General Women, Peace and Security

The Resolution 1325 is the first resolution ever passed by the UN Security Council which laid the foundation for equal participation by women in the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, conflict preventions, peace negotiations, peacekeeping, operations, humanitarian assistance and post conflict reconstruction.

This information was shared at a ‘group discussion on women police' which was organised by a non-governmental organization, Individualland Pakistan (ILP), in collaboration with Royal Norwegian Embassy on Tuesday.

The NGO said fear and lack of awareness discouraged women complainants from visiting police stations in the cities like Karachi and Peshawar.

In addition to the 123 heads of state who will meet for the Sept. 25-Oct. 1 annual gathering of U.N. members starting here today, hundreds of activists and observers will also be on hand to hold their own parallel discussions and forums.

Egyptians have finally spoken out regarding the attacks by Salafist Islamist preacher Abdullah Badr against female Egyptian artists.

Human rights activists in Iran are subjected to beatings with batons, mock hangings, rape, sleep deprivation, and threats that family members will be raped or killed, a U.N. rights investigator said in a report released on Thursday.

The lack of women's economic and political participation, and lack of women's education, kept Arab countries from developing properly, said US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer on the sidelines of the Women's Forum in Deauville, France. Then came the Arab Spring and “women were shoulder-to-shoulder with men in the revolutions.”

An innovative online research tool just launched by Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) will provide practitioners, researchers, students and advocates with a wide range of information on women, peace and security.

The online repository can be accessed via http://iwpsd.georgetown.edu/repository.

Afridi's death, as one of the very few Pashtun women leaders in any field, leaves a large gap and begs the question of why there aren't more like her. It is certainly not because Pashtun women are incapable of serving as leaders. They have historically repudiated this assumption when given the opportunity - or when they have created opportunities for themselves.

Malala, 14, who suffered gunshot injuries to her head in the attack in Swat Oct. 9 is recovering in hospital in Rawalpindi to which she was moved. She remains in serous condition.