Khairatul Saidu born Abuja, Nigeria February 9, 1999. Advocate for rights of prisoners. World Peace Caravan ambassador, 2015. Received Global Public Peace Prize, 2017; Princess Diana Human Rights award, 2017.
“I would do anything that promotes love, peace, happiness, oneness and development.” (Feb. 21, 2017 Nicholas Alifa blog; photo gnvfundraising.org)
Camelia Sadat born Cairo, Egypt July 12, 1949. Daughter of Nobel Peace Prize laureate; founded Sadat Peace Institute Boston 1984. Undertook people-to-people peace mission to Palestine, 1988. Received Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award.
“I learned about hate, and I learned how to live in peace. . . I believe in the principle of turning the other cheek.” (Boston Globe, Aug. 21, 2002; photo global action on aging)
Warsan Shire born Kenya August 1, 1988. Somali-British poet and author; poem “Home” on refugees.
No one leaves home, unless. . .
I held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
and whispered
where does it hurt?
it answered
everywhere
everywhere
everywhere.
(“What they did yesterday afternoon”; photo Poetry Society)
Catherine Samba-Panza born Fort Lamy, N’Djamena, Chad June 26, 1954. “Mother Courage.” Lawyer and human rights advocate; Mayor of Bangui, 2013-14. First woman president of Central African Republic, 2014; elected in midst of civil war as peacemaker.
“We all felt that the people wanted a break. They wanted an end to the political man. I felt that. At the very heart of the people, I felt this desire to elect a woman who could bring peace and reconciliation.” (Women in and Beyond the Global, Jan. 21, 2014; photo liberation.fr)
Olive Schreiner born Wittebergen, South Africa March 24, 1855 (d. 1920). Writer; environmentalist; close friend of Gandhi and nonviolence advocate. Opposed the rule of Cecil Rhodes. Foresaw and opposed the Boer War and World War I.
"On that day, when woman takes her place beside the man in the governance and arrangement of the external affairs of her race will also be the day that heralds the death of war as a means of arranging human differences." (Woman & Labor, Ch. IV, 1911; photo Wikipedia)
Julia Sebutinde born Entebbe, Uganda February 28, 1954. Trainer in peace and conflict resolution; Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), 1996. First female African judge appointed to World Court, 2012; presided over trial of Charles Taylor for war crimes.
“The three accused persons have committed violations of human rights in which civilians were mutilated, [and] other civilians were killed and burnt in their houses. . . They also were participants in abducting children for slavery and as child soldiers." (Conviction of three Sierra Leone militia leaders, sentenced to 50 years; BBC, Jul. 19, 2007; photo http://bit.ly/IwwjM2)
Mona Seif born Cairo, Egypt March 12, 1986. Egyptian leader of Tahrir Square revolution 2011; arrested and maltreated; co-founded No Military Trials for Civilians 2011; cancer researcher; daughter of mathematician activist Laila Soueif; final nominee for Ennals Human Rights Defenders Prize 2013 lost because of anti-Israel tweets.
“One of the rights that we, the young people of Egypt, have succeeded in seizing is the right to insult our own government and to insult anyone whose policies are bad for our people. We insist on this right. . . I have never called for nor celebrated attacks on civilians. My position is very clear: I support people’s right to resist occupation and I resist all attempts at portraying the siege of a predominantly civilian population by the world's 4th most powerful Army as one of 'equivalence'.” (Facebook, May 2, 2013; photo youtube.com)
Jean Sinclair born Germiston, South Africa July 2, 1908 (d. 1996). Founder 1955 Black Sash women's movement against Apartheid; mother of activist Sheena Duncan.
"Our rulers must accept that if they are gambling with civilisation, and that survival is their motive for this oppression, the sooner they reverse their policy and put into practice a policy of social justice and decency, the sooner will South Africa be accepted in the world community, and our chances of survival will be increased." (Black Sash presidential address, 1971; photo sahistory.org.za)
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf born Monrovia, Liberia October 29, 1938. Director of UN Development Fund for Africa, 1992-97; leader in campaign against wartime violence against women; authored UN report on women in war, 2002. Elected first female president of African nation, 2005; shared Nobel Peace Prize with Leymah Gbowee & Tawakkol Karman, 2011.
"During the years of our civil war, they (Liberian women) bore the brunt of inhumanity and terror. They were conscripted into war, gang raped at will, forced into domestic slavery. Yet, it is the women who labored and advocated for peace throughout our region." (inaugural address, Jan. 16, 2006; photo Liberian Dialogue, Dec. 21, 2010)
Albertina Sisulu born Tsomo, Transkei, South Africa October 21, 1918 (d. 2011). Organized anti-Apartheid movement, 1954; jailed for treason; banned 18 years.
"Women are the people who are going to relieve us from all this oppression and depression." (1987; Columbia Quotes; photo S. Africa Hist. Online)
Sheila Sisulu born Johannesburg, South Africa April 12, 1948. South African Ambassador to US 1999-2003; Executive Director World Food Program 2003.
"Women are always the first line of defence in times of hardship, hunger or emergency." (Sharm al-Sheik, July 29, 2009; photo washingtonlife.com)
Amsatou Sow Sidibé born Dakar, Senegal October 14, 1953. Professor and politician. Law Professor and Director of Institute of Human Rights and Peace, Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD), Senegal. President of Rafet, the African Network for Promotion of Working Women. Advocated for nonviolent resolution of 30-year Casamance conflict, followed by truth and reconciliation. Pressed President Clinton on landmines, 1998. Peacemaker in 2007 election; mediated seafood strike, 2012. Presidential candidate, 2013. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.
"Nothing lasting can be built without peace." (Peace Women Across the Globe: Sidibe; photo femmesdusenegal)
Laila St. Matthew Daniel born Lagos, Nigeria February 14, 1953. Lebanese-Nigerian psychologist. Led Nigerian Women Mourn protest against Boko Haram killings, 2014.
“This is a peaceful non-political, non-tribal protest. . . We just say stop the killing, stop the persecution, stop the genocide.” (All Africa Report, March 8, 2014; photo news.naij.com)
Suzanne Stephen (née Browne) born Pretoria, South Africa June 30, 1888 (d. 1972). Quaker. Founded anti-Apartheid organization Black Sash 1955, for which she was banned. Known as "the prisoner's friend," taught long-term detainees.
On war: "It is a sin against man and God." (Leonard Kenworthy, Living in the Light, vol. II, p. 232, 1984)
Helen Suzman (née Gavronsky) born Germiston, Transvaal, South Africa November 7, 1917 (d. 2009). Apartheid opponent; recipient of UN Human Rights Prize, 1978; member of parliament, 1953-89.
"Let Right Be Done" (epitaph; photo eMemorials)
Achta Djibrine Sy born Chad October 28, 1962. Economist. Worked with Oxfam and women’s groups to facilitate recovery from civil war.
“We should put our cultural and social differences aside and work together to build up peace.” (quote and photo World Peoples Blog, June 22, 2006)
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
