There is a profound silence in conflict. Women's voices are absent. They are excluded from decision-making and peace processes across the world's trouble spots.

This exclusion not only perpetuates political and social structures that disenfranchise women, but also violates international law.

The need to engage women in all phases of conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation was highlighted at the closing of a two-day conference held in Sarajevo on 27 and 28 October.

The United States introduced in the UN General Assembly on Tuesday a draft resolution entitled Women and Political Participation.

The resolution was co-sponsored by 48 countries representing cross-regional support, the US State Department said. They include Columbia, Cyprus, Honduras, Monaco, Palau, Maldives, Moldova, South Korea, Tunisia, Ukraine and Britain.

"The greatest lesson of the Arab Spring, whoever rises to power in these countries, is that if basic human rights are not respected, it is impossible to guarantee security to people”, reveals Bernard Sabella, a Catholic professor of sociology at Bethlehem University in Rome for the conference "Women agents of change in the South Mediterranean." The last Nobel peace prize, assigned to the Yemeni Tawakkul Karman (along with

With the seventh billion child expected to be born this month, Girl Up is drawing attention to the need to count, advocate for and invest in girls worldwide. Investing in a girl today means in the future she will have the tools to reinvest back into her family and community, which helps build a better world for all of us.

Crime hurts, and the protection of victims from criminality is always a priority in any criminal policy.

The UN Security Council has urged countries to implement a landmark resolution which seeks to strengthen women's participation in peacebuilding, peacekeeping, conflict prevention and mediation process.

Thousands of women and girls who have been abducted by armed groups, enslaved and repeatedly raped during conflicts across Africa are left without support when the war ends, experts say.

After the bullets have stopped flying, peacekeepers and governments focus on disarming fighters – who are usually men and boys - and helping them to return home and reintegrate into their communities.

As an African woman, I declare: The Nobel Prize got it right, it celebrated three African women. Two Liberians and one Yemeni woman were honored. Two grassroots leaders -- women's rights activist Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, and democracy activist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen and one president -- Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf won this year's Peace Prize. It showed that the Nobel Committee understood.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday called for the involvement of more women in conflict prevention and mediation, saying ``their participation is essential to building blocks in reinforcing democracy'.