The overall situation for minority groups in Kosovo is not good and conditions are particularly bad for girls and women, who often don't have access to basic education or health care. These are the findings of a report published by The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation's partner organisation Network of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women's organizations in Kosovo, NRAEWOK.

We would like to share the following open letter to newly elected Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The letter, penned by WILPF Australia, Young WILPF Australia and the Women Peace and Security Academic Collective, encourages the Australian government to lead the charge in advocating for the country's Women, Peace and Security Agenda.

Cc Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs Bob Carr
Dear Hon. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd,

The Open Institute NGO has launched a crowdsourced gender-based violence mapping tool in Cambodia to promote and protect women rights. Notably, gender-based violence has remained a significant issue in Cambodia. A UN report highlighted the problem of demostic violence and gender-based violence against sex workers, most-at-risk young people, and women living with HIV.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka from South Africa as the new Executive Director of UN Women, the organization leading UN's work on advancing gender equality and women's rights.

A number of women in the Indian-controlled Kashmir have launched a campaign to fight for women's rights and push Indian authorities to try those responsible for human rights violations there.

Since the early 1990s, an active civil society campaign has been promoting the negotiation of a robust, comprehensive, legally-binding treaty to establish standards and restrictions on the international trade in conventional arms. After a seven year process at the United Nations, the treaty text was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 2 April 2013.

Brief history of the UN process

Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai has addressed the United Nations as part of her campaign to ensure free compulsory education for every child.

She marked her 16th birthday by delivering the speech on Friday at the UN headquarters in New York.

Taliban gunmen shot Malala on her school bus last October following her campaign for girls' rights.

PRIO Gender, Peace and Security Update (Issue 3-2013)

Every year on 9 August we celebrate Women's Day in South Africa, a public holiday that pays homage to the women of our nation – the mothers, the wives, the sisters and the daughters who fought tirelessly against the tyranny of the Apartheid government.

South Sudan became the world's newest country on 9 July 2011 after decades of civil war and conflict. Women played a strong role in the popular referendum that resulted in the nation's independence from Sudan. Yet, the consequences of war – which disproportionately affected South Sudan's women, leaving many of them illiterate, impoverished and widowed – linger now, even though peace has come.