Carmen María Gallardo Hernández

Overview

Carmen María Gallardo Hernández born San Salvador, El Salvador November 28, 1947. Salvadorian diplomat; sponsored first International Forum on Culture of Peace, El Salvador 1993; representative to UNESCO 1992-4; Executive Director Salvadoran Foundation for Peace 1995-6; chair UN Development Program 2005; founding vice chair UN Peacebuilding Commission 2006; chair UN Commission on Status of Women 2006; first Salvadorian woman ambassador to UN 2007-12; member Core Group of International Task Force on Preventive Diplomacy 2007.

Quotations

“[R]esolution 1325 was a cornerstone for an appeal for women’s equal participation in all peace and security initiatives and in post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation. Resolution 1325 emphasized the need to boost women’s role in conflict prevention and resolution. In El Salvador’s post-conflict situation, men and women experienced peace in different ways.  In the context of armed conflict and in peacebuilding processes, one may wonder whether gender roles and relations were different, since men and women adapted differently to situations. Resolution 1325 allowed for the consideration of situations in a broad, gender-based manner.” (UN Security Council, June 19, 2008; photo Wikipedia)

Virginia Gamba

Overview

Virginia Gamba born San Martín, Argentina April 13, 1954. Argentine professor, expert in disarmament; UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict 2017; UN Assistant Secretary for Chemical Weapons in Syria 2016; Director UN Disarmament 2012-4; Expert consultant on African Small Arms 2007-9; Director UN Inst. of Disarmament Research 1992-96.

Quotations

“Disarmament and arms control help to reinforce [UN’s] primary norms—namely, the prohibition of the threat or use of force, and the duty to resolve disputes by peaceful means. All of these have to be pursued together because they are mutually reinforcing. Disarmament, peace, security, and human welfare are not alternatives—they function together to improve the quality of life on this planet.” (UN Office of Disarmament, Sept. 18, 2013; photo Univ. Central Okla.)

Josefina Garcia de Noia

Overview

Josefina García de Noia “Pepa Noia” born Barrio Norte, Buenos Aires, Argentina July 6, 1921 (d. 2015). Argentine human rights leader; one of 14 founding Mothers of the Plaza of May after military disappeared her daughter.

Quotations

“As long as I can, and unless it rains, I will continue going to the Plaza de Mayo, demanding that they return all the victims that were forcibly disappeared.” (Buenos Aires Herald, Sept. 1, 2015; photo anred.org)

Carolyn Gomes

Overview

Carolyn Gomes born Kingston, Jamaica March 30, 1956. Pediatrician; founded Jamaicans for Justice to fight extra-judicial killings, 1999. Awarded UN Human Rights Prize, 2008.

Quotations

“[O]bviously the primary threat to human rights is the right to life.” (Americas Quarterly, Spring 2009; photo utech.edu.jm)

Dorothy Granada

Overview

Dorothy Granada born Los Angeles, CA December 8, 1930. Nonviolent Filipina/Chicana nurse; 40-day international fast for life against nuclear weapons, 1983; part of group to protest disappeared Guatemalans, 1985; "lived on the tracks" of Concord weapons depot in Nuremberg protest, 1987; awarded FOR Peace prize, 1997; decade-plus efforts for Nicaraguan women.

Quotations

"Blessed are the poor and their friends, who together are building the beloved community where there will be no hunger, no violence, where the earth and all God’s creatures will live in peace and joy!" (Summit, NJ, Nov. 1, 2001; photo episcopalchurch.org)

Rosario Green

Overview

Rosario Green Macías born Mexico City, Mexico March 31, 1941. Economist; professor; politician. UN Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs, 1994. Special Advisor to UN Secretary General for Human Rights and Refugees, 1995. First chair of UN office to implement Beijing conference call for gender equality, 1996. First woman Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 1998-2000. Served as Mexican Ambassador to East Germany and Argentina.

Quotations

“[W]omen are peace-loving creatures. . . women have a lot to contribute to this peace culture, not only by the transmission of peaceful values, but also by transmitting other values that have to do with democracy, with the sharing of power, with fairness of treatment. Peace is more than the absence of war. Peace is the only possibility that exists for all humanity.” (UN Secretariat News, Summer 1995, p. 6; photo elporvenir.com)

Rebeca Grynspan

Overview

Rebeca Grynspan born San José, Costa Rica December 14, 1954. International economist; first woman head Ibero-American SEGIB for sustainable development; Costa Rica’s Vice President and Housing Minister 1996-8; UN Development Program Latin America 2006-10.

Quotations

“Women must participate and contribute to all stages of the peace process, from conflict prevention to peace building, from peace building to recovery and development.” (UNDP, Oct. 25, 2010; photo UNDP)

Patricia Guerrero Acevedo

Overview

Patricia Guerrero Acevedo born Bucaramanga, Colombia May 28, 1956. Colombian jurist; militant human rights activist; delegate to Women Cross DMZ for Korea peace 2015; founded League of Displaced Women 1999 and City of Women dedicated to nonviolence, negotiation and solidarity 2003.

Quotations

“We women are compelled to redefine everything, And we claim our space in this world to which we belong. We women are an irrefutable force, a living and deep river of blood, carriers of utopia. Our strength is our stubbornness, our invincible resistance.” (pats-eduent.net; photo nobel women’s initiative)

Aleida Guevara

Overview

Aleida Guevara born Havana, Cuba November 24, 1960. Cuban pediatrician; communist; two years in Angola saving lives of children in postwar chaos; also served in Ecuador and Nicaragua.

Quotations

“There is no peace in real meaning in the world, if there is poverty and death in lack of doctors and medicines.” (Japan Times, May 31, 2008)

On visit to Hiroshima: “As a pediatrician as well, I was overcome by a feeling of helplessness wondering why the lives of the children could not have been spared. The use of nuclear weapons is absolutely unacceptable. In order to abolish nuclear weapons, people must engage in dialogue and apply pressure on nuclear weapons states.” (hiroshimapeacemedia.sp, June 2, 2008; photo alchetron.com)