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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Vilnius:20260915T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Vilnius:20260915T193000
DTSTAMP:20260909T150143Z
CREATED:20260909T150143Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260909T150143Z
UID:6871-1789495200-1789500600@www.ndbelarus.com
SUMMARY:NGO CSW/NY September Monthly Meeting: Making Connections — CSW71\, the 2030 Agenda and What Comes Next
DESCRIPTION:Date: 15 September 2026\nTime: 18:00–19:30 Vilnius time\nFormat: Online\, via Zoom\nOrganiser: NGO Committee on the Status of Women\, New York (NGO CSW/NY) \nOn 15 September\, NGO CSW/NY will hold the first monthly meeting of its 2026–2027 season\, marking the launch of civil society engagement in preparation for the 71st session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW71). The programme will provide an overview of this year’s roadmap and the priority themes of the upcoming session. \nThe September meeting\, entitled “Making Connections: CSW71\, the 2030 Agenda and What Comes Next\,” will explore the links between the CSW71 agenda and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development\, as well as future directions for international advocacy on women’s rights and gender equality. \nNGO CSW/NY is the NGO Committee on the Status of Women\, New York\, a coalition of civil society organisations advocating for the rights\, empowerment and equality of women and girls worldwide. The Committee engages civil society in the processes of the UN Commission on the Status of Women and convenes the annual NGO CSW Forum. \nThe meeting will take place on 15 September\, from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM EDT\, corresponding to 18:00–19:30 Vilnius time. Participation is online via Zoom. \n 
URL:https://www.ndbelarus.com/event/ngo-csw-ny-september-monthly-meeting-making-connections-csw71-the-2030-agenda-and-what-comes-next/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Vilnius:20260914T080000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Vilnius:20260914T170000
DTSTAMP:20260908T182514Z
CREATED:20260908T174514Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260908T182514Z
UID:6867-1789372800-1789405200@www.ndbelarus.com
SUMMARY:Empowering Women in Water Diplomacy for Peacebuilding in the Conflict-Affected MENA Region
DESCRIPTION:Human rights defender Olga Karach joins international experts advancing women-led water diplomacy. \nOn 14 September 2026\, Belarusian human rights defender and peace activist Olga Karach\, head of the International Centre for Civil Initiatives “Our House”\, will take part in the international Expert Roundtable “Empowering Women in Water Diplomacy for Peacebuilding in the Conflict-Affected MENA Region.” \nThe high-level expert discussion is organised by the Geneva Water Hub in collaboration with the Global Water Partnership–Mediterranean (GWP-Med)\, as part of the broader Initiative on Empowering Women in Water Diplomacy in the MENA Region. The initiative was launched in 2020 to strengthen women’s leadership and decision-making roles in water diplomacy and transboundary water cooperation. \nThe Expert Roundtables bring together water specialists\, public decision-makers\, negotiators\, mediators\, peace and security practitioners\, researchers\, and representatives of women-led and international organisations. Their purpose is particularly significant in conflict-affected settings\, where access to and control over water can become a source of political tension and conflict\, but shared water resources can also create opportunities for cooperation\, dialogue and peacebuilding. \nA central idea behind the initiative is that women should not be viewed merely as populations affected by conflict and water insecurity. Instead\, they should be recognised as diplomatic actors\, negotiators\, agents of change and leaders in peacebuilding. Women remain seriously under-represented in both water-resource management and diplomacy\, despite the direct relationship between water security\, human security and sustainable peace. \nThe initiative builds on several years of work by the Geneva Water Hub and GWP-Med. Their cooperation initially included a comparative study examining women’s participation in water diplomacy in Egypt\, Jordan\, Lebanon\, Morocco and Palestine. Nearly 100 women experts contributed to the research underpinning the initiative. The work identified both structural barriers to women’s participation and the need to strengthen the practical skills required of contemporary water diplomats. \nIn 2026\, the initiative has placed additional emphasis on negotiation in conflict-affected environments\, including the ability to manage deadlocks\, navigate complex multi-stakeholder processes and conduct negotiations under pressure. The broader objective is to connect women’s leadership in water governance with conflict prevention\, reconciliation and sustainable peace. \nKarach’s participation brings to the discussion the perspective of a human rights defender and peacebuilder from Eastern Europe\, where questions of conflict\, militarisation\, human security and the protection of civilian populations have acquired particular urgency. \nThe Roundtables are also intended to have a