During the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Week this March, CCSD partnered with Red Dot Foundation on two events, both online and in person, to contribute to global conversations on feminist foreign policy, Women, Peace and Security, and accountability and access to Justice.
CCSD’s co-founder Rajaa Altalli joined global leaders, diplomats, and civil society actors in the roundtable co-sponsored by CCSD titled “Reframing Power: Strategic Futures for Feminist Foreign Policy and Women, Peace and Security.” The session explored how the Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) and Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda can evolve into more resilient and integrated frameworks for global governance.
The discussion addressed a central challenge: while both WPS and FFP have gained traction over the past decade, they are often implemented in parallel rather than as a unified and integrated strategy. Participants examined how feminist approaches to diplomacy can remain effective across political cycles, and how international commitments can better translate into tangible support for women peacebuilders on the ground.
Drawing on her extensive experience in Syria, Rajaa highlighted the importance of applying the women, peace, and security framework to ensure women’s access to decision-making positions. She emphasized that despite growing recognition of the WPS agenda, women—particularly those in conflict-affected contexts like Syria—continue to face systemic barriers to meaningful participation in peace processes and reconstruction efforts. She highlighted the persistent gap between global commitments and realities on the ground, such as the lack of quotas for women’s participation in the peace process, which forces women to ask for a seat at the table at every step. Syrian women had to make the same advocacy and recommendations over and over to secure effective participation by women in the negotiation in 2014 and 2016. Syrian women succeeded in establishing the Women Advisory Board for the UN office of the Special Envoy, yet we had to advocate again for having women in the constitutional committee in 2019.
The session also explored the growing influence of digital spaces and emerging technologies on political participation. Discussions underscored the need to address online harassment and gender-based digital violence, which increasingly hinder women’s engagement in public life, diplomacy, and leadership.
In a separate online panel hosted by the Red Dot Foundation on X titled, “War, Women, & Peace: Who Pays the Price?” Rajaa again brought forward the Syrian perspective—this time focusing on women, conflict, and accountability. She advocated for survivor-centered approaches to transitional justice, grounded in the lived experiences of those affected by displacement, detention, and violence.
Her intervention underscored a core principle that continues to guide CCSD’s work: sustainable peace and inclusive security achieved through meaningful inclusion of women, and centering the voices of survivors and local communities.
CCSD is proud to strengthen the partnership with Red Dot Foundation on the global stage to shape more inclusive, accountable, and forward-looking approaches to peace and security.
