ParlAmericas co-organized a virtual seminar on the Defence, Peace, and Security agenda for women parliamentarians across the Americas and the Caribbean
The virtual seminar, “With All That’s Going on Right Now…”: The Challenge of Political Leadership During Crisis,” was organized by ParlAmericas in coordination with the Global Centre for Pluralism and the Parliamentary Centre, the latter of which serves as the Secretariat for the Women Legislators in Defence, Security and Peace global network (WLID). Occuring during a time of heightened and converging global security crises, today’s seminar provided a safe space for women parliamentarians across the region to engage in constructive dialogue with their peers on related issues.
The session began with opening remarks provided by Member of Parliament Anita Vandenbeld (Canada) and Senator Verónica Noemí Camino Farjat (Mexico), President of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality. This was followed by a panel exchange on promoting dialogue for peace and security, featuring presentations by Member of the Chamber of Deputies Margarita Stolbizer (Argentina), Rapporteur to the 148th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Committee on Peace and International Security and Meredith Preston McGhie, Secretary General, Global Centre of Pluralism. Moderated by former parliamentarian Guadalupe Valdez (Dominican Republic), both presenters and participants reflected on navigating responsible leadership and political messaging and advancing gender-responsive approaches to the Defence, Security and Peace agendas.
After the panel exchange, the seminar fostered continued dialogue among parliamentarians, focusing on perspectives and concerns from their constituents, high-impact actions to combat xenophobia and religious intolerance, and lessons to advance unity and peacebuilding. Closing remarks were then made by Member of Parliament Stephanie Kusie (Canada), Vice-President for North America of the ParlAmericas Parliamentary Network for Gender Equality.
