1. Foreword

Humankind has always been searching for rights, luck and beauties. Creativity, self-expression through communication and realizing ideas are essential parts of  the human character. This is what a human makes a human. These searches and longings have been growing through out history and have even become a greater need today. Unfortunately, those values, belonging to humanity and making live liveable are threatened with its very existence. The relationships between human and society, between human and nature and in between humans are confronted with very big dangers. The natural balances have been destructed in all of these three fields. In this context the natural advancement of humanity and societies and the natural development of the environment are experiencing severe difficulties.

Researching the causes for these difficulties and analysing attitudes and views, that evoked them, is important. Taking the results as a basis for our future works, the most important point will be to develop concrete solutions. Therefore it is necessary to create a raising consciousness towards the meaning of human life, society and nature. Women were the captains on human`s first exploring travels towards communal life during the early ages. As a productive and determinating power women, who were called “goodness” in this period, developed themselves as well as men and the society. But men`s striving for possession and ruling power separated women from their historical heritage. Women`s emotions, thoughts and wishes had been disparaged, ignored and denied. The goodness of the Neolithic Age was meant to be wiped out from human`s hearts and remembrances. The power of women was left in the darkness as the patriarchal age defined the history with its own beginning. The woman was buried into the grave into history. The passing millenniums showed us, that a world, which does not allow women to participate with their own identity and power, will always be confronted with wars, pain, hunger, migration and destruction. The two World Wars in the 20^th century, the use of nuclear weapons meant for both, humanity and environment, irretrievable losses. Women never produced a war; women and children never were the causes for forced migration. In spite of this women and children always had to carry its painful burdens and casualties. Although more than the half of world`s population is consisting of women, they still do not have an equivalent influence in decision making, executive mechanisms.

Recreating an equal global legislation has to be one of women`s most important tasks. Women`s civilization, the civilization of peace and democracy has to be build up with women`s hands. This is one of the basic targets of our foundation.

We think, that in spite of the patriarchal structures, solutions for the questions of humanity, women and environmental problems will be secured by the raising consciousness and participation of women in all fields of the society. Within this framework we aim to inform and educate women about the profits and losses of women`s history. One of our essential works will be to insure that our children, who are the fundament of the future society, will have the opportunity to grow up naturally in a peaceful and justice world instead of in a world of hunger and poverty. At the same time we believe in the importance of connecting the progresses created by women in the whole world with one another. We want to co-operate with women on an international level by intensifying and broadening women`s  meetings and networks.

Reviewing the first year of our works and experiences as the management committee of the International Free Women`s Foundation we see this period as an important time of preparations for our endeavours in the future. We know that, this work will need big efforts, patience and conviction. But as women who had to experience all kinds of pain, war and migration we are determined to unveil the creative, productive and progressive abilities of women in representing these values in a peaceful way with our own colour, our hearts and thoughts.

On behalf of the management committee

Gönül Kaya, Chairwoman of the IFWF
Amsterdam, December 2001

2. Establishment of the International Free Women’s Foundation

·         The IFWF observes the United Nations Treaty and the International Declaration of Human Rights and  makes no differences on the basis of language, faith, nation, ethnic background or sex.

·         The IFWF carries out research in different areas including history, economics, politics, technical developments, health and culture.

·         The IFWF initiates co-operation amongst women from different backgrounds and origin living in the Netherlands and organizes projects within this framework.

The gender issue is one of the most important problems of the world which has not been solved, yet. All global problems such as the lack of equality, democracy and social justice are closely connected with the gender problem. They are a complicated and interrelated set of phenomena, still waiting for an adequate solution. With regard to the economic, juridical, political and social problems of women, series of actions, meetings and lectures were realized by both of women organizations and many international associations at the beginning of the 21^st century.  

We, mainly Kurdish women, have taken initiatives within these developments. Our initiative is especially based upon the universal principles of the Bill of rights and the treaties regarding to the rights of women, which were accepted by the United Nations and the governments of many countries.  But their translation into action is still missing in many fields. From its beginning this initiative has interacted with many other women associations and prominent personalities to exchange opinions. As a young team, that has an enormous enthusiasm to create an own direction, we have been trying to use the valuable experiences of women and emancipation movements from all over the world. As a result of these preparatory activities  that took more than one year we decided to set up an independent, non-profit women’s foundation in the Netherlands. Reasons for this choice were the intense support and attention of the women from various national and cultural origins staying in the Netherlands. The women’s associations in this multicultural society, namely to give an impulse to the co-operation between women from various backgrounds and to create a basis for solidarity.  

