MENA Women's Security Forum

Well, after two really incredible, albeit exhausting days of intensive Arabic, I really want to write a post that does justice to this amazing conference that I just attended. It was put on by Iraqi Al Amal Association, and hosted probably over 100 women activists from across the MENA region, including from Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt (and those are just the people I met). These women are quite literally saving lives and preventing terrorism in their countries through youth outreach, through community activism, and through lobbying their local governments to make much needed changes. We heard testimony from Yazidi Christians who escaped Mosul about the horrors that they had to endure, as well as from Syrian community leaders, government officials, UN representatives, international NGO representatives, and countless grassroots activists working to combat extremism in their communities and help people to restore a sense of normalcy to their lives in a way that militarization just can't achieve.

Unlike perhaps any other event I've been to, it had a kind of quiet defiance about it. Getting to the event itself for many was a challenge, and yet their dedication to ensuring that their countries continue to move forward overwhelmingly outweighed the challenges. Women are often the at the forefront of conflict in ways we really don't think about in the West. They are the community organizers, operating something best thought of as a makeshift underground railroad sort of system to help people get out of conflict. They are setting up shelters, cooking for the hungry, advocating for change, working on building community between religions or political groups. They view security first and foremost as being about their families and their communities, defining it in as simple of terms as can their children go to school safely to learn and have a future? They bear the trauma of gender-based violence and rape, which is used as a weapon of war. And yet, or perhaps because, of all of that, these women absolutely will not be silenced or made to feel afraid. They will keep making noise until they are heard. These women, like all of the women who inspire me, are in a perpetual state of call to action. They are not the sitting and waiting type. They will make things happen.

I will definitely write more about this, but after two days of stretching my Arabic to its limits (not to mention being out of the office and having to catch up on that work), I'm instead going to leave you with a small smattering of photos.