Group photo, Kyoto
From 24-25 August 2006, 400 religious women leaders from 65 countries of the world and from the world’s major faith traditions gathered in Kyoto, Japan for Religions for Peace Women’s Assembly from 24-25 August 2006.

This Women’s Assembly provided a unique opportunity to women of faith to prepare for Religions for Peace Eighth World Assembly that began two days later. The Women's Assembly, with the theme “Women of Faith: Assembling for Action,” was the world’s largest and most diverse multi-religious gathering that brought together more than four hundred women of faith.

The delegates were selected representatives of the regional and national women of faith networks and inter-religious councils, women of faith with senior representative positions in religious communities, senior women representatives of the UN, inter-governmental, faith-based and non-governmental organizations and experts and scholars who specialize in women and religion.

The delegates were unanimous in positively acknowledging Religions for Peace’s efforts to build a strong women of faith network that is also mainstreamed into multi-religious structures and initiatives.

Main objectives of the Women’s Assembly
The overall purpose of the Women’s Assembly was to provide an opportunity for women to reflect on Religions for Peace Eighth World Assembly, in which women of faith constituted 35 percent of the delegates. The Women’s Assembly prepared the women of faith to take an active role in the main Assembly by reflecting on the Assembly Theme ‘Confronting Violence and Advancing Shared Security’ from a gender perspective.

The women of faith discussed gender realities and perspectives relating to the three Assembly Commission themes on transforming conflict, building peace, and advancing sustainable development, and their recommendations were reported at the main Assembly commission plenary.

The women of faith displayed their unity through collective planning and reflection and made key recommendations and commitments in the Declaration that was presented at the Main Assembly. The women of faith re-claimed their voice, increased their visibility as religious leaders and attained over 34 percent in the leadership of Religions for Peace World Council. Other objectives of the Women’s Assembly were to:

• Provide a platform for women of faith to congregate and share knowledge and information.
• Identify key ways to expand and strengthen networking among women of different religions as well as mainstream the Network within multi-religious structures and programs.
• Increase the visibility of the Global Women of Faith Network of Religions for Peace and create linkages and partnerships with local and international agencies.
• Identify the specificity of the concerns of women of faith with respect to building peace, transforming conflict and advancing sustainable development.
• Outline concrete recommendations and guidelines for action for Religions for Peace to respond to these concerns in the next 5 years.
  Common Concerns for Action
  

During plenary and working group discussions, panelists and delegates re-affirmed that women of faith across the world are often in the frontlines working as committed peace builders, reconciliation brokers and activists. Women of faith possess valuable community-based experiences and resources based on proven track records of effective strategies and community-based responses to peace and development.

However, despite the multiple and inalienable roles of women of faith, discussions in plenary and working groups sessions unveiled the following key challenges and constraints faced by women of faith in building peace, transforming conflict and advancing sustainable development:

• Human rights abuses, impunity and escalation of all forms of violence against women.
• The brutal and devastating impacts of armed conflicts in many parts of the world.
• Ever increasing incidences of HIV and AIDS and its link to gender violence and discrimination.
• Poverty, economic injustices and impoverishment among vulnerable groups of women and girls including migrant and refugee women, child mothers, female and child-headed households.
• Marginalization of religious women in faith-based communities and institutions as a key concern and challenge in advancing shared security.
• Invisibility of the structures, networks, roles and leadership by women of faith to build peace, transform conflict and advance sustainable development.
• Violence against children. The delegates acknowledged that these areas of concern were also areas of influence for women of faith, through multi-religious networking that provides unique opportunities and a collective voice to issues. They re-committed to build a bold and persistent women of faith voice for confronting violence and advancing shared security.

Recommendations and Commitments
Awakened by a clear need to stimulate a new level of commitment among faith-based organizations, religious institutions, UN agencies, Civil society movements and governmental organizations in working with women of faith, the delegates made the following recommendations and commitments:

Called on Religious Leaders and Communities to:

• Ensure the human rights of women and girls.
  
• Identify sources of Gender –Based Violence, prevent violence and actively protect women and girls from all forms of violence.
  
• Promote human rights advocacy and inter-faith solidarity for victims and survivors of violence.
  
• Create and strengthen a faith knowledge-base that re-affirms religious principles on the dignity of women.
  
• Monitor the implementation of national, regional and International commitments and protocols that protect the security of women, including CEDAW, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and UN Millennium Development Goals.
  
• Ensure the leadership and participation of women of faith in multi-religious cooperation for peace.

Called on Religions for Peace to:

• Facilitate networking and information sharing and promote dialogue and cooperation among women and men of different faiths.
  
• Generate and promote local knowledge, information and skills at local, grassroots, national, regional and international networking levels in conferences and consultations.
  
• Create greater visibility of the potential and inalienable roles of women of faith to transform conflict, build peace and advance sustainable development.
  
• Build a databank of religious women’s organizations and activities and be a contact point for needs and information on faith-based women’s organizations.
  
• Coordinate Information gathering, documentation and dissemination.
  
• Develop effective management of religion and gender-based knowledge so as to support faith-based organizations with tools and guides in efforts to mainstream women of faith into multi-religious policies and programs.
  
• Enhance the capacities of religious leaders and provide opportunities for training and advocacy on needs-based thematic areas by context and region.
  
• Create linkages and strengthen partnership and alliances among Women of faith networks with UN agencies, other faith-based organizations, governments and civil society organizations and groups.

Called on UN agencies, development and peace-building organizations, other faith-based organizations and civil society to:

• Create and strengthen linkages and alliances with women of faith networks
  
• Leverage resources, financial, material and informational, to build capacities of women of faith networks at local, national, regional and international levels

Called on themselves as women of faith to:

• Forge partnerships and create alliances with other secular women’s networks, UN agencies, development and peace-building organizations and other civil society organizations
  
• Reclaim their voice and fundamental roles as religious leaders.
  Strengthen inter-religious networking.
  Build solidarity with women from different religions, regions and cultures.