We concluded from the activities conducted in the past the fact that many of the Kurdish women staying in the Netherlands are leading an isolated life from the rest of the society and that a lot of them are unfortunately illiterate. After seeing this we realized that education had to be one of the main activities to be conducted. The situation described above can be regarded as a consequence of the feudal standards and values of the traditional society. These are the most important obstacles for women to develop themselves in social, cultural and occupational fields. This situation detains the development of the abbilities and creates a type of woman that is dependent and far from beeing integrated in the society.
By our activities and projects we have tried to reach women who have been able to educate themselves and who would be able to change those circumstances for others, too. We decided to create opportunities for women from different cultures at the various functions of the foundation, in order to break the isolation of Kurdish women by interacting and realizing co-operation with the others. An other reason for creating such a mixed and colourful organization is our desire to set up a common basis for all women, to facilitate an environment to share and to build bridges of solidarity. Due to the feudal social background of Kurdish women it was important for us to prove that we are able to support and help women, so that they can overcome their problems and also to create an atmosphere and place where they can go, trust without facing any rejection from their husbands or anyone else.

Therefore we have established an office in Amsterdam in order to meet the demands of our members. This is at the same time the place which divides us the opportunity to organize and develop our work and activities. This has already been realized on account of the support of them. Special thanks we also owe to the Juliana Welzijn Fonds for its financial support when we were starting to build up the foundation. At the same time we would like to thank to all those, who have been in solidarity and gave us support from the very beginning. 

The power to exceed all the difficulties is based on the ability to face the existing problems and to believe in the solvability of them. Naturally our interests are not only restricted to our sexual identity. At the same time we are intensively involved with the other existing problems of the global village. Our attitude against any kind of oppression from society, state and culture as well as against all kinds of wars is fairly clear. We are against all kind of violence. This attitude we practised by supporting peaceful efforts against the war, both in the Netherlands and abroad. Since September 2001 we also participated in the “Amsterdams Platform Voor Vrede”, which actively rejects the war against the people of Afghanistan. Our objective is to stand strong against every form of violence that threatens  human life and the nature. Therefore it is necessary to strengthen and to expand women’s and civil organizations, our relations and networks in the future.

3. Education for Free Development of Women and Children 

In spite of long lasting endeavours for emancipation, discrimination against and disadvantages met by women are still a reality within all societies. The negative influences of unequal opportunities become not only obvious in the spheres of the labour market and the professional life, but also through the continuing domestic violence against women. The report of the United Nations World’s Women 2000: Trends and Statistics states: “Two thirds of the world's 876 million illiterates are women, and the number of illiterates is not expected to decrease significantly in the next twenty years. (…) Self-employment and part-time and home-based work have expanded opportunities for women's participation in the labour force but are characterized by lack of security, lack of benefits, and low income. Women remain at the lower end of a segregated labour market and continue to be concentrated in a few occupations, to hold positions of little or no authority and to receive less pay than men. (…) Physical and sexual abuse affect millions of girls and women world-wide - yet are known to be seriously under-reported. “

Especially under the circumstances of warfare there are no rights for women. In addition to the general destruction caused by war, special methods of torture and crime are used by warring armies to destroy women physically and mentally. Although forms and methods are changing in developing countries as well as in the fully industrialized countries, women are still seen as second-class citizens.

Within the societies of Europe the conditions for immigrant and refugee women are even harder. Along with the difficulties they face in dominant Western societies as a result of restrictive foreign legislation, racist and sexist discrimination, they are confronted with an internal conflict due to their reality of living in or in between two or even more cultures. Escaping from life threatening conditions of war, torture and suppression, a violent up-rooting often traumatises refugee women. This often leads to an isolated life within traditional family structures, evokes psychological and physical problems. Therefore, there exists an urgent need for special support, consciousness raising and a social dialogue. Due to the long lasting war and suppression, the denial of their national identity, cultural expressions and the prohibition of their language by the State authorities in their homeland, Kurdish women are facing even harder problems under exile conditions.

From August 5th to 15th, 2001 the IFWF carried out an education camp for women and children of different origins in the Netherlands. As the 83 participants of the camp were mainly Kurdish women and children, we tried to concentrate our program on their specific needs and requests. Apart from a program of cultural and sporting activities, such as choir, theatre workshops and self-defence training, daily seminars were given by different women professionals on different issues concerning the women’s lives. During the seminars the participants were able to gain new knowledge about their possibilities of social and political participation, women’s health care and psychology, pedagogy and children’s education. In the following discussions women tried to express the difficulties the face within the families and the societies by giving examples from their own lives as well as trying to find solutions by exchanging their experiences. Sharing ideas and daily work together, the social relationships between the women as well as friendships between the children developed quickly. Pedagogic childcare, separate cultural activities and play facilities were provided for the children during the time of women’s education.

