Beyond Power and Territory: Women, Rights, and Systemic Approaches to Sustainable Peace

As geopolitical competition intensifies and civilian casualties reach their highest levels in decades, this conversation will place women’s perspectives and a human approach at the center, exploring how a systemic view can shape more effective peace processes. Through film and testimonies, we will hear lived experiences of conflict from Ukraine and Mesoamerica, creating space for panelists and participants to reflect on the roles of women and human rights—particularly land rights and justice—in conflict dynamics, and on how we can design and build sustainable peace. Insights from successful peace processes which have challenged power hierarchies and advanced relational and ecological approaches will be shared.

In this 25^th anniversary year of the Women Peace and Security Agenda, we will be inviting panelists and participants to think innovatively about how the Agenda which bridges international, national and local actors can continue to be a blueprint for peace. What are the guiding principles that can continue to inform our work, and what do we need to challenge and change? Furthermore, what is the role of multilateral Geneva?