Hands Across the Divide (HAD) is the only registered bicommunal women’s organization in Cyprus, established in 2001 at the initiative of Sevgul Uludag and Katie Economidou, with a mandate to improve gender equality island-wide and to push the women and peacebuilding agenda whilst bringing women from both sides of Cyprus together around these goals. In 2020 it re-energized its efforts and is looking for opportunities to expand membership, outreach to women in non-urban areas, and improve networking of women’s organizations throughout Cyprus to together, actively contribute towards a culture of peace, multiculturalism and political equality in Cyprus. HAD is currently headed by two Co-Presidents, one from each Community

Many activities and workshops have taken place to reinforce the goals of the group through primarily street actions as well as the implementation of projects that engaged women from both sides of the divide to get to know, understand and support each other, irrespective of political affiliations, ethnic identity, age, educational background, or geographical origin.

Activities include:

• On April the 23rd 2003 a Cinderella demonstration took place in the Ledra Palace buffer zone opposing the 12 o’ clock midnight curfew imposed by the Turkish Cypriot authorities after the partial opening of the Green line as well as against the showing of passports.

• The "Peace Bus" whereby we visited villages in the north and in the south accompanied by people from the other community who had been displaced during the conflicts. During these visits the locals meet and chatted to those on the Peace Bus and an olive tree sapling was planted, as a symbol of "peace". To date there have been 7 Peace Buses,

• During 2020, an open spontaneous unedited conversation of the members of HAD over ZOOM on the effects of COVID was uploaded to social media and submitted to the publication entitled ‘A Day in a life of Women Peacebuilders in the time of COVID’ put together by the Armenian NGO Democracy Today.

• On 8 October 2020, on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, HAD was invited to a virtual round table discussion together with women from Mali, the Central African Republic and Darfur, all with different peace processes and challenges in promoting the full implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325. A communique was prepared and edited together with the Gender Advisory Team, endorsed by both organizations and presented to the UNSG.

Today, after 20 years of working together and with an extensive local and international network, HAD needs to reassess its current approach and do things that would make its intervention more effective. To this end, we need radical interventions using new media and new technologies as a form of protest, plus we need to bring in younger women, and synergies with men and boys who see the value of a feminist approach in the society.

You can find Hands Across the Divide on Facebook