid mediation and engaging and inclusion of diasporas in peace processes. There was a productive dialogue on how existing tools and frameworks for meditation apply in diverse and evolving conflict environments and on how the role the NWM can play in supporting and contributing more effectively to women mediators. At the same time, we can keep in mind the words of one participant from the panel discussions, Miriam Coronel Ferrer, Southeast Asian Women Peace: “Women inspire women. Women appoint women.”