General Women, Peace and Security

While a lot of important news has been coming out of the United Nations General Assembly lately, there is one story that may not make the front pages, but should be at the front of our minds: the health of women and children around the world.

The centre is part refuge, part meeting place. She is part tutor and part mentor to her visitors. But for the Taliban, she is all irritant: the insurgents have said they will kill her if they catch her.

Last Tuesday in New York, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague announced that the UK government will give £1M for the United Nations' efforts to end, punish, and prevent sexual violence in conflict. The donation is both commendable and necessary.

Japan's Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba accepted the Institute's International Peace Building Award on behalf of the Japanese people, who have provided critical economic and development assistance to Afghanistan.

The EasWest Institute's Board Chairman Ross Perot, presented the awards to the parliamentarians, the first to Fehmida Mirza.

Ivet González interviews ANA GÜEZMES, regional director of UN-Women

“We have to expand the sense of urgency and indignation towards gender violence,” Dr. Ana Güezmes, UN-Women regional director for Mexico, Central America, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, told IPS on a recent visit to the Cuban capital.

Women often suffer the most in times of conflict, but they are rarely represented in peace negotiations. In fact, no woman has ever been the lead negotiator in U.N.-sponsored peace talks, a situation the United Nations is now seeking to redress through a unique training programme.

Tunisian civil society is rallying in support of a young woman who was raped by police officers in what they say is part of a broader assault on women's rights by religious conservatives.

It is my pleasure to join in welcoming you to the 10th annual Women PeaceMakers Program. I only wish I could be with you in person. I would like to thank the University of San Diego for hosting this important gathering and the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice for your invitation to be a part of this event.

“In the struggle to defend our territory, our natural resources, what's at stake is our very existence.” - Miriam Pixtún, Indigenous Women's Movement Tz ́ununija ́

Women are running for congress in record numbers this year. Now that all candidates have been nominated for the November 6th elections, 18 women are running for Senate (the previous record was set in 2010 at 14), and 163 women are running for House seats (more than the 2004 record of 141).