concrete policy impact. Contributions from participating experts will feed into a joint Geneva Water Hub–GWP-Med analytical paper linked to major international policy processes\, including the 2026 UN Water Conference\, the Euro-Mediterranean Water Forum in Rome and the 11th World Water Forum in Riyadh in March 2027. The organisers intend the process to produce a practice-based contribution connecting gender\, conflict and water diplomacy. \nFor Olga Karach\, participation in the Roundtable also represents an opportunity to connect peacebuilding experience from Eastern Europe with approaches being developed in the conflict-affected MENA region. Despite very different regional contexts\, the underlying question is universal: how can resources essential for human survival become instruments of cooperation rather than sources of confrontation\, and how can women gain a meaningful role in negotiating those solutions? \n 
URL:https://www.ndbelarus.com/event/empowering-women-in-water-diplomacy-for-peacebuilding-in-the-conflict-affected-mena-region/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Vilnius:20260902T080000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Vilnius:20260902T170000
DTSTAMP:20260902T193851Z
CREATED:20260917T073741Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260902T193851Z
UID:6810-1788336000-1788368400@www.ndbelarus.com
SUMMARY:Our House Brings the Experience of Women in Exile into the EU Gender Action Plan IV
DESCRIPTION:Policy input urges the EU to confront gendered transnational repression across borders. \nOur House Centre for Human Rights and Relief has prepared a new Policy Input for the development of the EU Gender Action Plan IV (GAP IV) 2028–2034\, bringing into the European policy debate an issue that remains too often overlooked: authoritarian repression does not necessarily stop when a woman crosses an EU border. \nThrough our cooperation with the team and network of PeaceWomen Across the Globe / FriedensFrauen Weltweit\, Our House has been able to join the civil-society advocacy process around the development of GAP IV. We are deeply grateful to PeaceWomen Across the Globe for opening this advocacy space to us and helping bring the perspectives and expertise of women human rights defenders\, peacebuilders and activists from Belarus and in exile into a European-level discussion. \nOn 17 September 2026\, Our House will participate in the regional online session of the Structured Dialogue “Gender Equality in EU External Action: From GAP III to GAP IV.” The dialogue is convened by the European Commission — DG INTPA\, DG ENEST and DG MENA — and the European External Action Service (EEAS)\, in collaboration with the Policy Forum on Development (PFD). \nThe consultation is part of the process that will shape the European Union’s approach to gender equality in its external action for the years 2028–2034. \nCrossing an EU border does not end repression \nAs its contribution to this process\, Our House has independently prepared the Policy Input “Gendered Transnational Repression\, Women in Exile and Women\, Peace and Security.” \nIt draws on years of our work with women human rights defenders\, peace activists and people forced into exile\, and translates that experience into concrete recommendations for future EU policy. \nOur starting point is straightforward: crossing an EU border does not end authoritarian repression. \nWomen who have been forced to leave Belarus or other authoritarian countries do not suddenly cease to be human rights defenders\, peacebuilders\, journalists\, activists or civic leaders. Nor do the regimes that forced them into exile necessarily stop targeting them. \nPressure can continue across borders through digital surveillance and harassment\, threats\, attacks on relatives\, disinformation and reputational campaigns\, documentation problems\, and the exploitation of legal\, administrative\, financial or digital vulnerabilities in the countries where activists have sought safety. \nThis means that protection cannot be understood simply as reaching the territory of a democratic country. European gender equality and Women\, Peace and Security policies need to recognise the cross-border nature of contemporary authoritarian repression. \nWhen “local civil society” is forced into exile \nThere is another question that we believe the European Union needs to confront: \nWhat does “local civil society” mean when an authoritarian regime has physically forced independent civil society out of the country? \nFor Belarus\, this is not an abstract question. \nOrganisations may operate from Vilnius\, Warsaw or elsewhere in Europe while continuing to work for Belarus\, maintaining their constituencies\, expertise\, networks and accountability to the communities they represent. \nForced geographical displacement should not automatically become political or institutional exclusion. \nIf authoritarian governments can remove independent organisations from European consultation processes simply by forcing them into exile\, repression achieves a second victory: first it pushes civil society out of the country\, and then displacement itself becomes a reason to exclude that civil society from discussions about the country’s future. \nGAP IV should not reproduce that logic. \nFour changes