Organized by Istanbul Aydın University in collaboration with the Tawakkol Karman Global Peace and Democracy Center, Istanbul Conference In The Middle East was held on Wednesday and Thursday at Intercontinental Hotel in Beyoğlu. In the first roundtable session of the conference, Tawakkol Karman, Jody Williams and Shirin Ebadi came together as three Nobel Peace Prize laureates to talk about the impact of wars and chaos on women and children.
Karman, the first Yemeni and Arab woman and the second Muslim woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize, began her speech by saying: "We are Özgecan," both to convey her sympathy with the family of Özgecan Aslan, 20, who was brutally murdered on Feb. 13 this year, and to draw attention to nationwide protests around Turkey about violence against women. As a Yemeni journalist, politician and human rights activist, Karman pointed out that whenever people talk about suffering, women and children come to mind first. Calling for the right to security for every single woman, Karman added: "Due to wars, women do not only lose their husbands or children, they are exposed to sexual harassment and violence."
Williams, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her efforts in banning and clearing anti-personnel mines, also mentioned Özgecan's case in her opening words, saying: "She was attacked and killed and after her death we are asking: 'What did she do to invite that violence?' By doing that we are erasing the responsibility of men. We should not be ashamed, we should stand together and never tolerate any sexual harassment against women." As an American political activist and defender of human rights, particularly those of women, Williams was quoted as saying: "When we talk about the impact of war on women and children, we actually categorize women as [people] in need of protection." She claimed that this pre-judgment should be reversed and added: "Polite women do not make history. That is why Tawakkol Karman is called the 'Iron Lady,' that is why Shirin Ebadi is fierce and that is why I am controversial in my country." Emphasizing also that women are second-class citizens everywhere, even in "so-called advanced parts of the world," she went on to say: "I don't care that Hillary Clinton was the secretary of state; women still do not have the same power and are not as respected as men."
As for the Iranian activist and former judge who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts to promote democracy and human rights, particularly of women, children and refugee's, Shirin Ebadi underlined the significance of justice, saying: "I am Iranian. I was born and grew up there. When I look at the area I realize that there are two factors that block peace. One is the lack of democracy ... and the other is a lack of social justice." Pointing to the lack of justice as the cause of wars, Ebadi posed a question to the audience: "Look around yourselves. Please answer this question. If Bashar Assad respected his people and what they wanted, do you think Syria would be in the same condition today?"
Throughout the second session of the conference, the impact of war on women and children was viewed from a Middle Eastern perspective, looking at the cases of Tunisia, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq.
Tunisia's former minister of women's affairs, Dr. Sihem Badi, touched upon the victimization of women saying: "We must put our hands under the stone to do whatever is needed. We are in the 21st century, yet we are still discussing terms that we have not yet found a solution to: violence, inequality, peace, justice, tolerance, love ... And it is still for women to pay the price. We women, however, do not want to be victims anymore." Following up by talking about taking up arms in civil wars, Badi argued: "The more that countries allocate alliances for arms, the more violence will continue." After she explained that nongovernmental organizations are indispensable components for the development of societies, Badi called for global peace with which decisions will no longer be "made in the absence of women."
Ahmet Lütfi Akar, president of the Turkish Red Crescent, took the floor after Badi, and spoke of Turkey's aid campaigns and re-evaluated the case of Palestine. After discussing what natural and human-based disasters mean, Akar clarified that "the biggest disaster is to displace people from their homes." He said that displacement is such a big factor for women and children in wars that they get psychologically and physically sick as a direct result. The best path to recovery, he added, is ensured through socio-psychological support, professional occupational training programs and rehabilitation and health control. In addition, he placed democracy and peace in correlation saying: "To ensure democracy, we need peace; we need democracy to ensure peace. Such a cycle should function non-stop."
Metin Çorabatır, president of the Research Center on Asylum and Migration (IGAM), an Ankara-based think tank, also shared his experiences and thoughts with the audience as a former spokesman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He gave some specific examples from Syrian refugees, saying: "A great many refugees are women and children since men are away fighting in the field. Even within refugee groups, you see sexual abuse. Victims cannot generally speak out loud their problems." Saying that there needs to be a re-evaluation of refugee cases, he added that "250,000 Syrian refugees are living in camps in Turkey, but we have no idea how many others live in urban environments. In the absence of data, there are big issues when it comes to donations, aid and support."
The fourth speech was given by Abdulsalam Mohammed, chairman of the Abaad Center for Research and Studies, which provided some remarkable data on Yemen's war. Mainly focusing on armed groups in Yemen, Mohammed clarified that "these groups attack weak people, namely women children. A civil war is impacting society, the family and children," saying further that "the conflict now has changed into a different dimension. Armed groups invite other people to join them. The impa
ct of this conflict is negligence. The government cooperates with armed groups to fight against its own people. We no longer want to live under the fear of political conflict. Armed groups exploit children. They give them support to get their attraction and then they use them."
Abdulsalam Muhammad then provided some data about Yemeni children:
In the very first month of 2015, 250 teenagers were armed.
Thousands of children lost their lives in the war because of the conflict.
Narcotics have become widespread and extremely common.
Young girls are forced into marriage.
In 2013, 38 girls lost their lives because of tribal conflicts.
In October 2004 in four provinces, around 205,000 people were displaced from their homes.
Accentuating all of the above, he asked: "What should be done?" and then answered: "This is an intensive process - after the revolution, everything became worse. Militia powers started to act according to their own purposes. Yemen is a member of the U.N. We need U.N. members to take responsibility."
The last guest of the conference, Professor İbrahim Sirkeci, who is the director of the Regent's Center for Transnational Studies at Regent's University London, cleared up some terms that have been discussed for a long time - violence and displacement, violence counts, migration flaws, human mobility and conflict. Beginning his speech with the latest term, "conflict," Sirkeci said: "All migrations are, one way or another, driven by conflict. Women and children see the repercussions of these conflicts," adding, "What is conflict? All women and children suffer from violence, not just victims of wars. All those little tiny bits of conflict lead women and children to flee."
He commented on the case of Iraq saying: "Since 1980 in Iraq, the major issues are displacement, wars and insurgency, U.S. invasions and internal fighting." Moreover, he addressed the issue in a more specific way and argued that "minorities also suffer from violence. Turkmens in Iraq, for instance, are suffering much more than others," to call for attention for minorities stuck in war zones.
Following a press conference on Feb. 26 on the second day of the conference, the three Nobel laureates - Karman, Williams, Ebadi - and Dr. Badi signed an agreement called The Declaration of Istanbul to draw attention to the prevention of violence against women and children.
