ABSTRACT
September 15, 2002: on the occasion of the anniversary of the terror attacks of September 11, a ‘World Women's Security Council in Foundation’ was announced at an international conference in Berlin. At the end of the conference, which was organized by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Women's Action Scheherazade, all 60 participants from Germany, Afghanistan, Iran, Slovenia, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Israel, Palestine and other countries voted unanimously for its foundation. The participants denounced the fact that wars are plotted over their heads – inside or outside the UN Security Council – and the fact that male diplomats and military officials dare to decide the world's fate. They proclaimed the need for a new concept of security policy that was not based on the imagined security needs of nations but on the real security needs of living people. As the former women's minister of Afghanistan, Dr Sima Samar, who supports the idea of a World Women's Security Council, said during the conference:
Security is the first priority of women in Afghanistan. For true freedom in Afghanistan, security is essential. Without security, no human being can be free. Only with security can we win the restoration of women's rights, peace and democracy. At the same time, security is not possible without women's rights. They go hand in hand.
(GLOW Url)