General Women, Peace and Security

National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) has presented various skills training certificates to ninety (90) women.

The aforementioned women were among two hundred and ninety-six target beneficiaries for the project, who suffered sexual abuse and various other forms of violence during the civil conflict that ravaged Sierra Leone.

First guilt, then pain, then disgust. First tears, then sleeplessness, then defiance. This has been the inner turmoil of Aya Virginie Toure, principal organiser of a peaceful demonstration by 15,000 women that ended in unthinkable, horrifying carnage.

The government of Indonesia on Monday announced it will soon implement the United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security, the country's Antara news agency reported.

Armed men wearing uniforms and mounted on camels committed seven rapes in Shagra area, targeting displaced women who had gone out of their camps to harvest crops. Seven rape victims were from Abu Shouk Camp. Another girl was raped elsewhere in Darfur, in Garsila.

In the regions newly liberated from conflict, the struggle still continues for women. Having had to go through hell in order to raise their families after losing husbands, livelihoods and basic services in a daily environment where unpredictability was the norm, they no doubt expected some quick relief, some panacea to their suffering once the conflict ended.

The March 6 news article "As U.S. goals shift, so does focus on aid to Afghanistan's women" suggested that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is shifting away from its commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment in Afghanistan. Nothing could be further from the truth.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay warned Thursday that human rights violations against civilians in Côte d'Ivoire are escalating at both the individual and collective levels, citing daily killings in the past week.

Several thousand Libyan women marched through the streets of rebel-held Benghazi on Saturday, demanding a no-fly zone to stop Moamer Kadhafi from bombing rebel fighters.

"No-fly zone! No-fly zone!" chanted the crowd in English and in unison, waving Libyan flags and flashing victory signs as they marched along the seafront corniche in the country's rebel-held second city.

Indonesian Minister for Women`s Empowerment and Child Protection Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar has asked the Indonesian embassy in Japan to prioritize women and children in its efforts to help Indonesians affected by Friday`s (March 11) earthquake and tsunami disaster.

Chechnya's Kremlin-installed strongman Ramzan Kadyrov has ordered Chechen women to wear "modest attire" that covers their entire bodies, including their heads, whenever they go outdoors, and has sent vigilantes into the streets to attack disobedient women with paintball guns, according to a report just released by New York-based Human Rights Watch.