Our House is asking the EU to make \nOur Policy Input proposes four concrete priorities for GAP IV. \nFirst\, the EU should explicitly recognise women human rights defenders and activists in exile as a distinct protection and participation group. Women in exile should not be viewed exclusively through migration or humanitarian categories. They remain political and civic actors. \nSecond\, the EU should integrate gendered transnational repression into its gender equality and Women\, Peace and Security policies. Digital harassment\, surveillance\, threats against relatives\, disinformation\, documentation coercion and legal or administrative pressure should be understood as interconnected forms of repression rather than isolated incidents. \nThird\, the EU should provide accessible\, flexible and long-term support to grassroots\, feminist\, women-led and exile-led organisations. Short project cycles alone cannot sustain organisations that simultaneously have to protect people\, retain expertise and continue advocacy under conditions of repression and displacement. \nAnd fourth\, the EU should systematically include credible exile civil society in country-level consultations and policy instruments when independent actors can no longer operate safely and freely inside their country. \nBringing experience into the rooms where policy is shaped \nFor Our House\, participation in this process is about more than attending another European consultation. \nIt is an opportunity to bring the experience accumulated through years of human rights\, peace and exile work into a process that will influence European policy until 2034 — and to argue that the people directly confronting authoritarian repression should have a voice in designing the policies intended to respond to it. \nWe are particularly grateful to PeaceWomen Across the Globe / FriedensFrauen Weltweit for enabling our participation in this advocacy space. \nFor organisations working from exile\, access to such networks matters enormously. They create a bridge between experience on the ground and the institutions where European policy is actually shaped. \nOur House is proud to contribute its expertise to this discussion and grateful to the partners and networks that make such participation possible. \nThe full Our House Policy Input for the EU Gender Action Plan IV (GAP IV) 2028–2034 and more information about our contribution are available here: \nhttps://www.ndbelarus.com/2026/08/24/our-house-prepares-policy-input-to-shape-europes-next-gender-action-plan-iv-gap-iv-for-2028-2034/ \nOur House Centre for Human Rights and Relief\nLithuania & Belarus \n 
URL:https://www.ndbelarus.com/event/our-house-brings-the-experience-of-women-in-exile-into-the-eu-gender-action-plan-iv/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Vilnius:20260607T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Vilnius:20260607T133000
DTSTAMP:20260606T145657Z
CREATED:20260606T143836Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260606T145657Z
UID:6236-1780833600-1780839000@www.ndbelarus.com
SUMMARY:STOP .BY NUKES
DESCRIPTION:On June 7 (Sunday) at 12:00 PM\, an anti-nuclear rally will take place at Kudirkos Square (Kudirkos aikštė)\, Vilnius. \nFour months have passed since the expiration of New START (the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) — the last remaining agreement limiting the strategic nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia. The treaty expired on February 5\, 2026. Its expiration has become an alarming signal for international security: the world has been left without a key mechanism for controlling the largest nuclear arsenals. \nFor Belarus\, this issue is especially painful. The Lukashenko regime is dragging our country into the nuclear threat and turning Belarus into a platform for intimidation\, fear\, and military escalation. Lithuania could become one of the targets of aggression launched from Belarusian territory. \nOur position: \n\nNo to nuclear weapons.\nNo to nuclear blackmail.\nBelarus must not become a nuclear hostage of the Kremlin and the dictatorships of Lukashenko and Putin.\n\nJoin the anti-nuclear rally on Sunday\, \nJune 7\, 12:00 PM\nKudirkos Square (Kudirkos aikštė)\, Vilnius \nSTOP .BY NUKES\nAnti-Nuclear Rally \nOur House / Dapamoga
URL:https://www.ndbelarus.com/event/stop-by-nukes/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Vilnius:20260405T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Vilnius:20260405T133000
DTSTAMP:20260420T130555Z
CREATED:20260325T190130Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260420T130555Z
UID:5823-1775390400-1775395800@www.ndbelarus.com
SUMMARY:Anti-Nuclear Protest Action
DESCRIPTION:April 5\, 2026 – Anti-Nuclear Protest\nMarking the expiration of the New START Treaty – the last remaining agreement between the United States and Russia on the control of strategic nuclear weapons. \nThe protest aims to draw attention to the risks of a renewed nuclear arms race and to the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
URL:https://www.ndbelarus.com/event/anti-nuclear-protest-action/
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ORGANIZER;CN="Our House Centre for Human Rights and Relief":MAILTO:info@ndbelarus.com
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