The progress on resolution 1325 of the UN Security Council which aims at combating gender based violence and promote their equal status has been sluggish. Experts believe that securing the rights of women is central to materialise any peace process and therefore have called for greater participation of men in the fight against gender imbalance.

Thousands of people displaced from their homes by fighting between Pakistani government forces and militants in Mohmand Agency, northwestern Pakistan, face sub-zero temperatures and have been blocked from leaving the agency to seek refuge with relatives.

The head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has welcomed the guilty verdicts handed down this week by a military court for rape and other human rights abuses committed by national army personnel in the country's volatile east.

Amnesty International has urged authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to step up reforms to its justice system following the conviction of a military general for crimes against humanity.

Lieutenant Colonel Kibibi Mutware was sentenced to 20 years in jail for ordering an attack on the village of Fizi, eastern DRC, on 1 January, in which more than 35 women were raped.

The U.S. has praised Congo for securing the conviction of a colonel and eight other military personnel for carrying out mass rapes.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley called Monday's conviction of Lt. Col. Mutuare Daniel Kibibi and the others a "significant milestone" in a country where sexual violence is endemic.

The court of military judges was paid for partly by U.S. legal aid agencies.

A senior United Nations official has welcomed today's verdicts by a military court in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which mark the first time that a high-ranking commander and several other army personnel were arrested, tried and sentenced for conflict-related sexual violence in the strife-torn nation.

Not one woman has yet faced trial before a Bosnian court for war crimes, even though many victims of horrific crimes committed in the 1992-95 war in Bosnia have spoken in the witness box about the “ladies” who they say tortured them.

Many Americans have a certain image of the average Middle Eastern woman. She's subdued, covered from head to foot, keeps her head bowed and knows her (lowly) place.

But media coverage of the recent uprisings in the region has shown women who don't look particularly subservient. They have been on the front lines of the protests against corrupt government in Egypt, Tunisia and, now, Libya.

Women are playing a leading role in a powerful social movement addressing natural resource protection, adaptation to climate change, and corporate accountability in this coastal village in El Salvador.

Cristina Reyes is currently in her second term as president of the local community council in Ciudad Romero, located in the department (province) of Usulután, on the Pacific Ocean.

Guinea-Bissau is countering the effects of last year's unrest, and the United Nations is helping to promote security sector reform in a country that has been dogged by war, coups and assassinations in recent years, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in his latest report.