Evaluating the course and the results of the camp Suna Ö.’s opinion represents those of many participants: “You all know who I am. I cannot read or write, because I was never able to go to school. I was used to speak only if the permission was given to me. I never dared to discuss about the world or to talk about what many women like myself lived through. It never came into my mind to speak out against a man. But through the seminars and through the deep discussions we led in these days I saw the power which is hidden in me and in all of us women. I hope a camp like this will be organized again.”
The sociologist Münevver K. stated: “During the camp all kinds of facilities for both women and children were available. Although the children were of different ages, they were from 6 month to eleven years old, they all had great fun and got on quite well with each other. Everybody listened to the consciousness raising and well prepared lessons carefully. It was really interesting and I was surprised, although many women were not able to take notes during the seminars, that nobody forgot anything we discussed in these days. The discussions carried on during the break times, the fields of interest got wider and broader. I saw that many women gained lost facial expressions again on their faces. The interest in each other and the rich program ensured that we all feel much more powerful.”

The education camp for women and children was one of the first practical steps in broader sense taken by the IFWF towards an encouragement and the education of women and children. The great interest and the amazing individual and collective development many women made within a small period of only 10 days as well as the request for continuing activities, demonstrate the importance of social engagement and education work for different groups of women. The realization of this project was made possible through the friendly financial support of SKaN Fonds (Hilversum/NL) and Haella Foundation (Den Haag/NL). At the same time many voluntary supporters and donators were involved. We want to thank all these institutions and persons for their engagement.

4. Dialogue and Solidarity amongst Women for Peace and Democracy

"Women: many languages, many colours, many realities - one hope", was the theme of the opening celebration of the International Free Women’s Foundation, which took place on September, 15^th 2001 in Amsterdam. By this theme we express our hope connected with the active endeavour of women in the whole world for peace and justice.

Creating a platform for exchanges of ideas and experiences by giving activists from women’s and peace movements from different parts of the world the opportunity to present their views and projects are important steps for overcoming prejudices and discrimination as well as for building up stable networks of solidarity. Thus women often play an important part in bringing together communities that had been divided as a result of nationalist ideologies and wars.  But women’s engagement in these fields is often not recognized. While women play a vital part in the societies who create the conditions for peace processes as we could see for example in former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Turkey/Kurdistan or Northern Ireland, peace talks are often led by men in responsible positions. They are often not able to take the specifics needs of women or even women’s basic rights into account. Reports of the United Nations confirm this insufficiency: “All but 26 States have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, making it the second most widely ratified human rights treaty. (…) Despite calls for gender equality, women are significantly under-represented in Governments, political parties and at the United Nations.”  (The World's Women 2000: Trends and Statistics).

To abolish this imbalance we see it as important to strengthen the role of women and their abilities to express themselves within a lasting development of peace and democracy by taking peaceful solutions as the basis for resolving conflicts.In this framework, women representatives of different institutions from the Netherlands, other European countries, Turkey, Kurdistan and Egypt joined the Information and Solidarity Event on September 15^th.  As well as speeches in which women explained their standpoints on the importance of women’s struggle for equality, democracy and peace, a rich cultural program accompanied the speeches. And in particular, the deep shock after the events on September 11^th in the United States made every speaker emphasize the crucial meaning of such meetings and the strengthening of women’s activities against violence and war.

After the opening speech, held by the President of the IFWF, Mrs. Gönül Kaya, Mrs. Elvira Sweet congratulated the event in the name of the City Council of Amsterdam.  This was followed by speeches from Mrs. Shereen Abou El Naga (Arab Women’s Solidarity Association/Egypt), Mrs. Ellen Diederich (International Women’s Peace Archive/Germany) and Messages of Suna Parlak from the Tigris Women’s Cultural Centre/Istanbul and from Berivan Kum from the Amargi Women’s Co-operative/Istanbul. Further greeting messages have been sent by several personalities and institutions as for example by the Peace Mothers (Turkey/Kurdistan); Mrs. Leyla Zana (former Kurdish MP of the DEP); Mrs. Sylvie Jan (Women’s International Democratic Federation/France); MEP Feleknas Uca; Mrs. Brigitte Schubert (Women’s Initiative for the Freedom of Leyla Zana) and others. The cultural part of the program was arranged by musicians and artists from different cultures and styles, ranging from contributions of classical music by the Kurdish pianist Naze and the opera singer Diyana Wekil to contemporary Kurdish music in the different dialects of the Kurdish language by the musicians Gülistan Perwer, Beser Sahin, Merziye Razazi and the group Venge Sodiri. The Latin American musician Guadeloupe Urbina and the Dutch musician Winanda del Sur presented their songs. During the event, the visitors also showed a big interest in the exhibition of the Kurdish painters Dilvin Shengali and Farzaneh Ghorishi.

