General Women, Peace and Security

Sheikh Fu'ad Mohamed Khalaf Shongole, the chief of awareness raising of al-Shabaab, the radical Islamist group opposing the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, has insisted that unmarried girls should join the Jihad (holy war) against the pro-government forces.

The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1509 adopted on 16 September authorized the setting up of a peacekeeping mission in Liberia.

Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury led Thursday's provost lecture at the Wang Center as he discussed United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women and Peace & Security, a plan that aims to implement the active participation of women in political decision-making internationally.

In the 1970s and 1980s, one of the main arguments against ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution would lead to women assuming combat roles during war.

Whatever role the argument served in defeat of ERA, the military service debate has become moot, if the results of a Rasmussen Poll released Monday are accurate.

A growing list of U.N. Security Council Resolutions acknowledges the importance of gender in processes for peace. Resolutions 1325, 1820, 1888, 1889 and 1960 note that women continue to be marginalised in peace negotiations and their potential is not fully utilised in humanitarian planning, peacekeeping operations, peace building, governance and reconstruction.

Protecting women from violence and abuse has been an issue of bipartisan cooperation since President Clinton signed the landmark Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994. It was reauthorized with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2000 and again in 2005. Not this year.

Following its July 2011 secession from al-Bashirs reign, South Sudan finds itself in complete upheaval. It experiences post-separation tensions with Sudan concerning oil sharing and border management, as well as domestic issues such as human rights violations. While media attention is centered on the topic of oil revenue, as it usually is for stories of economic concern, civil issues must be brought to light.

Magdalena Ehisa Tito, an elegant and extremely polite woman welcomed us into her home. The 52 year- old, the only traditional chief in the whole of South Sudan has become a role model for the women of Torit, Eastern Equatoria State. Chief Magdalena was born on November 25, 1959 in Torit and she went primary school at the age of 10 years.

As Somalia's transitional government and various stakeholders meet Wednesday to discuss the inclusion of the country's clans in the new government, women politicians have called for a greater role in the leadership of this East African nation.

No serious discussion on the advancement of women's rights in the 21st century can ignore the plight of Somali women. The unfortunate reality of a failed State coupled with the rise of extremist religious ideology have deprived women in Somalia of their fundamental human rights: the right to protection from harm, the right to an education, the right to good health, the right to a basic standard of living, and the right to freedom.