General Women, Peace and Security

A panel of experts on the subject of women and security argued today at the Organization of American States (OAS) in favor of incorporating the gender perspective in the search for solutions to the problems of public security faced by countries of the hemisphere, and urged greater participation by women in the elaboration of public policies that support citizen security.

Men with guns are littering Ivory Coast with corpses while my female companions in P.A's Ribhouse in downtown Monrovia outline inspired, achievable solutions to ending that conflict. In the same gentle voices that cajoled Liberia's bloodstained dictator Charles Taylor into resigning his presidency (he is now facing war crimes charges at the Hague) they explain their plans.

As I read reports of upheaval in North Africa and watch with apprehension as tensions reach their boiling point in Côte d'Ivoire, it may seem hard to be optimistic about the state of the world -- but I am.

In her first official visit to the United States capital as Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, the newly established UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, Ms. Michelle Bachelet called on senior US leaders to continue to advance women's rights and leadership worldwide, including in transitions in the Middle-East and North Africa.

Women remain second-class citizens in too many countries, deprived of basic rights or legitimate opportunities, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, calling on universities to help in the fight to overcome discrimination and change perceptions about what women can and should do.

UN Women Executive Director Ms. Michelle Bachelet has raised concerns over insecurity facing Somali women and girls in refugee camps in Kenya.

“Women are raped in their homes, in the bushes and many times on the roads,” said Ms. Bachelet. “New arrivals don't have shelters to sleep in and end up sleeping in the open outside the camps, exposing themselves to security risks.”

The Deputy Chief Gender Monitor in the Gender Monitoring Office (GMO), Ramathan Barengayabo, was yesterday sworn in at the Supreme Court.

The swearing in, which was presided over by Chief Justice Aloysia Cyanzayire, also saw the swearing-in of Sam Kanyemera Kaka as a Commissioner in the National Human Rights Commission.

Cyanzayire urged Barengayabo to always strive to promote gender.

The FWCC's Gender Training of Trainers continued into its second and last week yesterday in Pacific Harbour with the training facilitated by world reknowned and Australia based Gender Trainer Dr Juliet Hunt.

Hunt's teaching is aimed at strengthening the skills of current gender trainers to:

Women-led philanthropic organizations are finding effective ways of investing in the world's female population.

“I am a woman, a Socialist, divorced and agnostic,” the new defense minister told the generals of her Roman Catholic country. “But we will work together very well.”