More than 200 visitors, mainly representatives of women’s movements and civil organisations, agreed that the event fulfilled its theme as mentioned above. Discussions, cultural and social activities like this are playing a crucial role in developing the dialogue between the cultures and a social climate in which women can spread tolerance and peaceful co-operation by showing their own colours. The rich program had been made possible by financial contribution of the foundation  Mama Cash (Netherlands) as well as through the voluntary support of many artists and voluntary workers. We want to thank them all by recognizing their efforts.

5. International Solidarity and Co-operation

Our goal is to achieve real solidarity with all women who are facing problems and to create the international cooperation required in order to achieve this goal. Apart from this goal, it is one of our basic aims to show solidarity with women who have undergone damage, lived in pain, or lived as refugees as a result of wars. Because of the wars that have lasted for years in the regions where Kurds live, millions of people have been forced to leave their country and live as refugees now. Most of these refugees have left their country for the Western World. Other people live in exile in their own country. The difficulties of life, which the war has brought, are the reason the refugees have had to leave for the West. The social, economic and psychological crises of the war have had their effect especially on the women and the children.

Almost 70% of the people living on or below the poverty line in the world are female and the main reason for this poverty is in almost all cases some war. Also in the West, women make up the poorest part of the society. They are the ones working in the low paid and less secure jobs. ILO statistics say that women and girls do 2/3s of the world’s work and 2/3s of this work is unwaged. Women and girls actually get only 5% of the income from all this work. 

This inequality in sharing income is one of the reasons for the ever-growing army of young children who work from a very young age at extremely demanding and frequently dangerous jobs. These millions of children have no education opportunities, live on the streets and have no real future or a life with any form of guarantee. This is in spite of the fact that prosperity for some has risen to a level five times higher than 30 years ago. The distance between the poor and the rich has grown exponentially. At the beginning of the 21st century, there were a lot of expectations due to prominent discussions on democracy and peace, but the clashes have lasted and have grown in the mean while. Displacement and the seeking of refuge are the deepest wounds in women’s life caused by violence and war. From the beginning, our foundation has had the goal of supporting women and children who have suffered from wars, in both a psychological and material way.

This is what we need to know in order to understand specific situations.  For example, thousands of Kurds were forced to flee from Turkey to Northern Iraq in 1993/94 - after threats, intimidation and dangers - because of the war in Turkey at that time. At this moment, these people are trying to build up their lives in the Maxmur Camp in Northern Iraq, which is near the 32nd Northern Parallel, that marks the border of the no-fly zone. In this matter, we believe that it is our duty to inform and to involve the public in Europe in order to get support for these people and in order to mobilize public opinion against anti-democracy, inequality, violation of human rights, oppression and violence. This is why we have formed the Maxmur Committee, in order to support the people in the Maxmur Camp.  The camp population of nine thousand people consists, for the most part, of women and children. They have lived the war for real, their houses have been burnt down and they have been forced to leave their villages and country. Among these women and children there are many who have lost their husbands, mothers, fathers, children or relatives and a lot of children have become disabled.

In the first place the Committee will develop and implement projects concerning the health and the education of the women and children in the Maxmur Camp. The reason to start such a campaign in order to help these people is a letter we have received from the women’s center in the Camp. In order to get support and to strengthen this project, the Committee has started to inform the public. In this way the Committee wants the commitment of as many organizations as possible. An example of materials used in this campaign is a film of 17 minutes, in which the life of the women and children in the Camp is explained. Also a brochure has been produced in which there is a call is for solidarity with the refugees in the Camp, along with several seminars for the public. Along with these efforts, Kurdish women have started with the preparations for a number of concerts, in order to collect as much money as possible for the Camp.

For this project we have planned different activities, informative seminars, solidarity concerts, donation campaigns, the sending of health and research teams to the camp and campaigns to collect medical equipment, to make it a success. To be able to work in a more professional way, we have organized a workshop for our volunteers. During this workshop the question “how to organize international projects?” is central. We have sought opinions from a lot of women’s organizations about this subject. The realization of this course on international project was made possible through the financial support of the NCDO/Netherlands.

