General Women, Peace and Security

After decades of conflict in Afghanistan, there are almost two million widows leading secluded, poverty-stricken lives. But now all-female army units are going into remote villages in an effort to integrate these women into wider society.

In a small village on the edge of the Bolan desert, near Laskhar Gah, a group of women sit huddled together on a sunny terrace. Some are girls, barely out of their teens.

The progress on resolution 1325 of the UN Security Council which aims at combating gender based violence and promote their equal status has been sluggish. Experts believe that securing the rights of women is central to materialise any peace process and therefore have called for greater participation of men in the fight against gender imbalance.

Armed with AK-47s and a unique insight, female soldiers may be the future of United Nations peace building.

The 2011 International Women's Day will be celebrated worldwide on March 8. Yet as the day approaches, Ugandan women find themselves confronting the same age-old question: Is there cause to celebrate the day at all?

Proscovia Nakalembe has been so gripped by the election fever sweeping Uganda since the turn of the year that she's momentarily taken aback when asked about her plans for the Women's Day that's fast-approaching.

The unstable security situation in Iraq already made women particularly vulnerable. As violence spread across the country, women's mobility and access to the public sphere was dramatically reduced. Still, Iraqi women are doing their best to hold their own. Will opportunities created by and for women be allowed to continue?

The Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction on Thursday formally launched a set of national action plans in line with the United Nations Security Council's resolution on women, peace and security.

The plans, endorsed by the government on February 1, make Nepal the first country in South Asia to adopt a national policy in line with UN resolutions.

With a view to achieving sustainable peace and establishing a just society by ensuring participation of women at all stages of peace building, the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR) on Thursday launched the National Action Plan (NAP) on UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 and 1820.

I thought it would be a normal flood like the ones that happen often here; but this time was different," recalled Vittoria Amosse, who until 2008 lived in a small village on the Zambezi floodplain in Mozambique.

A few weeks ago there was a revolution in Tunisia. Some sources say the revolution was not televised, but rather twitterised. On 14 January, Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali dissolved his government, called for legislative elections in six months and promised not to run in 2014. But this late decision did not quiet public anger on social media platforms, in particular Facebook and Twitter.

In the aftermath of post-election violence here, almost 18 thousand people -- 70 per cent of them women, children and older persons – have been temporarily re-settled in the Western part of the country, fleeing from clashes between communities in the city of Duékoué. Another 30,000 have fled to Liberia.