General Women, Peace and Security

On 25 June 2013, the United Nations Security Council issued its sixth resolution on women, peace, and security: Resolution 2106. In line with three of the preceding resolutions on women, peace, and security (Resolutions 1820, 1889, and 1960), the Council focused on the issue of sexual violence in armed conflict.

In the WILPF's recommendation which the CEDAW Committee picked up in their General Recommendation on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), WILPF highlighted the importance of strengthening women's participation in peace negotiations, regulating the arms trade, and effectively implementing the DRC 1325 National Action Plan (NAP).

As WILPF's March 2013 Call for Accountability of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) highlighted, the increasing use of PMSCs raise critical challenges to women's human rights and the women peace and security agenda, including through a lack of accountability for perpetuation of gender based violence.

Two hundred women have declared their intention to contest seats in Chechnya's legislature in the September 8 election. In a republic with centuries-old conservative Islamic traditions this is almost incredible. A total of 776 candidates have applied for taking part in the election campaign. In other words, one in four contenders for being elected to Chechnya's 41-seat parliament is a lady.

Press Statement: AMISOM Troops Commit Brutal Gang Rape in Mogadishu, Somalia

A University of Queensland researcher has warned that refugee women and children face increased risks under the Federal Government's policy of sending asylum seekers to Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

Researcher Dr Nicole George is one of the organisers of a free seminar in Brisbane tomorrow focusing on Australia's role in upholding the security of women and children from the Asia-Pacific region.

Despite increased international focus on women, peace and security, women are still often viewed as blank slates upon which acts of violence are committed, rather than full human beings with roles to play in negotiating a meaningful peace.

The role of 'innocent victim' is a blameless one, but is also one-dimensional, failing to take into account women's active membership of their own societies.

As military forces in conflicts in Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continue to target non-combatants, civilians are deploying digital technologies to protect themselves from human rights abuses, including sexual violence.

Cooking with a traditional three-stone stove in south-west Uganda's sprawling Nakivale refugee settlement used to be an exhausting daily exercise for 39-year-old Runiza. "I had to walk for five hours every day to collect firewood," the Congolese refugee recalls.

The Pew Research Center recently released a new Global Attitudes Project survey that found of the 12 countries for which Pew provided corresponding data, the female-male gap approving of U.S. drone strikes ranged from 31 percent in Japan to 13 percent in Uganda. When the same question was asked in 2012, the female-male gap similarly ran from 30 percent in Germany to 12 percent in Poland.