General Women, Peace and Security

The conflict in the Eastern DR Congo provinces of North and South Kivu between the Kinshasa government and the M23 movement of mostly mutineers has displaced over 900,000 people, mostly women and children. Women Civil Society Organizations operating in the affected region now want both parties engaged in the Kampala peace talks mediated by Uganda's defense minister Dr.

It's a country the size of all of western Europe, with enormous mineral riches that enable the artifacts of modern life, from mobile phones and tablets to circuit boards and solar panels. It is also, by many accounts, the worst place to be a woman.

Women in Africa's Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are calling on President Barack Obama to lend resources and influence in putting an end to the brutal violence against women taking place in that country.

A new report released by the UN says Afghan women are still victims of abuse despite some success by authorities in prosecuting cases of rape, forced marriages and domestic violence.

The UN collected information from 22 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces over a 12-month period ending in September to find out how existing laws protecting women were being implemented.

Sexual violence is on the rise as armed groups continue to move across the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) North Kivu Province, officials say.

A Dubai resident has decided to undertake a one-woman mission to bring peace to the 22 countries in the Arab League.

Egyptian Raghda Yusuf wants to help people in each country she visits and hopes that in doing so she will be able to get across her message: “Arab people should be standing together, particularly at this uncertain time.”

Marched through the middle a market in Damascus carrying red banners that read 'Stop all military operations in Syria. 100% Syrian'
Rima Dali, Rowa Jafar, and sisters Kinda and Lobna Zaour were immediately detained by Syrian security forces

In Egypt, domestic abuse is not a crime. When a woman is beaten by her husband, the authorities are seldom called. Hospital trauma centers see the extreme cases of internal bleeding and broken bones. Otherwise, it's only when marital violence shifts into child abuse that many women seek out help.

The first time I heard the term Women Human Rights Defender (WHRD) it was a bit of revelation to me. It was at an international conference held by the Association for Women in Development (AWID) on women transforming economic power. A group of women from across the globe were gathered in a workshop convened by Jenni Williams of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WoZA) to discuss strategies to protect themselves from state violence.

The problem of forced marriage remains little known and well hidden in the United States, but experts say it is growing, particularly, but not only, in immigrant communities.