In short we can say that this project has the goal of letting the women and children in the Camp feel that we haven’t forgotten them at all, no matter how small the help we can offer. Also it is important for us – we consider this as our human duty – to be there for people who have been damaged by the war and to help them forget or overcome the problems – social, economic or psychological – these wars have caused. This project will be our first international project, but we are planning to develop more such projects in the international aspect of our work.

As it is in Maxmur Camp, no tragedy in the world has its own language, religion, race or identity, because all the pain is the same. The pain is a common element and the solidarity is most needed in co-operation.

6. Seminars & Conferences

Since the formation of our Foundation, we have tried to be in contact with different organizations of women in order to exchange information and ideas systematically. Also we have organized seminars and meetings with the purpose of spreading discussions in the course of our activities.

The goal of these meetings is to bring women together where they can share each other’s ideas and opinions about the social, economic, cultural and political crises caused by clashes in conflict situations.  Another aim is to informing women about the facts concerning such situations where there is or has been conflict. It has been very useful to learn of the ideas of those women with whom we have met, because these ideas have been very important to us in setting out the direction in which we should direct our efforts. So we have tried to shape these platforms for discussion as occasions for learning by everyone present. With this in mind, discussion platforms have been organized for women and men, first in Holland, but also in Germany and France. In some places, most of the women involved were Kurdish, but in other places there were also European women or women from other countries living in Europe in the discussions or meetings.

Up to the present, the discussions have led to the question of how to overcome the inequality and the violence women are facing within the system, the family or the society. By working in this way, we have also created the opportunity of learning about the problems both men and women are facing. Another point of focus is the fact that men and women are very interested in how to create a society in which equality and democracy is a fact. In this for example one of the complaints made by women is that the difficulties produced by the logic of men are a barrier to the development of women.
In order to try to get to solutions in the case of these problems, we plan to organize seminars, through which we would like to enlarge the skills of women to come to solutions in case of such problems. Also the men could learn how to let go ideas and positions that can be a barrier to the development of women and to a society based on equality. We believe that only through education can the situation of imbalance make room for a situation of equal rights and mutual respect without prejudices. 

We have participated in meetings and seminars organized by other European institutions and organizations to which we have been invited. At these meetings, we have tried to get acquainted with other organizations and their opinion about women and the problems women face. We have also learned a lot about the activities of other organizations. One of these seminars was the seminar of the European Parliament in Strassbourg of which the subject was ‘the participation of women in the prevention and the resolution of conflicts’. Another seminar was organized by the National University of Ireland at Galway, to which our Foundation was invited to send a speaker. Also the first steps towards an international network, with the help of which international projects can be developed, have been set in motion.

7. Conclusion

Throughout the history, up to now, women have played an important role in the social and political balances coming into existence, within states and societies. Social engagement for more democracy, equal rights, social justice and peace are processes in which women’s role in the struggles has been very important. It is not possible to speak of democracy, if the participation of women is not present. The degree of participation and influence of women in cultural, political, technical and scientific life is crucial for the direction of development of a society.

Although nowadays women have a certain position, the influence of the dominant male logic is still much bigger. The wars, battles, struggles, conflicts under which suffer our world and lives are mainly results of this logic. To end this situation of imbalance, on one hand it is necessary to develop women`s opinions, influences and thoughts. On the other hand women need to work and progress in a more sophisticated, united and joint way. It is our goal to make women aware of the importance and the seriousness of their role in society. Women are the only alternative power for real democracy and peace. It is our goal to reveal this power of women and to canalize it, so that it can contribute to the development of the whole humankind. International co-operation, raising  involvement in civil organizations and solidarity networks of women can contribute to better results and goal achievement. We want to ensure that racial, national, linguistic and religious differences, our different identities in fact are not a barrier but an enrichment, which strengthens our co-operation.

International Free Women’s Foundation has the goal to explore and develop activities and projects, which can contribute to democracy, peace, equal rights, environmental protection and human rights. We try to realize this mission with our own sources on one hand and in cooperation with other women organizations on the other.  

For this reason we have started in our own area by educating women and children, by organizing the infrastructure to strengthen the organization, by contacting new groups to enlarge the network and by developing projects in order to strengthen the international solidarity. Another important point is that we try to bring solutions to problems of women in specific cases that are related to the environment or the region they live in or to support them in these circumstances. One of our basic goals is also to support our theoretical solutions to problems by scientific and academic research. In this sense we are aiming to improve our joint efforts in the future even further.