Nobel Women's Initiative

The Nobel Women's Initiative is supporting women's groups who are urging the African Union to make good on their promise to put women front and centre in peace plans. African heads of state officially launched the "Year for Peace and Security" at the 14th African Union Summit, coming to an end today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

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The Christian Science Monitor has published an opinion piece by Wangari Maathai regarding her support for the Report of the African Union High-Level Panel on Darfur (AUPD). Maathai states the report "is a genuine attempt at African solutions for the Darfur problem in particular and conflict within Sudan more broadly."

Read the Article.

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Join the calls of thousands of demonstrators in 15 countries around the world to demand greater support for the Sudanese peace process. Ten aid agencies recently compiled a report, Rescuing the Peace in Southern Sudan, warning that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement is in jeopardy. In the past year over 2,500 people were killed and 350,000 were displaced in Sudan. On Saturday, January 10th, thousands gathered demanding greater protection of civilians and greater support of the peace process by the UN and the African Union. 

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The Nobel Women's Initiative and other supporters of the International Criminal Court were disappointed by a joint resolution issued at the end of the African Union summit in Libya last week, which declares that member states will not cooperate in the arrest and surrender of Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir on war crimes charges. The resolution says that the African Union "deeply regrets" that the United Nations ignored its previous demand for the ICC in The Hague to postpone its arrest warrant against the Sudanese President for crimes in Darfur.

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African civil society leaders, Nobel Laureates, and justice experts from across the continent united ahead of the African Union summit to call for action on the crisis in Sudan. In particular, the leaders supported the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and called for humanitarian access.

An open statement, signed by Nobel Laureates Wangari Maathai (Peace, 2004), Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Peace, 1984), and Wole Soyinka (Literature, 1986), as well as 39 other prominent African experts, emphasized that the ICC plays a critical role in achieving the objectives of “justice and accountability for the peoples of Sudan.”

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An Opinion Editorial piece written by Nobel Laureates, Wangari Maathai, Wole Soyenka, and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu called on African leaders meeting this week to join in the support for the International Criminal Court's role in Sudan.  As well, they urged leaders to work towards ending the violence in Sudan, by ensuring that the Sudanese government, armed groups, and women leaders were all at the peace table.

The true leaders of this continent have nothing to fear from the International Criminal Court.  We need strong institutions, good governance, and the protection of human rights to tackle the many challenges we face in Africa, and the ICC can play an important role – if we let it.

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View the webcast of the panel

(Washington, DC). The international community—including the US and members of the Arab League and the African Union—must act now to resolve the political and humanitarian crises facing Sudan and bring stability to the region. This, according to a panel of leading Sudan experts at a briefing today hosted by Nobel Laureates Jody Williams and Wangari Maathai held at the National Press Club. Some of the panelists warned that peace will not come to Sudan if efforts at justice are not respected, including the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Sudanese President al-Bashir.

“We were heartened by the Qatar process, and the efforts of Arab leaders to advance progress on peace talks between the government of Sudan and the main rebel group. However, these peace talks are now disintegrating, and Bashir is not being held accountable for the further suffering of the Sudanese people,” said Jody Williams, chair of the Nobel Women’s Initiative. “What Sudan needs now are real brokers for peace, instead of support for leadership that is wreaking yet more havoc in the region.”

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Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and leaders of the Arab League have formally renounced the International Criminal Court's (ICC) recent arrest warrant for Bashir.

In late March, Bashir attended the Arab League summit with sixteen other Arab heads of state.  Qatar, which hosted the summit, not only gave Bashir assurances that he would not be arrested, but also welcomed him with the red carpet.  The often divided Arab League then ended the summit with the joint statement: "We stress our solidarity with Sudan and our rejection of the ICC decision against President Omar al-Bashir."

Bashir has also visited a number of countries in the Arab region since the ICC's issuance of his arrest under similar provisions as those provided by Qatar.

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In response to the International Criminal Court’s decision to indict him, Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir has ordered 13 foreign aid agencies to leave Sudan. His actions have further endangered the estimated 4.7 million people in the region who rely on food, medical and water aid. The expelled organizations are responsible for at least 50 per cent of this aid.

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In the context of continued violence, hunger and repression in the Darfur region of Sudan, we six women Nobel Peace Laureates are encouraged by recent progress in the work of the International Criminal Court in Sudan.

We remain deeply concerned by ongoing attacks against humanitarian aid workers in government-controlled towns, continued use of rape as a tactic of war, and obstructions to international efforts to resolve the conflict. The situation in Darfur is still desperate, after almost six years of armed conflict.
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