Dear members, dear friends,

As we begin 2024, we’d like to start by wishing you a very happy, healthy and feminist New Year!

To our members who are currently victims of war, directly or indirectly, but also more broadly to women who are victims of oppression, violence or terrorism, we wish peace and freedom.

Almost two years ago, Russia invaded Ukraine and since then, by air, sea or land, the conflict has had and continues to have devastating consequences, first and foremost on women and children, but also on the population as a whole.

A few days ago, our vice-president, Lyudmyla Porokhniak, testified that a rocket had fallen not far from her home, reviving the fears of the first days of the war. Even though the population is surviving in a country that has been largely destroyed, she wishes us “good health, inspiration to accomplish our mission of fighting for peace on every continent. So that our children and grandchildren don’t wake up at night because of explosions, and so that they succeed and are happy”. Thank you Lyudmyla! We stand by you and salute your courage, strength and perseverance in resisting.

Of course, women in Russia also suffer from an authoritarian regime and the consequences of war and the death of loved ones in combat. We also wish you the strength to resist and fight for the fundamental rights of peace and security and for the rights of women, which are under serious threat in this country.

Our friends and members of our councils in the Middle East are also suffering.
The devastating images of 7 October, shocking and overwhelming, will haunt us for a long time to come, because as a women’s rights organisation, we must continue to denounce the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war.

The war crimes committed against women, children and the elderly cannot be denied and will not disappear from our memory. Israeli women have been raped, paraded naked, dismembered and mutilated. Even as witnesses have come forward and this has been documented, the silence of international women’s groups has been deafening and has led to the #MeTooUNlessURajew movement. We believe that every woman’s life is equally valuable and we hope that you can recover from this trauma and that the hostages are released.

Of course, women in Gaza are also suffering enormously from this war, and are the first disproportionate victims of the bombardments and are bearing the brunt of the conflict between Israel and Gaza. We hope for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid to alleviate the suffering and prevent the situation from worsening for women and children.

But we also want to mention the women of Iran and Afghanistan, who suffer from sexual apartheid and patriarchal misogyny, and who are the victims of a systemic, dehumanising and relentless war waged against them. Despite their heroic resistance, which bears witness to their courage, the world remains reluctant to act with the necessary force and condemn this violence. This is why, in 2024, we are calling for sexual apartheid to be classified as a crime.

We are also calling on Europe to rapidly adopt a strong directive criminalising rape, i.e. that sexual relations without freely expressed consent constitute rape.

Because a ray of light can overcome darkness and obscurantism.
We wish you a year of light that will put an end to wars and conflicts and barbaric acts of terrorism, feminicide, rape and violence against women. May the glimmers of hope and the illuminations of our hearts strengthen our fight against sexism, racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia and all forms of discrimination.

As the poet Guillaume Apollinaire once said, “It’s high time to turn the stars back on”, to turn on night after night “all the inner stars we’ve turned off”, to turn our creativity back on.

For all this, for all of us, for all the work we have to do, don’t forget to answer the call so we can decide on the venue for our next AGM!

Happy New Year 2024!

Viviane Teitelbaum, President ECICW
Lyudmyla Porokhnyak, Marie-Claude Bertrand, Sema Ozan, vice-presidents
Sylvie Lausberg, General Secretary
Ludovina Moreira Costes, Treasurer