General Women, Peace and Security

Ambassador Swanee Hunt, chair of The Institute for Inclusive Security, announced the Institute's Commitment to Action in support of women, peace, and security at the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."

Matthew 5:9 is one of my favorite Bible verses, and as our world sees so much international turmoil on a daily basis, it is never far from my mind. I spent most of my adult life serving in the military, so I appreciate the value of peacetime. I fully support our nation leading the way to make lasting peace real in our time.

Around the world, women make peace in their homes and communities on a daily basis. But when it comes to negotiating and signing peace deals on a national or international level they are almost universally shut out, according to a report that calls for a more balanced approach to resolving conflict.

China, Russia, Pakistan and Azerbaijan abstained from a U.N. Security Council vote on children and armed conflict on Wednesday over concerns that the U.N. envoy on the issue can investigate any conflict, not just those before the council.

The African Union (AU) has said special attention would be given to the issue of women and children in armed conflicts in Africa this year.

The International Peace Day was marked Friday at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, bringing together representatives from AU member states, regional and international organizations as well as civil society organizations,

Ambassador Swanee Hunt, chair of The Institute for Inclusive Security, announced the Institute's Commitment to Action in support of women, peace, and security at the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting.

Washington, D.c. — A meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and 18 African military and security professionals was among the highlights of a three-day international workshop discussing the role of women in African armed forces co-hosted September 12-14, 2012, by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) and U.S. Africa Command (U.S. AFRICOM).

Many Solomon Islands women slum dwellers have to walk at least a kilometre a day carrying heavy loads of water back to their families – and risk running the gauntlet with young male predators, according to a new human rights report.

The research says on these journeys women are continually harassed, attacked and raped.

African Development Solutions (ADESO) has launched a project for more than 300 women in the Puntland region of Somalia to promote women's political engagement, Uganda's Daily Monitor reported Tuesday (September 18th).

A 2000 UN security council resolution that called for equal participation for women in "the maintenance and promotion of sustainable peace" has been almost totally ignored, not least by the UN itself, says the report. There have been no female chief mediators in UN-brokered peace talks and fewer than 10% of police officers and 2% of the soldiers sent on UN peacekeeping missions have been women.