From left to right, human rights lawyer Priscilla Ciesay from The Gambia, Polish theologian and church communicator Agnieszka Godfrejów-Tarnogórska, Judge Scarlet Bishara from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land Photo and Golda Ibarra, LWF Representative for Colombia and Venezuela. Photo: Compiled by Johanan Celine Valeriano
LWF delegates at UN Commission on the Status of Women highlight need for justice in war and post-conflict countries
(LWI) - From Gaza to The Gambia, from Colombia to Ukraine, Lutheran churches and faith-based organizations are on the frontline of the struggle to bring justice for women and girls in war or post-conflict countries. At an event hosted by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) during the 70th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), gender justice advocates shared stories of working to bring peace and justice in these very challenging contexts.
In an opening message, LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt reminded participants that “even in the midst of devastation, women are leaders, peacebuilders and anchors of resilience in their communities.” She reaffirmed that “there can be no sustainable peace without gender justice,” adding that justice in conflict settings must be concrete. “It means survivor-centered protection and care. It means accountability for perpetrators. It means legal identity and access to services for displaced women and girls. It means full and meaningful participation of women in peace processes and reconstruction efforts,” she said.
Polish theologian and church communicator Agnieszka Godfrejów-Tarnogórska saw firsthand the need for survivor-centered care when Russia launched its full-scale war on Ukraine in 2022 and hundreds of thousands of women fled across the border into her country. From the first days of the conflict, her home church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland, in cooperation with the LWF, began organizing aid distribution and psychosocial support for the women and children who escaped leaving everything behind.
Churches or faith-based organizations can be a safe space and support [women] in their very hard situations.
Polish theologian and church communicator Agnieszka Godfrejów-Tarnogórska
Listening to many of those Ukrainian refugees, she said “I realized it is important to be with these women and girls, to hear their stories and also how we, as churches or faith-based organizations, can be a safe space and give them support in their very hard situations.” She recalled the risks they faced from trafficking gangs who were trying to exploit the most vulnerable refugees, as well as the challenges of having lost all identity documents or proof of qualifications as they fled from their home country.
Human rights lawyer Priscilla Ciesay from The Gambia shared her experiences of working with women recovering from years of conflict and repressive authoritarian rule in the West African country before democracy was re-established in 2017. She spoke about the vital role of the women’s affairs unit of the national Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission which allowed many women to tell their stories of exploitation and abuse, often at the hands of powerful political leaders.
Ciesay, a longtime advocate for women’s empowerment and an advisor to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in The Gambia, recalled one story of a survivor who wanted to tell her story in order to encourage other women to come forward and share their own similar experiences of rape and abuse. “She was a bridge to help us reach others,” Ciesay noted, “not just wanting her own perpetrator to be punished,” but also ensuring that her story of resilience and courage could serve to support and empower others.
Changing the national conversation in Colombia
Golda Ibarra, LWF Representative for Colombia and Venezuela, spoke about her experience of leading gender justice and peacebuilding initiatives in border regions of Colombia, including Arauca and Choco, where Afro-Colombian and indigenous women in particular face multiple risks of violence and marginalization.
For decades in Colombia, she noted, “women have faced high levels of sexual violence or displacement and threats, turning their bodies and their homes into battlegrounds of control by armed groups.” But she continued, “the harm was so widespread that women survivors and their organizations stepped forward and changed the national conversation,” pushing the government to recognize gender-based violence as a weapon of war. Furthermore, she said, the testimonies of survivors led to the creation of a gender sub-commission in the peace negotiations, a development she described as “a huge milestone.”
Urgent call to translate commitments into action
Judge Scarlet Bishara, the first female judge to serve in the ecclesiastical courts of the Middle Eastern churches, is a longtime women’s rights advocate who works closely with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. She has conducted two studies on the impact of the war in Gaza on women, many of whom struggle to survive in tents or overcrowded shelters which lack basic necessities like clean water, food and medicine.
“Hunger affects almost every family,” she said, with many mothers sacrificing their own meals so that their children can eat.” The healthcare system has almost collapsed and alongside the physical injuries, she noted that “the psychological suffering is overwhelming, as women and children struggle with constant fear, grief and trauma.” In these very harsh conditions, she said, “Palestinian women continue to be resilient and try to protect their children.”
Panelists heard about the situation of women in Kenya in a presentation prepared by politician Rebecca Tonkei, currently serving as Women’s Representative for Narok County. Although the parliament in her country has created special seats for women, there are still significant barriers facing those seeking justice. These include discriminatory laws, stigma for women who speak about violence and abuse, their economic dependency on male members of the family and a lack of birth certificates or other identity documents for many women.
“The insights shared today highlight both the urgency of the challenge and the strength of the solutions,” said moderator Sikhonzile Ndlovu, LWF Senior Advocacy Officer for Gender Justice. These solutions must include survivor-centered approaches, stronger legal frameworks, meaningful participation of women in peace and justice processes and sustained international commitment, she added. In an urgent call to “translate commitments into action,” she affirmed that, “when women and girls can safely access justice, it strengthens communities, supports lasting peace and helps break cycles of violence.”
LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt - Message to the 70th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women
