The International Peace Institute, in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations, Women Deliver, and Family Care International, hosted a policy forum entitled Prevention and Protection Save Lives: Girls, Women, and HIV on the sidelines of the 2011 UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS on 8 June.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo said rape was a new aspect of Colonel Gaddafi's repression.

He said he was also looking at possible evidence that pro-Gaddafi security forces had been given medication such as Viagra to enhance their sex drive.

There has so far been no comment on the allegations by the Libyan authorities.

Today the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights is releasing a very disturbing report, Sexual Predators and Serial Rapists Run Wild at Wal-Mart Supplier in Jordan, which documents in great detail and in the workers' own words, how scores of young Sri Lankan women sewing clothing for Wal-Mart and Hanes have suffered routine sexual abuse and repeated rapes, and in some cases even torture.

Married off at 12 years old to an abusive husband more than four times her age, Maryam wanted to join Afghanistan's police force to help others avoid an all-too-familiar plight in a country where women's voices often go unheard.

A mother of three, Maryam is one of the women who make up less than one percent of Afghanistan's National Police. They wear knee-length olive green skirts over thick trousers with navy hijabs.

Iman Obeidi became famous in March when she burst into the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli and accused Libyan forces of raping her. She was quickly taken by authorities, but eventually found her way to Qatar to seek refugee status in the West. Last week, Qatari authorities inexplicably sent her back to Libya. She has since begun the process of moving to the U.S., where she will apply for refugee status.

Two long years after charges of “sexual misconduct” were leveled against the Indian peacekeepers deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Indian Army has moved to constitute a court of inquiry to probe the allegations.

She sits in the shade of a tree with half a dozen of other women; most of them were raped during the genocide that killed 800.000 Tutsi's and moderate Hutu's. “This socio-therapy group was an eye opener. I thought my case was unique, but most others have the same experience. It helped me to accept the past and move on with my life”, Immaculate adds.

As the Presidential and General Elections draw nearer, women in rural Liberia have called on political parties to include them as decision-makers in their various manifestos. The rural women are calling on leaders of political parties to allow them occupy higher positions in political parties and in the decision-making process of the country. They want women to be party leaders as their male counterparts and not to be placed at the back seat.

As world leaders gather at UN Headquarters in New York this week to chart the future course of the global AIDS response, UN Women is advocating for a robust response for those infected and affected by HIV — particularly women and girls.