Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) includes the use of rape and sexual terror as a tactic of war in the conflict-affected eastern provinces, as well as pervasive violence against women and girls throughout the rest of the country. Men and boys are also victims of these abuses, but are often overlooked as a vulnerable population.

At the beginning of this week I sat in Washington DC, in a room with 25 emerging women leaders between the ages of 25 and 45, from countries all across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, who are participating in the Vital Voices Global Partnership.

I gloried in the glow of 25 different stories of growth and achievement and listened to expressions of intent to accomplish even more.

Last week marked a turning point for women like Mariam Ouadraogo and her relationship with the U.S. Mariam, who lives on about a dollar a day like many millions of her sisters all over the world, generously hosted me last year in her family compound in the small village of Doulougou, in the West African nation of Burkina Faso. Mariam doesn't know it, but for the first time she now has an advocate within the highest offices of U.S.

{[{Islamic feminism

The battle for women's equal rights existed before the Islamic Revolution. However, thinkers such as Soroush and Kadivar provided authentic Islamic terms and arguments to a branch of feminism within the Islamic establishment in 1990s. Their ideas created an environment in which Muslim women could raise their concerns with regard to women';s rights on the national level.

Conservative Muslim bloggers and women's rights activists bring harassers and inadequate legal and cultural protection to task, with women leading the charge.

Speech delivered by Ms. Michelle Bachelet, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, at the Democracy and Gender Equality Roundtable, UN Headquarters, New York, on 4 May 2011.

[Check against delivery.]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

There has been escalating violence, especially sexual assaults, against women in Libya.

The accusations are levelled at forces of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Some women say they were taken to the desert in groups. Others say they were raped in front of their families.

Opposition fighters say they have found Viagra pills in tanks and cars captured from the Gaddafi forces.

Deeqo Jibril is always on the go. Whether she is tending to her four children or teaching breast cancer awareness classes to women in her community, the Somali-born community organiser is always up for a new challenge.

Recently, she gave up her job as a social worker to focus full time on the Boston-based Somali Community & Cultural Association, a nonprofit Jibril founded a year ago to support Somali-American women.

Once more the LJWorld shows it's inherent political bias in refusing to publish information that very well may have far reaching consequences for the national Republican Party. Day before yesterday, the US House of Representatives passed House Resolution 3, the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act". (Link to the full text of the bill is here:

Somalia, like many other African countries, has endured sustained militarization and armed conflict. This phenomenon has become a significant obstacle to Somalia's progress towards peace, justice, democratization, and development. As a rule of thumb: where militarization increases, so does death and destruction, and human rights abuses. And, yes, so does senseless wars.