Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

I held my hand to reach my pen on to write an article about women's lives in Kurdistan, from a woman's perspective. To begin is undoubtedly the most difficult part in the writing task, even more so when the subject is a complex issue concerning women's lives and aspirations in Kurdistan and Iraq. What should be the introduction and how should the task of selecting openings proceed?

When George W. Bush left the White House, the rest of the world breathed a sigh of relief. The National Security Doctrine of unilateral attacks, the invasion of Iraq under the false pretext of weapons of mass destruction, and the abandonment of multilateral forums had opened up a new phase of U.S. aggression. Despite the focus on the Middle East, the increased threat of U.S.

Marcus Bleasdale talks about a selection of his photographs chronicling the impact of rape in war-torn areas of Africa.

To watch the video click here.

Earlier this week, Mollie suggested that it's a good time to cover religious liberty questions, as we've seen continual reports of violence in Egypt, Iraq and other countries.

In religious liberty issues, sometimes we'll see an added dimension to violence, such as socioeconomics, race or sex. The New York Times has suggested sex differences may be part of Pakistan's blasphemy law implications.

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.

OPEN LETTER TO MEMBER STATES OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL Re: Res 1960 7 January 2011 Subject: UNSCR 1960 and the need for focus on full implementation of UNSCR 1325

Excellency,

In a recent interview with Zainab Salbi, Founder and CEO of Women for Women International, a grassroots humanitarian and development organization helping women survivors of wars rebuild their lives, we discussed the inspiration behind the founding, the necessity to galvanize a global women's movement, toleration and the lack of public outrage, and much more.

The full interview can be found below.

“Women Have Been The Most Affected By Conflict”
This indicates that even the home is not a safe place for women. Social relations of power place women in a subordinate position, giving many women few rights in the family, community and society in general.

Almost a year ago Change.org bloggers Alex DiBranco and Mike Jones started covering the South African phenomenon of ‘corrective rape', the increasingly common crime in which men rape lesbian women to 'turn' them straight or 'cure' them of their sexual orientation.

It's been a year since Haiti was hit by the devastating earthquake that crumbled structures, cut short lives, and imposed new challenges for people who were already in vulnerable situations. Shortly after the quake, we blogged about the impact of natural disasters on women's sexual and reproductive rights and health.