“To build a healthy and peaceful world”*
Since before WWII feminist women have been in the forefront of what we now know as the modern peace movement. SBWPC honors those women who dared to speak up for peace. Peace is a Feminist issue. Ninety percent of refugees are women and children. Women and children are affected most negatively by war and excessive military spending, especially those living in poverty.
Excessive military spending drains vital resources from social programs that benefit families. It diverts funds that could be used for education, healthcare, and housing. Rape and sexual slavery are routinely used as tools of torture against women as well as a means of ethnic cleansing. The effects of war at home include an increased rate of domestic violence, child abuse, suicide and murder. War contributes to the destruction of the environment. The use of land mines and defoliation is a common tool of war and ethnic cleansing.
We support:
- Increased participation of women in conflict resolution at decision making levels;
- Reduced excessive military spending;
- The identification and condemnation of the systematic use of rape and degrading treatment of women as a deliberate instrument of war and ethnic cleansing. Reaffirm that rape in the conduct of war is a war crime. Uphold standards set out in international law in regard to rape, forced prostitution and slavery;
- The identification and condemnation of discrimination against Lesbians and Gay men in military;
- Upholding all international agreements in regard to the environment, including the condemnation of the use of land mines and defoliation as a deliberate tool of war;
- The use of non-violent conflict resolution to resolve disputes at all levels.
*SBWPC Board retreat notes 1987
