General Women, Peace and Security

he annual United Nations report documenting conflict-related sexual violence around the world today for the first time names some of the military forces, militia and other armed groups that are suspected of being among the worst offenders.

Mary Nyekueh Ley has a quick way of summing up her life.

“My life's a curse,” she said

Her first husband was wounded in battle and died in her arms. Her second husband beat her.

Two of her children perished from one of the most curable diseases — diarrhea.

Three women and two children, allegedly abducted from Pibor County in Jonglei state in an offensive by over 6,000 armed men from the Lou Nuer ethnic group against the Murle tribe in December and January, jave been recovered and are being returned to their families officials say.

Their release was negotiated by security agents in Jonglei, South Sudan's largest and often most volatile state.

The 9th Choice Women First 5Km run organized by Great Ethiopian Run will be held on Sunday March 11, 2012. The event is committed to empowering women and has grown from 5,000 participants to 9,000 in the past eight years. The event which is sponsored by various organizations including Choice, Plan International, Irish Aid, Concern and many others has become a popular annual women's festival in Ethiopia.

As the UK hosts a major conference aimed at ending two decades of conflict in Somalia, Faduma Aden Mohamud, 37, explains how she manages to survive in Mogadishu, selling samosas and cold drinks in a refugee camp to support her large family.ve in Mogadishu, selling samosas and cold drinks in a refugee camp to support her large family.

“I was raped during the war by three men. I live with two stigmas: of rape and of HIV.” Although Benetta describes the situation of thousands of Liberian women, her determination to break the silence around these difficult issues, sets her apart.

Let's blame men. Many of us do—many women and even men blame men for the mass rape of women in war. It's easy to point our fingers and name the perpetrator. But what if we were to step back and ask how men can actually be part of the solution? It requires a couple of basic assumptions.

Even war is safer than this.

Imagine it: Your family attacked. Your house teeming with soldiers. Your options running out. A protected area for victims of war sounds like a wise place to flee. But as too many women and girls have discovered, conflict itself can seem relatively calm once the violence of refugee life begins.

The news of the day was that Democratic representatives walked out of a hearing on “religious liberty and birth control.” Republicans had blocked the testimony of a woman who wanted to speak in favor of the Obama administration's compromise on birth control. But the Republicans allowed representatives, men, from conservative religious organizations to testify.

In 2008, the Guatemalan parliament passed a law against ‘femicide' (even though it's a word you won't find in a dictionary) as well as against other forms of violence towards women.