"The United States has made empowering women and girls a cornerstone of our foreign policy," said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, "because women's equality is not just a moral issue, it's not just a humanitarian issue, it is not just a fairness issue; it is a security issue."

Violence against women has been described as “perhaps the most shameful human rights violation, and the most pervasive.”1 Addressing violence against women is central to the achievement of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 3 on women's empowerment and gender equality, as well as MDGs 4, 5 and 6.2 It is also a peace and security issue.

Eleven African governments have pledged to ensure an effective regional mechanism to address sexual violence against women and children in a regional event sponsored by UNDP.

Three years ago, I visited a hospital in southern Afghanistan renovated by Australian Defence Force engineers. A young, goofy digger showed me proudly around the rebuilt facility, pointing to a muddy yard where quarantined cholera patients once perished in tents.

Remember Aisha, the 18-year-old from Afghanistan? Well, this teenager had her nose and ears cut off by her abusive husband, a Taliban follower, as punishment for running away from home. Thanks to the efforts of the Grossman Burn Foundation, (a non-profit organisation), she underwent reconstructive surgery last year.

UNHCR is stepping up its aid delivery to the now 22,000 Ivorian refugees who fled to Liberia in the wake of post-electoral tensions in their country. The mostly women and children are from western Cote d'Ivoire and are in urgent need of food, shelter and clean water- all of which are in short supply in the 23 villages hosting them in Nimba County, Liberia, where they continue to arrive.

An Iraqi Kurdish woman activist has said on Wednesday that the minimization of weapons among citizens have curtailed the killing of women in northern Iraq's Kurdistan Region, demanding the Kurdish government KRG to “take serious measures to minimize the phenomena of carrying of weapons by men in the Region.

A WOMEN's activist has called for the even distribution of resources in a bid to meet goals outlined by the United Nations Women's agency.

Fiji Women's Crisis Centre co-ordinator Shamima Ali said most funding for programs directed at empowering women was spent on consultants instead of projects.

Troopers from the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment working alongside their Afghan National Police partners at the Police Training Center in Qalat started the New Year right Monday, Jan. 3, by graduating a class of 134 new recruits. Class 1101 had the distinction of not only being the first class of 2011, but also the first class to include volunteers from the Commerce Stability Program and five female recruits.

A new UN agency dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women became operational on January 1st, 2011. This is a historical step forward that will consolidate and escalate UN efforts to achieve gender equality and promote women's rights worldwide, guiding Member States towards an agreement on international standards for gender equality, and helping to ensure those standards are implemented.