AMERICAS

Within this region, PeaceWomen is currently monitoring 7 countries (United States, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru, Colombia, and Haiti) within four sub-regions.

The Americas are home to countries with both very high (US 4) and low (Haiti 145) rates of human development, in addition to multiple protracted and internal conflicts. According to the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) which measures and ranks the level of equality between genders, countries in the Americas diverge in their rankings from 19 (U.S.) to 109 (Guatemala.)

Currently, there is one United Nations peacekeeping mission in the region, the United Nations Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).
For information on National Action Plans in the region for SCR 1325, please click here.

PeaceWomen focuses our updates on materials related to women, peace and security and therefore our resources should not be seen as a comprehensive source on the broader situation in these countries.

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May 17, 2013 (Women News Network)
GUATEMALA: Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum Speaks on Justice & Sentencing in Guatemala The long struggle for justice has come to a point of resolution this week as the High Impact Court â€œAâ€courtroom conviction of Guatemala's ex-president General Efraín Ríos Montt brings relief and emotional tears to many of Guatemala's indigenous.
May 14, 2013 (IPS)
ECUADOR: Young Men Break with Machista Stereotypes in Ecuador At the age of 20, Damián Valencia speaks knowledgeably about every aspect of gender equality. He is a member of Cascos Rosa, a young people's initiative working for cultural change against machismo and violence against women in Ecuador.
May 3, 2013 (the wip)
COLOMBIA: "No Justice? No Peace!" The Women Absent from Colombia's Peace Talks â€œNo Justice? No Peace!â€ Never has this chant, which I have heard so often at anti-war rallies, felt so real to me as during the last few months observing the ongoing peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas. The talks began in October of last year in Oslo, Norway and have continued in Havana ever since. â€œNo Justice? No Peace!â€ Never has this belief been more real to women peace activists in Colombia, who, despite the fact that not a single woman is at the negotiating table in Havana, are insisting on justice for achieving real and lasting peace in Colombia. Women peace activists in Colombia are putting their demands for peace into action through grassroots justice initiatives.
April 10, 2013 (IPS)
EL SALVADOR: Impunity, Machismo Fuel Femicides in El Salvador Several brutal, high-profile murders of women in the last few weeks in El Salvador are just the latest reminder that this is one of the countries in the world with the highest number of femicides, the term used to describe the killing of women because they are female.
April 2, 2013 (ABC News)
GUATEMALA: Faces Covered, Rape Victims Testify at Trial of Guatemala's Former Military Strongman Indigenous women were systematically gang-raped by Guatemala soldiers and members of paramilitary groups during the country's 36-year civil war, victims testified Tuesday at the trial of the country's U.S.-backed strongman.