General Women, Peace and Security

Back in the heady days of 1970s feminism there was an argument that once women achieved political power, there would be no more war. Margaret Thatcher and her Falklands war exploded that myth, and along with it any residual notion that women might do foreign policy differently from men.

Cambodia has become the 100th country to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said yesterday. The protocol allows people to submit complaints regarding rights violations to the UN committee on women's rights.

The new United Nations gender agency, known as U.N. Women, quietly opened on Jan. 3 without any publicity or announcements.

The superagency's midtown Manhattan headquarters remain unoccupied, said U.N. Women spokesperson Gretchen Luchsinger. Employees from the four U.N. gender agencies and offices that this new entity is uniting continue to work out of their own, scattered offices around the U.N. Secretariat building.

Nepal´s development partners have expressed readiness to continue their support to the peace building process in the days ahead as well.

In October 2001, the United Nations Security Council endorsed a resolution recognising that women's participation is essential to sustain efforts for peace in the world. But did the international body ever ask world's women leaders to take part in the decision-making process?

Activists associated with a global coalition of women's right activists say the answer is "no".

On the first day of the New Year, history was made when the newest agency of the United Nations, UN Women, became operational with a mandate to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women. The new agency launched pretty quietly with no major celebration, despite representing a major step in the right direction for the United Nations, which has not made enough progress to advance gender equality.

As we bid farewell to 2010 and usher in 2011 with a renewed sense of purpose, I'm proud of all the hard work that has been done by the Office of Global Women's Issues, our State Department colleagues in Washington and around the world to advance progress for women and girls across the globe. Just a year ago, Secretary Clinton announced that the United States was taking steps to put women and girls front and center in our development work.

A new study says female military members returning from Afghanistan and Iraq are more likely to suffer from mental health conditions than their male counterparts.

The Inspector General's report was released Monday by the Veterans' Administration's Office and Senator Mark Warner.

Advocating greater participation of women in the areas of conflict prevention, peace negotiations, peace keeping and post conflict reconstruction, India wants UN organs to do more against sexual violence.