Geneva Peace Week 2025

Introduction

Geneva Peace Week is a critical platform for advancing peace, justice, and inclusive governance, convening international organizations, states, civil society, and grassroots peacebuilders. In 2025, as authoritarianism, militarization, and patriarchal systems deepen across the globe, Geneva Peace Week provides a vital space to affirm feminist leadership and strengthen intersectional approaches to peace and security.

NWI Context

Nobel Women’s Initiative, alongside Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and grassroots women human rights defenders, will use Geneva Peace Week to spotlight feminist solutions, strengthen alliances, and influence international peacebuilding dialogues. Building on the recent delegation to Guatemala, which highlighted the leadership and resilience of women human rights defenders and sought to connect local struggles with policymakers and political leaders, our participation in Geneva will continue to center voices from Latin America, particularly Honduras, Mexico, and Guatemala, on a global stage. By carrying these struggles into the heart of global policymaking, our participation will amplify feminist perspectives and demand structural change rooted in justice, equity, and care.

Furthermore, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi will engage in a parallel program aiming to amplify the messages of the “Women. Life. Freedom.” movement and draw urgent attention to the ongoing challenges faced by women activists and political prisoners in Iran.

Objectives   

The aim of our participation in this convening is to:

• Influence Peace and Security Agendas: Advocate for feminist, locally grounded approaches to peacebuilding, human rights, and climate justice.

• Elevate Grassroots Women’s Leadership: Ensure the meaningful participation of six women human rights defenders from Latin America, amplifying their voices in global forums.

• Foster Strategic Alliances: Build cross-sectoral relationships between women human rights defenders, diplomats, international civil society organizations, UN agencies, and donors.

• Expand NWI’s Reach in Geneva: Strengthen NWI’s engagement with key Geneva based mechanisms, including OHCHR, UN Women, and Permanent Missions.

• Advance Intersectional Feminist Advocacy: Highlight the intersections of gender, race, class, and environmental justice in discussions of peace and security.

Participants

Paola Pacheco

Paola studied Political Science at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and has long been active in feminist, human rights, and indigenous movements. In 2015, during her master’s studies, she joined an international consultancy with the University of York on how human rights defenders navigate risks. She later coordinated protection efforts for defenders supporting migrants and now leads strategic initiatives at a peacebuilding NGO in Mexico.

Neesa Medina

Neesa Medina is a feminist researcher and Gender and Security Analyst at the Centre for Women’s Rights in Honduras, where she has advanced reproductive rights, monitored violence against women, and provided expert testimony in asylum cases. Formerly coordinator of the Observatory of Violence against Women, she produced pioneering research on the gendered impacts of militarization and now works to ensure women’s rights translate into meaningful action locally and internationally.

Sara Dalila Mux Mux

Sara Dalila Mux Mux is a Maya Kaqchikel woman from San Juan Comalapa in Guatemala and a member of the Ixpop Collective, formed by Tik Na'oj, ECAP, the Maya Uk'U'x B'e Association, the International Institute for Women's Human Rights, and JASS. She is also co-founder of Tik Na'oj, a collective of Indigenous youth that provides political training and develops tools to amplify youth voices.

Juana Ramona Zúniga

Juana Ramona Zúniga is a Honduran defender of rivers and water. She is a member of the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa, founded by the late environmentalist Juan López, and in December 2024 received the fourth European Human Rights Prize in Honduras. The committee brings together Environmental Committees, peasant groups, and organizations such as the Coordinator of Popular Organizations of Aguán, the San Alonso Rodríguez Foundation, and the San Isidro Parish of Tocoa.

Diana Lepe

Diana Lepe, from Mexico, is the Director of Services and Advice for Peace, an organization that promotes peace, justice, and dignity by supporting social actors and coordinating local initiatives for conflict transformation. The organizations is also part of regional networks, including the Latin American Network of Women, Peace, and Security.

Isela Violeta Vásquez Alcántara

Isela Violeta Vásquez Alcántara is the Coordinator of the Antonio Esteban Human Rights Center in Cuetzalan, Puebla, Mexico. The Center defends land rights, combats the dispossession of rural and Indigenous communities, and provides psychosocial care, rooted in popular education and gender perspectives, to victims of human rights violations including disappearance, murder, and obstetric violence.

NWI Participants

Dr Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate

Amy Lira, Partnerships Coordinator

Maria Butler, Executive Director

Muzna Dureid, Advocacy and Partnerships Manager

Partners 

JASS Just Associates

REFLECTIONS

Peacebuilding from local and community contributions - Sara Mux, 01 December 2025