General Women, Peace and Security

Date: 24 August 2010

Occasion: Young Women's Forum, World Youth Conference, León, Guanajuato, Mexico, 24 August 2010.

Distinguished members of the Presidium, colleagues and friends,

We often hear people say that women in Lebanon are the most emancipated in the Middle East region. But this saying isn't exactly true because it is only based on the rich Lebanese minority who drives luxurious cars, and enjoys the pink side of life frequenting the most famous restaurants of the country's capital.

United Nations Development Fund for Women [UNIFEM – part of UN Women] Pakistan provides its technical expertise in gender equality and women empowerment to strengthen the effectiveness, coordination and quality of outputs of the UN mission on gender equality.

Melanne Verveer
Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues
U.S. Institute of Peace
Washington, DC
July 27, 2010

Testimonies at the congressional hearing on sexual violence in the Congo held on May 19, 2009 before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on African Affairs and the new Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy and Global Womens Issues.

Information

WILPF invites submission of papers on a broad range of issues around the implementation of 1325, as part of the Women, Peace and Security: From Resolution to Action Geneva High-Level Consultation 15-16 September 2010, Geneva.

Papers can address gender/women in conflict or post-conflict; the implementation of SCR 1325; and/or women in the context of protection, conflict prevention and participation.

Armed conflict exacerbates inequalities that exist between women and men in different forms and to varying degrees in all societies, and that make women particularly vulnerable when armed conflict breaks out.

The credibility of the United Nations rests in a major way on its ability and capacity to get the decisions of the Security Council implemented in letter and spirit.

Committee Adopts Observations on Seven States Parties; Chair Says Committee Identified Implementation Gaps, Sought Solutions to Persistent Discrimination.

As a part of its Human Rights Week, the Italian city of Genoa honored Iran's strong and vibrant women's rights movement by unveiling a statue depicting the face of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young student who became the face of the Green movement after she was killed by militiamen in the first frantic days following the election. The city also named a roundabout Donne Di Teheran, or "Women of Tehran," in honor of Iranian women.