US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused the forces of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi on Thursday of using rape and violence against women as "tools of war."

Clinton said the United States was "deeply concerned" by reports of widescale rape in Libya and "troubled" by reports that governments across the Middle East and North Africa were using sexual violence to punish protesters.

More and more countries are getting behind a United Nations initiative designed to boost the number of female police serving in peace operations, with women now accounting for just over 10 per cent of the more than 14,000 officers deployed worldwide, a senior official said today.

There is no peace process in the war-torn country right now, even as troop withdrawals approach. Gayle Lemmon Tzemach reports from Washington, where Afghan women aired their fears and offered solutions.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today announced the launch of a literacy and life skills training programme for 6,000 unemployed youth and women in Iraq.

The programme will help 25 local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the Iraqi education ministry to establish community learning centers throughout the country, UNESCO said in a press statement.

The Cote d'Ivoire Commission of Inquiry has rightly highlighted the serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by armed forces loyal to former President Laurent Gbagbo and President Alassane Ouattara. The Commission's mandate should be extended until September to publish a longer report that includes the breadth of its fieldwork.

President Ernest Bai Koroma has officially launched the All Political Parties Women's Association Serra Leone (APPWA-SL) as part of his government's commitment to encourage active women's participation in politics and other developmental issues at various strata of society.

With UN peacekeepers accused of at least six rapes in Southern Kordofan in Sudan, what has the UN system done? So far, nothing.

Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky about the accusation, by former deputy governor of Southern Kordofan, on June 13. Nesirky responded about a different matter -- the UN abandoning a national staff member -- then moved on to other questions.

The Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA) unanimously voted on Tuesday to share the $44.9 million (102 million Sudanese Pounds - SDG) Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) to all 170 members of parliament ending long debates on which members qualified for the funds.

Oxfam International has vowed support for women in Sierra Leone to fully participate in governance. This disclosure was made by the Programme Director of Oxfam, Madam Penny Lawrence while addressing newsmen on Friday 10th June 2011 at the Oxfam Head Office on Wilkinson Road in Freetown. According to Mrs.

It will be difficult to enforce the requirement that a third of elected officials be women, the interim electoral commission has said.

This could spark a constitutional crisis because the new Constitution demands that at least a third of MPs representing the 290 proposed constituencies after the next elections be women.