General Women, Peace and Security

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the Commission on the Status of Women on Wednesday, that the UN must lead by example.

As Secretary General, he has made sure there are more women in senior positions now than at any time in the history of the UN.

Fifteen years since the landmark Beijing declaration was adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women, much progress has been made.

As an individual working specifically on issues affecting women survivors of war, I was excited to see on the CSW agenda a UN-sponsored session on “The Price of Peace: Financing Gender Equality in Post-Conflict Recovery and Reconstruction,” hosted by UNIFEM and the United Nations Development Program, UNDP.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told government delegates and activists here Friday that violence against women remains a "global pandemic" and that their "subjugation" constitutes "a threat to the national security of the United States."

Israeli troops on Saturday clashed in the occupied West Bank with Palestinian women and youths who were protesting against plans to build new homes for Jewish settlers.

An AFP correspondent said the troops fired tear gas to disperse about 200 Palestinian women and youths who gathered at the Qalandiya checkpoint north of Jerusalem.

Hillary Clinton has been pushing hard to reframe women's rights from “soft issue” to “security issue.” Obviously that's partly because soft issues are shunted aside, while the security issues are discussed in the Situation Room and get billions of dollars thrown at them. In an interview with Andrea Mitchell released today, Clinton put it this way:

“Until women and girls are liberated from poverty and injustice, all our goals – peace, security, sustainable development – stand in jeopardy,” United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said during the 54th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York when launching the International Women's Day.

Another political event takes place in Iraq without much mention of women. And in the rare occasion that women are mentioned, it is often with the token spirit about how wonderful it is that they now have 25 percent of political seats in the Iraqi parliament.

While “some progress” in advancing gender equality has transpired over the last 15 years, much work remains to be done in eradicating violence and lack of opportunities for women and girls across the world, U.S. Secretary-of-State Hilary Clinton said on Friday, March 12.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have long been an advocate of closer cooperation between NATO and the European Union and so I am very pleased that today's conference brings us together to develop practical solutions to one of the key security issues of our time.